Last week I shared part 1 of our Oahu Travel Guide, and now I’m back for part 2. Let’s get right into it!

Oahu Travel Guide

Olive and Oliver/Surfjack hotel

On our second day in Oahu, my sister and brother in law had a layover in Oahu, so we spent most of the day together and it was amazing! I love a good coffee shop and Olive and Oliver were both on my sisters and my list. This place is super cute and the chai tea latte that we got was so so good. They also have a shop within the cafe with cute little things to admire or buy. We took our lattes and went next door to the Surfjack Hotel to enjoy in their beautiful lobby/sitting area.

Waikiki Beach

Next, we walked down to Waikiki Beach. It’s a beautiful beach with white sand, blue water and a nice breeze, however, it is super crowded. All of Waikiki is full of tourists everywhere you look. If you’re looking for a quiet beach to spend the day at, Waikiki Beach is probably not it. But it is beautiful to spend an hour or two and walk around in the sand and water.

The Hideout at the Laylow

The Laylow Autograph Hotel is beautiful, but since we didn’t stay here, we thought the Hideout at the Laylow would provide the perfect opportunity to appreciate and see the beautiful hotel. We bought some iced coffee and just spent a lot of time chatting on the deck.

The Royal Hawaiian

The Royal Hawaiian is another beautiful hotel in Waikiki, also known as the pink hotel, that we walked around the grounds to appreciate its beauty.

Diamond Head

Diamond Head is a mountain that can be seen from Waikiki, but it is a 10-15 minute drive to get there and another hour or so to hike the mountain roundtrip. Oh all the hikes we did, Diamond Head is probably one of the easiest. There are some parts of the hike that involve a lot of steep stairs, but it’s not too bad. A lot of tourist do come here and the path up the mountain is well maintained. The views at the top are well worth the hike. Once you get back down, there are some food trucks and we treated ourselves to a pineapple smoothie in a pineapple!

Hilton fireworks

On Friday evenings, the Hilton puts on fireworks for 15 minutes or so at night that anyone in Waikiki can enjoy!

SALT at Kaka’ako

Salt at Kaka’ako is a shopping centre that has a lot of cool clothing stores, a cool plant store and lots of food and restaurants. I mentioned Kaka’ako murals in the previous post, but we came back to Kaka’ako another day since we enjoyed it so much. Definitely worth checking out!

Disney Aulani

Okay, so Disney Aulani is a resort on the western side of the island that is obviously children friendly. And I just had to go there to get their mickey mouse shaped shaved ice. If I was going to get any shaved ice on the island, I had to get the coolest kind. And I did, and I enjoyed it! I would highly recommend it if you are a child at heart like me or have children who love Disney.

Ko’olina lagoons

If you do make the trip out to Disney Aulani, then you have to check out the Ko’olina Lagoons. This part of the island is home to 4 lagoons which are man made. They are right next to each other and a lot of resorts are right behind them. They are child friendly in that they are not deep and make a perfect space to hang out in the water. I think these are perfect for children but also for adults that don’t know how to swim.

Pearl Harbour

We went to Pearl Harbour after 4 pm and turned out it was free after 4. I’m not sure what the fee is during regular hours, but it’s always nice to go for free. Since we went at 4 and it closes at 5pm, there weren’t very many people. We just strolled around and read about the Pearl Harbour history.

I hope you enjoyed part 2 of the Oahu travel Guide and if you’re looking for part 1 of the Oahu travel guide series, check it out here and look forward to part 3 of the Oahu travel guide next week!