Honolulu: Waikiki Trolley Holiday Lights & City Lights Stop

4.84

(203 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

We hopped onto the open-air Waikiki Trolley just as dusk started to settle in over Honolulu, and honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The breeze was warm — not that crisp December cold I grew up with — but somehow it still felt like Christmas. Our driver, Kaleo, had this way of mixing cheesy jokes with little stories about the city. At one point he pointed out a string of lights shaped like a giant shaka hand and just grinned, “That’s Shaka Santa. Only in Hawaii, yeah?” Everyone laughed. I tried to sing along when the Christmas songs came on but mostly just hummed because I didn’t know all the words.

The trolley wound its way downtown until we stopped outside Honolulu Hale for the City Lights display. You could smell sweet plumeria somewhere under all the pine and cinnamon from the food stalls nearby. We wandered past the 50-foot tree (it’s bigger than it looks in photos) and there were families everywhere — kids running around, couples taking selfies in front of Tutu Mele. I saw an older woman handing out little paper fans painted with poinsettias; she winked at me when I took one. It was loud but kind of peaceful at the same time, if that makes sense.

Afterwards, we ended up at Aloha Tower for their Holiday Station — games, prizes, and actual hot chocolate (which tasted a bit sweeter than back home). There were people from all over; you could hear Japanese and Tagalog mixed with English in the crowd. I didn’t win anything but got caught up chatting with another traveler about how weirdly right it felt to see Christmas lights under palm trees. The trolley ride back was quieter — everyone a little tired but smiling. I still think about those colors against the night sky sometimes.