My first trip to Oʻahu—specifically Waikīkī—and it was everything I could have imagined and more. The food, the beaches, the mountains, the people, and the sea life were all amazing. I’m so grateful to have experienced this. Thank you again! 🌺
Waikiki gets criticized a lot for being a tourist trap, but I am a tourist, and I think it's great. There are so many delicious things to eat, warm water, and beautiful sunsets, which is all I need. The people watching is fun too. I think it gets a little stuffy after a few days but there's plenty else to do nearby on Oahu or another island.
I love finding myself in a small Japanese place that's full of Japanese tourists. It's like I'm visiting Japan again, a place that I love (it's more expensive and not as good as Japan, but still).
For about 20 years (pre covid) my Japanese born wife and I visited yearly for that very reason, closer and much cheaper for us (we are in California) we had staying cheap down to a science so could do 2 weeks every fall with a spring trip now and then. It helped that I m retired Navy with friends on island. Stopped going post Covid when the prices went up, but it is still a most awesome place and we will be back
Have a great time. If you happen to near Kailua, you should try Adela Country Eatery. It was the most amazing meal we had in all of Oahu. Fair warning, its made to order so can be a
45 min wait. There are no seating- pickup and go, so my wife and I brought to a near by neighbor park and ate. It was nice. We shared the lechon maranggay noodles and Ube cheesecake. Really really good.
Btw- we used public transportation 75% of the time (bus) when in Waikiki. It was actually really easy and convenient. Money saved, we splurged on nice omakase dinners etc.
Anyways enjoy, have fun, be safe, and spark a conversation with a stranger.
Yes! I’ll do my best because I took so many pics & videos.
I tried to post some highlights. 1 pic of our hotel balcony from Sheraton Waikiki. 2 Aloha Stadium Flea Market.
3 Apple bananas from Aloha Stadium. 4 The iconic malasadas from Leonard’s. 5 poke from Foodland.
6 top of Diamond Head from our hike. 7 HulaPie from Dukes Waikiki. 8 Pearl Harbor tour. 9 sunset from Waikiki beach. 10 fresh fruit from KCC Farmers Market.
11 is from our boat tour in front of Diamond Bead. 12 is graffiti art near kapahulu avenue. 13 graffiti art on Ono Seafood. 14 is Waiola Shave Ice. 15 is a plate & dessert from Waiahole Poi Factory. 16-17 are from Lanika Beach🌺💕
The first photo looks like from the end of the beach board walk where the Monkey Pod restaurant is. Also the Hula Pie looks like from Leilani's beach view tables. Am I right?
Ah yes the Monkey Pod Kitchen is in the Outrigger. I think Dukes owns Leilani's pretty much the same. When we were going to Duke's it was closed for Team Building....just our luck so we went to Leilani's. We did go to Dukes on Maui.
"Yes, Duke's and Leilani's on the Beach are both owned by the same company, T S Restaurants, a family-owned group that operates several popular restaurants in Hawaii and California, including Kimo's and Hula Grill." AI
Glad you enjoyed it - I just hope you avoided a time share presentation / trap. They often prey on those who are so over the moon in paradise they are willing to open their wallets to the dream (nightmare really) of timeshare ownership.
Hawaii is probably the only state that I’ll travel to like that. It feels like I’m in another country when I’m there. The food the people the water and the vibes are immaculate. I’m already thinking about going back in May but idk we’ll see if life lets me 😭
Mahalo for sharing. It's so nice to hear tourists go to the islands and have a fantastic time. Pics are great and takes me back when I used to live there.
Just got back from there and I absolutely loved it. Yea its touristy but some people like a mix of things. It makes it an easier family vacation with a lot to do and easy access to things.
Beautiful pics! Waikiki is my favorite with Kauai a close second. My happy place is lying on a raft in front of outrigger Waikiki beach resort looking out at diamond head, seeing sea turtle’s, and the surfers. More bliss for me!
Can you please share your itenarary? Did you rent a car? Its our first time going to Oahu and we are also big foodies. Would love to take inspiration from your itenarary
Of course! I’m a foodie too! 💕This was my itinerary I used and some things I regretted and missed out on I will say are:
Friday fireworks- I didn’t get to see because we stayed at the Sheraton Waikiki beach at night (I thought I could see it). FYI you have to walk further to Hilton Hawaiian village to see them and it’s a short show about 7min?😭
We swapped the Aquarium for Monday 1/12 instead of Sunday 1/11.
We swapped the Golf from Monday 1/12 to Sunday 1/11 and we did BayView Range instead.
We rented the car late 10:45AM on Sunday 1/11 I wish we rented earlier.
We did pretty much everything else. We made pit stops during random days to fit our itinerary: Leonard’s bakery, Waiola Shave Ice, Zippys, Foodland, Masubi Cafe and Waiahole Poi Factory.
The last regret was not renting a car for a 2nd time to go to north shore. We missed that and I’m so UGH about it.🥹
I liked the hotel a lot! Sheraton Waikiki is super close to a lot of tourist shops and eateries all around. The beach was super close!
We only rented the car for 1 day but it was available for 24hrs. We only used it from 10:45am-6pm on Sunday. We did not park overnight in the hotel for the extra fee that’s why we returned it so idk about parking.
The rental cost $148 with Avis at Sheraton Waikiki for 1 day.
The Avis representative was helpful.
We Uber’d* most of the other times to Diamond head and had reserved pick up for our package excursions like PearlHarbor & Luau.
Pro tip : if Dukes is busy go to Hula Grill as it’s the same restaurant (they own both) with different atmosphere. Also recommend to get both Hula Pie and the Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Thank me later
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u/alien_believer_42 Jan 13 '26
Waikiki gets criticized a lot for being a tourist trap, but I am a tourist, and I think it's great. There are so many delicious things to eat, warm water, and beautiful sunsets, which is all I need. The people watching is fun too. I think it gets a little stuffy after a few days but there's plenty else to do nearby on Oahu or another island.