Kapiʻolani Park

Kapiʻolani Park is a free, 200-acre city park at the Waikīkī end of Diamond Head, run by the City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation. King David Kalākaua dedicated it as a public park on June 11, 1877, and named it for his wife, Queen Kapiʻolani. It includes the Honolulu Zoo, the Waikīkī Shell and the Bandstand, and it is closed only from midnight to 5 a.m.

A Park Given by a King

The land was Royal Land in the ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī, at the southwest base of Lēʻahi. In 1876 a group that included King Kalākaua formed the Kapiʻolani Park Association to create a park and fairground on 200 acres, and the park was dedicated on Kamehameha Day, June 11, 1877, with a speech by the King and horse racing on the polo fields. After the overthrow of the Kingdom in 1893 the land passed to the Republic of Hawaiʻi. The law that set it aside made it a free public park and recreation ground, forbade selling or leasing it, and banned entrance fees. The city's Department of Parks and Recreation has looked after it since 1913.

The city calls it one of the largest public parks on Oʻahu and the second oldest. It was listed on the Hawaiʻi State Register of Historic Places in 1992.

What Is in the Park

• The Honolulu Zoo and the Waikīkī Shell, both part of the park and held with it under a Public Charitable Trust.
• The Kapiʻolani Park Bandstand, the fourth on the site, built in 2000 in a Hawaiian Victorian style. The Royal Hawaiian Band still plays here.
• The Louise Dillingham Memorial Fountain, given in 1967 and repaired in 2020.
• Indian banyan trees planted in 1922 and 1923, now protected as Exceptional Trees, and a double row of ironwoods from the park's original design.
• The Donald A. Andrews Diamond Head Tennis Center at the base of Lēʻahi, renamed in 2019 for the city's longtime tennis specialist.

Hours and Cost

Free, every day. The city's park closure list closes Kapiʻolani Regional Park from midnight to 5 a.m. Permitted events are posted on the city's Parks and Recreation Online System; event permits are handled at (808) 768-4624.

Kapiʻolani Park and the Diamond Head Hike

The park lies at the southwest base of Lēʻahi, on the Waikīkī side. The hike itself starts inside the crater, entered from Diamond Head Road on the inland side, and needs a state reservation for non-residents. See getting there from Waikīkī and reservations.