My Top 10 things to see and do in Honolulu! Proudly brought to you by my maxed out credit card and snug fitting pants.
1. The Sunset
It’s free, it happens every night at approximately 7.15pm during Summer and it is SPECTACULAR.
We were lucky enough to be able to see the sunset from our balcony every night (we stayed at Waikiki Shore, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village end of Waikiki Beach), but if you’re not staying beach front, get yourself down to the beach at least once to watch the incredible sunset. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
2. The Fireworks
Every Friday night, the Hilton Hawaiian Village puts on a 5-10 minute firework show that’s free for anyone to watch. We watched it from our balcony but hundreds of people walked down to the beach to watch them and I suggest you do that too. Again, I promise you won’t be disappointed!
3. Sip on a cocktail
Look, I won’t lie. I put A LOT of research into this one and here are where my Top 3 favourite cocktails came from:
Thanks to Pam and Errol offering to look after the kids for the night, Scott and I enjoyed a fabulous kid free Sunset Hour at the Wai-Olu Ocean View Lounge, located upstairs at the Trump International Hotel.
I ordered a Mai Tai and it was the best one I had all holiday. It even came complete with a delicious ball of rum infused sorbet floating on top! I give it 5 decorative pineapple slices out of 5.
We also ordered from their tapas menu, which was delicious.
Coming in a very close second, was sunset drinks at the gorgeous Halekulani Hotel. Located right on the beach, the views are spectacular and you can enjoy a delicious blended mojito while listening to the soothing sounds of a traditional Hawaiian band playing in the background.
Finally, the Rum Fire bar at the Sheraton Waikiki offers views you can’t beat and cocktails that aren’t too shabby either.
I can’t remember what this cocktail was called but it tasted delicious. Although it was super sweet and I couldn’t finish it, so I give it 3 decorative pineapple slices out of 5.
4. Go Shopping
Now THIS is my area of expertise! It also happens to be Pam’s (you can read her shopping tips in this post right here), so between the two of us, we had the shopping in Honolulu thing covered.
If you’re staying in Waikiki itself, Lewers St and Kalakaua Ave is where all the shopping action is. There’s everything from ABC stores (where you can pick up basic everyday items from bread and milk to wine and cheese) to Louis Vuitton and Macy’s.
That’s also the precinct where all the beachside hotels are, so my advice is to hit the pavement and go for a bit of a wander and see where the day takes you.
I spent a morning strolling around and found myself saying hello to the staff in the Kate Spade store one minute and popping into the Moana Surfrider Hotel for a quick look the next!
Oh and FYI, if homewares are your thing, head to a gorgeous little store next to the Surfrider Hotel called The Sand People. It’s full of lovely little blue and white pieces and I may have gone back there 3 or 4 times to make a few more purchases!
Ok, so now let’s talk malls. Ala Moana Center is a brisk 15-20 minute walk, $11 cab ride or $2.50 bus ride (line 8, no change given, so make sure you have exactly $2.50) from central Waikiki.
There’s pretty much everything there you can think of, although it is undergoing renovations at the moment, so a couple of stores were closed when I was there. If you’ve been to mainland USA before, it’s not as big as any of the malls there, but it’s still a decent size and has everything from Old Navy to Chanel, so there’s something for everyone.
The Outlets are a good 30 minute drive from central Waikiki. You can get there by bus or there is a shuttle service that will pick you up from your hotel for $15 return (see your hotel front desk to organise this.)
We hired a car for a day and drove there on the way home from our road trip around the island (details on that are up next!).
I’ve done a few of the big outlets in LA and Las Vegas before and in comparison this one is much smaller, however there were great bargains to be had in every store (hello 50% off EVERYTHING in Kate Spade!)
5. Hire a car
Scott doesn’t mind driving in the USA so we hired a car for the day (US$98 for a compact, which was actually a really comfortable Volkswagen and not compact at all) and took off for a day trip around the island.
Believe it or not, but I didn’t take many photos that day as I was too busy taking in the sights with my actual eyes! We saw some incredibly beautiful scenery, some gorgeous homes right on the ocean and stopped at a roadside fruit shop where Sophie drank out of a coconut for the first time.
6. Visit Kualoa Ranch
This was our first stop on our day trip and we’re so pleased we made the stop! There are lots of things to do at Kualoa Ranch, from horse riding to zip lining, but Scott is right into anything WWII related and Bailey loves all things Jurassic Park/World, so we went on their historical/movie tour.
During the tour we saw old bunkers (pill boxes) from WWII and learnt about their hideout called Battery Cooper.
We then saw where numerous films & TV Shows were made including Jurassic Park, 50 First Dates, Lost etc
It was really interesting and the scenery was beautiful. Definitely worth a pit stop!
7. Eat!
There are plenty of places to eat in Honolulu and here are some of our favourites.
Bills, owned by Sydney celebrity chef, Bill Granger, was definitely worth the visit. The food was amazing (vegemite and toast was on the menu!), the decor was beautiful and the coffee was gooood.
I highly recommend the corn fritters. So much better than a serve of American pancakes with maple syrup and bacon!
The Cheesecake Factory is always a great place to go for a cheap, huge and fairly quick meal. Although if you’re going at night, be prepared to wait for a table. They don’t take bookings and you’ll usually wait anywhere from 30-60 minutes for a table. But once you’ve sat down, the service is quick, which is great if you’ve little kids that need to be fed in a hurry!
I had the Fish Tacos when we were there. You can read what the rest of the family ate in this post.
Dukes (enter via Sheraton) is a cracker of a spot, located right on the beach.
They have a couple of dining options and we went for the more casual option and enjoyed a very tasty meal of burgers (Scott and Bailey), fish and chips (Sophie) and Korean Steak Tacos (Me)
If you feel like having a pancake fix and don’t mind sitting on seats that stick to your legs, then IHOP is the place for you!
After eating there, I was mildly concerned about the possibility of going into cardiac arrest on the pavement afterwards, but hey, I get that a lot of people love their pancakes and their whipped cream and their maple syrup and their sugar and their chocolate chips and their candied bacon all piled on top of each other, so this is a judgement free zone!
You can read my full review of our time at IHOP in this post.
If fancy dinners are your thing, Ocean House, located at the Outrigger Reef On The Beach, is the place for you. The service is fantastic, the cocktails are delicious and food is amazing. Oh and the view isn’t too shabby either!
Beside Ocean House is Shore Bird, which is it’s more relaxed cousin. It offers a cook it yourself dinner set up (I can confirm the ribs are delicious) with a salad bar and very refreshing strawberry daiquiris!
8. Find a good cup of coffee
Now if you’ve ever travelled to the good old US of A before and you love your coffee, you’ll know that finding a good cup of coffee over there is virtually impossible. But don’t worry. Thanks to Pam’s recommendation, I’ve managed to find coffee in Honolulu that’s drinkable and tastes almost as good as what we get here in Australia. HOORAY!
It’s from Kai Coffee and is located in the mall directly opposite the statue of Duke on Waikiki Beach. My advice is to order a Cafe Latte, regardless of what you usually drink at home (I’m a cappuccino girl through and through, but a latte is the closest thing to an Aussie cappuccino) YOU’RE WELCOME!
9. Hit the beach!
Ok, so a couple of things about Waikiki beach.
Firstly, there aren’t any stingers/blue bottles/ nasties in the water there like we get here in Australia, but there are plenty of fish swimming around with you, so that takes a bit of getting used to.
Secondly, depending on what part of the beach you plonk yourself on, you might need to wear a pair of beach shoes. Where we were was particularly rocky underfoot (not at all sandy) so lightweight shoes were required to make sure we didn’t cut our feet on rocks or coral on the ocean floor.
Finally, you can sit on a towel at the beach like we do at home or you can rent an umbrella, two sun lounges and a little table by the hour of for a day. Prices depend on how good you are at wheeling and dealing with whoever is serving you. We had umbrella number 11 on the days we were at the beach and it was a very comfortable way to enjoy the sun, surf and sand!
While you’re at the beach, keep an eye out for this guy. He comes into the rocks most afternoons at around 2pm to say hello. It’s amazing and see a turtle so close and if you’re out in the water, like Sophie and Scott were on one day when he come in for a visit, he’ll even swim with you!
10. Do some water sports
You can hire a number of water sport equipment by the hour or for the day. Scott and Sophie gave water bike riding a go (US$25 an hour) which they said was fun but a lot of hard work!
and they went paddle boarding a couple of times too (US$20 for a day) which they both loved.
Bailey joined in with this activity too, while I sensibly sat on the sun lounge and ate a shaved ice as big as my head
That’s a size small by the way, is pineapple flavoured and will set you back $3.98 Money well spent, I’d say!
So there we have it. My top 10 things to see and do in Honolulu.
Have you been to Honolulu? Got anything you’d like to add to the list?
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