Honolulu Self-Guided Historic Walking Tour

Embark on a self-guided walking tour of Honolulu's rich history. Start at Iolani Palace, delve into royal Hawaiian heritage, then visit the iconic King Kamehameha Statue. Explore the Hawaii State Capitol's modern political significance, marvel at the architectural beauty of Aliʻiolani Hale & Kawaiahaʻo Church, and conclude at Queen Liliʻuokalani Statue, commemorating Hawaii's last monarch.
After booking, check your email to download the separate Audio Tour Guide App by Action, enter your unique password, and access your tour. These steps require good internet/Wi-Fi access. From there, follow the audio instructions and the route.

New, extra validity — now yours for an entire year! Use multiple times over multiple trips!

This isn't an entrance ticket. Check opening hours before your visit.

Meeting Point

Aloha Tower Marketplace

1 Aloha Tower Dr, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA

After booking the tour, search your email for the phrase "Set up your self-guided tour now." Follow these instructions NOW to finish setting up the tour while you have Wi-Fi/data. Do NOT wait until you are onsite.

What's included:

• Easy-to-use app: download Action’s Tour Guide App onto your phone
• Engaging storytelling: Uncover unique tales and thrilling history for a memorable journey!
• Perfect narrator: nothing can beat listening to a great voice. Proven with tons of rave reviews!
• Offline maps: no signal, no problem! Works perfectly without cellular or wifi.
• Comprehensive route and stops: See it all, miss nothing, leave no stone unturned!
• Go at your own pace: Start anytime, pause anywhere, enjoy breaks for snacks and photos freely!
• Learn more: dive deeper into any story you enjoyed with extra stories.
• Hands-free: audio stories play on their own based on your location. Easy to use!

Not included:

• Attraction passes, entry tickets, or reservations

What to expect:

Duration: between 1 hour and 2 hours

King Kamehameha Statue

417 S King St, , Honolulu, 96813-2943, Hawaii

Kamehameha certainly lived up to this dramatic start. His contemporaries described him as an intimidating warrior who “moved in an aura of violence.” During the 1700s, numerous chiefs battled for control of the Hawaiian Islands.
NOTE: This 1.6-mile-mile-long tour covers the essentials of Downtown Honolulu in 1-2 hours.

10 minutes

Kawaiahaʻo Church

957 Punchbowl St, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA

That’s Kawaiaha’o Church. At one time, this was the national church of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

10 minutes

Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives

553 S King St, , Honolulu, 96813-3002, Hawaii

This museum showcases items from Hawaii’s missionary period.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Ali'iolani Hale

417 King Street, , Honolulu, Hawaii

Originally, Kamehameha V built Ali’iolani Hale as a palace for Hawaiian monarchs. But King Kalakaua decided to convert it to government offices.

10 minutes

Honolulu Hale (City Hall)

530 S King St, , Honolulu, 96813-3014, Hawaii

King Kalakaua returned from his world tour at the end of 1881. Hawaiians decorated the whole city and strung a grand “Welcome Home” banner across Honolulu Harbor. But as Hawaiians celebrated the return of Kalakaua, others plotted his downfall…
Remember the Reform Party? This was the mostly American political party that slowly took control of Hawaiian politics after the 1875 Reciprocity Treaty.

10 minutes

Patsy Takemoto Mink Statue and Memorial

Honolulu, HI 96813, USA

This statue honors a more recent figure in Hawaiian history, Representative Patsy Takemoto Mink.
Patsy Takemoto was a third-generation Japanese-American who grew up in Hawaii.

10 minutes

Sky Gate by Isamu Noguchi

558 S King St, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA

When you look at Sky Gate, what do you see? Just a collection of bendy black tubes? Maybe a simple spider web? A three-legged animal? Noguchi himself described Sky Gate as “an evocation to the skies of Hawaii.”

10 minutes

Hawaii State Capitol

415 S Beretania St, , Honolulu, 96813-2425, Hawaii

Prior to the construction of the Capitol Building, Hawaiians used the ‘Iolani Palace as their seat of government. You’ll see the palace soon.

10 minutes

Eternal Flame Memorial

356-420 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, 96813-2420, Hawaii

This memorial honors the men and women who died in the December 7th, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor—“a date which will live in infamy” in the words of President Franklin Roosevelt.

10 minutes

Washington Place

320 S Beretania St, Downtown, Honolulu, 96813-2420, Hawaii

See that two-story mansion on our right, set back from the road? That’s Washington Place, the one-time home of Queen Liliʻuokalani!

10 minutes

Iolani Barracks

364 S King St, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA

We’re standing before the Iolani Barracks. Before Dole and the Annexation Club completed their coup against Queen Liliʻuokalani, the Barracks housed the Queen’s Royal Guard.

Pass by without stopping

Iolani Palace

364 S King St, , Honolulu, 96813-2900, Hawaii

Before us stands Iolani Palace, dating back to 1879. This is the only royal palace in the United States!

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Queen Liliuokalani Statue

between the State Capitol Building and the Iolani Palace, Downtown Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii

As the 1900s wore on, Liliʻuokalani gradually retreated from public life. She took up full-time residence in her home at Washington Place, where Native Hawaiians visited her constantly. To them, she never stopped being their Queen. And in turn, Liliʻuokalani never stopped loving her people. In her memoir, she wrote:
“It is for them that I would give the last drop of my blood; it is for them that I would spend, nay, am spending, everything belonging to me.”

10 minutes