Help with Oahu Itinerary
 

Hello,
A group of us gals are traveling to Honolulu in May. This is the first trip for all of us and unfortunately, I think I've planned a way too exhaustive trip. Some of us will want to stay at the beach all day and some (like me who can't swim or snorkel) will be more attracted to land activities. Please review and provide recommendations. Although I show a luau on Days 3 and 4, I only plan to attend one. We will have a car so please let me know what activities we should use the car versus a tour group. Thank you Grouptravel!!!!

Day one: Arrive in HNL. Only planned activity is Movies on the Beach

Day Two: Grand Circle Tour

Day Three: Waikiki, Duke's restaurant, Atlantis Submarine Tour, International Market Square, Bishop Museum, Iolani Palace, Royal Hawaiian Luau

Day Four: Hike Diamond Head, go to the Beach or Ala Moana Shopping. Attend either Germaine or Paradise Cove's luau.

Day Five: Pearl Harbor, Chinatown, Aloha Stadium Swap Meet

Day Six: Polynesian Cultural Center, Dole Plantation, North Shore. Should we take a guided tour or is this an easy drive from Waikiki?

Day Seven: Return flight back to the mainland

My first reaction is that you might want to group things geographically. For example: Pearl Harbor would be on the same day as the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet. Maybe group Bishop Museum with that as it will be on your way back into town.

Chinatown-Iolani Palace-Aloha Tower Marketplace (www.alohatower.com) should be all grouped together as the historic Honolulu spots are in the same spot.
http://www.driveguidemagazines.com/o...chinatown.html

Day six is perfectly grouped together.
http://www.driveguidemagazines.com/o...ntralwest.html

I'm not sure if you need to take a guided tour; depends on how good you are with directions. Should be OK though.

Hi Grouptravel. I have a couple of thoughts for you to consider. I think it is pretty easy to drive on O'ahu (and I really don't like to drive in most big cities). So I don't think you need a tour to get up to the north shore. Also, you mention a Grand Circle tour, which I assume is a tour around the island; that is also something you can easily do on your own for more flexibility. I would get a book such as "Driving and Discovering O'ahu" by Richard Sullivan to help decide if you would want to drive or not. The book is now a few years old, so some of the detailed directions may have changed due to new road construction, but it has great pictures and maps. I would allow plenty of time for the beautiful beaches on the north shore, and all around the island. I love to walk on the beach, or just sit and watch the waves and the surfers.

I personally would drop some organized activities to allow more time at the beaches, but that is just me. I love to walk around Waikiki and the historic lobbies of the Royal Hawaiian and Moana hotels, and the Banyan Veranda at the Moana for a drink at sunset.

My hat is off to you for taking on the task of making an itinerary for your friends...that can be a daunting task. But really, I find O'ahu such an interesting place that I think you will enjoy the trip no matter what you do. ((r))

If you go to Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), you can skip all of the other luaus.

You can go to Dole Pineapple on the way to PCC. But plan to be at PCC from around 12:30pm to 9:30pm.

It is an easy drive back to Honolulu. Just follow the cars going toward Kaneohe. Then take Likelike Highway to Honolulu.

Anyone can snorkel in Hanauma Bay. Just stay in shallow water if you cannot swim.

Lots to do on Oahu.

Note the days that Swap Meet is open (Wed, Sat, Sun). Also PCC is closed Sundays.

Sunset on the Beach (movies) is only one weekend each month.

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34812564

Thank you for the recommendations at this time. I will definitely look at grouping the events geographically. Also, I will pick up the book by Richard Sullivan. I don't care to do too much driving but it may be helpful for a few days while in Oahu. I didn't realize that Movies on the Beach occurred only once a month --- I'll check the website as we get closer to our travel dates.

Definately seems like a lot.

Other than what has been said...waht about Punch Bowl cemetary? It ties in well with Pearl Harbor.

We did a sunset catamaran cruise and loved it!

Note on Pearl Harbor...get there EARLY...people start lining up more than 30 minutes before opening. I suggest getting there way early so you have the rest of your day.

I would pick only one luau.


Have fun! Hawaii is wonderful! Spent 3 nights on Oahu last year before we hopped to another island!

8-)

You may want to check the schedule for sunset on the beach it's been kind of hit or miss for awhile maybe Dusty or Melissa have heard what's going on. Everything you have outside of Waikiki isn't difficult to do may take turns driving so everyone gets to sightsee.

If you are going to PCC, north shore, and Dole Plantation on day 6, I'm not sure you need a circle island tour on day 2 (if that is what the "Grand Circle Tour" is).

Maybe day 2 can be spent on the more southern areas, like starting at Hanauma Bay, drive along south shore past Sandy Beach, Makapu Lighthouse, Waimanalo/Lanikai/Kailua Beach (the three nicest beaches on Oahu, IMHO), stopping at Pali lookout on the way back.

Day One: It is highly doubtful you'll happen to find Movies on the Beach on your "Day One".

Day Two: I would not want to get on a bus for the entire day my first day in Hawaii.

Day Three: I would choose 1/2 those activities. That will be a mad dash to accomplish them all in one day.

Four: busy but good

Five: busy but good

Six: no opinion or experience outside Waikiki and Honolulu proper myself

If you want some good beach tips for the women who will spend their days on Waikiki... just say the word. I was there just last month for 1 week with a friend and we did not do one single thing on your list -haha. But we had a ball & got our routine down pat for enjoying the beach and found some fantastic inexpensive food options.

^

I'm not sure I'd spend valuable time with a group of women at PCC. If you had young children, yes, but I think you'd have much more fun during those hours enjoying the real HAWAII! It's very expensive, and Disneyesque, except for th evening Horizons show, which is wonderful, and worth the money. But I wouldn't take a group of my friends for hours there ...

I would use the Pearl Harbor shuttle that picks you up and drops you back at your hotel for that excursion ... doing the earliest one available. (http://www.reliableshuttle.com/pearlharbor.html

Have a great time with your friends ... :-)

I would suggest only doing "planned" activities, every other day. You need some "down" days to enjoy the beach, walk, shop, dine, etc..

Since you are visiting the Iolani Palace, you might also enjoy a tour of Queen Emma's Summer Palace. If you go to the Pali (it is quite an experience) it is near the summer palace and could be combined.

We've been to Oahu many times, but for the first time we toured Doris Duke's Shangri La and it was the highlight of our visit last April. Tickets can be reserved through the Art Institute (a great place to visit also--have lunch in the museum cafe).

http://www.shangrilahawaii.org/
http://www.honoluluacademy.org/

We also like visiting the Byodo-In Temple on the Windward side of the island. The Buddhist Temple is beautiful and the setting is so serene, with the koi ponds, strolling peacocks, etc.

These suggestions IMHO would be far more interesting than the PCC. We've never been and don't plan to go.

Oh, I love the Doris Duke ShangriLa estate! That is one tour I'd put at the top of my list. And the Art Museum that the tour leaves from is worth the visit too. Great activity imo.

Thank you so much for the information. Many of you have added items to my list ---- I NEED MORE VACATION DAYS in order to fit everything in :) Fortunately, we dropped the idea of adding another island (Maui) because there's only so many days involved with the trip.

I'll scrap the idea of Movies on the Beach. We'll need to do some shopping for the condo and get unpacked so it can be a "down day". The purpose of the Grand Circle tour was to get an introduction to the island and then determine if we should really venture out on our own. However, considering many of you say that Oahu's pretty easy to navigate, we'll save the $$$ and make our own little tour. Shangri-La was in the original plans but we thought we would substitute the Iolani Palace instead. I like the idea of having down days but with so few days on the island, I want to get as much in as possible. Now remember, we have not put in any time for "the nightlife". This is SO HARD!!!! I'm afraid I'll return from my vacation more exhausted than before I left.

As far as your list, I think ShangriLa would be the only place that needs reservations made ahead of time. You can just wait and see how things shake out once you are there before filling up your days.

Like I mentioned above, a friend and I spent 1 glorious (too short) week in Waikiki only last month and we did not do a darn thing, but we were in agreement with the lack of scheduling, and had a fantastic vacation.

<I'm afraid I'll return from my vacation more exhausted than before I left.>

If you do everything on that list, you most certainly WILL!
:-)

to Suze:
Aha, you are back! I was waiting to hear your trip report, or at least some tips for first comers. Your posts along with dusty????'s are of big help. I have 4 weeks left before my first vacation on Oahu and I definitely need your good beach tips for women. Like you I am going there with a female friend and my 13 yo daughter. We are staying in waikiki.

Needsun- Yes, I did do a little trip report and posted some restaurant recommendation. I'll try to find the thread because it's old enough it's sunk!

My good beach recommendations are...

I prefer the beach at either end of Waikiki, up around Fort de Russey park or down around Queen Kapiolani park. I like those two areas because besides nice beach/sand, there's a large grass area behind, it's not as crowded, plus there are ammenities like public bathroom, outdoor shower, snack bar, etc. right there.

We spent most days on the beach, after a leisurely morning/breakfast in our hotel room (St Germaine's bakery on Kuhio -yum). Around lunchtime one of us would walk back to an ABC Store and pick up lunch. You can get good & inexpensive pre-made sandwiches, salads, noodles, sushi, individual size drinks of all kind (water, juice, wine, premix cocktails), chips, cookies, fruit. Then have a picnic on the beach.

On the first day I suggest buying some stuff like straw beach matts, blow up air mattress or innertube for playing in the ocean, etc. Again shop the ABC Stores, everything is very reasonably priced ($2-3).

Needsun- Please feel free to tack on any other questions here. Or start a new thread and I'll reply. I have several great restaurant suggestion. We had terrific trip, just a blast, and overall kept commenting how inexpensive we found Hawaii (contrary to popular belief -lol).

Except for our taxi from and back to the airport, we did everything on foot within Waikiki, we didn't even use The Bus. We guess we walked about 3-5 miles each day.