Hawaii – General details

Hawaii – General Information

Hawaii is located approximately in the middle of the North Pacific, between 19°–28° north latitude and 154°–178° west longitude. There are eight larger islands and over 100 small islands. The land area is 16,700 km².

Today, the islands have around 1.4 million inhabitants (as of 2026) – slightly more than the previously mentioned 1.2 million. The proportion of the population with exclusively or predominantly Hawaiian roots is around 10%, a significantly larger part of the population states mixed Hawaiian or partly Hawaiian descent. The population density is around 84 inhabitants per km². English and Hawaiian are spoken (both are official languages of the state). Today, around 350,000 people live in the capital Honolulu (core city; the Honolulu metropolitan area has significantly more). The islands of Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Hawaii (Big Island) are still developed for tourism.

The islands are geologically still very young and were formed by volcanic eruptions; these continue to this day. On the southernmost and largest island of Hawaii, volcanic activity can still be observed directly – Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, had recently erupted repeatedly (including in 2023, 2024 and 2025), mostly without immediate danger to inhabited or tourist-used areas outside the barrier area in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The islands are characterized by volcanoes: strongly folded, green-covered mountains and waterfalls in the interior as well as steep cliffs on the coasts.

Economy: Hawaiians live mainly from tourism, the military and agriculture. The tourism sector had to reposition itself several times after the devastating Lahaina Fire in 2023 (see history section) and before that the Corona pandemic; since then, visitor numbers have levelled off at a level that was in some cases somewhat lower than in the 2010s, but still significant.

Politics: Hawaii is a state in the United States with a governor at the head of the executive branch and two legislative chambers (House of Representatives and Senate).

Currency: US Dollar.

Hawaii – Entry and Visa

German, Austrian and Swiss nationals can enter the USA for tourist and business stays of up to 90 days under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) without a classic visa. The prerequisite is prior online registration via the electronic entry system ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization), which should be applied for at least 72 hours before departure – preferably much earlier – via the official website esta.cbp.dhs.gov. The fee is 21 US dollars; an approved ESTA is usually valid for two years or until the passport expires and entitles you to multiple entries. Since Hawaii is treated like any other US state, no separate entry requirements apply here.

The use of unofficial third-party websites that charge excessive fees for the ESTA application is not recommended – the application should only be made through the official government website.

Hawaii – Climate

Hawaii has a tropical mild climate. Temperatures are balanced and range from 23 °C to 28 °C throughout the year.

The weather is mainly influenced by the trade winds, which come mainly from the northeast. As a result, the north and east coasts have abundant precipitation with extensive rainfall. The island areas in the south and west, on the other hand, are characterized by a dry, sunny climate. The largest amounts of precipitation fall on the island of Kauai (Mount Waiʻaleʻale) with around 1,140–1,200 cm per year – one of the rainiest places on earth.

On the high mountain slopes of the islands, the clouds are caught and rain down there. There are no distinct seasons in the archipelago; summer can be recognized by the fact that the sun is higher in the sky and it is a little warmer, with more consistent trade winds. In winter, the sun is a little lower and it is a few degrees cooler.

Travel time: The “best time to travel” for the Hawaiian archipelago is basically the whole year, with plenty of sun spread over all months. For wave surfers, winter is the best time to travel, as the waves are at their highest; for windsurfers, summer is more suitable, when the trade winds blow most reliably. Note the high season times between Christmas/New Year until mid-January, when many hotels are fully booked.

Hawaii – Fauna

Native land animals are bats and birds, the latter of which occur in rich biodiversity – at the same time, the number of endangered and already extinct native bird species continues to increase worryingly, Hawaii is considered one of the regions with the highest extinction rate of bird species in the world. The lava rocks are home to the Hawaiian goose (Nene), Hawaii’s state bird; its population has recovered from a few dozen animals to several thousand in recent decades thanks to intensive conservation programs. In addition, there are insects and other small animals; Hawaii is malaria-free. In addition, introduced animals such as horses, dogs, goats and cows are present.

The Pacific offers a disproportionately greater biodiversity of marine animals; in contrast to many European waters, the ecosystem around the Hawaiian Islands is still comparatively well preserved, even though coral bleaching is a growing problem due to rising sea temperatures. In the offshore coral reefs there are a variety of colorful reef fish such as butterfly fish and parrotfish, as well as the “Humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa” (Picassoiher fish), the state fish of Hawaii, known as the Hawaiian tongue twister. Various species of crabs dig their holes on the beaches, and sea anemones, starfish, sea cucumbers and numerous species of mussels can be found in the reefs. In deeper waters, many species of dolphins and whales can be observed.

In the winter months, thousands of humpback whales cavort off Hawaii’s coasts, most often between the islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai; corresponding whale-watching tours are offered. The humpback whales grow up to 15 m long, stay in these waters during the winter months to mate and migrate northwards at the end of winter; the following year, the females return to give birth to their young.

Other sea creatures include swordfish, marlins, groupers, sharks, barracudas, bonitos, tuna and mackerel. Sharks can also be found near the coast due to the lack of outer reefs; swimming far out into the open sea is therefore not without danger.

Threatened habitats: Hawaii’s ecosystems are close together in a very small area – bare steppes next to tropical rainforests, lava deserts next to sandy beaches with coral reefs. However, this paradise is still under severe threat: mass tourism, urban sprawl and development, industrial air and water pollution (especially pronounced in the Honolulu area), deforestation, depletion of natural water reserves and aggressive land development for monocultures, hotel complexes, resorts and golf courses continue to take considerable damage to native biodiversity.

Hawaii – Flora

Due to the isolated location of the Hawaiian Islands, a large number of endemic plant species have developed that occur exclusively here. The islands are therefore a treasure trove for botanists: around 2,400 higher plant species grow, most of them in hard-to-reach high valleys and cliff regions.

Probably the most common plant is the hibiscus with several thousand varieties; the yellow hibiscus is also the official state flower of Hawaii. In the calderas, the crater basins of the volcanoes, grows the silversword, one of the rarest plants on earth. The kukui tree (candle nut tree) is the state tree of Hawaii.

Many other plants were originally introduced by Polynesian settlers, including coconut palm, sugar cane, yams, taro, and breadfruit. Later white settlers brought pineapple, sugar cane, melons, citrus fruits, coffee, and macadamia nuts, among others, to cultivate.

As already described in the fauna section, the unique Hawaiian flora is also under considerable pressure due to mass tourism, urban sprawl, deforestation and aggressive land use.

Hawaii – History, Culture, Art

Hawaii belongs to the Polynesian culture and forms the so-called Polynesian Triangle with New Zealand and Easter Island. The language and culture of the Polynesian islands have their origins in Tonga and Samoa, from where the other islands of Polynesia were also settled. It was not until about 300 AD that the Hawaiian Islands were populated by the Marquesas; a second wave of settlement reached the islands around 1,000 AD from Tahiti and the Society Islands. The ancient Hawaiian culture dates from this time.

This settlement, over about 5,000 km of open sea with primitive but seaworthy double-hulled or outrigger canoes made of hollowed-out tree trunks, is considered one of the most remarkable seafaring achievements in human history. A replica of such a canoe, the “Hōkūleʻa”, can be seen in Honolulu Harbor; it was used on a successful voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti in 1976 to demonstrate the feasibility of these crossings.

The traditional social system was based on an aristocracy of chiefs: the “Aliʻi” formed the aristocratic class that ruled over the rest of the people, both as military leaders and as judges. The Hawaiians originally lived in large families. According to Polynesian mythology, the world was created by several gods, to whom sacrifices of food, animals and sometimes humans were offered; the sacrificial sites (“Heiaus”) built of lava stones are partly preserved to this day.

Hawaii was “discovered” by James Cook on January 18, 1778 – over 1,000 years after the arrival of the first Polynesian settlers. On his return a year later, Cook landed by chance during a festival in honor of the god Lono; the Hawaiians initially thought he was this deity. After his ships were damaged by a storm, Cook had to return; the mood changed, conflicts arose, and on February 14, 1779, Cook was killed in a scuffle.

For the indigenous people, the contact with the Europeans had fatal consequences: due to imported diseases, the population fell from an estimated 600,000 to only about 40,000 people within about 100 years.

Kamehameha I, war chief of the Big Island, united all the islands into one kingdom after long battles. After his death, his widow lifted central traditional taboos and opened the island kingdom to Western influences; shortly afterwards, the first Protestant missionaries (from 1820) went ashore, followed by Catholics, Mormons and other religious communities. On the one hand, Christianization led to the end of sometimes cruel old rites, but on the other hand, it also destroyed large parts of the original Hawaiian culture, as traditional dances and songs were long forbidden as immoral. A revival of these traditions did not begin until the development of tourism in the 20th century, even though today’s tourist hula performances often represent only a commercialized approach to the original art form.

In the 19th century, the Hawaiian Islands first became a port of call for large whaling fleets (until around 1870, then replaced by petroleum as lamp fuel), later the center of an important sugar cane industry, as a result of which around 400,000 contract workers came to the islands, mainly from China, Japan and the Philippines.

Around 1920, Japanese people made up about a quarter of Hawaii’s voting population. Growing tensions between the USA and the expanding Japanese Empire finally led to the surprise Japanese attack on the US naval base Pearl Harbor on Oahu in the early morning of December 7, 1941, in which, among other things, the battleship USS Arizona sank with over 1,000 men on board – the wreck still lies at the bottom today, the USS Arizona Memorial above it is one of the most visited historical sites in Hawaii. The attack marked the USA’s entry into the Second World War.

After a referendum in 1959, Hawaii was declared the 50th state of the USA; in the same year, the first jet plane landed, and the age of mass tourism began. In 1983, the population of the islands exceeded the million mark. Hurricane Iniki devastated the island of Kauai on September 12/13, 1992 with wind speeds of up to 280 km/h; reconstruction took several years. In the late 1990s, visitor numbers recovered to around 7 million tourists annually after a crisis-related slump.

Important current addition – the Lahaina Fire of August 8, 2023: On August 8, 2023, a wildfire event extremely fanned by strong, storm-related winds destroyed large parts of the historic city of Lahaina on Maui – for centuries the cultural and former kingdom center of Hawaii and one of the island’s most popular destinations. The fire claimed over 100 lives and is considered one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent US history; the historic core along the famous Front Street and Lahainaluna Street was almost completely destroyed. Reconstruction is still not complete three years later, as of 2026: Front Street was not reopened to vehicle traffic until August 2026, around a quarter of the destroyed homes and only a small part of the destroyed commercial space had been rebuilt by then. Some restaurants and shops on the northern edge of Lahaina (“North End”) have reopened, but the historic core area remains largely a construction and restricted area. Travelers who want to visit Lahaina should consciously behave respectfully on site, observe designated access rules and inform themselves in advance about the current opening status.

Hawaii – Food & Drink

The range of restaurants is as diverse as the mix of the population. You can find Chinese, Italian, Greek, French and typical American cuisine; an independent, clearly definable “Hawaiian cuisine” in the narrower sense is rather rare to find in everyday life, but is cultivated in upscale hotels and increasingly also in a growing number of ambitious restaurants of modern “Hawaiian Regional Cuisine”, which combines local ingredients with international influences.

In addition, all American fast food chains are represented. In addition to steaks, steakhouses also serve fish, lobster, salad buffets, pasta and Mexican-inspired dishes.

Following the American model, there are some rules of conduct that are not always self-evident for Europeans: When entering a restaurant, you wait until a table is assigned; you do not sit down with strangers without being asked. Smokers are assigned separate zones or smoking outside these zones is now prohibited practically everywhere. A tip of 18-20% today (the 15% that used to be common is now considered rather tight) is expected and is usually not included in the bill.

In normal restaurants, loose clothing and shorts are common, in upscale establishments long trousers and shirts are expected; for table reservations, it is advisable to ask about the dress code.

Americans also like to order cocktails with food. The Mai Tai, a typical Hawaiian cocktail, is available everywhere and should be tried at least once.

To the restaurant recommendations in Lahaina: The original article contained specific recommendations for several restaurants in the historic center of Lahaina (including Front Street and Lahainaluna Street). Since this area was almost completely destroyed in the fire of August 2023 and reconstruction is still ongoing, these individual recommendations have been removed. For up-to-date, reliable restaurant recommendations in West Maui, it is advisable to do up-to-date research, as the situation on site – which establishments have reopened, at which address and with which opening hours – continues to change regularly.

Note: All information on population figures, the state of reconstruction of Lahaina and entry requirements is subject to change and has been researched to the best of our knowledge as of August 2026. For up-to-date, binding information on ESTA/entry and visiting West Maui, it is recommended to take a look at esta.cbp.dhs.gov and the official pages of the Maui County Reconstruction Authority before traveling.