If you’ve never been to Hawaii there’s a good chance you’ve been led to believe that Honolulu is either too “touristy” or crowded or expensive. Well, while it is touristy, crowded, and expensive, so are the other islands. Don’t get me wrong, each island has remote areas with wide open spaces that are neither touristy nor crowded and certainly the amount of this wide open space will vary with of course the Big Island having the most open space (a tiny sliver of which is literally fresh land from lava flows).
My point is: don’t just skip over Honolulu. You would be making a big mistake. It’s certainly not the “Emerald City” and has its flaws but it’s an awesome place. Our local girl Aina wrote up 5 things she likes about Honolulu and this is definitely a local’s perspective. Visitors love the shopping, the endless list of things to do and amazing food. But what do locals like?