A GENTLER WAIKIKI PACE AT THE NEW OTANI.

Byline: - Eric Noland

HONOLULU - If you enjoy the action and attractions of Honolulu and Waikiki Beach but are less than enthralled with Waikiki's congestion - the people, the vehicles, the cheek-by-jowl buildings - you might find respite just a short distance down the shore, at the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel.

It is surrounded by 500-acre Kapiolani Park, which provides a refreshing buffer between the hotel and the rest of Waikiki's tourist jam. And yet it has its own beach, called Sans Souci, which affords sheltered swimming and no spirited jockeying for sunbathing spots.

The New Otani, despite its name, has been around a long time - it was built in 1964 - and has some well-worn corners. During our stay, we couldn't help thinking of the quirky characters in Paul Theroux's cynical novel, ``Hotel Honolulu'' - their real-life counterparts seemed to populated the bar every afternoon.

But location is everything for a lodging property, and this one surely has it. Although you won't get the classic view of a beach arcing toward Diamond Head from your room (the hotel is at the base of Honolulu's landmark volcano), we did catch some terrific views of the setting sun just off Kaena Point in western Oahu.

And we'd often leave the sliding glass door open at night; breezes found their way in, but little of the nightlife din commonly associated with Waikiki.

Breakfast on the hotel's terrace restaurant is a pleasant event, and in the evening the tiki torches compete with tiny lights that are strung in the branches of two ancient hau trees. If you want to buy into hotel lore, Robert Louis Stevenson used to rest in the shade of these trees when Hedemann residence stood on the site in the late 1800s.

Locals avoid Waikiki as if it were beset with plague, but that is not the case at the beach here and in Kapiolani Park. You'll find families having cookout picnics, old men smoking cigars and playing cards around a table, surf bums strumming guitars.

There is also a lifeguard stand on the beach - and important feature for vacationing families or anyone who has ever felt the disconcerting tug of an ocean current off one of Hawaii's beaches.

One noteworthy gripe: If a Waikiki Beach hotel doesn't have a pool (the New Otani fall into the category), it should at least provide chairs or loungers for people wanting to spend a few hours on the adjoining beach. This one doesn't and instead directs guests to a larcenous beach-rental shop nearby. The neighboring W Hotel, which sits in a setting no more interesting than a parking lot surrounded by apartment towers, has beach chairs available for its guests.

The New Otani's open-air bar is a great spot to wind down the afternoon. The mai tais are refreshing, potent and not overly sweet (a widespread Hawaii affliction).

The assorted characters are provided at no extra charge.

-- 2863 Kalakaua Ave. Web site quote for a week in late August: $112 per night. Information and reservations: [phone]; www.kaimana.com.

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(color) Waikiki sunsets - this one was viewed from a guest room balcony - are among the assets of the New Otani hotel.