50 free Honolulu trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Honolulu means 'sheltered harbour', and that harbour explains almost everything about the city: why Kamehameha I moved his court here, why Kamehameha III made it the kingdom's capital in 1845, why American warships kept calling, and why the US Navy still runs its Pacific Fleet from next door. This quiz covers the whole arc, from the first Polynesian settlement and Captain William Brown's 1794 arrival to the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani, annexation, the Pearl Harbor attack and statehood. It also gets out of the history books and onto the streets: Iolani Palace and its imprisoned queen, Waikiki's imported sand and the Ala Wai Canal, Diamond Head's misleading name, the Aloha Tower, Duke Kahanamoku's world records and 13 terms as sheriff, the Bishop Museum, TheBus, the Skyline rail line, the Pro Bowl years and Honolulu's odd distinctions as the most remote and most traffic-jammed big city in the United States. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Honolulu and its landmarks, and each question shows the sentence that supports it. Try our Hawaii quiz for the rest of the islands.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Honolulu sits on the southeast coast of which Hawaiian island?
Oahu
The city and county are consolidated, so the County of Honolulu covers the entire island.
Q 02What does the name Honolulu mean in Hawaiian?
Sheltered harbour
The old name for the downtown area was Kou; the Maori place name Whangaruru in New Zealand is a linguistic cousin.
Q 03Honolulu has been the capital of Hawaii since which year?
1845
Kamehameha III moved the seat of the kingdom there from Lahaina on Maui.
Q 04Kamehameha III moved the kingdom's capital to Honolulu from which town?
Lahaina
He and his successors then built St. Andrew's Cathedral, Iolani Palace and Aliiolani Hale to make it a modern capital.
Q 05Who was the first foreigner to sail into what is now Honolulu Harbor, in November 1794?
Captain William Brown
The port quickly became a stopover for merchant ships sailing between North America and Asia.
Q 06Kamehameha I moved his royal court to Oahu in 1804 after conquering the island in a battle fought where?
Nuuanu
The court first sat at Waikiki and moved to today's downtown in 1809; the capital briefly went back to Kailua-Kona in 1812.
Q 07The Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown in which year?
1893
Annexation by the United States followed five years later, in 1898.
Q 08The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that pushed the US into World War II happened on which date?
December 7, 1941
The harbour still hosts the United States Pacific Fleet, the world's largest naval command.
Q 09Which is the closest major city to Honolulu?
San Francisco
It is about 2,083 nautical miles away, making Honolulu the most remote major city in the United States.
Q 10The exact opposite point on Earth from Honolulu lies in which country?
Botswana
Almost every other US city's antipode is in the Indian Ocean.
Q 11Which building, completed in 1996, became the tallest in Honolulu?
First Hawaiian Center
At 438 feet it houses First Hawaiian Bank, the state's largest and oldest bank.
Q 12Ala Moana Center is billed as the world's largest what?
Open-air shopping centre
It has more than 300 tenants and is Hawaii's biggest mall.
Q 13The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific sits inside which Honolulu landform?
Punchbowl Crater
The crater fronts the Pauoa Valley, inland from downtown.
Q 21Which world-championship endurance event was first held in Honolulu?
Ironman triathlon
The very first Ironman was staged in the city, and the event doubles as the world championship.
Q 22Which NFL event was held in Honolulu almost every year from 1980 to 2016?
Pro Bowl
Only the 2010 and 2015 editions moved away, to Miami Gardens and Glendale.
Q 23Honolulu Little League teams won the Little League World Series in 2018 and which other year?
2022
In 2024 the city was also the official home of the Pokemon World Championships.
Q 14Honolulu's climate is officially classed as which type?
Hot semi-arid
It is warm enough to be tropical year-round but too dry, thanks to a rain-shadow effect; it averages 278 sunny days a year.
Q 15What was the highest temperature ever recorded in Honolulu?
95 °F
It happened twice, in September 1994 and August 2019; the record low is a mild 52 °F.
Q 16The last hurricane to hit near Honolulu was which storm, in 1992?
Iniki
It was a Category 4; hurricanes are rare in the city despite its tropical latitude.
Q 17Which ethnic group is the largest single Asian group in Honolulu?
Japanese
Asian Americans together make up over half the city's population, with Filipinos second and Chinese third.
Q 18The Bishop Museum holds the world's largest collection of what?
Hawaiiana and Pacific artifacts
It is Honolulu's largest museum and also holds the state's biggest natural history collection.
Q 19Founded in 1900, the Honolulu Symphony ranks as the second-oldest US orchestra west of what?
The Rocky Mountains
Its main venues include the Hawaii Theatre, the Blaisdell Concert Hall and the Waikiki Shell.
Q 20The Honolulu Museum of Art keeps its Islamic art collection at which estate?
Shangri La
The house was built by heiress Doris Duke, who also gave her name to the museum's cinema.
Q 24Honolulu's main airport is named after which US senator?
Daniel K. Inouye
The airport code HNL remains the principal aviation gateway to the state.
Q 25Honolulu's interstate highways carry which unusual letter prefix?
H
Interstate H-1, H-2, H-3 and H-201 serve the island even though none connect to any other state.
Q 26Honolulu once topped a US traffic-congestion ranking, beating which former record holder?
Los Angeles
An INRIX scorecard put Honolulu first in 2012; drivers were wasting more than 58 hours a year in jams, and 17% of households own no car at all.
Q 27What is the name of Honolulu's rail transit line whose first segment opened in June 2023?
Skyline
The 20-mile line will eventually link the city with the western suburbs; the first stretch runs from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium.
Q 28Honolulu's public bus system, twice named America's Best Transit System, is called what?
TheBus
It runs 107 routes with a fleet of 531 buses across the island.
Q 29What colour are Honolulu's fire trucks?
Yellow
The Honolulu Fire Department covers the whole of Oahu.
Q 30The University of Hawaii's main campus is in which Honolulu valley?
Manoa
The valley sits just inland of Waikiki and downtown, and also hosts the East-West Center.