Oahu was the Hawaiian island we were most excited about because of all the things there are to do! In our opinion, Oahu has the widest variety of all the islands. Whether you’re a city person or a beach person, or whether you want an adventurous or relaxing vacation – there is something for everyone. Delicious food, beautiful beaches, great hikes, and pretty much anything you could want or need you can find in Oahu!
Overview of Oahu
The island can be best described as being split into four different sides. The windward (east) side and leeward (west) side are fairly similar terrain as far as green mountains towering over turquoise beaches, but what makes the windward side most popular is the drive to the North Shore (which you can also do from a highway in the middle of the island, but it’s more picturesque along the windward coast). Then there are the north side – known as the North Shore – and the south side, where Honolulu (and Waikiki, the most popular touristy area of Honolulu) is located. The south and north shores feel like completely different worlds! Waikiki feels like an island version of Miami, with lots of high-rise buildings and fancy stores and restaurants. In contrast to the busyness of Waikiki, the North Shore has a much more laid-back, surfer vibe and is a great place to relax.
I had read mixed reviews about Oahu and I assume that a lot of the negative come from people who spend the majority of their time in Waikiki. Waikiki can be awesome to spend some time enjoying and it’s incredible to have as big of a city as Honolulu on an island! But what makes Oahu extra amazing is the fact that there is both the city AND all the amazing beaches, hikes, and experiences to enjoy outside the city. I highly recommend renting a car and setting aside a few days to explore the other parts of the island in addition to the city. It’s really hard to say which island is my favorite but I might say Oahu, and a lot of that has to do with the variety of things there are to do – so here is our breakdown of each side of the island with recommendations of the best things to do on Oahu!
What to Do in Honolulu (South Side of Oahu)
Diamond Head Lookout Hike
This is a very well laid out hike with an incredible overlook of Waikiki! It’s definitely a hike, but it’s great for all ages. The viewpoint is beautiful and shows the contrast of the city right by the ocean.
Entry costs $5 per car or $1 per pedestrian to enter so it’s worth paying for the car parking if there is availability.
Waikiki Beach
Super crowded and touristy so we didn’t spend much time here, but you’ve got to see it! The best way to describe Waikiki is like Miami on an island. You can walk down the Waikiki Strip (Kalakaua Avenue) for some fancy shopping and restaurants, see iconic things such as the Duke Kahanamoku Statue and the old Moana Surfrider Hotel, or relax on the beach.
Restaurants
There are lots of great places to eat in Honolulu, but our favorite was Steak Shack. It’s right near Waikiki Beach and what makes it so great is that you can stay on the beach and enjoy a quick meal that is delicious and real food. I’m still craving their steak! The steak plates come with a side salad and rice – and be warned that if you try it, you might just be visiting again the next day too :) It’s rare to get delicious, real food that you don’t have to leave the beach to eat – and Steak Shack wins the award for that! Another popular spot in Honolulu is Leonard’s Bakery for their malasadas (a Portuguese donut). Honestly because of the long line I think our expectations were higher than reality, but I’m still glad we tried them!
State Capitol Building
Very unique architecture, and the first floor actually has an open-air layout so you can walk inside at any time. Having seen the capitol buildings of the 50 states, we’d rank this one as one of the most unique!
Iolani Palace
The prior royal residence directly across from the capitol building. If you’re at the capitol, it’s worth stopping by this as well and learning more about Hawaiian history.
Ala Moana Park / Kewalo Basin Park
We love cities that have good viewpoints of the skyline, and this is one of them! From the parks (which are right next to each other), you can see Diamond Head in the background of the Waikiki skyline. The Ala Moana Park beach is also a great beach to enjoy on the south side of Oahu while escaping some of the craziness of Waikiki Beach.
Tantalus Mountain Sunset
A winding drive gives you a beautiful overlook of the twinkling city lights by the ocean. The sky was amazing the night we were there!
Best Things to Do on the Leeward Side of Oahu
We didn’t have as much time on the Leeward side as we would have liked, but two of the spots we visited were the Ko Olina lagoons (near the famous Ko Olina / Disney Aulani Resorts) and Electric Beach, which we heard is one of the best places on the island for snorkeling.
There were a lot of schools of fish and we also saw two sea turtles! Like the windward side, the leeward side has some great beaches and beautiful mountain views – but it is more secluded and offers some great local spots that the person we stayed with was telling us about! A good excuse for us to visit Oahu again someday :)
What to Do on the Windward Side of Oahu
People typically recommend taking a day to drive up the windward side to the North Shore (which people refer to as the North Shore drive). We actually split the windward side and the North Shore into a few different days, and were really glad we did. Even after doing that we still wished we had more time! My recommendations for how to do the North Shore drive in one day are at the end of the North Shore section, but first, here is an overview of the best things to do on the North Shore drive and the best things to do on the North Shore itself.
Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve
I read that this is one of the best spots for snorkeling on Oahu (Electric Beach on the leeward side and Turtle Bay on the North Shore are also very popular). Unfortunately we did not get the chance to snorkel here because we chose to do dolphin and shark snorkel trips instead (see the Tours section for info), but I’ve heard it’s a really fun place to snorkel!
Halona Blowhole Lookout
Decent for a quick overlook stop. Cockroach Cove (Halona Beach Cove) is also nearby but it can be dangerous to swim here, and there are better beaches for swimming anyway, so I’d recommend this just as a viewing point for the blowhole.
Makapu’u Lookout
View of the windard side. I personally liked the view from La’ie Point more, but this is good for a quick stop. You can also hike to the Makapu’u Lighthouse, which some people we met in Oahu did and enjoyed, but I’d only recommend that if you have a few days to enjoy the windward side and North Shore.
Beaches
Lots of great beaches on the windward side! We visited Waimanelo Beach, and unfortunately it was later on in the day so we didn’t time it the best with the sunshine, but Waimanelo and Lanakai are two of the most popular beaches on the windward side. The Lanakai Pillbox hike is also one of the most popular hikes on Oahu and gives a good view of the ocean.
Ho’omaluhia Botanical Gardens
Incredibly beautiful botanical gardens that are free and well worth a visit! Also home to a very popular Instagram picture (the entry of the botanical gardens) which now has signs prohibiting cars from stopping or taking pictures at that spot. The good news is there are plenty other great spots for pictures. The gardens closed at 4PM when we visited, so make sure to check their hours before you plan a visit.
Kualoa Ranch
Beautiful ranch where a lot of movies were filmed. We loved their movie tour! See the Tours section for more info :)
Kualoa Regional Beach Park
Right next to Kualoa Ranch, with a great viewpoint of a tiny nearby island known as Chinaman’s Hat.
Crouching Lion Hike
This hike leads to a beautiful overlook of the ocean, mountains, and bay. It is a short but strenuous hike and technically the trailhead begins at a do not enter sign, so you need to be very careful if you decide to do this hike. There have been fatalities so you should definitely not go if your shoes don’t have good traction, it has rained recently, or you plan to go close to the edge.
I didn’t make it the whole way to the top because I’m not a huge fan of heights and was happy with the view from the midpoint section (Hud loved the view from the top though!), but you can either choose to go left or right to get to the top, and the left side is easier.
La’ie Point
Beautiful viewpoint of the coast and mountains. Well worth a quick stop!
Speaking of which, even for quick stops, always be careful to take your valuables. We didn’t have any issues but I read that unfortunately car breakins can be common in Hawaii, so it’s best not to leave anything in your car even for quick stops.
Best Things to Do on Oahu’s North Shore
Roadside Stands
There are some great roadside stands on the drive to and along the North Shore! Acai bowls were my favorite breakfast! There are lots of great places to try acai bowls, but probably the cutest one is called Sunrise Shack on the North Shore.
The acai bowls are delicious and it’s a great spot for pictures :) They also have delicious juices and bullet coffee. There is a second Sunrise Shack location in Waikiki that we also visited.
Turtle Bay
Beautiful resort and beach where you can snorkel with turtles. Some movies were filmed here as well.
Waimea Bay Beach
Great beach with a rock for cliff jumping. Unfortunately the surf was too rough to cliff jump when we were there, but we were still glad we stopped. Waimea Valley is right near there as well and is a very popular, beautiful, and expensive (haha) place to visit. I think it was $40 when we were on Oahu and we weren’t going to have much time there so we decided not to make the stop, but I’ve read great views about it.
Sunset Beach
Popular surfing beach where the VANS Triple Crown surf competition was being held while we were on Oahu. This is also a great place to watch sunsets (hence the name :)
Ehukai Beach Park (Banzai Pipeline)
The go-to spot to watch some of the best surfers in the world! Pipeline has some huge waves. We spent a couple hours here relaxing and watching the surfers. This is a must-do!
Shrimp Trucks
Very popular on the North Shore, which I was a big fan of because shrimp is one of my favorite foods! The shrimp trucks are a great option for lunch.
We visited Big Wave Shrimp and it was delicious. I got the garlic shrimp and Hud got the coconut shrimp, but I really don’t think you can go wrong :) It was delicious – wish I could eat there every day! Each plate comes with a side salad and rice. It is a very popular place (and has been ranked one of the top 25 food trucks in America), so try to time your visit for an early or late lunch.
Mokule’ia Beach Park
If you’re a fan of the TV show LOST, you can park here and walk right to get a glimpse of the Lost Survivors Beach Camp, where some of the first seasons of LOST were filmed. Spoiler alert: It pretty much just looks like a regular beach :)
Dole Plantation
The Dole Plantation is a popular tourist attraction where you can learn about pineapple production…and eat a Dole Whip :) You can ride the plantation train, do a pineapple maze, and tour their gardens. But personally I think the best thing you can do there is split a Dole Whip!
Dinner
Lots of great places for dinner in Haleiwa, the main town on the North Shore. One of the most popular restaurants is Haleiwa Joe’s, which overlooks the Haleiwa Harbor. I got king crab legs and Hud ordered steak, which are two of our favorite foods in the world so…again, wish we could eat here every day! The food was delicious and the sunset was beautiful!
How to Plan Your Oahu North Shore Drive
Okay so now to talk about timing for all of this…when planning your trip to Oahu, I’d recommend setting aside the majority of your time for the windward side and the North Shore. But if you don’t have much time on Oahu, here are my recommendations for how to do the Oahu North Shore drive in one day.
You won’t be able to fit in everything on the list above, but you can start really early and try to fit as much as you can! If you are doing just one day, my top recommendation would be to start before sunrise and actually drive up the middle of the island on the highway (not the beautiful windward side) until you reach the North Shore and do things backward from everyone else.
By doing that, you can watch the surfers at Ehukai Beach Park first thing in the morning, stop at some roadside stands and La’ie Point for a great view of the coastline and mountains, and then do the North Shore drive (windward side) the opposite way of traffic. You could try to fit in a late morning tour at Kualoa Ranch and hopefully still have time to visit the beautiful Ho’omaluhia Botanical Gardens before they close (at 4PM when we visited).
All that to say, if you can set aside at least 2-3 days for the Windward Side and North Shore, you can choose more places to explore plus have more time to enjoy them. :)
Best Tours on Oahu
Dolphin Tours
Dolphins are my favorite animal, so when I heard that there were tours where you can swim with wild dolphins in the ocean, I was really hoping we could do one of the tours! Hud and I have had the opportunity to swim with dolphins before, but there is nothing like being able to swim with animals in their own environment!
The surf was choppy on the day we were there but the guides of Ko Olina Ocean Adventures, the company we went with, were awesome and did a great job of making sure we still saw dolphins! We ended up seeing a pod of 30-40 and it was such an incredible experience. The dolphins off the coast of Oahu are Hawaiian spinner dolphins, and some of them were spinning as they went by us! The guides of Ko Olina Ocean Adventures made it a really fun experience. This is something I would love to do again someday – I wish we could have spent all day out there with them!! It was one of the most incredible experiences for me! But we came back to a delicious teriyaki chicken lunch which was a great way to end the tour.
Pearl Harbor
I’m sure Pearl Harbor is already on your list for Oahu, but this is an absolute must do. Since it’s a national monument, the tickets are free, but they are very limited. The best thing you can do is reserve tickets online in advance on the day they become available for the date you want to visit (I think it was 60 days in advance for our date, but check their website for more information). There is a small reservation fee for this but it’s a lot easier than the second option, which is to arrive very early in the morning and wait in line to see if you can get one of the tickets they release in person for that day.
Either way, it’s definitely worth a visit – it’s super powerful and sobering to see the sunken Arizona and it was interesting to learn more about what happened at Pearl Harbor. It gave us even more appreciation for the brave men and women of our military and for all those affected during World War II.
Kualoa Ranch
Even if you haven’t heard of Kualoa Ranch, chances are you’ve probably seen it before :) It is a very popular place for movie filming. Jurassic Park, Mighty Joe Young, and a pretty good percentage of movies with “jungle” type scenes have been filmed in Hawaii, with many being on Kualoa Ranch itself.
Kualoa Ranch offers many different types of tours, but we did their Premier Movie Tour and it was amazing! We have done movie tours before but this was our favorite because not only were some incredible movies filmed here, but also there are beautiful views everywhere.
Our tour guide was excellent and shared a lot of the behind the scenes of movies, as well as making time for plenty of stops along the way. Kualoa Ranch also offers a less expensive movie tour but, if you’re a movie fan, the Premier tour is definitely worth looking into! We loved it!!
Shark Tours
Hud loves asking would you rather questions and one of his favorites is “Would you rather swim with sharks in an aquarium without a cage or swim with sharks in the ocean but be in a cage?” We’d previously swam with sharks in an aquarium, and when we were planning our trip to Hawaii I read about shark tours where you can swim with sharks in the ocean and be inside a cage. But THEN I read about tours where you can swim with sharks in the ocean without a cage, which sounded both terrifying and exciting at the same time :)
Thankfully Hawaii Adventure Diving, the company we went with, has been running their tours for decades with no incidents at all and made us feel super safe with the sharks. They did a great job of explaining shark and human behavior and how sharks are not the dangerous monsters that the media makes them out to be. It was really powerful getting to swim with sharks, especially in their own natural habitat! We saw four Galapagos sharks that the tour guides said were about 7-8 feet long and got as close as 5-10 feet away at some points! It was pretty incredible and, as scared as I was when we booked the tour, I’m super glad I did it!
Other Tours
There are lots of other tours on Oahu – two I would have loved to do if we had more time are a helicopter tour and scuba diving. Thankfully we did get to do these on some of the other islands, but if you are only visiting Oahu these are worth looking into as well. There are also island tours where you can pay for a company to take you to some of the spots we mentioned above, but we recommend renting a car and building your own little tour instead! :)
Oahu is AMAZING and I feel like we only scratched the surface of all the fun things there are to do on the island! Hope these recommendations are helpful as you plan your trip to Oahu, and if you have any questions, feel free to reach out any time.
Here are our guides to Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island if you plan to visit other islands in Hawaii!
