Hi, I need some help again. I’m firming up our trip to Hawaii in a couple of weeks and have a few questions.

We are flying into HNL from LIH at 7:35am, our flight home is not until 2:45pm. We don’t want to waste our last day at the airport. What is the closest beach to the airport that is good for swimming with kids? We would have already spent time at Waikiki, so we are ok with it being another beach, whatever is closer.

What is the best way to get to that beach?

Also do hotels in the area rent out a room to clean up in after the day at the beach?

Thanks for your help.

will you have a car for the day? THE closest beach is probably ala moana but the bus is slow and will eat up a lot of your time. The actual airport hotels are really crappy Best Western Plaza; Ohana) but may have day rates for showering etc, eating up more time....

Closest beach would be Sand Island, but you do NOT want to hang out there. Go all the way to Ala Moana Beach Park. You can take a cab (maybe $20) or take a city bus ($2.25 adults, but will be really slow at that time of the morning).

The agent in LIH should check your bags all the way through so you'll only have carryon with you. There are two hotels near the airport (one is a Best Western) and you might call them to see about day rates. If not, or too pricey, Ala Moana park has showers in the bathrooms. If you bring soap and Shampoo you can clean up there.

An added benefit is that if you are hungry or the kids don't want to swim, you can walk across the street to Ala Moana Center. There will be lots of cabs in the area too, so shouldn't be hard to get one back to the airport.

Hopefully you won't have luggage to check in and you'll have your boarding passes, but still allow extra time to get to the airport, as you may have a long security line and a long walk out to your gate.

Not quite sure about all the talk of showers/freshening up -- they are only flying in from LIH.

Janis - OP asked about showering after spending the day at the beach

They are flying from lihue, spending 4 or 5 hours at a beach, then flying "home", which will be at least a five hour flight. I'd sure want to shower first!

I'd go with Ala Moana park. Does it have to be a hotel room you rent to clean up. Could you make do with the outdoor showers and restrooms you can find at a public beach?

Thanks everyone. Ala Moana sounds perfect, with the showers and everything. This is going to be a VERY ignorant question but do people use shampoo and soap in outdoor showers or just rinse off?

No car for the day. How long does it generally take to get there from the airport in a cab?

There are showers outside, where some people do use soap and shampoo, though it's tacky! There are private showers inside the women's/ men's bathrooms. Cold water only, but if it's a hot day, you won't mind!

Oh there are private showers? Good. I thought it might be a little iffy to be using soap and shampoo in an outside shower.

Thanks.