carabro

We have routed ourselves through Honolulu for one day on our way home from a 10 day trip on the Big Island and Maui. My husband really wants to see Pearl Harbour - so we've just scheduled a morning flight from Maui and will take a late evening flight out that night back to DC.

Sooo.... we arrive around noon and don't have to be back at the airport until at least 8:30pm for our 10:30pm flight. We'll be getting a rental car. Any tips on how to make the best use of this time? We've heard there can be long waits to get tickets to Pearl Harbour. Any way around this (booking a tour ahead of time, etc?)

Oh - and this will be on a Wed. in mid October.... so we're hoping it won't be as busy then....

THANKS!!!!

wendyandcary

Don't know about booking ahead of time, there must be a website, but I am quite sure you have time to go to Pearl Harbor in 8 hours.

ilona

we just did this in january -- we flew into honolulu in the morning and flew out at night -- we got a cheap rental car for the day. we didnt have any lines. we saw pearl harbor, the uss missouri, and the uss bowfin.

we were done by mid afternoon -- and went to the mall and a movie!

JohnD

Strongly recommend the first AM interisland flight to HNL, tickets to the memorial can run out. Otherwise 8 hours is plenty of time for Pearl Harbor.
Here is a link to Park info:
http://www.nps.gov/usar/pphtml/planyourvisit.html

Can also drive up to North Shore, visit Dole stand etc.

hmmm

You cannot book ahead. First come, first served. Go early as possible. Free admission to the Arizona Memorial.

Spokaneman

We did what you are contemplating, but we took the first flight out (around 6:AM, I think). Good thing we did, as by the time we got there around 8:30 AM the line was already pretty long and our tickets were for mid day.

Remember, you likely will have to claim your luggage as they generally won't hold it more than four hours and by the time you do that, get to the rent a car lot get the car and find P/H you can easily kill 1 1/2 hours, maybe two.

But, whatever it takes, its worth it. I think everyone should see Pearl Harbor. If you have time, see the Missouri, and if your husband likes BIG MACHINERY, have him take the below decks tour ($45 bucks as I recall). I did that while my wife and kids went to Ala Moana Mall.

BettyInToronto

Want to comment on Spokaneman who said to claim your luggage. We had a 7 hour lay-over in HNL and was quite disappointed that you can't check luggage anywhere since 9/11. We managed to plead our case with Delta and they took our check-in luggage (3 big pieces) earlier than the 4 hour usual time but made us come back 3 hours prior to our 7:30pm flight to get our boarding passes.

We were still stuck with our carry-on bags so we rented a car; locked them in the trunk (ya I know, not so safe) and then drove up to the North Shore for a nice day on the beaches.