Wine and cocktail bar
The Tchin Tchin Bar in Chinatown Honolulu is the rooftop wine and cocktail bar above Lucky Belly, with Japanese whiskeys, gins and Mediterranean small plates from a plant-walled terrace.
Signature drink: Natural wine and cocktails
Food: Mediterranean small plates
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. The rooftop terrace is open by 17:00; cocktails run alongside the by-the-glass list.
Beach bar
Duke's Waikiki on Kalakaua in Honolulu has been the Outrigger Waikiki beach bar since 1994, named for Duke Kahanamoku with the Hula Pie ice cream finish and oceanfront barefoot bar.
Signature drink: Hula Pie
Food: Local plates, fish
Tip: Daily 07:00 to 24:00. Live music 16:00 to 18:00 and 21:30 to midnight; Barefoot Bar walk-in only.
Cocktail bar
Bar Leather Apron in Downtown Honolulu is Justin and Tom Park's intimate cocktail bar on the TOPA Financial Center mezzanine, the 2023 James Beard winner for Outstanding Bar.
Signature drink: Old fashioned
Food: Small plates
Tip: Reservations highly recommended; walk-ins welcomed by availability. Open Wednesday to Saturday 17:00 to midnight.
Hotel cocktail bar
House Without a Key at the Halekulani in Waikiki Honolulu pours sunset cocktails under a 130-year-old kiawe tree with Hawaiian entertainment, the signature mai tai a Charlie Chan reference.
Signature drink: Mai Tai
Food: Hawaiian small plates
Tip: Sunset hula starts 17:30. Bar tables walk-in only; the Kawehewehe blue curacao cocktail is the new house move.
Jazz cocktail lounge
Lewers Lounge at the Halekulani in Waikiki Honolulu is the seven-nights-a-week jazz cocktail bar where Hawaiian-grown ingredients meet Chet Baker and Ella Fitzgerald named cocktails.
Signature drink: Smoke Rings (Sam Cooke)
Food: Lewers burger, poke chips
Tip: Live light jazz Tuesday to Saturday 20:30 to midnight; Sunday and Monday 20:00 to 22:30. Smart casual.
Tiki bar
La Mariana Sailing Club on Sand Island in Honolulu is the city's last original tiki bar, opened in 1957 with carved tikis from the Sheraton Kon Tiki Room and Trader Vic's pufferfish lamps.
Signature drink: Mai Tai
Food: Surf-and-turf, pupus
Tip: Tuesday to Saturday 11:00 to 20:00. Tucked behind warehouses on Sand Island; bring a sweater for the lagoon breeze.