November 2019
Oahu is the second Hawaiian island we visited in Hawaii. This is not our favorite island, but it does contain a lot of must do activities that I’m happy we did (go here to see our favorite Hawaiian islands). Our General advice is to plan a quick stop in Oahu, but not to make it your main destination. The island is beautiful, but the Aloha spirit is less present than in the other island. Maybe due to all the building and luxury malls
5 days Itinerary
- Arrival
- Day 1: Honolulu: Diamond head + Honolulu city Center + Chinatown
- Day 2: Hanauma Bay + road trip around the island
- Day 3: Pearl Harbor + Waikiki aquarium
- Day 4: North shore and Hawaiian pro surf
- Day 5: Departure
Practical information:
- Where to stay? We stayed at a hotel in the Waikiki area. The good point is that you are at a walking distance of the beach, the malls, and there are bus. Negative point is that parking and housing is expensive so it’s better to rent a car on a day to day basis.
- Car renting in Waikiki: Advice about car renting in Waikiki is to wake up early, rent at the companies which are open first and arrive 15 minutes before the opening. Check on internet for other good advices.
- How to go form Point A to point B? In Honolulu you do have bus available. Otherwise you can use Uber or car rental.
Day by Day itinerary
Arrival: Waikiki and the malls
It is fast to go from the airport to Waikiki. We drop the luggage at our hotel and go in the direction of Waikiki beach without knowing what to expect. Buildings are tall, there are a lot of tourists and luxury malls with expensive outfits. We prefer to stop at the surf brand shops. They have nice T-shirts with Hawaiian logo as souvenirs or gifts to bring back. It’s less expensive and more useful in Hawaii than the Louis Vuitton down jacket. For dinner we pick the Maui brewing company. The entrance looks small but they have a huge room on the 3rd floor with a good vibe, beer and food. It’s our favorite option for food in Waikiki.
Day 1: Diamond head + Honolulu city center + Chinatown
We start our Oahu visits by Diamond head. This is the iconic crater that you can see from Waikiki beach. The local bus drops us at the exterior of the crater and we walk through a tunnel to access the center. Here we purchase tickets for a small fee, they also give us a basic map. It’s early but we already have a lot of people with us. The hike is on a paved path. There is some elevation but it’s achievable by everybody. We arrive quickly at the top for a few pics. The view is nice and despite all the people I really recommend this hike. There is a possibility for a quick loop at the top, but you mostly go back by the same road and have to go through all the people that are walking up.
Back at the hotel before noon we go for a visit of Oahu city center for the afternoon. Our first stop is the King Kamehameha Statue. (yes, we watched the Hawaii 5-0 tv show and had to stop by Mc Garett operation center). We continue our visit by Chinatown, trying to follow a walk itinerary from the Lonely Planet. This is nice and you can stop to buy good Chinese products. We end up eating some bargain and delicious duck at the Maunakea Marketplace.
For the end of the day we go to Waikiki beach to rest and enjoy the beach. Even if it’s in the middle of all the hotels the beach is big enough to have room for everybody and the view on Diamond head from the water is beautiful. This is one of the most iconic view you can get from Hawaii.
Day 2: Hanauma Bay + road trip around the island
Today we do a road trip around the Island. We arrive at the car rental company 15 minutes before the opening, we are second in line. The car was booked online the day before and the process is fast. We head first to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling as they limit the number of people per day. There is a small fee to access the park and we must watch a video about the area and how to limit our impact on it. We can then access the beach which is in the middle of an old crater. The snorkeling is good, but the water is shallow, we are very close to the corrals. To access the best snorkeling spot, we follow the snorkeling group that are going just after the reef in the middle. It’s accessible through the middle channel with more current and deeper water (We ask the beach patrol before, as this is the area they ask you to avoid in the video).
After about 2 hours we decide to leave, grab a coffee at Koko Marina center and continue our road trip. From Hanauma bay to Sandy beach the view is gorgeous, and you have few lookouts to take nice pictures.
As we continue north, the view changes from rock to sandier beach. They are nice and nearly empty, but we just do quick stops. On our way we check Ulupō Heiau State Historic Site (we do not really enjoy this stop), and Island Snow, which is recommended for their shaved ice. It’s our first shaved ice and it’s delicious. We continue our trip following the Lonely Planet advice and stop at the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden. There is a very nice view in this garden but be prepared for mosquitoes.
Back in the car we go in the direction of Laie and Pupukea and finally head back to Waikiki. We are going too fast on this part of the road trip and we skip stops to bring back the car on time. Doing the full tour of the Island is a good experience.
Day 3: Pearl Harbor + Waikiki aquarium
We have no car today so we do activities accessible by bus or by foot from Waikiki. We take two bus to arrive at Pearl Harbor visitor center for the opening in order to be sure to have tickets available. There is no line and we can enjoy the visit which contains mainly a film and the visit of the memorial. The visit is very interesting and tries to show a not too biased view of the conflict which is nice. This visit was not something that we initially planned but we recommend it.
For the afternoon we go at the Waikiki aquarium. The aquarium is small but enables us to name all the fishes that we have seen during our snorkeling sessions.
Day 4: North shore and Hawaiian pro surf
We use the tips from our 2nd day to rent a car and leave early to go to the Hawaiian pro surf tour on the north shore. This is an event which happens every year during the Winter. We have never been to this kind of event so being in Hawaii during one of them is perfect. The location is not super easy to find (no giant signs) but we finally find it. We are at the beginning of the competition and this is smaller than what we were expecting. Good point is that we can easily find a good location to sit on the beach and watch the surfers. The waves are relatively small, but this is enough to see some good runs and we spend a big part of our day watching them. As part of the event there are a few very nice food trucks that we enjoy for our lunch.
In the afternoon we stop by Banzai Pipeline beach. This beach is very impressive with big and well-formed waves.
On our way back to Waikiki we stop for souvenirs. Our first stop is the Dole plantation. This is the perfect location if you want to buy crap. It looks too much like a supermarket for us and we leave rapidly. Our second stop is Kō Hana Distillers. This is a local rum distillery and we try the paid testing. The rum is good, but the best part is the mix of rum and honey that we love and decide to bring back as a souvenir.
Departure: enjoy Waikiki a last time
With an afternoon flight we have the time to enjoy Waikiki a last time before leaving. I rent a surfboard because surfing in Waikiki is a must do. There are few waves and I’m able to do a small take off but renting a paddle board would have been a better choice. Anyway the view is beautiful and this is a good way to end this trip.
Reflecting on the itinerary
Oahu contains few must do but overall we find the other islands more exceptional. The itinerary in this post is not too packed and you can easily add to it. We have not tried many hikes in Oahu and this is certainly an error. We will need to go back!