Major Waikiki Beach Improvements Promised in New Hawaii Budget
Major renovation is coming to Hawaii's best-known tourist attraction, Waikiki Beach. The Hawaiian legislature passed a state budget that included around $13 million "for improvements to the crumbling Royal Hawaiian seawall and other man-made structures at the state's most visited beach."
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If you're planning a getaway to Oahu in late summer or early fall, you may want to be mindful of where you stay in Honolulu. Per an Associated Press report, the funding is "sufficient to shore up the Royal Hawaiian seawall between the Waikiki Sheraton and Royal Hawaiian hotels and return a seawall to Kuhio Beach."
(The Waikiki Sheraton recently moved from a Category 6 Marriott property to a Category 7, with off-peak rates starting at 50,000 points per night and peak rates at 70,000 points per night.)
Dolan Eversole of the University of Hawaii said this work "is the largest appropriation for beach improvements on Oahu in recent memory." It's unclear what impact the work will have on tourists, but it could get noisy on those areas of the beach.
Before planning your trip, be sure to check out our guide to getting to Hawaii using points and miles. If Waikiki Beach feels too crowded in general, we've got you covered with guides on other Hawaiian islands below.
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