Iolani Palace, Honolulu

at least 3 hour tour of museum including the basement.was somewhat expensive.they have a website that will explain everything.great history.i cried at the end because of what happened to the monarchy.

This is a can't miss destination in Honolulu. The grounds and building are beautiful (even though you can't take pics inside). The staff is friendly and seem to really enjoy their jobs! Many of the furnishings are original!

This place gave u a feel of old time culture blended with new . This place was amazing from the people giving you protective shoe wear outside. To the tour guide, he was great comical and not boring. Even my 16 year old bro was interested in this palace.

We enjoyed touring this palace of Hawaiian royalty and learning about them and that period of Hawaiian history. Beautiful building and grounds. It only takes about two hours to do it all, and it was easy to take the bus from our Waikiki hotel. Also visit the small church built of coral in the same area.

I loved 'Iolani Palace because I got to see where Hawaii's greatest Kings and Queens once lived. I learned a lot more about King Kalakaua and the things he loved to do.

Lots of history here, the tour was great. A must visit. The tour doesn't take too long, so it's not an all day event. Takes about 1 1/2 hours.

beautiful palace, i agree with what others are saying. i opted for the audio only self guided tour since you have to at least have purchased that package in order to actually go inside the palace. they give you a wand with a speaker and you go walking around to each room and it plays sound clips for each room. i found the audio clips boring after the first couple minutes and they seemed to go on forever, after i have lost interest in the room i'm in and want to move to another room. i think it would've been a better experience if i had gone for the guided (but more expensive) tour. or if there had been some signs to read instead of listening to a slow audio tour that you can't fast forward through.

the tour guides knew a lot of information on the palace and made the tour fun. I learned what happened a long time ago about things that happened on the island of oahu. I think many tourists should go to learn more about historical thigs.

I purposely went on a Friday to take advantage of the noon time presentation by the Royal Hawaiian Band. They were fantastic! The atmosphere is so relaxing on the grounds. The Palace itself is extrodinary, with all the exquisite woodwork and design. Having done some reading on the history of Hawaii already, I was able to fully enjoy the tour information and details surrounding the life and times of the King and Queen. I'm not a huge museum fan, but this is as they say "A Must See!". True this may not be suitable for the younger ones; but pre-teen on up should find it well worth the time.

Iolani Palace is beautiful! We toured around Honolulu and thought that our tour of the palace would be a nice stop. We were certainly amazed at how well-kept, restored and furbished the palace was with it's amazing furnishings...to it's gold-gilded crown moldings! Our tour guide was very informative and spoke loudly so all (even those in the back of the group) could hear her. She was the best tour guide I have ever had on any tour I have been on. And I have been on private tours of the White House in Washington DC. The Royal Princess of Hawaii was visiting the palace at the same time our tour was going on. Her name is: Abigail Kawanakoa who is a direct descendant of King King Kaumuali�i---the last King of Kauai before King Kamehameha I took over all the Hawaiian Islands and merged them under his soul rule. Princes Abigail Kawanakoa was at 'Iolani Palace when we went for our tour. Our tour guide told us she was the royal princess....the Princess was taking a few of her friends around the palace showing them everything. In fact...she just seemed like a regular person...that at first we thought was a tour guide herself for a small-personal tour until our own tour guide told us otherwise. My girlfriend (who we went with and her husband to Hawaii) and I were in the palace shop buying some souveniours..the 'Royal Princess' was in front of us with her friends buying a ton of stuff. Anyhow she was really fascinating to listen to as she told about the history of the Hawaiian language & their music to her friends as they checked their stuff out. It did take quite a while for them to finish getting their purchases, about 10 mins. but it really didn't bother us cause we were so interested in what she was talking about standing behind her..it was hard not to listen. Anyhow, she turned to us and apologized for taking so long with her purchases and we said no problem please take your time. Both my friend and I were just too fascinated by all the info she was telling her friends that she could've taken even longer! So when she was about to leave she smiled and turned to us and said thank you for being so patient and to have a great visit in Oahu. Then as we began to pay for our items, the sales clerk informed us (as she handed us each a beautiful ticket box with a picture of the palace on it) that she was the 'Royal Princess' and wanted both of us to have a gift (the boxes) as appreciation for our patience. Well, needless to say...we were floored that the Princess was so kind in giving us such a lovely gift. We asked if the sales clerk could please write down her name (and who she was was descendant from) on a piece of paper..because no way could we remember her name or how it was spelled. Needless to say, after meeting the 'Royal Princess' our tour of Ionlani Palace was more than complete. I would recommend every visitor to tour the palace. There are many wonderful places to see and tour in Honolulu, but to understand and experience what the native people lived through & felt before & during the annexation into the USA, a tour of the palace is a MUST. MonaK