Honolulu: 20-Min Helicopter Tour, Doors Off & Diamond Head

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/11

Duration20m

GroupUp to 15

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Twenty minutes above Honolulu, from the crater rim to the harbor

You fly out of Honolulu International Airport for a 20-minute loop over Waikiki, Diamond Head, Punchbowl Crater, and Pearl Harbor, with views into the crater and down to the USS Arizona Memorial. Choose doors-off for unobstructed photos or doors-on for a standard window view. The tour includes a phone strap to secure your camera and parking fees, and you're back on the ground before the experience feels rushed.

20m

Step-by-step itinerary

Helicopter tour over Honolulu and Pearl Harbor

Take off from Honolulu International Airport
Fly over Honolulu Harbor and South Shore
View Ala Moana Center and Magic Island
See Waikiki beaches and ocean activities
Fly above Diamond Head crater
Pass over Punchbowl Crater and Military Cemetery
Fly to Pearl Harbor National Memorial
Pass USS Arizona Memorial and Battleship Missouri

The Experience

The rotor blades spin up and the ground drops away fast. Within seconds you're climbing past the Ala Moana Center and out over Honolulu Harbor, the city shrinking into a grid of streets and the ocean opening up in every direction. This 20-minute helicopter tour launches from Honolulu International Airport and takes you over the South Shore first — Waikiki's white sand packed with surfers and swimmers, the sailboats dotting the water, the whole scene that makes people say they're never leaving. Your phone strap keeps the camera secure (they include it), and if you booked doors-off, you're already leaning into the wind with nothing between you and the view.

Diamond Head comes up fast, and from the air it's a different thing entirely — you're looking straight down into the crater, watching hikers on the ridge below look up at you. The scale changes everything. After that you swing inland past Punchbowl Crater and the U.S. National Military Cemetery of the Pacific, then head west toward Pearl Harbor. The USS Arizona Memorial sits in the water where it went down, and the Battleship Missouri is moored nearby, both of them small and exact from above. The whole route takes you through the layers of Honolulu — the busy parts, the natural parts, the historical parts — and by the end you understand why the tour calls itself City By The Sea.

If you're doing doors-off, know that your seat might not be directly next to the open door — the operator balances weight and seat placement for safety. You'll need closed-toe shoes, a jacket or sweatshirt, and hair tied back; long pants are recommended. Only passengers weighing 80 pounds or more can fly doors-off in the Robinson R44 helicopter, or 100 pounds or more in the Airbus Astar. The doors-on option gives you the same route and the same 20 minutes, just with the window between you and the air.

What’s included

Helicopter flight departing Honolulu International Airport.
phone strap for camera security.
parking fees.
views of Waikiki Beach, Diamond Head crater, Punchbowl Crater, Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona Memorial, and Battleship Missouri.
choice of doors-on or doors-off seating.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleStroller friendlyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Rainbow Helicopters

Is this one for you?Book this if you want the main Honolulu landmarks in 20 minutes without arranging ground transport or timing a land-based tour — the helicopter does the routing and the timing for you, and you see everything from above in one flight.