Royal Hawaiian Hotel

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel—known universally as the Pink Palace of the Pacific—has graced the center of Waikiki Beach since its opening in 1927, making it one of Hawaii's oldest operating luxury hotels and a defining icon of Hawaiian tourism history. The hotel stands at 2259 Kalakaua Avenue in Honolulu, Oahu, on a prime stretch of Waikiki Beach that was once the site of the royal family's summer estate before the hotel was constructed by the Matson Navigation Company for their luxury ocean liner passengers. Honolulu International Airport is approximately 8 miles away. The original 1927 Moorish-Spanish building remains fully intact—a six-story pink stucco structure with scalloped archways, bougainvillea-draped courtyards, and period architecture that feels wholly distinct from the glass tower hotels surrounding it. A modern tower added in the 1960s provides additional room inventory. Combined, the property offers 528 rooms across both wings, with categories ranging from Standard rooms to oceanfront suites. Historical rooms in the original building retain their period character with lower ceilings and smaller footprints but considerably more charm than the tower rooms. The Mai Tai Bar is the hotel's most celebrated feature—a beachside institution credited with inventing the modern Hawaiian mai tai and serving tropical cocktails beneath thatched umbrellas on the beach since the 1950s. Azure restaurant delivers Pacific Rim cuisine in an open-air setting directly above the sand. A dedicated beach section with attendants and reserved lounge chairs fronts one of the best-positioned stretches of central Waikiki Beach. The Abhasa Spa occupies a tropical garden setting offering Hawaiian and Asian treatments. Historical photographs documenting the property's celebrated guest list—including every sitting US president since Franklin D. Roosevelt—line the corridors of the original wing.