WAIKIKI TRIVIA FACTS


"Lovely scenery, quiet, pure air, clear sea water and heavenly sunsets". This is how Robert Louis Stevenson described Waikiki when he spent five weeks in 1893 at the south-east end of Waikiki.

The largest tourist destination in Hawaii, Waikiki is a long stretch of picture-perfect white-sand beach just southeast of downtown Honolulu. Its shores are lined with swanky high-rise hotels set against the scenic backdrop of Diamond Head. It’s exciting. Its very name-Waikiki-is enough to transport you to another world. Translated, Waikiki means "spouting water," a reference to the rivers and springs that richly flowed into the area. The Ala Wai Canal was built in the 1920s to drain the area of its swamps and rivers, clearing the way for expansive hotel construction. The construction boom was stifled only temporarily, during World War II, when hotels were closed to visitors to accommodate servicemen. Today, Waikiki, also known as the heart of Hawaii, is in full bloom.

The weather of Waikiki is tropical, but a little more pleasant than it is in the rest of Honolulu. Temperatures stay a bit cooler than in Honolulu, with summer highs in the low 80's F (28 C) and winter highs in the high 70's F (25-26 C). Temperatures at night can be 12 to 14 degrees less (F). Waikiki does not get much rain, less than an inch a month on an average during the summer and 1 - 3 inches during the winter.  Water temperature is nearly 80 degrees F year-round, and the waves don’t get too big during the winter.

Waikiki Beach, one of the best known beaches in the world, is actually a string of seven beaches, each with its own character and uniqueness. 81 hotels and 52 resort condominiums line this beautiful beach. Some are must-see hotels. Among them are the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, and the Halekulani. Some are worlds unto themselves, others strikingly beautiful. Even if you can’t stay there, you must go visit them.

Waikiki boasts of having more than 30,000 hotel rooms; close to 1000 restaurants, bars and clubs; and more shops, shams and shysters than anyone cares to count - catering to an average of 65,000 tourists each day (which makes an unbelievable annual total of 23,725,000 visitors). Most of the tourists come from the U.S. mainland and Japan, others being from Europe and other parts of the world.

The world's tallest ceramic mural is located on the side of the Hilton Hawaiian Village Rainbow Tower in Waikiki. The mural is 30 stories high.

The Ala Wai Golf Course on the edge of Waikiki, claims to be the busiest municipal course in the U.S.