Hotel at a Glance: Aqua Pacific Monarch Hotel

Aqua Pacific Monarch Hotel puts guests within easy reach of Waikiki’s most popular attraction: the beach. A three-minute walk takes guests straight to the sand where they can set up the hotel’s beach chairs for sunbathing, or dry off from a swim with a hotel-provided towel. This section of the beach is also home to the Kuhio Beach Hula Mound, where visitors can catch a free hula show—complete with a torch-lighting ceremony and a live band—three days a week.

• In-room amenities include kitchenettes, 32” LCD TVs, and free WiFi.
• Take a dip in the rooftop pool (under renovation until 6/24), or lounge on the sun deck.
• Go shopping: The free hotel shuttle takes guests to the Ala Moana shopping center, home to stores such as Balenciaga and Cole Haan.
• Please note: The property is in the middle of a spalling project, which will be completed in September. Please call the property for any questions.

Waikiki, Honolulu: White-Sand Beaches, World-Class Surfing, and Luxury Entertainment

In 1911, local Waikiki kid Duke Kahanamoku beat the world record for the 100-meter freestyle swim by 4.6 seconds at an amateur swim meet—a feat so unimaginable that athletic officials refused to recognize it. But when he won an Olympic gold medal the following year, Duke became an international sensation despite them. Photogenic and frequently in the press, he was rarely seen without his surfboard, popularizing that local pastime in the press. This publicity helped turn Waikiki from a private playground for Hawaii’s ruling class into a travel hot spot as people came from all over to take surfing lessons from a celebrity athlete. Today, you can see Duke’s likeness immortalized in a bronze statue on Waikiki’s Kuhio Beach.

When they’re not surfing or sunbathing on the beach, most travelers explore the area’s busy avenues lined with everything from upscale boutiques and nightclubs to craft booths and street performers. Other attractions include the Honolulu Zoo, which houses exotic and endangered species such as sumatran tigers and white-handed gibbons, and the Waikiki Aquarium, where more than 3,500 creatures of the Pacific glide throughout glassed-in galleries.

Also nearby is one of Hawaii’s most recognizable natural landmarks, Diamond Head State Monument—a 300,000-year-old saucer formed by a single explosive eruption. Hikers can walk along a trail where molten lava once smoldered to ascend to the crater’s 560-foot-tall lip.

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