Oahu for 10 days in March - what should we do?
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Anonymous
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Kids are 5 and 7 and we also have a set of very active grandparents and kids' uncle (who is late 20s).
Give me your best tips, best restaurants, best hikes! Specifically, is the Pearl Harbor museum ok for kids? And, are the diamond volcanos worth seeing? |
Anonymous
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Pearl Harbor, yes. Diamond head...nothing really to see.
Hanauma Bay for snorkeling, if the surf is light (kids). North Shore to watch surfers. Hang out on the various beaches. St away from the leeward side. They don't like haola there. |
Anonymous
| If you can afford going over to volcano national park on hawaii, dinner at sunset at the Volcano House. See the hot lava and go to lava tubes. |
Anonymous
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We went last summer with 8 and 7 year olds. Pearl Habor was fine for them. Not sure how much they absorbed and will remember but they were fine and engaged. We stayed on the north shore off of Sunset beach.
I think the closest town to our rental house was Waimea. The fish taco food truck there was amazing!!! We did surfing lessons with Surf Girls and they were awesome We enjoyed (with grandparents) the Dole Plantation. Fun tour and maze. Pineapple yogurt was amazing. There was also a botanical garden (forget the same)with paved paths between Waimea and Honolulu that the whole Family enjoyed too. Lots of unusual plants and a pool at the end to jump in. Enjoy. |
Anonymous
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I lived in HI for three years pre-kids.
Waikiki is a blast. The beach is fun, International Marketplace is fun for tacky souvenirs, wandering down the streets and seeing all the street performers and goofy stuff going on is fun. The Manoa Falls hike is nice; take the bus from Waikiki to the trailhead and then walk up to the falls. In general I'd definitely recommend familiarizing yourselves with the bus system. Oahu has great public transportation and it's cheap. You can ride the circle island bus (or rent a car) to the North Shore. Stop in Hale'iwa and grab a burger and a shave ice at Matsumotos. For beaches in Waikiki, my favorite is at Fort DeRussy. I am fair-skinned and there is a park directly behind the beach with shade trees. The Bishop Museum is worth a look, and also Iolani Palace. And don't forget to grab some plate lunch. |
Anonymous
| We were there in January and enjoyed a luau/dancing performance with the guys with flaming batons. |
Anonymous
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http://www.halekulani.com/la-mer-restaurant
If you can get the grandparents to babysit, highly recommend this restaurant. Go before sunset so you can watch from your table. Food is amazing. My kids enjoyed sea life park. They did enjoy hiking up Diamond Head. Go early to Pearl harbor, The waits can be really long. http://www.sealifeparkhawaii.com/ |
Anonymous
| Go to Pearl Harbor on day 1 when you are still on east coast time. We went at 7:30 and walked right in. |
Anonymous
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We went to Chief's Luau at the Sea Life Animal Park. Kids loved it and the food was pretty ok too. The park looked nice too but we arrived too late to see it.
Atlantis Submarine is fun - see the fish and shipwreck. My kids still talk about how deep we went (I think it was 100+ feet down?). And you get a nice boat ride out too. |
Anonymous
| My kids really enjoyed Manoa falls, Hanauma Bay, and Pearl Harbor. We took our own snorkels and drove to Sharks Cove on the North Shore one day which was great (and free.) there are some fabulous food trucks across the road from Sharks cove for lunch/dinner. A fun, funky (decent priced) restaurant that we really liked was Goofy's (we could walk from our hotel in Waikiki. The name is strange, but the food is organic and so so good.) we also drove one day on the east side of the island (I thought some of the prettiest beaches on the island were there.) my kids enjoyed seeing Halona blow hole. There is so much to see! A few days we'd just drive around and stop at the different beaches...and luckily one day we saw turtles that were huge! You will have so much fun ? |
Anonymous
Agreed on the volcano park......that is worth the time. |
Anonymous
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International Marketplace isn't scheduled to be reopened until later in the year
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Anonymous
| My sons loved Diamond Head, surf lessons, the Byodo-In Buddhist temple, pineapple maze & Atlantis submarines. I planned in advance and had we had a breakfast with the zookeeper (behind the scenes look at animals and you get breakfast at the end). Did not go to Pearl Harbor because the lines were super long. |
Anonymous
| Forgot to include the rainforest hike which was a highlight of trip. Temperature drop was pretty impressive. |