Panorama taken from the main road through Hale'iwa, the main tourist town on the North Shore of Oahu. The road is lined with restaurants, shops, cafes and art galleries. This picture was taken at the southern end of the town outside a gallery specializing in surfing art.

Haleiwa - Oahu visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Haleiwa' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Hawaii.

Hale'iwa, on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii, grew up around the Haeliwa hotel built by Benjamin Dillingham, a local plantation owner, in 1898. 'Haleiwa', meaning 'House of the Firebird', and Dillingham sought to establish a luxury hotel at the end of the railway line he had built linking Haleiwa with Honolulu as a means of attracting visitors and income. This proved successful, and as other buildings sprung up around the hotel, eventually the budding town took on it's name.

Today the Haleiwa Hotel and railway have vanished. Haleiwa still retains a relaxed air, far removed from the frenzy of Waikiki, and is established as the gateway to surfing on the North Shore. The main road is lined with cafes, galleries and craft shops. Nothing is built high and some historical buildings, like the Queen Lili'uokalani Church, still remain.

Geographically, Hale'iwa is built up next to Waialua Bay at the mouth of the Anahulu River. This is crossed by Rainbow Bridge, a well known local landmark. Waialua Bay houses the Haleiwa Boat Harbor and around it are both Hale'iwa Beach Park and Haleiwa Ali'i Beach Park, one of the most popular surfing beaches on Oahu. It is not uncommon to find seals on the beaches.

At Haleiwa the roads fork. Most of the traffic heads east along the North Shore for the surfing beaches like Banzai Beach and the Banzai Pipeline, Sunset Beach and Laniakea Beach. In fact there is more than one beach per mile along the North Shore, many offering good surfing. Also to the east is Waimea Bay Beach Park and the Adventure Park in Waimea Valley. To the west the road passes Kaiaka State Recreation Area next to Kaiaka Bay and then continues past Mokuleia Beach ending up at Kaena Point State Park.

To get to Haleiwa from Honolulu take the H1 west and then, past Pearl City, the H2 north to Wahiawa. From here continue north on the 99 ( Kamehameha Hwy). This road bypasses Haleiwa, to pass through it turn onto the 83 just south of the town. Traffic through Haleiwa is often very slow due to the number of tourists on the streets. Haleiwa is about 32 miles from the center of Honolulu.