Aloha! Hawaii is an archipelago compound by a 137 volcanic islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and it’s also a state of the United States well known as «Aloha State». Despite the large amount of islands, only the eight biggest ones have received a name: Ni’hau, Kaua’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, Kaho’olawe, Maui y Hawai’i.
The biggest island is Hawai’i; however, the political, financial and cultural center is based on the island of O’ahu, which capital is Honolulu and this is the most populated city in the archipelago. So, this trip to Hawai’i was only a visit to O’ahu and we decided to leave the rest of the islands for another occasion.
On this trip we will visit the touristy Waikiki beach; we will be going from the beaches on the East Coast, famous for its Jurassic Park and Lost landscapes, to the North Shore and its monstrous waves perfect for professional surfers. We’ll also cross the island from North to South and we will go to the West coast to see how the native inhabitants live in this paradise.
O’ahu is a luxury island where everything is expensive and it’s perfect for people with a lot of money. However, we highly recommend to wander around the island and see the social differences between natives and non-natives and how a paradise can be the epicenter of a tremendous social inequality.
Are you for our trip around O’ahu?
7 days trip in O’ahu, what to do?
Day 1 – Arrival and rest in Waikiki Beach
The first thing that we did once we landed in O’ahu was to pick up our rental car at Thrifty, our rental car company. They have a free shuttle service from the airport to the office and vice versa. We decided to rent a Jeep which cost $373 for a total of seven days because we were going to carry a surfboard with us all the time and hence we needed a resistant vehicle.
On the island there’s public transport, but it’s more convenient to have your own car because you can stop wherever and whenever you want. The most curious thing about buses in O’ahu is that in the frontal part there’s a bike carrier, where you can leave your bike and go inside the bus without taking extra space.
After picking up our car, we headed to our hotel, the Hilton Hawaiian Village. This resort is one of the biggest in Waikiki Beach and it’s worldwide renowned by its Rainbow Tower which has the world’s largest ceramic-tile mosaic spanning 286 feet high by 26 feet wide on each end of the tower.
Another curiosity about this resort is that Elvis Presley filmed in this resort his movie Blue Hawaii in 1961. If you want to know more about the story of this resort you can go their website and discover more.
Usually, we don’t use to stay at resorts when travelling but after two flights and two time-zone changes, we only wanted to have all the facilities that a hotel offers such as: clean towels, beach, swimming pool and a wide variety of good restaurants. On our first afternoon in Hawaii, we had a plate of nachos with meat, cheese and guacamole after having a quick swim in the common the swimming pool of the hotel. Afterwards, we went to our bedroom to have some rest and be ready for our second day in paradise.
Day 2 – Enjoying Waikiki Beach and first day of surf
The next morning, we woke up before dawn because our body was still adapting to the new time zone. So, we decided to take the car and drive 15 minutes away from Waikiki to have breakfast at a local restaurant called Sweet Ed’s Café.
We ordered an omelette filled with pork made at the Kalua style, a Hawaiian form of cooking the pig. For dessert, we had butter pancakes with maple syrup. To drink, we ordered pineapple juice and two coffees. We paid $33 for all this food, tips included.
Afterwards, we went to rent our surfboard at Diamond Head Surf. We paid a total of $72 for renting the board for the next 6 days ($12 per day). It’s worthy to rent your surfboard outside the Waikiki area because there for one hour they can charge you $22 for a surfboard.
As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we headed straight to the beach with our surfboard. Waikiki Beach has one of the best waves for beginners and it’s very common to see people surfing the whole day long. At lunchtime, I bought a salmon nigiri set in the supermarket at our resort and it was amazingly good. Keep in mind, that Hawaii has a large community of Japanese people, either residents or tourists, and because of that it’s quite easy to find amazing Japanese food in O’ahu.
Before dinner, we went to a craft beer place called Beer Lab Hawaii. In this place, we mixed with local people again and we left in Wakiki the hordes of tourists. In Beer Lab, you’ll find artisanal beer with weird flavors, but the visit it’s worthy because the place is a very calm spot, perfect to enjoy a Hawaiian craft beer.
When we realised that it was 21:05, we ran out of Beer Lab Hawaii and drove to the restaurant we wanted to have dinner in. But, the place was closed when we arrived and we had to look up for a plan B. In Waikiki, the non-chain restaurants close quite early, so please check the schedule beforehand and plan your day accordingly to the dining schedules of the island. Because we didn’t plan well, we ended up having pizza in one of the restaurants in our resort.
Day 3 – East Shore and traditional ‘Luau’ at the Cultural Polynesian Center
The third day in O’ahu was the day that the real adventure started. We were going to leave behind us the touristy area of Waikiki and we will start discovering the less crowded areas of the island. For breakfast, we bought some natural fruit and biscuits at the supermarket and we headed onto Makapu’u’s lighthouse.
During our ride through the East Coast, we stopped at several scenic views because the beaches and the mountains were breathtaking. Green and grey mountains mixed with the white sand and turquoise waters of the sea. The scene was insane and it was impossible not to take hundred of photos all the way long.
At lunchtime, we stopped in Kailua, the largest city in the East Coast. There, we had lunch at Whole Foods, an ecologic supermarket which has and amazing buffet with all kind of food. Once you’ve created your own box lunch, you can have a seat there and have a glass of water because it’s free.
After lunch, we went to the Kalama beach in Kailua Bay. We had a seat in there under a coconut tree and we enjoyed the white sand and the turquoise water of the sea. I loved this place so much because it was full of families and local people, the beach was clean and you could have a long walk through the seashore.
On our third night, we stayed in the city of Hauula in an apartment called Modern Hawaii Beach House. The communication with the owners was very good, they sent over all the instructions about where to park our car, how to access to our bedroom and which was the house where the apartment was located. The place was good because of the price and we’ve also had a lot of privacy; however, our bedroom wasn’t as clean as expected because there was some spider webs hanging from the ceiling.
We didn’t complain about the spider webs because we were just going to be a few hours in the bedroom, due we spent the most of our afternoon and night time at the Cultural Polynesian Center which is located in Laie. This center is a kind amusement park with the main goal of showing everything about the Polynesian culture that Hawai’i shares with the islands of Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa and Aotearoa (New Zealand in maori).
The cultural center is divided into 6 different areas corresponding to each of the Polynesian islands mentioned before. On each island, there’s a representation of the traditional houses and some of their traditions, for example: how to dance hula, the Hawaiian traditional dance, you can also try food from Tahiti and see how men in Samoa are in charge of making fire and cooking.
Apart from the ticket to the Cultural Center, you can also enjoy of an amazing hawaiian dinner or luau accompanied by show of Hawaiian dancing with live music. The buffet was full of traditional Hawaiian dishes, although the food wasn’t as good as expected because there was a lack of flavour. The show that you can enjoy during the luau, it’s very emotional because it explains the story of the last Queen of Hawaii, Liliʻuokalani.
To finish the Polynesian experience, the Cultural Polynesian Center has a nightly musical called Ha Breath of Life which explains the life story of a boy from his birth until the end of his days in each of the Polynesian islands. I highly recommend this show because you can see how they celebrate each event of life in every island and understand more in deep their culture and traditions.
There are many packages available, ones more expensive and another ones cheaper. We chose Ali’i Luau Package which costs $123 per person. It wasn’t very cheap, but after thinking and comparing different luau prices for days, we thought that this one was the best option for us. Hawai’i is a one-lifetime trip and it’s worthy to spend money on activities like this one at the Cultural Polynesian Center.
Day 4 – Heading to the North Shore
Started our day coming back to Kailua to have some breakfast before heading to the Nort Shore. We went to Cinnamon’s because I had read many good reviews about this place; but in the end, I didn’t like at all and I wouldn’t recommend it to you. I would also recommend Egghead Café o Kalapawai Café & Deli than Cinnamon’s.
After the failed breakfast, we headed to the famous North Shore of O’ahu due to the huge waves in the Banzai Pipeline, the mecca for professional surfers from all over the world. I still get goosebumps each time I think about the size of those waves and the strength of the sea. Despite the signs, there were some fearless surfers getting in the water with their surfboards and wearing helmets to protect themselves from possible blows with the sea bed in the event of falling.
We were honored to witness in first person the Volcom Pipe Pro, the most important worldwide surf competition, which is held once a year in the North Shore of O’ahu. To celebrate this event, we decided to sit in the beach and see how the professional surfers juggle with the waves.
To make the competition more bearable, we bought two Brazilian pasteles filled with mince meat in a food truck owned by Brazilians. They also offered healthy options like: açaí bowls with natural fruits and granola. This fruit comes from the Amazon and it’s the perfect meal for the after workout, like surfing, since it’s a vegetable source of proteins and also has a lot of antioxidants and vitamins necessary to recover after practicing sport.
Once the competition was finished we headed to Haleiwa, the largest city in the North Shore. On that city, we stayed in a tent in particular garden of a house called Surf Camp. Honestly, this was the stay that we loved the most. The tent smelled very good, it was clean, we also had towels, anti mosquitos repellent spray and a small fan. In the common areas, you could find an outside shower, the toilet and finally, the living-room with a fridge, table, chairs and a kitchen.
The North Shore was my favourite part in O’ahu with a lot of young people, food trucks with fresh food every single day, coffee places which offer Hawaiian coffee, art galleries thriving local artists and, of course, cute stores with exclusive clothe designs. Haleiwa is a hippie town with people from all over the world looking for a sustainable and healthy way of life full of surf and good food.
Even though Haleiwa is a city full of young people the nightlife here is quite poor. Don’t expect to see discos and drunk people wandering around during the night, however the streets will be full at 6 in the morning when people heads to the beach carrying their surfboards to start the day with a little bit of surf.
Our dinner on the North Shore was at Haleiwa Nº7, a food truck with japanese food which offers poké bowls, sushi, udon, curry tonkatsu and fried chicken, amongst others. The service is a bit slow because there’s only one person cooking while the other is organising all the orders that they receive online and in person. Despite this, I highly recommend to stop and have lunch or dinner at Haleiwa Nº7 for everybody who is thinking to stop by on the North Shore.
Day 5 – Pineapple plantations and the West Shore
It was a rainy day in O’ahu, but despite that, our guts were craving for a healthy bowl of açaí for breakfast. We had it at Crispy Grindz Açaí Bowls with extra of granola. This food truck was frequented by Brazilian people who needed their dose of açaí before heading to their jobs.
But my breakfast is not completed if there’s no coffee, for this reason we went to the Coffee Gallery to grab a good Hawaiian coffee. This place is a cafeteria where you can also buy roasted coffee and bring it to your house. The Coffee Gallery was full during the first hour of the morning with local people ready to take their daily caffeine dose.
While we were driving through the Kamehameha Highway, it caught our attention a place full of cars and tour buses. We stopped because we wanted to know what was going on in that place and which was our surprise that in front of us was the pineapple plantation of Dole. The main building was a macro store full of souvenirs and food with pineapple on them. We also saw that you could visit the pineapple plantation, but we didn’t want to spend money on this tour because we don’t love pineapple that much.
Once we arrived to the South of the island, we started heading to our next destination, the West shore. There the ambience was completely different to rest of the places that we had already visited in O’ahu. The West Shore is were most of the native people live and, sadly, where you will find more homeless wandering in the street. Here, you won’t find fancy restaurants, exclusive shopping areas or huge resorts like in Waikiki.
For lunch, we went to L&L Drive-Inn, a restaurant that offers BBQ Hawaiian style, but also oriental food. By mistake, I chose a bowl of rice with kalua pig and cabbage, but even though it was flavorless, I ate it all.
On the West shore you’ll barely find big hotels, so the most convenient option is to stay at someone’s house. In our case, we decided to stay in an Airbnb in the city of Waianae. Whe shared a two-bedroom house with the owner, a young American guy, who was very respectful with our intimacy. The bedroom was correct, but the bathroom was a bit dirty. We had the feeling that he didn’t put a lot of effort on our stay at his house.
The thing that I liked the most about this shore is to see the local people enjoying their island, doing authentic luau in the beach with family and friends and the most important thing having fun amongst them.
For dinner we wanted something simple and cheap, for that reason we went to McDonald’s. After having two burgers, we came back home and during our ride we saw a lot of homeless people wandering around, trying to get something to eat. Of course, there was a lot of local people walking around, but you’ll only see this side of this Paradise if you don’t leave Waikiki and its wonderful world of luxury and surf.
Day 6 – Surf, back to Waikiki Beach and Superbowl
We woke up early in the morning because we wanted to surf again in Keawuala beach before returning the surfboard. After exercising, we came back home and took a shower. Also, we cleaned the board and packed everything before leaving our AirBnb to come back to Waikiki Beach.
Our last stay in Waikiki was at the Shoreline Hotel Waikiki, a colorful hotel in the heart of the most touristy area in O’ahu. As soon as we arrived to the hotel, we put on our swimsuits and we headed to Waikiki Beach. The place was packed with people and it wasn’t a lot of space to rest peacefully and put your towels down to enjoy your day in the beach. I don’t recommend going to this beach if you’re looking for something calmer and not overcrowded.
After taking a quick swim in the sea, we went to Maui Brewing Co. to have a beer and to watch a little bit of the Superbowl 2020. Although, we live in the United States, we don’t follow American Football at all, but it’s always cool to be surrounded by authentic fans who are into the game and enjoy the sport in a day like that.
To remove the salty residue of our bodies, we decided to come back to the hotel and take a shower before going out again to grab something for lunch. We didn’t want something huge, but big enough fill our stomachs until dinner time. For that reason, we decided to grab a piece of quiche, a sandwich and two coffees at Kona Coffee Purveyors. The coffee is local and the food is amazingly good.
When we finished our late lunch, we went to the commercial area of Waikiki and at seven o’clock we went to the beach to see the sunset and say goodbye to this amazing island. For dinner, we went to Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin. My recommendation is to make a reservation one or two days before because we had to wait an hour and a half to take a seat, but in the end, the wait was worthy. The food was amazing, it was like being in Japan again and it made me very happy. After dinner, we also had an ice-cream at Häagen-Dazs.
Day 7 – Pearl Harbor and Mahalo
The last day in O’ahu, we started it having breakfast at Kona Coffee Purveyors because we couldn’t leave Hawaii without having a good coffee and something delicious to eat before heading out of Waikiki. After the check out at the hotel, we went the biggest mall in O’ahu, the Ala Moana center.
At Ala Moana, there’s a lot of stores and restaurants for everybody’s budget. We didn’t buy anything because our suitcases were already full, but we had lunch at a pizza place called California Pizza Kitchen. The food was correct for a chain restaurant like it.
In the afternoon, we went to visit the historical Pearl Harbor. The American military base which was attacked by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. We investigated a lot about how to the get the tickets for the USS Arizona Memorial, but all the options were quite expensive and, to be honest with you, we didn’t understand what was included in the price and why it was so expensive to visit the memorial.
In the end, we got our tickets through Recreation.gov. It’s very important that you remember to buy your tickets 24 hours before your visit because the USS Arizona Memorial only accepts 1.300 persons per day and the first ones are the first to get tickets. The price for the entrance is $1 per person and you’ll get your entrance in Pearl Harbor, once the personnel in there print your ticket.
The visit to Pearl Harbor starts at its public Museum in which you will understand the situation of Japan and the United States in that specific period of time. Next, the visitors who got a ticket to visit the USS Arizona Memorial will be ushered to a small cinema where they could see a 30 minutes documentary about the Japanese attack and to understand much better the visit to this Memorial.
With the images of the attack still in your mind, now is the time to visit the USS Arizona Memorial. This place is located in the middle of the sea in the same place where the USS Arizona battleship was placed during the Japanese air raid. The Memorial is an amazing white building floating over the sea dedicated to all the people who were dead on that tragic day of December.
To me, visiting Pearl Harbor was very sentimental because it helped me to complement my trip to Hiroshima and it gave me the full picture of the Pacific conflict between Japan and the United States. The first attack in 1941 by the Japanese to Pearl Harbor and the latest revenge from the United States with the dropping of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
O’ahu is the most inhabited and touristy island in the whole Aloha State. If you’re looking a luxury vacation, I highly recommend you to stay in Waikiki or the South East of the island. If on the contrary, you prefer a little bit of adventure, surf and to know how the local people live, I recommend you the North and the West shores.
O’ahu is a paradise which everybody should visit at least once in their life.
Mahalo Hawai’i!
