What’s the best way to get around Honolulu, where can you park, and how does public transport work there?

By car

It’s only worth hiring a car if you want to visit the whole of Oahu as well as Honolulu. Expect prices of around 50 usdper day; all the major car hire companies are based right at the airport.

Compare car hire prices

Although traffic in the city itself isn’t as heavy as in cities on the US mainland, it is still a foreign city and driving there may therefore be rather stressful for some people.

Road signs to the main attractions are clear and plentiful. However, parking can be a problem. Hotels always offer their guests free parking, but if you’re staying via Airbnb, choose accommodation outside the city centre, where there are paid parking zones everywhere; and if the host doesn’t have a parking space, you may run into problems.

Along Waikiki Beach, there are essentially only two places where you can park for free:Ala Wai Canal Drive and the Ala Moana Beach Park car park.

Buses

Honolulu is the only city in Hawaii with a dense and frequent bus network, and if you’re only planning a short stop in the city and at Pearl Harbour, you can manage perfectly well without a car.

However, always plan your bus journey in advance using the official website, where you’ll find maps and timetables. This information isn’t displayed at the bus stops; you’ll only see the route number of the bus passing through. If you’ve bought a local SIM card with data, you’ll find the DaBus app useful, as it shows the current departure times from the nearest stops in the area.

View the 10 best hotels in Honolulu

Ticket prices and where to buy them?

The fare system is really very simple. The same fare applies to all services on the island, whether you’re travelling one stop around Honolulu or 50 km across the whole island.

• 3,25 usd A single-journeyticket costs [price] and can only be purchased from the driver in cash.

It’s much better value to buya HOLO card, which you can top up with any amount. You simply tap the card on the reader by the driver when you board; you don’t need to tap it again when you alight. The fare for one journey is also deducted 3 usd, but unlike with a paper ticket, you can change buses as often as you like within a 2-hour period. You must always tap your card on the reader; as long as you are within the 2-hour limit, no additional fare will be deducted.

The HOLO card has a ‘Daily cap’ feature, which effectively acts asa day ticket. In practice, this means that no more than 7,50 usd, no matter how often you travel or where you go.

The only drawback of the HOLO card is thatit cannot be purchased at the airport. For your first journey from the airport to the city centre, you’ll therefore need to buy a paper ticket from the driver and then purchase a HOLO card at one of the many outlets around the city.

• List of places where you can buy a HOLO Card (holocard.net)
• Up-to-date information on ticket prices (thebus.org)

Useful links:

• W – runs from the city centre to the airport,
• E, 2, 8, 13, 19, 20, 22, 23 – pass by Waikiki Beach,