Boutique Hotel with Private Lanais Overlooking Waikiki

Along the indigo waters of Waikiki, thick knots of palm trees rise like eager children for views of the Pacific Ocean. None rise above the towering Waikiki Gateway Hotel, a retreat with uninterrupted vistas of Honolulu’s beaches and boulevards. Within the hotel lobby, potted ferns and a stand of dried reeds add a soft, earthy touch to clean, minimalist furnishings.

Sunset-colored bedspreads and a private 48-square-foot lanai overlooking Waikiki brightens each Deluxe Waikiki room. Guests can enjoy myriad sleeping or fort-building options with a choice of two double beds, one king bed, or one queen bed. Blackout drapes prevent sunbeams from interrupting sleep cycles, but early risers get first pick at a hearty breakfast spread of eggs, pancakes, and coffee. The lounge chairs and stubbornly blue waters of the outdoor pool beckon guests to wile away hours beneath the tropical sun.

Waikiki: Former Retreat of Hawaii’s Royalty

Once a private playground for Hawaii’s ruling class, today the neighborhood of Waikiki welcomes visitors to its white-sand beaches, sunny avenues, and cultural attractions. Situated on the vibrant thoroughfare of Kalakaua Avenue, Waikiki Gateway Hotel sits just steps from a diverse shopping and nightlife scene and about a quarter mile from the Pacific Ocean coastline.

Traveling southbound, Kalakaua Avenue unfurls about a mile before arriving at the Honolulu Zoo, an expansive habitat housing exotic and endangered species. Sumatran tigers make their home in a private cat lair, pot-bellied pigs galumph in the children’s zoo, and white-handed gibbons practice trust falls on a ropes course. Just south of the zoo, visitors can enjoy music alfresco at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center and the Waikiki Shell. Throughout the seasons, the shell-shaped amphitheater sends ripples of music across 1,958 stadium chairs, 6,000 lawn perches, and 505 theater seats. Steps away, the Waikiki Aquarium stations itself alongside a living reef. Within the marine museum, more than 3,500 creatures of the tropical Pacific glide throughout glassed-in galleries.

About 3 miles southeast of the hotel, Diamond Head State Monument is a 300,000-year-old saucer formed by a single explosive eruption. Hikers can traverse a 0.8-mile trail where molten lava once smoldered to ascend to the crater’s 560-foot-tall lip.