Hi all, I'm doing some very early look-ahead planning for a trip to Oahu next June 2018. There will be 11 of us (7 adults, 4 kids) so obviously we will be somewhat limited in what we can get and where we can stay. My initial searches seem to say that the Kailua Beach area is the best bet for large rental homes (vrbo), but I'm wondering if anyone has any other suggestions based on personal experience (I can do the standard searches for multiple hotel rooms, etc.) in or around the Waikiki area.

Thanks in advance.

Bumping to see if there's any input.

My sister took her married kids and grandkids, and they all got condos in the same complex.

I've lived in Hawaii. You will not find decent house rentals within a few miles of Waikiki Beach - yes, use vrbo or Airbnb - but the Kailua and Lanikai Beach areas are much nicer than Waikiki anyway. You will need a car or two, so it will be easy to make a visit to Waikiki, but it's so touristy, where Kailua is more local. There are very sketchy neighborhoods on Oahu like anywhere else, so if you find a cheap rental, do a lot of research on where it's located. There were several areas I would not venture into even when I lived there a few years ago.

I think the easiest and most convenient solution, and as you already mentioned, is finding multiple hotel rooms within Waikiki.

You need to check if it's a legally permitted short term rental http://honoluludpp.org/Portals/0/pdf.../NUCreport.pdf Most are in Waikiki.

There are also quite a few condo hotels in Waikiki.

Thanks for all of the input. What you all mention is what I am surmising, so it will likely be a house on Kailua/Lanikai, many of which look amazing, versus multiple rooms at Waikiki. Right now we're leaning towards the house.

Cheers.

One more question. I'm seeing some decent vrbo houses on the North Shore as well. Any reasons to not stay in a house there other than longer travel times to other sites?

It's a lot farther from Waikiki to the north shore than it is from Waikiki to Kailua, so maybe I'm misunderstanding your question?

Without knowing what you plan to do each day, it's hard to comment on if the North Shore would work or not. And yes "longer travel times" could be a con of staying there, again only if you want to go into Waikiki/Honolulu every day.

Sorry, yes, I know it's a bit ambiguous at this point. I'm trying to weigh the longer travel times vs "quality." Quality being a vague term here, but generally thinking about homes for rent, neighborhoods, beaches, scenery, eateries, things to do, etc.

As a large group ranging in age from 10 to 75, we'll be doing a mixture of things, including (but not limited to) beach swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, shopping, Pearl Harbor, mild surfing.

If the beaches and scenery are unbeatable in the North Shore and nothing even comes close, then we would be more likely to take the drive time penalty (maybe 2X the time to Honolulu area sites?) and stay there.

I hope that explains it a bit better.

P.S. FWIW, I'm leaning towards Kailua still, but there are some in the party wanting to stay in the North Shore, so we're trying to make the best overall decision.