A Luau experience by Queens Waikiki Luau. Back to all Oahu tours.
Tour Summary: A luau you walk to from your Waikīkī hotel, finished by 7:30 PM. Small scale, close to the dancers, staged in the open courtyard of the International Market Place.
Seating is at tables in the open courtyard, with the shopping center’s second-floor balcony directly above the stage. 
The fire knife number closes the Polynesian show, which runs from 6:45pm to the 7:30pm finish. Seats are close enough to film the stage from the table, and what backs the dancers is a lit shopfront, not open water. Check-in opens at 4:30pm and the show ends at 7:30pm, so the courtyard is a working shopping center around the seating for the whole event. The front section costs $139 a head against $129 for the middle, and this is roughly the view from the first few rows. The revue works through several Pacific cultures inside the 45 minutes between 6:45pm and the 7:30pm finish.
6 Tour Highlights:
- Walking distance from most Waikīkī hotels, no coach transfer and no parking to arrange
- 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM, so children are back at the hotel before bedtime
- Small enough that even middle tables sit close to the performers
- Fire-knife finale, with pre-show cultural activities before dinner
- Lei greeting on arrival and drinks included with the ticket
- Runs Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
Important: The courtyard is open to the sky with no cover, so if it rains during the show, it rains on the audience.
Tour Information:
| Price: | Adult |
|---|---|
| (excluding taxes & fees) | $109 |
Price note: Priced per adult, by seating section: back $109, middle $129, front $139. Back seats cost the least and have the poorest sightlines.
Tour Provider: Queens Waikiki Luau
Activity: Luau
Tour start time: 5:00 PM
Duration: 2.5 hours
Location: Waikīkī
Included: Fresh lei greeting on arrival. Buffet dinner. Drinks included with ticket. Pre-show cultural activities. Live show with fire-knife. Reserved table seating by tier
Cancellations: Cancel or reschedule up to 72 hours before the 5:00 PM start for a full refund or a free date change. Inside 72 hours there are no refunds, and rescheduling costs $30 per person. Groups of 10 or more have stricter deadlines.
Read more: about luau in our Oahu luau guide.
Read more about Queens Waikiki Luau
You can walk to this one. Most Oʻahu luaus put you on a coach at 3:00 PM for a 45-minute ride out to the west side, and you get back to Waikīkī near 10:00 PM. Queens Waikiki Luau runs 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM in the courtyard of the International Market Place on Kalākaua Avenue, and if your hotel is in Waikīkī you’re probably walking under ten minutes.
No bus, and you are home by eight
Doors and the pre-show activities open the evening, then dinner service, then the show with fire-knife to close. It’s done by 7:30 PM. A five-year-old can sit through this one, and you’re back at the hotel before the bedtime meltdown rather than an hour into it. It runs Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. No rental car, no parking, no shuttle pickup to coordinate.
Yes, people can watch it for free from the balconies
The stage sits in the open central courtyard of a shopping center, and the upper floors look straight down on it. Shoppers do stop and watch. Your ticket buys a table at stage level, the lei greeting, the buffet, drinks, and the pre-show cultural activities. The people on the balcony get a top-down view of the fire-knife and nothing else.
The tables sit close enough to the stage that you can see the dancers’ faces, which the big oceanfront luaus can’t offer.
Back, middle or front: what the extra $30 buys
Back tables are $109, middle $129 and front $139. The stage is low and the courtyard is flat, so sightlines from the back are poor once everyone in front of you sits up. If seeing the show clearly is the point of your evening, book the front section.
The buffet is standard luau fare, and the last tables served can find dishes running low. The included mai tais are weak, and bar staff circulate to sell you a stronger one.
This is the right luau if you have no rental car, or if small kids mean an early bedtime. On setting it loses to the beach luaus: shop frontages surround the stage, there’s no ocean, no sunset over water, and shop signage lands in the background of most photos. Book it for the walk and the 7:30 PM finish.
About Queens Waikiki Luau
You walk to this one. Most other luaus on Oʻahu cost you a coach ride out of Waikīkī and most of the evening, while this runs 2.5 hours and puts you back at your hotel by 7:30 PM. At $109 for the back section it isn’t the cheapest luau on the island, and the mall courtyard is nobody’s idea of a setting, so book it for the logistics: no car, no parking, and a 7:30 PM finish.
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