Iolani Palace

The palace tour was great, not too long and awesome history. The furniture, costumes and restoration are awesome. I think you always need to reserve in advance.

1. It’s in the late 19^th century, and if you had your choice of where to be imprisoned for two years under house arrest, which place would it be? Read on.
2. We took the #19 bus from the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki to the Hawaii State building, with the Iolani Palace behind the building. 45 minutes waiting for the bus and 30 minutes standing in the bus aisle, when we could have walked in 45 minutes!
3. The main entrance is closed to vehicle traffic due to construction –duh, it’s Honolulu and construction is everywhere! We saunter through by foot to the barracks on the side of the palace.
4. The barracks look like European castles, with battlements on the roof, complete with rectangular gaps or indentations or for shooting arrows at besieging attackers!
5. On site parking lot between the palace and the state building. Sign says parking for official state business only. On this Saturday at 11am, the lot is full of white sedans –apparently state of Hawaii government cars parked for the weekend. Monday –Saturday, 6am to 6pm, $ 1 per hour, 4 hours maximum. Coin machine for getting your parking permit. Got to have a lot of quarters!
6. Towed vehicles may be recovered at Sand Island, some 5 miles away. Welcome to paradise! Well at least there are ATM machines at banks a few blocks away. Better bring lots of cash!
7. $ 21.75 for the 1 hour guided tour and $ 14.75 for the audio tour. You got to pay for the millions in rebuilding costs expended during the 1960s to restore this palace to its former glory. How about entering the building, but with no tour? That’s what the guards are here for!
8. We all have to wear shoe covers, in our guided group, blue for the smaller shoe sizes and pink for the larger shoe sizes. My size 7.5 shoes fits a blue, as does all the other ladies in the group. The other adult male has large feet and gets pink shoe covers –probably the only time he wore pink on his feet in all his life!
9. You got to watch your kids here. Don’t push on that door window! Crack it and it’s $ 15,000 to replace that crystal pane! Got to get a second mortgage on the house!
10. Paintings of all the Hawaiian royalty who lived here in the 1800s, and statesmen hanging on the walls of the first floor. These statesmen arranged the annexation of the islands by foreign powers. Similar to the black and whites you see at the Post Office!
11.Magnificent gold patterned carpeted staircase, rebuilt out of expensive Hawaiian Kou wood –your tax dollars at work! Roped off –guards make sure you don’t step on it even with your shoe covers.
12. We take the elevator up to the top floor, for invited guests of the royalty. Not sure what happens in a fire? We would follow the guards, going over the ropes, taking the forbidden royal staircase down!
13. Dining room, with elegant European crystal and silverware. The royal chair twice as tall and wide as any of the other chairs, in the middle of the table. The King wanted to make sure he heard all the gossip around the table, as newspapers took 7 days to arrive from California.
14. Carved Chinese furniture throughout the rooms. This was the highest status symbol in the late 19^th century, and the King wasn’t about to miss out. .
15. Poker table in the side room next to the bedroom. The King was an avid poker player, and the guest who wanted an invitation back to the palace knew when to ease off and let royalty win.
16. Spit bowl next to the King’s desk with the royal wooden stamp. It looked like a plain ceramic bowl, so wasn’t sure if it was for today’s Chinese born visitors to the museum!
17. Elephant tusks in the living room. I guess the feds made an exception and allowed royalty to keep these endangered items.
18. Amazing carpeted ball room, multiple chandeliers, with bomb looking sitting chairs on the sidelines! During dances, the carpets would be rolled up, and the windows pushed upwards toward the cathedral ceiling, letting in the breeze.
19. The last queen of Hawaii was placed under house arrest for the last two years of her life in the palace in the late 19^th century.
20. Images of the palace appeared on the original Hawaii five –0 TV series, implying this is where the good guys had their headquarters in their fight against crime!
21. Every Friday at noon, the Royal Hawaiian band performs in front of the palace, but our plane arrived Friday at 1pm of course!
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Tour guide was very knowledgable but I would have liked to get to explore on my own a little bit more. Some of the staff were rude. I liked the tour over all but think it could have been condensed to half the time we spent on it.

I have to say I wasn’t expecting much from visiting Iolani Palace but I am totally glad I did, it’s worth it.
Hawaii is full of such rich culture, life, and history. You learn so much through this self guided tour. It is an audio tour that guides you throughout the prestigious palace. There were a few times my gapping mouth would not close, especially after viewing the red royal Room– holy crap it’s gorgeous!
One thing I took away from visiting Iolani Palace was that native Hawaiians want to known for their rich culture, not for the hula dancing and luaus. There is so much more to the Hawaiian culture– for instance Iolani Palace had electricity before the White House– pretty cool!
Overall I was extremely impressed with the integrity of the palace and how immaculate everything looks.
The tour takes about a hour max. Please be mindful and use no flash photography, no videos, and wear the nifty looking shoe covers provided by the staff. FYI: restrooms located in the basement, which is accessible outside near the front entrance.

A very beautiful and solem visit. I learned alot! I got a whole new respect for Hawaii history. I’d like to give 5 stars but I think the audio tour is over priced, the employees are a little rude about touching stuff, and there is ZERO parking that I cd see. Make sure u c the basement gallery.

We came here about an hour before closing. We missed the guided tour but they give you headphones to take a self guided tour. I think I preferred being able to go at my own pace and spend time in the areas that were most interesting to me.
Before entering you will have to put on shoe covers to help preserve the interior. Everyone we encountered was very friendly and parking was easy once we realized there was parking in a lot next to the palace.
It was fascinating to learn about the royal family that lived on the island and to see their home. I learned a lot and it was absolutely worth going. I definitely recommend taking a break from the sun and beaches to visit Iolani Palace. 4 stars.

We were very disappointed the day we were there was Sunday and the palace was closed. The grounds were open however, so we were able to get a closeup look and walk the beautiful grounds which we really enjoyed. Our schedule didn’t permit us to come back the next day so we will put it on our list for the next visit to be on a week day.

Beautiful palace and great and sad history. Felt like i got to know both of the last queens of Hawaii.

A visually detailed history about the last monarchy in the Hawaiian Islands is a need to know for all locals, mainlanders and travelers. There are many original pieces in pristine condition. What I found a real jewel is Queen Lili’uokalani’s quilt in the «prison» room on the second-​floor. Here is the heart of the tour. There was not much enthusiasm by our tour guide about this piece but when I read on line the history and meaning of this quilt and the struggle that happen In protecting Hawaii history comes alive as revealed in the intense stitch work of this quilt.
Hopefully you will get an enthusiastic tour guide that can share this. All the other support staff was present, kind and personable. Mahalo

Beautiful museum and historical building with immaculately maintained rooms, exterior and gardens/​grounds. A lot of rich history that is sadly not taught in mainland US schools. An audio tour guide brings more information than you can possibly soak in. You can spend easily one hour or more here.

This was a must stop for Oahu for people who want to learn about the culture and history of Hawaii.
We’re really glad we came here. This stop allowed us to really understand the history of Hawaii and Hawaiian royalty. If you’re going to a luau it won’t make sense until you head to this tour first; if you’re unaware of the Hawaiian history.
It helps to get a sense how the Royal Hawaiians lived their life.
The audio tour is great.
If you need to get here; get here by bus. We took the 2 bus from our hotel from Waikiki. There’s a stop specifically for iolani palace so one wouldn’t miss it.
Also, don’t touch anything. They explicitly tell you not to touch anything. This is not a tour for children that can’t keep their hands to selves. This is a really old building and i can understand their concern to keep things pristine. A lot of the donors and visitors have contributed to a lot of hard work to keep things the way they are. As the Hawaiian way, let’s preserve things so future generations can enjoy this as well.
As for the audio tour, be sure to click on the hear more. Follow at your own pace. Don’t bother following with the group; as we didn’t bother.
Overall, the tour took us an hour including the basement. The basement isn’t too much.
P. S. you get tickets at the Hale Koa building. That’s the castle like building that’s beside the Palace. If you’re facing the building. It’s the building on the left.

With the morning free before our flight home, my wife and I stopped in for a quick visit. The palace is located downtown next to the State Capitol. Parking is the challenge for your visit if you are arriving by car. There are a handful of metered spots on S King St in front and they have their own small parking lot in back with about 20 metered spots. To reach their parking lot, drive by the palace on S King and take the first driveway on the left. We struggled with the maze of one way and dead end streets in the area before scoring a spot several blocks away.
On this particular morning only self guided audio tours were available for around $ 15 and depart every 20 minutes. Buy the tickets in the smaller building with a cross on it next to the palace. We had about a 30 minute wait before we could go in. They have a good historic video that runs 16 minutes across the courtyard from the ticket office.
You don covers for your shoes to protect the rugs and flooring before starting your tour. You are also given headphones and what looked like an iPod in a larger case for the guide app. The guide was very easy to operate and well done in terms of content and pictures. Once through the palace door, you are on your own to complete the 18 stops of the tour. It’s easy to skip or speed through rooms less interesting and opportunities to learn more at most every stop.
My favorite rooms were the grand hallway, music room and King’s bedroom. The music room in particular has a wonderful yellow motif that looks stunning. Many of the rooms have very beautiful rugs so don’t forget to look down. After touring the first and second floor, you turn in your shoe covers and audio guide and have the option of going down some outside stairs to the basement. Go down there to see the royal jewelry but not much else of interest.
We were through everything on our tour in about an hour. Even including the 30 minutes upfront buying tickets and waiting, we still had some time on our parking meter with a two hour limit. Be careful with rush hour as they start towing cars on the main street at 315pm and good luck finding a parking spot.

I’m so glad we visited the Iolani Palace.
There is a parking lot at the Palace and metered street parking. Just look out for the signs around the area if you are parking along the street. You can purchase Guided Tours and Self-​Led Audio Tours. The pre-​recorded audio tour is 45 minutes long and is available in English, French, German, Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Spanish. Tours enter the Palace every 10 minutes.
We decided to go on the guided tour and learned so much. Guided Tours enter the Palace every 15 minutes. Prior to entering the Palace, they give you shoe covers to place over your shoes. This way the Palace floors are well kept. Our tour guide Elaine was excellent! She was welcoming, kind, friendly, and incredibly knowledgeable. We were led through the first floor state rooms and second floor private quarters. Elaine taught us about the history of the furnishings and Royal residents. The tour ends in the basement, where you will be free to view the gallery exhibits on your own.
Guided Tours Admission Prices:
Adult: $ 21.75
Child (ages 5 – 12): $ 6
Child (ages 0 – 4): not permitted
Group (10 or more), four weeks advance notice required: $ 16.75 per guest
*Parents, please note that children under the age of 4 are not allowed in the guided tours.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but Iolani Palace has always been one of those places that I’ve been around so much, but never actually done the actual tour. Well, that’s finally changed!
We parked at a metered spot in the garage under the Capitol building, and walked next door to the Palace. When we tried to buy tour tickets at the Iolani Barracks, it turned out we had to wait over an hour before our group could go in – I wish we’d called ahead or something! So we paid the $ 15pp and wandered around and waited until it was our time.
TIP: While you are waiting, you can check out the basement galleries, or walk across the street to the Ali’Iolani Hale and take some pictures with King Kamehameha, or check out the Judiciary History Center inside.
When it’s finally time for the tour, you get to put on little booties over your shoes and they give you an iPod that runs their audio-​tour app, and you make your way through the Palace. NOTE: they don’t allow you to bring strollers inside, to keep the floors clean, but they can provide a basic stroller that only stays inside the Palace.

One of the few remaining historical landmarks in downtown Honolulu, ‘Iolani Palace is a wonderful place to visit. The grounds are very large, lush, and green. The property connects to the State Capitol building and is the center of the government complex with Honolulu Hale, Kawaiaha’o Church, the Old Territorial Office Building, Post Office, and Federal Building all nearby.
During the day, the grounds are open to the public. The bandstand often hosts free concerts from the Royal Hawaiian Band. There are benches and plenty of shady spots to have a take-​out lunch or rest from touring.
The tour of the building is also worth doing to see how the later Hawaiian royals lived. The guard building offers information on the tours and a gift shop.

On our last day in Hawaii, we needed a little history. They do a good job of pacing the tours so it never felt crowded — though we were there on a Monday so it may be more so on the weekends. The audio tour was customizable, so you could listen to more or less about a given room, though I was probably more interested in the time period and the imperialist coup than about the furniture. The basement gives a little more history (mostly limited to after the consolidation of power amongst the islands) and shows off the china and kitchen areas which were very cool. I came away wanting to learn more! which might be preferable to feeling like you’ve had your fill.
The staff were all very friendly and pleasant. A lovely way to spend our final hours in paradise.

I would sure like this little abode as my summer vacation home. What great taste King kamehameha had.
The only palace in the United States is available for tour for $ 20. As a person who loves historical homes and castles, this palace has been beautifully restored considering the misuse of this elegant structure.
Pick up your tickets in the guard house in the back yard and watch a brief movie that puts the history of the Hawaiian kings and queens and the palace into perspective. Then go the back door of the palace to meet your guide and get a pair of booties to wear on the tour. You will see both floors and the basement. The wood and plastering restoration was truly some labor of love. And finding so many of the original furniture and personal possessions and returning to the palace is incredible.
Make sure to spend some extra time in the basement and look at the old pictures of the palace in its hay day. And enjoy the stunning jewelry once wore by the monarchy.
When finished enjoy a stroll around the grounds, there is more history outside the palace.

The best way to see the main rooms and upper floor of the Palace is to go on a docent guided tour (which costs about $ 21.50 for adults, $ 5 for children over 5). It is a good idea to make reservations ahead of time because the tours can get booked up quickly. The knowledgeable docents provide a great history and context that adds a certain sadness to the beautiful setting. You can also do a self-​guided audio tour for cheaper ($ 14.50 per person). Gallery tours of the basement, which features the compound’s kitchen, the Chamberlain’s office, and a number of displays of royal regalia and jewelry, are self-​guided and cost $ 7.50 for admission. I paid $ 14.50 for both «basement» & «top floor» with Kamai’na. They do allow you to take pictures in the palace, so that was a bonus, because many of the other historical sites do not.
It was an easy tour, interesting to learn about the history of the monarchy and how the palace was originally set up as a compound.
Periodically open on Sundays for Kama’aina Sunday.
The only downside is there is no free brochure that contains a map of the floor plans.
USEFUL:
**Parking is located in a tiny lot adjacent to the palace.
**There is also metered parking a few blocks away.
**It’s $ 14.50 (Kamai’na or Military) per adult for the palace and additional $ 7.50 for the basement gallery exhibits.
**Children 4 and under allowed only in the Basement Gallery (in the company of an adult).
**Prices:
Guided tour $ 22 adults
$ 6 children 5 – 12
Audio tour $ 15 adults
$ 6 children 5 – 12
Gallery tour $ 7.50 adults
$ 3 children 5 – 12
**Hours:
Monday to Saturday: 9am to 4pm
The Palace is open from Monday through Saturday, with hours varying depending upon the type of tour you take. The Palace is closed on Sunday except for noted Kama’aina Sundays. It is also closed on the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Indepedence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

Felt like we passed by the palace on a daily basis during our vacation since nearly every bus route to Waikiki seems to pass right in front. We came to the palace specifically though on 2 separate days — the 1^st time for a quick free tour of the inside and another for a walking «tour» where there were reenactments to document the fall of the monarchy in Hawaii.
The palace is absolutely beautiful and although our free tour of the inside was only a peek at a couple rooms and the basement, it was a very nice glimpse of how Hawaiian royalty lived. I thought it was pretty cool that we got to see the thrones and crowns, and the fact that we were able to take pictures as long as they were without flash.
We didn’t have time on our trip for a full tour inside, so I will definitely be looking forward to doing so on our next visit to Oahu!

We came for Mai Poina, a walking tour of the Hawaiian Monarchy’s Overthrow. The tour retraced 4 pivotal days leading up to and including the overthrow. There were 6 tour stops with actors providing a living historical account of native Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese and European immigrants. The portrayals presented the perspectives of each race and how the overthrow negatively impacted them. One of the stops even included Queen Lilioukalani.
Every August 31^st, Onipa’a celebrates Queen Lilioukalani’s birthday. Mai Poina follows Onipa’a and is a trilogy of Hawaiian history. The Overthrow starts the historical drama. Next tours to follow will be The Annexation Debate and Trial of A Queen.
Watch for and go to this educational and emotional journey presented by a The Hawaii Ponoi Coalition.