1 Week On Oahu, HI – Here’s What We Did

The very last week of our 7 year, 50 state road trip was spent on Oahu – the fourth of four Hawaiian islands that we visited (see our Kauai, Maui and Big Island posts for more about those).

It wasn’t just me and Shae there as her mom and stepdad came to join us to help us celebrate the culmination of our road trip. We picked Oahu for that particular week as it fell over New Year’s, so being in Waikiki seemed like the best place to be for fireworks and other festivities.

It was a fun final week of our road trip – here’s what we got up to.

Where We Stayed On Oahu

As you might expect, booking a hotel in Waikiki just after Christmas and over the New Year isn’t cheap. We managed to get a fantastic deal though using Wyndham Rewards points by booking a stay at the Shell Vacations Club Waikiki Marina Resort at the llikai.

The hotel is a timeshare property but where you can also book paid and award stays. Surprisingly, it’s a regular redemption in the Wyndham Rewards program (i.e. 15,000 points per night), but having a Wyndham credit card meant we got an additional 10% discount on the award stay, thereby only costing us 13,500 points per night.

That got us a studio suite with a kitchen, a spacious bedroom/living area and a lanai looking out over the city.

It was therefore a great accommodation option, but it wasn’t all perfect. Our biggest frustration was that the elevator situation wasn’t ideal as the elevators were unreliable. It’s a tall building and there are only five elevators, so sometimes we had to wait a very long time.

At one point, three of the elevators were broken and there’s no air conditioning in the hallways, so it gets very hot. There’s a bathers elevator that some people use (that’s for people returning from the beach so that they don’t traipse sand in all the elevators), but we often used the stairs to walk down as we were only on the 5th floor. It would’ve sucked to have been higher up though.

There were other features that we did like though, such as the guest laundry room and the ability to use the lagoon at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort. This is a shallow area at the back of the hotel that’s perfect for wading, paddle boarding, etc.

There was also an evening fireworks display and show. Here’s Shae’s account of it:

When I saw that there was live music and fireworks at our hotel I made it a point to go and see it, even if I was alone. Stephen had some work to do so I did indeed make my way down to check it out. I waited for a while, the music finally came on, and while it was nice, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to make it. It was a local Hawai’ian group and hula dancers.

The fireworks, on the other hand, were great. Every Friday the Hilton which was next door to our hotel has free fireworks for a few minutes. It was really fun to have a great view of fireworks from our hotel.

How We Got Around Oahu

Our hotel didn’t offer free parking and we knew we’d only need a rental car for a couple of days during our stay. It therefore wasn’t worth us renting a car for the entire week, so we just rented a car on two separate days.

The Hilton which was (sort of) next door had an Enterprise, so we rented a car from there a couple of times. What was particularly fun is that we did our 7 year, 50 state road trip in a silver Toyota Corolla, but it didn’t make it over to Hawaii with us (it did get to Alaska though). On our first rental from Enterprise though, we got – you guessed it – a silver Toyota Corolla, so things came full circle.

What We Did On Oahu

Wave Hunting

A storm had rolled through Hawaii while we were there which created some enormous waves, so large in fact that they were able to hold the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surfing event a couple of days before we arrived in Oahu. The Eddie is a surfing competition that can only happen if there are waves of a certain size; while that was great for surfers, it wasn’t so good for anyone wanting to swim as the currents were unsafe.

Although the worst (or best, depending on your viewpoint!) of the waves had gone by then, we thought it would be fun to drive up to the North Shore to check out the waves as we figured they’d still be pretty high. The beaches were marked off in many cases to ensure people stayed safe, but it was still possible to see some high waves, as well as surfers still taking advantage of the higher-than-usual waves.

Dole Plantation

One of the most popular attractions on Oahu is the Dole Plantation, home to all things pineapple.

Its gift shop is free to visit, plus they have other paid attractions like a massive garden maze shaped like a pineapple, the Pineapple Express train tour and a tour of the plantation garden. We arrived fairly late in the day, so we figured we’d return on a future day to do those, but did stop at their cafe to get Dole Whip – a pineapple-flavored ice cream-esque treat in case you’ve never had it. It’s delicious, so we didn’t want to miss out on that.

We planned to return a couple of days later, but we ended up having a bunch of other stuff to see that day and so we never ended up making it back.

Diamond Head State Monument

Diamond Head is a volcanic cone on Oahu that’s a popular place for people to go hiking due to the views. On our second day renting a car we had lots to fit in and so didn’t hike it, but we did drive along Diamond Head Rd, stopping at an overlook for some nice views of the coast.

Koko Head

Continuing around the island, we did a quick drive by of Koko Head which has a brutal-looking hike up to the top.

Halona Blowhole Lookout

Another stop on our drive that day was the Halona Blowhole Lookout. We’d had a fantastic time visiting the Nakalele Blowhole on Maui a couple of weeks before, but this blowhole on Oahu was sadly nowhere near as good – at least on the day we visited anyway.

We saw a couple of small bursts, but they were few and far between and hard to get a photo of – this is the best that I got.

Mānana Island Seabird Sanctuary

Off the coast at the southeastern tip of the island are Mānana Island Seabird Sanctuary and Kāohikaipu Islet Seabird Sanctuary. These islets are off-limits to the public due to the large number of seabirds that live there.

Byodo-In Temple

The Byodo-In Temple is in a beautiful setting in Valley of the Temples Memorial Park.

This Buddhist temple was dedicated in 1968 and is a replica of the Byodo-In temple in Japan. Entry is only $5 for adults and teens, $4 for seniors and $2 for children.

Kualoa Regional Park

Oahu is the island where many scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed. As a result, there are Jurassic Park tours you can go on, including helicopter tours to get even more stunning views.

Those tours are pricey, so we didn’t go on those. However, you can still see some of the scenery from the movies, such as this view at Kualoa Regional Park.

We then went for a little wander on the beach. In the distance we could see China Man Hat Island; apparently you can access the island via kayak or paddle board and then hike up the hill.

Laniakea Beach

After stopping for dinner in Haleiwa, we ended the night with a quick walk on Laniakea Beach before driving back to Waikiki.

Lanikai Beach

Before heading to Pearl Harbor, Shae and her mom got up very early to see the sunrise at Lanikai Beach – here’s her account:

I had done a bit of research about finding Honu (sea turtles) on the beaches and Lanikai beach was suggested for an amazing sunrise opportunity. My mom and I got up at 4am to see the sunrise. It was early, but totally the right call.

We got a great parking spot right near the public entrance. It seemed busier than I’d have expected at that time, but we found out that there are locals who come and ride and race their outriggers, so it made sense after we saw them loading up the boats. We had a wonderful time watching the sun rise, the teams get in their boats and locals enjoying the beach. It was well worth the time to go to the sunrise.

Pearl Harbor National Memorial

One of the main attractions (if it should be called an attraction as such) when visiting Honolulu is Pearl Harbor National Memorial. Growing up in the UK, I had a general awareness of Pearl Harbor’s history, but there was a lot that I didn’t know about the happenings leading up to – and on the day of – the attack on December 7, 1941.

There’s a lot to see and learn there, so you could potentially spend all day at the site and still not see all of it. We spent a few hours at Pearl Harbor and thankfully managed to book tickets to visit the USS Arizona Memorial. There are a limited number of timed tickets each day and we were able to snag four of those a day or two before our visit.

Those tickets provide access on a boat trip over to the former site of the USS Arizona. The ship’s remains are still underwater, with the memorial built on top in honor of the lives lost that day.

Chief’s Luau

There are all kinds of luaus available on the Hawaiian islands. We hadn’t attended one on Kauai, Maui or the Big Island as we knew that Shae’s mom and stepdad wanted to go to one too, so we waited until we were all together on Oahu. We had all kinds of options, but a friend recommended Chief’s Luau and so we decided to give that a go.

Overall, we’d recommend Chief’s Luau as we did end up having a fun evening, but it was far from perfect. Our biggest issue was the organization of the event. They encourage you to get there early in case you hit traffic along the way, so we arrived nice and early. They then have you come over to watch an intro show, so the people who were there first get to the front.

However, once that’s over they take people’s tickets to enter the actual venue. That means people who arrived later who were at the back ended up entering first. That wasn’t a huge issue in theory, but the entry process took waaaaaaaay longer than it needed to as it wasn’t very organized. That meant that we were some of the last people through the doors despite having been among the first people to arrive at the venue. This also meant that we missed some of the intro entertainment and announcements, had to wait longer in line for drinks, etc.

The food wasn’t particularly great either. It wasn’t awful, but it was just an average – and not very hot – buffet, with it not feeling particularly Hawaiian. There was also only one dessert option which was some kind of sponge cake.

The event redeemed itself with the show though. The performers were excellent – it was very entertaining and extremely funny at times. It wasn’t really what I was expecting from a luau, although to be fair I’d never been to one and didn’t really know what to expect. We really enjoyed the entertainment though and so if we returned to Honolulu with friends and they wanted to do a luau, we wouldn’t hesitate to take them to Chief’s Luau – we’d just set our expectations for some aspects of it.

Parasailing

I had to work on our final full day on Oahu, so Shae and her mom went on an adventure, going parasailing for the first time.

My mom and I have been waiting to go parasailing together for years. It was finally time! We went with Xtreme Parasail for affordability at 1000 ft offerings. Overall we had a great experience. I was surprised at how afraid I felt. I’ve done a lot over the years to fight my fear of heights, but they came back in full force. That being said, despite my own fear it was an incredibly fun and safe experience and I’d definitely go again now that I know what to expect.

Here’s a 2.5 minute video of me and my mom’s 6 minute experience on our parasail in Oahu.

New Tattoos

After going parasailing, Shae and her mom went to get another tattoo together.

My mom and I love getting tattoos together. We’d decided to get tattoos together at Tattoolicious Tattoo which was only a 15 min walk from our hotels. Mom, who LOVES the movie Moana, got a tattoo with the heart of Te Fiti and a honu (sea turtle).

I wanted a sea turtle (honu) and water or waves that would invoke the Hawai’ian meaning of those from their symbolism. The honu represent guardians, while waves represent the changes of life, and – at the end of a 7 year, 50 state road trip – those seemed like very special and meaningful choices for my tattoo. I’m incredibly happy with my tattoo, as is my mom, all these months later. I highly recommend contacting Tattoolicious if you want a tattoo while you’re in Waikiki.

New Year’s Eve Fireworks

One of the reasons we’d picked Oahu as our final Hawaiian island to visit during this trip was because we figured Waikiki would be a great place to see in the New Year.

At about 11:30pm, we headed down to the lagoon next to our hotel to watch the firework display. It was a fantastic way to end not only the year, but also our 7 year, 50 state road trip.

We then celebrated in our own way!

Where We Ate & Drank On Oahu

Haleʻiwa Beach House

While driving around the island one day, we stopped for lunch at Haleʻiwa Beach House in Haleiwa. They had good cocktails…

…tasty appetizers…

…and delicious entrées.

Waikiki Brewing Company

Waikiki Brewing Company was next door to the hotel Shae’s mom and stepdad stayed at (the DoubleTree by Hilton Alana – Waikiki Beach), so we stopped by there for a drink one day to meet up with a friend.

The beer was good but not spectacular, plus we got a couple of appetizers.

The best part of all – other than getting to meet up with our friend and her partner – was getting to meet her ridiculously cute pup.

Shrimp Shack

On one of our days driving around the island, we stopped for a quick snack at the Shrimp Shack in Punaluu. The shrimp was fine, but not particularly memorable.

Ted’s Bakery

We’d driven past Ted’s Bakery earlier that day and decided to stop there on our way back through as it had good reviews online. Ted’s has a wide range of food options from burgers to sandwiches to pies to cakes and more.

We’d just eaten the shrimp at the Shrimp Shack about an hour before, so the four of us got a variety of pie slices, a chocolate custard cream puff and a Danish. These were all good, but I preferred the Danish I got to the chocolate custard pie I also tried.

Haleiwa Joe’s

For dinner that night we went to Haleiwa Joe’s as a friend had recommended it. He’d suggested trying to get a seat by the railing for the views, so we asked for an outside table. It was a little weird though because while the view was nice enough, it wasn’t something super-special and there was no railing to be seen. It turns out that he’d visited their Kaneohe location, whereas we’d stopped in at their original location in Haleiwa!

Although the views weren’t as spectacular as they might’ve been at Haleiwa Joe’s other location, the food was very tasty. Shae got appetizers of ceviche and ahi, while I ordered their sticky ribs which my friend had recommended. We both enjoyed all these dishes.

Over Easy

After their sunrise trip to Lanikai Beach, Shae and her mom stopped at Over Easy in Kailua to have breakfast. It was a little pricey, but overall Shae thought the food and service were both excellent.

STRIPSTEAK

Seeing as December 31, 2024 marked the end of our 7 year road trip and we were in Hawaii, we wanted to go out for a nice meal to celebrate. I still had loads of referral credits in the inKind app and a nice steak restaurant in Waikiki – STRIPSTEAK – was available in the app.

The four of us therefore booked a table there for that night and had a wonderful meal. Because I had so many credits, we splashed out as all we had to pay out of pocket was the tip. That meant a bottle of champagne, other bottles of wine and cocktails, caviar, a seafood platter, A5 Wagyu steak and more.

What We Missed In Oahu

We managed to fit quite a lot of stuff in to our visit, but there were loads more activities that people had recommended that we didn’t have time for. Here’s other stuff for a future trip:

• Honolulu Beerworks
• Iolani Palace
• KCC Farmers’ Market
• Leonard’s Bakery – two people recommended getting donuts there
• Bishop Museum
• Loco Moco Drive Inn
• Dole Plantation maze
• Turtle Bay
• Mālaekahana State Recreation Area
• Polynesian Cultural Center
• Kualoa Ranch – where Jurassic Park was filmed
• Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden
• Manoa Falls
• Makapuu Beach Park
• Hanauma Bay – snorkeling