We have been fortunate lately to have the ability to take a 4 night time journey to Oahu, HI as a household. There are such a lot of unbelievable issues to do there that we need to share a few of our favorites locations to go to in Waikiki.
The place We Stayed in Waikiki
My husband travels for work typically, so we at all times attempt to use lodge factors if we will when touring. Dan has really traveled to Waikiki quite a few occasions and usually stays on the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani lodge.
That’s the place we stayed this latest journey and I believed it was the right location. It’s positioned proper in the midst of the Most important Avenue in Waikiki. It’s inside strolling distance to all of the outlets and eating places and straight throughout the road from the seashore.
As with all lodges, there are professional’s and con’s. Right here is my sincere opinion –
Execs
- excellent location
- has a pool (however the pool isn’t heated so it was chilly throughout our keep)
- lovely foyer, open ground plan
- rooms are good, primary, nothing fancy
- inside strolling distance of all of the outlets and eating places on the Most important Avenue on the town
- straight throughout from Duke’s Restaurant
- the seashore is straight throughout the road
- very nice health club onsite and enjoyable, out of doors bar
- inexpensive, in comparison with value of some neighboring lodges
- underground parking storage for lodge visitors
- nice views from rooms
Cons
- rooms are fairly primary
- in a single day parking is dear
- pool is just not heated
All in all, this can be a nice choice in case you are in search of a pleasant lodge however nothing fancy. You can not beat this location, particularly for those who don’t have a car. I’d undoubtedly keep right here once more.
Actions in Waikiki
Dan and I’ve each been to Oahu a number of occasions prior to now. Since we have been solely right here for 4 days, we wished to essentially give attention to doing issues to the youngsters wished to do. For reference, our youngsters are 9 and 11 years outdated.
Pearl Harbor Nationwide Museum
My 9 yr outdated son is obsessive about studying and studying about World Conflict II. Once we requested the child what they wished to do whereas in Hawaii, visiting the Pearl Harbor Museum was on the highest of his checklist.
Professional Tip – we stopped right here proper after leaving the airport as soon as we arrived. It’s solely about 20 minutes from the airport.
There are such a lot of areas to go to inside this nationwide museum. Since we hadn’t deliberate something upfront (just about how we roll on trip), we simply tried to wing it. We acquired tickets to take a ship out to the USS Arizona Memorial. You’ll be able to both buy tickets upfront for a sure time, or simply get stand by tickets and wait in line. We acquired stand by tickets and solely needed to wait about half-hour for the boat journey.
You’ll be able to keep as quick or lengthy as you want. It began raining whereas we have been visiting, so we didn’t keep very lengthy. The journey to the USS Arizona Memorial is 100% definitely worth the time, it’s a really humbling expertise.
Diamond Head
We didn’t hike diamond head this journey however have performed it prior to now. Undoubtedly advocate this exercise in case you are visiting Waikiki. It’s a straightforward hike and the views from the highest are attractive!
Swimming with Dolphins
This tour was a Christmas present for the youngsters from their grandparents. Enjoyable truth: Dan and I visited Oahu once we have been 18 years outdated and did this exact same exercise. Enjoyable to see our youngsters repeat our expertise 25 years later!
The Kahala Resort in Oahu has an incredible program known as Dolphin Quest. You’ll be able to e book a time to swim and play with dolphins in considered one of their lagoons on the lodge grounds.
If that is inside your funds, I extremely advocate this enjoyable exercise. The children acquired in lagoon and have been in a position to swim, play and spend about 45 minutes with the dolphins. We took about 1000 photos and it was a spotlight of their journey.
Professional Tip – the seashore proper outdoors this lodge is attractive! Nice seashore for youths as properly as a result of it’s very calm and shallow. There’s a swimming dock as properly. Convey your seashore gear and plan on spending a while on the seashore proper after the dolphin expertise.
Surf Classes
Dan is aware of how one can surf so he rented two boards for the youngsters and taught them himself. We rented boards proper on the sand at Kūhiō seashore (inside strolling distance of the lodge we stayed at). The rental charges have been cheap they usually have been useful at discovering the fitting boards for the youngsters. There are a number of locations for surf classes as properly.
Purchasing
There aren’t any shortages of outlets in Waikiki. The entire major avenue (Kalākaua Avenue) has outlets lining the road on each side. It has an excellent mixture of fancy shops (Gucci, Prada) and cheaper spots (H&M, surf outlets, and so on). There are additionally a couple of nice malls inside the space which might be price testing in case you are trying to store.
Testing the opposite Motels
There are such a lot of lovely lodges in Waikiki. It’s enjoyable to stroll by way of them, even for those who aren’t staying there. A few of our favorites to take a look at embrace –
- Moana Surf Rider
- The Royal Hawaiian (the large pink lodge)
Favourite Seashores to Go to in Waikiki
My favourite exercise in Waikiki is just going to the seashore for the day. We love stopping on the grocery retailer to seize sandwiches, chips and drinks after which simply make a day of being seashore bums. Listed below are a couple of of the completely different seashores we visited –
Waikiki Seaside
This was a block from our lodge and the primary seashore we visited. It’s lovely, clear and inside strolling distances of eating places and outlets.
Professional Tip – there are ABC Shops on each nook the place you should purchase rafts, internal tubes and boogie boards to deliver to the seashore. The children requested the individuals at our lodge’s pool if anybody had left any boogie boards or rafts behind they usually gave them some. The one situation – they needed to give them to a different household once we left. So undoubtedly verify together with your lodge earlier than buying.
We might deliver a deck of playing cards and typically take a break from the solar at one of many many lodge bars positioned proper on the seashore. We’d seize a Mai Tai and snack earlier than heading again to the sand.
Kūhiō Seaside
My son liked this seashore essentially the most as a result of there have been a whole lot of locals that frolicked not the pier. They taught him how one can time the waves and leap off the pier into the shallow water. He did it time and again and over.
The children additionally mentioned this seashore was higher for boogie boarding than Waikiki Seaside as a result of the waves have been a bit stronger.
This seashore was additionally inside strolling distance from our lodge. Solely about 10 minutes away. Nonetheless loads of eating places, outlets and shops close by.
Kahala Hilton Seaside
This was the seashore on the lodge the place we did the Dolphin Quest exercise talked about above. This seashore is so quiet, peaceable and tranquil. Excellent for households with young children as a result of there aren’t actually any waves and it’s shallow very far out into the water.
Lanikai Seaside
Hand’s down, the MOST BEAUTIFUL seashore I’ve ever seen in my life! Only for reference I’ve been to the seashores in Miami, Maui, Fiji, Thailand, Greece, France and Italy.
Dan mentioned he realized about this seashore a very long time in the past from native associates within the space. It’s a drive (about 45 minutes from our lodge) however so price it. It may be difficult to find and discover parking. There’s a major space you possibly can park but it surely’s typically crowded. We needed to park inside the residential areas a couple of blocks away after which simply stroll by way of one of many many little alleyways between houses to entry the seashore.
It’s simply beautiful.
Favourite Locations to Eat in Waikiki
My favourite a part of trip is consuming. We don’t eat out fairly often at house, so it’s like a child in a sweet retailer once we go on trip. Oahu has not shortages of nice eating places.
Listed below are a couple of of the locations we dined whereas on trip this time –
Restaurant 604
This was our first cease after leaving the airport. It’s shut by and has a cool vibe. After being on the airplane for nearly 6 hours, we have been all ravenous and looking out ahead to lunch.
This place has an excellent menu, I had the Poke Nachos they usually have been unbelievable. A lot of enjoyable drinks, nice beer and an indoor/out of doors vibe. Extremely advocate in case you are in search of a lunch spot after arriving.
Duke’s Barefoot Bar
That is at all times considered one of our go to spots in each Waikiki and Maui. It was positioned straight throughout the road from our lodge, so we really dined right here a number of occasions.
After a day on the seashore, we strolled proper up and sat on their beachside patio. The children liked their Kaluha pork nachos. Dan had wings (he at all times does) and I had a scrumptious falafel naan sandwich.
They’ve nice Mai Tai’s and the youngsters liked their virgin daiquiris.
Lulu’s Waikiki
Neither of us had been right here earlier than, however the unique place we wished to go had too lengthy of a wait, so we gave Lulu’s a whirl. It has a really sports activities bar vibe however the menu has a whole lot of nice choices. Dan had stir fry and he mentioned it was unbelievable. I attempted the Korean beef tacos and I believed there have been simply okay. The meals is nice, not nice. Good choice for those who want a final minute dinner thought and aren’t in search of something too fancy.
Island Snow
25 years in the past we had native associates introduce us to Island Snow and it’s nonetheless considered one of our favorites for Shave Ice.
We stopped right here on our strategy to Lanikai Seaside, it’s undoubtedly not inside strolling distance of our lodge (it’s on the opposite facet of the island). There aren’t any shortages of different shave ice spots in Waikiki, we simply love this one.
Duke’s Restaurant
We selected to have a “fancy” dinner one night time throughout our journey. We dined at Duke’s (not the barefoot bar choice) and it was scrumptious. My favourite half was that they’d a pleasant salad bar that you may add to your meal that had loads of nice salads, pasta dishes, breads, and greens. The perfect half – for simply $1 the youngsters might add it to their meals as properly.
The children and I all added the salad bar and I’ll say it was a pleasant approach so as to add in some extra greens. They’d about 8 ready salads (caprese, a pasta salad, an asian salad, and so on), recent baked breads, fruit and your usually construct your individual salad.
For entrees, Dan had Huli Huli Rooster served with rice and greens that was undoubtedly the successful dish of the night time!
I ordered the Coconut Ginger Braised Seafood. The flavour of this dish was excellent but it surely was a really small portion. I used to be very glad that I had added the salad bar.
Journey Suggestions
We like to journey and have acquired some nice suggestions through the years.
- At all times deliver your individual snacks for the airplane / practice / automobile. You by no means know whenever you may get delayed or if there shall be restricted snack choices for buy. Try a few of our favorites in these posts –
2. The Mediterranean weight loss program is all about steadiness. The perfect half about journey is attempting new cuisines, so be sure you embrace some native fare in your journey. We have been fortunate in Hawaii that there was a lot recent fish and seafood on the menu just about in every single place we went. We didn’t stress over how we ate however we tried to work in loads of fruits and veggies and usually shared dessert. If we wished to attempt completely different dishes, we’d simply order a couple of and share.
3. We wish to loosely plan out what we need to do and see however we be certain so as to add in loads of free time to only discover. There’s nothing worse than packing in a lot on trip that you simply get house and are simply exhausted. We picked a couple of issues we wished to do after which simply left the remainder of the times open to determine what we wished to do.
4. Time zone modifications aren’t any joke. We have been fortunate on this journey that it was solely 3 hours however typically that may actually mess together with your sleep. We tried to make sure we didn’t keep up loopy late.
5. Be sure you are ingesting water, particularly in case you are touring by airplane.
6. Take quick video clips of random scenes throughout your trip, it’s so enjoyable to place them collectively when you get house into little collage movies.
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Final modified: February 20, 2024