Hawaii-Oahu Trip

We finally treated ourselves to a real vacation this winter and I am so happy we did!  We even invited another couple, who are our close friends, Banan & Crystal.  I am just going to talk about the places we ate and what activities we did as if someone that has never been to Oahu is reading.  I recommend you get a car so you aren't stuck in Waikiki with all the tourist.

The weather in January was pretty unpredictable.  It was mostly sunny, but there was random rain fall for a few minutes and it was a little windy.  Must of been because we came during the "winter".  The wind felt good though since it was "hot" to us Alaskans.  Regardless, every day I packed beach towels and wore a bikini under my tank top and shorts, because there was always opportunity for the beach.  It is a good idea to pack a very light coat cause at night it can get a little "chilly", but you can still rock the shorts.

Hotel:  Seaside Hotel - Waikiki

View from the rooftop

This hotel was the "most affordable" for our budget.  It was smack dab in the middle of Waikiki.  The walk to the beach was like 3 minutes.  An ABC store was just down the street for any necessities. There are ABC Stores at every block.  On the roof there was a small pool. It was nice to go up there and be away from the busy Waikiki Beach.  If you decide to hit up the beach, the front desk has beach towels and mats you can borrow.  The main shopping strip is on the road, Kalakaua, and that is only a 2 min walk where you can access all the popular shopping and dining.

The staff was really nice and one of them,  Alex, was the one we went to for questions.  He is a local and totally a friendly giant.  He told us places he recommended for eating and what beaches to check out.  He was on point for everything.  If you want to find him, he works in the valet area and you can't miss him, he is the biggest Hawaiian you will ever see.  And he is always smiling.

The hotel room was pretty small and we had a full size bed.  You could upgrade to a king size for way more money.  Also, the bathroom had NO fan!  There was air conditioning, so that was nice. But, no microwave or refrigerator.  We bought two styrofoam coolers from a store you need to get to by car for our beverages and what not.  Otherwise, you could fill your sink with ice for a fridge.  But alas, the hotel was only a place to sleep.  The house keeping staff did a great job vacuuming all the sand we brought back from the beach, always made our bed, and gave us new towels every day.

Me in our hotel pool

The valet was always full so we had to park at a public parking lot across the street.  It was $24 a day to park in either lot. So expensive I know!  There is  no on street parking, so the parking garages are the only places to keep your car safe.

In the lobby there is coffee and water 24/7.  Through the lobby of our hotel, there is a Mexican restaurant called Cha Cha Cha's, where you can have drinks at happy hour.  Food-wise, I only tried their chips and salsa and I did like their guacamole dip.  This little place was pretty popular though.

Overall, I would give this hotel a 2.5/5.  I couldn't give it 3 because there was no fridge, no continental breakfast, and the valet parking is ridiculously expensive.  Plus the wireless internet was a little slow and sometimes would shut off for a few minutes.  But, the location is pretty decent considering how close you are to everything and it a good place to pass out every night.


Beaches
In general, the beaches are amazing and clean.  No alcohol is allowed.  Each beach has their own signs of potential dangers like caution for jelly fish, strong currents, etc.  Every beach had their own flavor of uniqueness.  Although, I was very surprised not to see any sand volleyball courts set up on any of the beaches we went to.  I was totally down to play.

Waikiki

Waikiki:  This beach is always packed full of people and children, again, this is the beach where all the tourists hit up since it is just off the main strip.  There are signs warning of jelly fish, but regardless the ocean was full of people playing.  People were able to boogie board, surf, and paddle board.  You could also rent equipment from the beach.  There were many hotels just off this beach where you can rent large umbrellas and lawn chairs.  Its not a bad place at all to lounge or swim if you don't mind all the people.

Hanauma Bay:  This beach is about 30 minutes east of Waikiki.  There is a $1 parking fee and a $7.50 entrance fee since it is a nature preserve park.  Before you enter, you are required to watch a 9 minute video that gives you history of the park and learn some do and don'ts.  You can rent snorkel gear here for $12, but we decided to rent from Aqua Zone in Waikiki for better equipment and to bypass long lines.  This beach is very popular for the snorkeling and I totally recommend you do it!  Cory and I tried this out for our first time and I can't wait to do it again if we go back.  We saw so many different fish!  I recommend you go to this park either early in the morning or later around 2pm because the parking lot gets full.  If the parking lot is full, they close the lot for no entree until the parking lot frees up again.  Also, this park is closed on Tuesdays so plan around that.  Otherwise, I loved this bay!

Cory boogie boarding in Waimanalo

Waimanalo:  This beach is about 30 minutes east of Waikiki and is very quiet.  There was pretty much nobody here when we went except for some locals.  Again, signs for jelly fish, which we saw two on shore.  They were about 2 inches and you have to be careful not to step on them cause they can still sting you.  This is a great place to boogie board if you are a beginner, which we all were.  There were other boogie boarders out in the ocean and they seemed to know what they were doing.  Our friend that came with us had a jelly fish brush his calf a few times and left a red rash on him, but he was fine through out the day.  Otherwise, this beach was really peaceful with the light waves.

Lanikai:  If you drive 20 minutes after Waimanalo, you will reach Lanikai Beach, which is a residential beach.  The entrance to the beach is in a neighborhood.  This beach is also quiet and nice.  Again, no tourist or fuss.

Kailua:  Kailua was only a hop and skip east of Lanikai.  This park was nice and also less crowded.  This was a big beach so there was tons of space to relax and play in the ocean.

North Shore:  These beaches are known for their surfing because of the awesome waves.  There are about a handful of beaches to check out up on the north shore, such as Sunset Beach, Waimea Beach, and Turtle Bay, to name the ones we hit up.  Sunset Beach was a great beach for surfers, which we watched from shore.  Waimea is another chill beach that you can relax on.  Turtle Bay is in a resort that is easy to access and another great spot to snorkel.  We decided to do North Shore in one day because the drive from Waikiki took about 1.5 hours to get up there.  There are tons of cool crab shacks to eat lunch at, which are amazing.

Ala Moana Beach

Ala Moana:  This beach is about 10 minutes west of Waikiki.  I really liked this beach because it was so close to Waikiki and didn't have too much people.  The water is very calm, which made it easy to swim around and float.  There were more sun bathers here than any beach I saw.  Not much for surfing since the waves were pretty much nonexistent.  I saw paddle boarders out on the ocean, which was neat.  There are no equipment rentals here, but like I said, it is a lounge beach.  I also noticed a handful of couples get married on this beach.  Not bad for a job to take photos and wed couples all day :)

Activities

Waimea Falls

Waimea Falls Hike:  This is on the North Shore and costs $10 each for the entree fee.  Prepare to bring your swim suit because at the bottom of the waterfall, you are able to swim around.  The pool is deep and tourists will be watching all the crazy people going in.  The hike is so easy; it is a paved walk to the waterfall.  You walk through the botanical gardens and it only takes about 30 minutes to the end.  Definitely can do this in just flip flops, which I did.  The waterfall is only 45 feet tall, so its not very big.   It was a very nice walk though :)

Manoa Falls

Manoa Falls Hike:  The trailhead is only about 20 minutes away from Waikiki and there is a $5 parking fee.  Definitely bring your hiking shoes and expect to get them muddy.  My poor friend was hiking in flip flops and eventually hiked the trail barefoot.  This hike was really cool because you were in the rain forest.  Some parts were rocky and others were muddy as you got in the gut of the hike.  The falls took about 45 minutes to hike.  Just be careful where the large rocks are at the end.  The falls has a 150 foot drop into a tiny pool.  We were so full of endorphins, we got in the small rocky pool with our swim suits on.  It started pouring rain on us while we were at the falls and on the way back down.  It was awesome!  It felt so good considering the heat. Manoa is also where they filmed the TV show Lost and the Jurassic Park movies.  When you return there are hoses to wash off the mud.  I liked this hike a lot, since it was so rugged.  There is also a little snack shop in the parking lot for any necessities.

The view on top of Diamond Head

Diamond Head Crater Park:  This is just outside of Waikiki and you definitely need a car to get there.  Parking was $5 and the hike was about 40 minutes to the top where you can over look Waikiki. If its a clear day you can see some of the other islands next to Oahu.  I recommend wearing hiking shoes for sure.  There are stairs at the end that are killer!  So worth the view though.  There was also a food truck in the parking lot for smoothies, burgers, and hot dogs.

Sea Life Park:  This is east of Waikiki, about 20 minutes away.  It is $29.99 to get in, but if you are military you save $10.  There are expensive programs you can add if you wanted to swim with the dolphins or sharks.  We passed on the programs.  But there are shows you can watch that come with the admission fee, such as the sea lion and dolphin show, which are separate.  They run at certain times of the day, so it is a good idea to check their website for times.  From the Sea Life Park you can see the ocean where Rabbit Island sits.  There is also a food court and I also found Dip and Dots.  I got my fix of kalua pork as well, so yum!  This place was really cool and I recommend it for a chill, entertaining day.  The dolphin show was my favorite.  There was a Wolphin, which is a mix of Orca and Dolphin.

FOOD

Here are my top 3 must eat places that we hit up that I recommend in no particular order.  Other places I liked were the Cheesecake Factory, Eggs N Things (long line to get in), and  Zippy's.  We pretty much ate out for lunch and dinner every day considering we had no fridge or microwave.  I loved how we could find spam masubi pretty much anywhere. So yummy and a quick snack :)

Loco Moco

Dukes:  Dukes is in Waikiki in the Outrigger Hotel.  You can eat inside or outside right on the beach.  The food was amazing.  I had the ribs and Cory had the Mahi Mahi Burger.  The drinks were good and there was a solo acoustic guitarist singing popular songs for great live music.

Rainbow Drive In:  This place is pretty cheap.  You order your food at a window and then eat outside at one of their few tables.  Place was delicious with their authentic Hawaiian plates.  I had the Loco Moco, which is rice stacked with a burger patttie, an egg, and gravy.  So yum!

Giovanni's:  This is on the North Shore and is a food truck that serves amazing shrimp plates.  Each plate was $13, where you get a dozen shrimp and rice.  You could also order half a plate for half the price.  I had the Shrimp Scampi, which was delicious. Their garlic hot dog was to die for and only $3.50.  This place is so worth driving to for lunch. We wanted to drive back to north shore again just for this place, but we never made a second round.

Garlic Hot Dog and Shrimp Scampi

Well I hope this was helpful for anyone heading to Oahu their first time.  It was our first time to Hawaii ever.  I had friends that told us to hit up many places.  I enjoyed my trip a lot and would love to go back to check out the other islands.


Mahalo!