There’s a wealth of great street art in Honolulu, Hawaii, but nowhere more so than in the Arts District. Located just past the Ala Moana area, it’s easily accessible, and provides a welcome break from the Waikiki crowds.
Here’s some of my favorite works, and how to plan your own Honolulu street art walking tour.
Self-Guided Honolulu Street Art Walking Tour
This walking tour will take about 30 minutes to complete at an easy pace. It can be taken as a driving tour, but I do recommend walking if you can–all the incredible details go by too fast when driving!
Start at the SALT At Our Kaka’ako outdoor shopping complex, and fuel up beforehand at local coffee shop Arvo (I can vouch for the cold brew and ube butter mochi!). There’s a reasonably priced pay parking lot in front of the complex, at Ala Moana Boulevard and Coral Street.
Note that you shouldn’t use this lot if you don’t plan on patronizing any of the businesses. Just skip ahead and look for street parking starting near the Fisher Building on Pohukaina Street.
From the start point at Arvo Cafe’s outdoor seating area, you’ll already be seeing art on surrounding buildings!
Head under the covered breezeway opposite Arvo, which sports several murals, and out to Keawe Street. I’ll continue walking you through the steps and sharing some of my favorite murals, but you can see the full walking tour outlined on the map below:
This highlighted yellow route is a short walking tour that goes past the highest concentration of street art, but you will do a little backtracking as you explore streets inside the route. In particular, you shouldn’t miss Cooke Street.
At the end of the breezeway opposite Arvo, you’ll take a right on Keawe Street, and walk a block and a half to Pohukaina Street, where you’ll turn right to check out the art at Fisher Hawaii (an office supply store with an improbably whimsical loading dock).
Continuing down Pohukaina Street, you’ll move into the highest concentration of murals, on several buildings in between Cooke and Koula Street.
I do recommend deviating off the highlighted route here to see the huge number of murals around Cooke Street. However, be sure to walk the extra block past Cooke, as there’s plenty to see at Koula and Auahi.
If you’ve stayed on (or returned to) Pohukaina, take a right onto Koula Street, and follow it down to Ala Moana Boulevard.
Whether you’re coming down Cooke or Koula, you’ll want to take a right onto Ala Moana Boulevard, to head back up to the SALT At Our Kaka’ako parking lot on Ala Moana and Coral Street.
As you’re heading back along Ala Moana, be sure to peer down the side streets. Depending on the route you’ve taken, you might miss some of the cool murals on the Ala Moana end of Koula and Cooke Streets, like this large mural on Koula:
This tour covers some of the largest concentrations of street art, but is by no means exhaustive.
You’ll find an additional concentration of murals on streets 3-6 blocks from this walking route, as well as randomly hidden gems in the area.
So consider devoting more time to exploring, or cruising the neighborhood in a car if you have one.
To see the other area with a high concentration of murals, drive or walk down to Ward Avenue, and explore the blocks in between Illaniwai Street and Waimanu Street:
If you choose to drive over to Ward Avenue, it won’t take long to explore the area I’ve circled on the map. However, if you’re walking, stick closer to the Ward Avenue end of the area, as there are fewer murals the closer you get to Cooke in this area.
Below are a couple more photos of street art on the walking tour, and there’s so much more not pictured here. Enjoy exploring Honolulu’s street art!
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