If you have a big day of exploring the island or playing in the waves of Waikiki Beach planned, you’re going to want to start your day with a yummy breakfast. 

Here are some of my favorite places for breakfast in Waikiki and Honolulu (plus places that are still on my list to try):

Best Breakfast in Waikiki

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Heavenly Island Lifestyle

Located in the bottom of the Shoreline Hotel, this place is all about super fresh and local ingredients. The kalua pork eggs benedict were INCREDIBLE and I will 100% go back for happy hour and dinner. 

Koko Head Café

Located just outside of Waikiki in the Kaimuki neighborhood of Honolulu, this spot is more popular with locals than tourists. Koko Head Cafe serves a classic American diner style brunch with a Hawaiian twist…think local style but make it trendy/innovate/insta cool. 

With loads of fancy variations on the island classics, and a counter where you can watch all the magic happen, this places is a foodie’s dream. 

I didn’t get to try their famous cornflake French toast, but their Chicky & Eggs skillet and daily special bread pudding were divine so I’ll definitely be back. 

This place is a little far from Waikiki just to venture out and back for breakfast (unless it’s a foodie trip), but if you’ve got a car and you’re leaving Waikiki to head out somewhere around Honolulu or the south side for the day, it would be a great time to come here. 

Also, they now have covered patio seating!

Hau Tree

Known for their sunset dinner and craft cocktail scene, I actually love this spot for brunch. Close to Diamond Head, it’s at the (much!) less hectic end of Waikiki. 

It’s about a 15 minute walk from the heart of Waikiki and totally worth it! 

They have several different versions of eggs Benedict but the fried chicken sandwich was a surprising favorite. 

This is about as close as you’ll come to feet in the sand dining on Waikiki, and the hotel has the cutest vibe.

Basalt

Basalt draws in-the-know locals in for brunch and dinner. Located inside the Duke’s Lane market/food hall, I was beyond impressed with their brunch and can’t wait to go back for dinner/happy hour. 

The charcoal pancakes were amazing with the strawberry and guava puree sauce. But I thought the real star was the pork belly fried rice. I could’ve eaten an entire bowl full of the bacon fried rice.

Kona Coffee Purveyors

What’s better than Kona coffee and French pastries? Don’t miss this spot on the street level of the International Marketplace. The line gets long, but it moves fast.

EVERYTHING is good here.

Sweet E’s

Regularly rated as the #1 breakfast spot in Honolulu, this is a local neighborhood style spot that honestly will probably remind you of a place you know wherever you’re from. It’s a little far from the main hub of Waikiki just to pop over for breakfast, but the location is a great spot for a post Diamond Head hike breakfast. It’s all good but they’re especially well known for their stuffed french toast and boy is it decadent!

***Want to save major $$$ on your trip to Hawaii? I get asked ALL the time how I’m able to travel so often to Hawaii and stay at really nice resorts. Well, my favorite travel hack is cashing in points to score free airfare and free nights at some of Hawaii’s most high end resorts. Read my full guide on the exact system I use to max out credit card rewards here. Seriously, it’s going to save you soooo much money. 

Leonard’s Bakery

If you’ve done any research about foodie must dos on Oahu, you’ve heard mention of Leonard’s. Famous for their malasadas, a Portuguese fried donut, Leonard’s has been attracting the crowds since the 1950s. 

It’s not uncommon to find a line around the block at Leonard’s, but it usually moves quickly. And here’s the good thing about the line…it means they’re making a TON of malasadas and that means that they’re almost always hot, fresh out of the oven. 

Now, are they really the best in Hawaii? I couldn’t say for sure as I haven’t been EVERYWHERE (I’m working on it though ; ) but they are dang good. There is NOTHING like a hot, fresh malasada and I think that’s why they’re so beloved here. Due to the volume they produce, they’re almost always hot and fresh and I think that makes them better than other places that don’t sell as many so they sit in the case for a while. 

Pro Tip: If you want one of their famous pink boxes, you’ll need to order at least a half dozen. If you only order a couple they come in a bang (I saw a lot of disappointed Instagramers last time  was there haha). 

Another Pro Tip: If the line is too long, or the main location just isn’t convenient, they have a fleet of Malasada Mobile trucks parked at different places on the island. Check their website for current locations. 

Liliha Bakery

This place doesn’t get as much hype among tourists as Leonard’s but don’t make the mistake of skipping it! Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Liliha Bakery is a foodie’s paradise serving up both sweet and savories. 

With several locations around Honolulu, it should be easy to squeeze in a stop. The original location (with 50s diner vibes) is at 515 N. Kuakini St. But the location on the top floor of the International Marketplace is the most convenient if you’re in Waikiki.

Famous for their Coco Puffs (chocolate cream puffs slathered in Liliha’s famous Chantilly frosting), they also do a mean loco moco, and smoked pork belly with eggs.

Arvo

I first visited Arvo Cafe in Waimea on Hawaii’s Big Island and it’s one of my favorite spots. 

Their coffee is good (and their latte art on point), but I really love their toasts. The loaded avocado toast is pretty hearty and I can’t resist nutella and strawberries. 

I also love their strawberry guava mint iced tea. 

There’s also a smaller outpost in the lobby of the Surfjack in Waikiki that just serves coffee. 

Places on My List to Try

Castro’s

Creampot

Eggs n Things

Aloha Kitchen

P.S. I travel to Hawaii multiple times a year, and let me tell you a secret…I do most of it for FREE using credit card points and miles. 

I have a somewhat intricate system that I’ve fine tuned over the years to maximize earning points and how I cash them in, but the short version is:

I use THIS Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card for free Marriott nights. The sign up bonus alone on this card will get you 3 (sometimes 5!) free nights at hotels in Hawaii like the Sheraton Maui, Royal Hawaiian (Oahu), Sheraton Kauai Coconut Beach Resort, and the Waikoloa Beach Marriott (Kona). 

And I use THIS Southwest Premier Rapid Rewards card for free flights on Southwest. The sign up bonus will get you at least one round trip flight to Hawaii (possibly two depending on where you’re flying from). 

The combo of these two cards will have you most of the way to a free trip to Hawaii right out of the gate. Again, you can sign up for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless >> HERE and the Southwest Premier Rapid Rewards >> HERE
And if you’re really serious about getting into the travel hacking game, read this post for a more in depth look at how I maximize credit card points to book travel.

P.P.S. Here’s one more really important thing you need to know before your Hawaii trip…

You’ve got your airfare, hotel, rental car and your big activities booked, so you should be good to go, right? Wrong!

Travel is BOOMING in Hawaii and a lot of state and national parks have instituted reservation systems at some of the island’s most popular spots to help manage the crowds and make things a little more sustainable. 

That means that there are now over half a dozen sites (beaches, trailheads, etc.) that require advance reservations. And some sell out well before you arrive on the island so you really need to have some sort of a plan. 

I recently saw somebody in a Hawaii travel group post in a panic that they didn’t know they had to make reservations for things in advance…they thought they could just show up and “go with the flow.” I was tempted to say, well, “as long as the flow doesn’t take you somewhere that requires reservations, you can!” ; )

But I don’t want YOU to be that person, so I’ve pulled together a list of all the places you need to reserve entry in advance (plus all the details on booking windows, price, links, etc.) and a handful of popular tourist hotspots that book out really far in advance too. 
Get that info >> HERE