Oahu Honolulu is a vibrant city home to the majority of Hawaii's colourful and friendly population and offers a wonderful mix of natural and cultural highlights. The beautiful forests and beaches provide the backdrop to many a movie and TV series, whilst the memorials and museums around Pearl Harbour offer a more sobering cultural experience. In the midst of this is first class 21st century amenities and the unique Aloha spirit.

Sights -- Arizona Memorial; Waikiki Beach; Polynesian Cultural Center; National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ; sunset cocktails at one of the hotel lounges fronting the ocean.

Museums -- Iolani Palace ; Bishop Museum ; Honolulu Academy of Arts .

Memorable Meals -- Padovani's Restaurant & Wine Bar for pan-fried moi ; Orchids for a massive Sunday brunch; a luau at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Late Night -- Musical comedy by the Society of Seven ; dancing at Rumors nightclub; live oceanside music at Esprit.

Walks -- Visiting haunted sites with Honolulu TimeWalks; hiking through rain forest and bamboo groves at the Hawaii Nature Center ; climbing to the top of Diamond Head ; strolling among the noodle shops and street vendors of Chinatown.

Especially for Kids -- Dolphin shows and supervised underwater exploration at Sea Life Park; children's excursions at the Hawaii Nature Center ; hands-on exhibits at the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center .

There is no "best" time to visit Honolulu. The city's climate is warm and sunny most of the year, though residents do notice a seasonal change, with temperatures dropping to an average of 75 F/25 C in late October. Things stay that way through May, before the temperature goes soaring just above 90 F/32 C, where it stays from July through September.

Trade winds blow across the island most of the year, and the air only gets uncomfortably humid when trade winds stop and Kona winds from the south take their place. November-April is considered the island's rainy season, even though the rain showers often come and go in a matter of minutes. The combination of rain and sun makes conditions ideal for stunning rainbows, which can often be seen arching over mountain valleys. Most of Oahu's rain falls in the higher elevations and on the island's windward side, ensuring contoured slopes covered with thick verdant rain forest.

Hawaii also has a hurricane season lasting from late summer through fall, but Honolulu residents rarely experience anything more than somewhat stronger winds.

The best way to see Honolulu is to first decide what most interests you and then group your choices according to their physical location. You might spend a morning exploring Chinatown, stop for lunch at one of the many excellent Asian restaurants there and relax on the beach at Ala Moana or Waikiki in the late afternoon when the sun's rays are less intense. Or you might plan tours of Iolani Palace and the Mission Houses Museum (they're close together), eat a picnic lunch on the Palace grounds and spend the afternoon trekking on one of the Hawaii Nature Center's short rain-forest trails.

Pearl Harbor, on the edge of Honolulu, is a poignant reminder of the event that catapulted the U.S. into World War II. Here you can visit the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, the U.S.S. Missouri and other vessels. Nearby is the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet with its hundreds of stalls. Venturing farther afield, you might plan a driving tour along Oahu's rugged eastern shore. Stop at Hanauma Bay for a swim and snorkel, have lunch in Kailua, buy ripe fruit at a roadside stand, visit the Byodo-In Temple in Kaneohe and return to Waikiki through the Likelike Tunnel.

For full immersion in Polynesian culture, be sure to visit the Bishop Museum (it also has a good planetarium), the Iolani Palace and the Polynesian Cultural Center. The Honolulu Academy of Arts offers an excellent collection of art from Asia and elsewhere. If you make reservations in advance, you can see Shangri La, the beautiful home of philanthropist Doris Duke, which has a huge collection of Islamic artwork. (The tours are run in conjunction with the Honolulu Academy of Arts.)

Whatever you decide to do, remember not to rush. Outside the city, Oahu is a laid-back island, so relax and take things slowly.

Honolulu's nightlife -- mostly clustered in Waikiki -- showcases an eclectic mix of Hawaiian, country-western, jazz, alternative, contemporary and even Las Vegas-style entertainment. Check local listings for performances by one of Hawaii's excellent entertainers, such as musicians Aunty Genoa Keawe, Jake Shimabukuro, Makana, Fiji, Henry Kapono, the Brothers Cazimero and comedian Frank DeLima, who pokes good-natured fun at every nationality in Hawaii, including his own Portuguese ancestry.

Another area chock full of nightclubs is Restaurant Row, at the corner of Ala Moana Boulevard and Punchbowl Street, near downtown Honolulu. Some of the island's hottest nightclubs are there.

If you prefer a relaxing happy hour rather than staged entertainment, drop by the Waikiki beach hotel of your choice around sunset and sip a cocktail to the sounds of a small combo in an open-air lounge. Our favorite spots include the Halekulani Hotel and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Both always engage first-rate musicians.

To find out who is playing where, check the nightlife guides in the free tourist publications This Week Oahu and Spotlight's Oahu Gold . They carry current and fairly comprehensive information. The Honolulu Weekly newspaper also has a good run-down on the latest musical happenings. Most clubs keep the beat going until 2 am.

If the physical surroundings of Honolulu don't tempt you to stay a few extra days, the food will. Hawaiian regional cuisine, an easy blend of Asian, Polynesian, U.S. and European traditions, pleases a wide variety of tastes, and the local chefs are very inventive. You'll find scrumptious cross-cultural dishes based on fresh local ingredients -- especially seafood, vegetables, herbs and fruit -- as well as pure Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Laotian, French, German, Swiss and Italian favorites.

Good restaurants are plentiful in Waikiki, but you'll also find some of the city's best near downtown on aptly named Restaurant Row, which is at the corner of Ala Moana Boulevard and Punchbowl Street.

Few Honolulu restaurants offer foods that were prepared by the early Hawaiians. It's mostly at luaus that you'll encounter lomi salmon, kalua pig, poi (taro ground into a purple paste) and laulau (salted pork, chicken or fish, wrapped in a taro leaf and baked). A word about the luau, the traditional Hawaiian feast whose main dish is a roasted kalua pig: There are some excellent ones, and there are some real losers. In any case, one luau is usually plenty. The best luau we've found is at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. You might want to ask other visitors which ones they've attended and seek a recommendation.

Standard fare for most Hawaiians these days is the inexpensive plate lunch available from outdoor snack wagons and served in a paper box, just perfect for a casual outdoor meal. A plate lunch typically consists of a fried meat, chicken or seafood entree, macaroni salad, two scoops of white rice and sometimes a third starch. For a tastier and less filling local treat, try saimin (Japanese noodle soup), shave ice (snow cones) or manapua (Chinese steamed buns filled with red pork).

In restaurants, breakfast is generally served 7-9:30 am, lunch 11 am-2 pm and dinner 6-10 pm.

Honolulu has just about as many T-shirt sellers as grains of sand on Waikiki Beach. More authentic (and tastier) souvenirs include Kona coffee, macadamia nuts and candy. (A couple of hints: The quality of macadamia products varies greatly, and the few extra cents spent on the Mauna Loa or MacFarms brands will get you chocolates that don't taste like wax.) Fresh pineapple is also fair proof of your visit, but many other fruits (limes, mangoes, papayas) can't be taken out of state, so eat your fill while you're there.

Kitchen items and decorative objects crafted of Hawaiian woods such as monkeypod and the endangered koa (only naturally fallen trees can be harvested) make good gifts, as do unusual jewelry creations. Don't overlook record shops (for CDs of steel-guitar music), art galleries (for local art inspired by the islands' natural beauty) and bookstores (for Hawaii picture books and calendars).

You may find that shops in Waikiki are a little more expensive than those at more outlying shopping centers such as Ala Moana and Ward Warehouse, but there are good deals to be had even in Waikiki if you look for them. Hotel-shop prices will inevitably be higher than those of most other places. For some real bargains and all the shopping you can handle, head out to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet, held on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

Beach and water activities are Honolulu's biggest recreational draws. If you want to enjoy the sand without venturing away from the city, head for Prince Kuhio Beach at Waikiki or the beach park at Ala Moana. If you have time to make a longer trip, there are many more beaches to choose from around the island, most of which are excellent and surprisingly uncrowded. The laid-back North Shore is tranquil in summer but pounded by spectacular waves in the winter months. Watching expert surfers as they take on these monsters is great free entertainment. The beaches on the windward (east) coast are spectacular, with gentle waves -- good for boogie boards and, farther offshore, windsurfing. Kailua Beach Park is one of the gems on the windward side -- it's regularly judged among the top beaches in the U.S.

Beginner surfers can take a lesson at Waikiki. The coastal waters are also great for various boating options, including Jet-Skiing, parasailing, wakeboarding, water-skiing, kayaking, sailing and fishing. Back on dry land, there's golf and some good hiking routes at the Hawaii Nature Center.