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Mike and Ree's List for Oahu

Updated: Feb 20, 2022


Above: Picture of Honolulu and Waikiki from Diamond Head



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South Side (Honolulu, Waikiki, Diamond Head, Kahala, Hawaii Kai)


Activities



This is a paved, stroller-friendly trail with beautiful panoramic views of the ocean pretty much the entire way up. It's very special because 1. it's family friendly - kids can easily do this one on their own or on a stroller and 2. the reward (great views) to effort ratio is very high. On clear days you can see islands to the south (Molokai and Lanai). During the winter you can also spot whales and it's a great spot for that because of the higher vantage - we saw half a dozen during our hike in February of 2021.

This is the view from the top

2. ​Waimano Falls Type: Hiking + Water Falls with Swimming Holes

Our number one hidden spot on Oahu. This is a trail that leads to some beautiful and secluded waterfalls with swimming holes. We were the only ones there for a good hour when we went in 2017. There are two pools with a small waterfalls in between, and some ropes for swinging into the pool. Just all around fun and quiet and wonderful. The hike down to the swimming hole was muddy and steep, but not crazy. I found out about this spot on Unreal Hawaii - my favorite Hawaii blog although they seem to have stopped posting.


This is me jumping into the swimming hole

3. Koko Head Stairs Hiking

Your eyes catch the stairs from miles away whenever you look towards Koko crater, and each time you develop a stronger urge to climb them to the top. You just go, I wanna get up here! Until you finally do. I think it looks deceivingly easy because of the simplicity of the trail: 1100 stairs straight to the top, no turns or zig zags of any kind. But in reality it's a pretty steep climb, especially towards the end. But the views at the top is amazing and makes it totally worth it. Definitely harder and less toddler friendly than Makapu'u, but a fun challenge for young kids (say 5 and up?).

View from the bottom of the stairs


4. Koko Crater Botanical Garden Hiking + Botanical Garden

Yep, you read it right. This is a botanical garden in the middle of Koko Head. Get in the bowl!!! The botanical garden is really well-maintained. I'm not an expert but to be honest many of the famous botanical gardens I've been to feel a little like a disorganized collection of weeds.. at least at some spots. Not this one, it truly feels like a garden. And you enjoy the ground knowing that you're walking into the center of the bowl, where magma used to flow! How cool is that? The walk/hike is very easy and great for kids.

Cactus garden inside the bowl!


A great collection of art from around the world and throughout time, both inside and out. The museum grounds are well maintained with beautiful little courtyards and gardens. These places are always "just another museum" until you go and experience it.


Ree enters one of the gardens with baby Hana strapped in the front


6. South Shore Market Shopping

This is to the west of and pretty close to Alo Moana. There are some cool hipster shops if you're looking for such a place on Honolulu. Kind of like Soho and the Mission? Much smaller of course.


Got my favorite wrinkly Hawaiian shirt - it's a term of art - at the Mori at South Shore Market


7. Our Kaka'ako Shopping + Food


This is another hipster place with some cool shops, restaurants and coffee shops. Not a big place but you can also get out and walk around the neighborhood of Kaka'ako to see some very beautiful murals and comforting (if you're like us) signs of gentrification.


Ree and baby Hana stroll past the beautiful murals of Kaka'ako. Unlike many other places famous for murals, Kaka'ako feels very safe and clean.



This is a small beach pretty close to Hanauma Bay. You park at the blowhole lookout and hike down to this tony beach. There are rock walls on both sides of the beach where people dive into the water. There is also a lava cave on the beach that you can explore. Pretty fun little stop on the way to or back from something. The waves could be rough on some days so definite take a good look before you jump in.


Not sure what Mike is doing here (He says he was doing superman)



Food


1. ​Chengdu Taste Sichuan Restaurant


Amazing Sichuan food.. Just AMAZING. No further description needed. If you know you know.


2. Leonard's Malasadas (custard-filled donuts)


OK, this is not an option, you simply HAVE to go. It's a local institution. Case in point: it's got 7700 yelp reviews.


3. Hot Pot Heaven Hot Pot


The Happy Lamb on Honolulu closed (sad face). But this looks very good.


4. Volcano Skewer House Chinese BBQ


Chinese skewers. Looks amazing. I'm telling you Honolulu has some LA-level Chinese restaurants.


5. Ginza Bairin Tonkatsu & Yoshoku Japanese Restaurant


This is a tonkatsu place near Waikiki. They use fancy pork that you don't usually get with your pork cutlets.


6. Ala Moana Food Court Food Court


This is a UUUGE food court by food court standards with lots of options. Great fun. While we're at it, a couple words about Ala Moana. It's a great high-end shopping mall (has a (a or an??) Hermes). Also there is a pretty new Foodland - a local grocery store chain that sells very good musubi and poke- across the foodcourt.


7. Ono Seafood Poke Takeout


Very good poke. Of course it's just one of the very good ones on the island, but we haven't been to many since we get a lot of poke from Foodland and Safeway.



This is a soft serve place right next to Ono Seafood. We got the taro flavor. Loved it.


9. Coco Bloom Kitchen Japanese Sandwich


Cute little Japanese Sando shop (katsu sandos and strawberry whip cream sandos etc). We've never been but will definitely go next time.


10. KCC Farmers' Market Farmer's Market


This is a great weekend morning activity before you start a climb up Diamond Head. It's got that great cheesy sense of immersion (as if you're more of a local if you go to this market rather than lying on Waikiki) but with some fun vendors so it's not just a regular farmers market, which would be boring... A hipster/gentrified farmers market shall we say? The Williamsburg of farmers markets. There are a bunch of great food stalls from popular food trucks and restaurants, plus coffee, fruits, juice, and crafts.


A delicious curry sausage with Diamond Head in the background.


11. Side Street Inn Hawaiian Food


This is a very popular restaurant serving Hawaiian food - crispy pork, garlic fried chicken, BBQ short ribs. Think Asian comfort food but with huge portions, that pretty much sums up half of Hawaiian food.


12. Aloha Kitchen Brunch


This is a popular brunch spot (they also serve lunch and dinner). I got their coconut souffle, which was very good. The pancakes were incredibly fluffy and the coconut cream was just the right amount of sweetness. Definitely go.




13. Some Notes on Hawaiian Food


We love a lot of local Hawaiian food like Hawaiian BBQ, poke, loco moco, musubi, macaroni salad, etc. You should try all of these at least once while you're in Hawaii. Explore the local restaurants near you. You can go to grocery stores such as Safeway or Foodland for poke and musubi, there are great local chains like L&L and Fatboys, Roy's if you're feeling fancy, or just find a local restaurant in your neighborhood.



Leeward Side (From Pearl City to the West)


Activities



Many don't like to do touristy things, but we do (we loved going to Time Square when we lived in NYC). Mike also loves battleships. So we're a little biased towards Pearl Harbor to begin with. It's a very fun place to see the Battleship Missouri, other WWII planes and submarines, and currently in service warships (destroyers and aircraft carriers) parked at the harbor. But I think what you really need to do is plan ahead so you can get the reservation to visit the Arizona Memorial. The memorial is built right above the Battleship Arizona, which sank during the attack. It's a little bit of a surreal experience when you step off the boat onto the memorial that is glaringly white under the sun, in silent moist tropical wind, above a sunken battleship, and ponder the fire and blood and fiery that is the war that happened so many years ago.


This is the satellite view of the memorial and you can see the ship in the water


2. Electric Beach Beach/Snorkeling


This is the best snorkeling spot on the island in our opinion. Situated right next to a power plant, there is a small beach and lots of reefs just off the beach to snorkel. The highlight here has to be the hot water outlet about 300 feet offshore. The outlet is about the size of a car and it releases the hot water from the power plant. The current and the hotter temperature makes good condition for food (Mike thinks) so there is always a lot of fish there. It's far enough offshore to feel like a little adventure getting there but close enough to be pretty safe. Do keep in mind that the current is strong around the outlet so you have to be careful.


View at Electric Beach with the power plant behind the trees.


3. Ko Olina Beach/Lagoon


Ko Olina is a big resort development on the west side of the island. It's almost always sunny and has some great amenities. There are 4 manmade lagoons, three of them are part of the resort area, but lagoon 4 is public with a public parking lot. The lagoons are very sheltered from the waves so it's a great place for kids to swim and snorkel in, especially when it's a little bit rough elsewhere on the island. We went there with Baby Hana a few times and one time a big seal swam into the lagoon and hung out on the beach for a good hour.


Baby Hana with the big seal



We saw train tracks at Ko Olina and found this activity. We have never been on the train but it looks like it goes along the west coast and stops in Ko Olina for ice cream. Sounds pretty fun!




Windward Side (Kailua and Kaneohe)


Activities



The tide pools at Makapu'u were a little on the rough side when we visited but I think partially because we went during the windy season. Queens Bath on Kauai seemed a lot more fun (we saw a bunch of turtles at Queens Bath, how do you beat that?) but I think the Makapu'u tide pools are still worth mentioning. It's most definitely beautiful. And it's a very local spot, i.e. quiet and authentic. It's on the picturesque windward side of Oahu with pools to lounge in and explore.


Mike with Baby Hana in one of the bigger tide pools.



This is a beach that runs pretty long along the windward side of the island. Really beautiful with generally gentle waves that are great for boogey boarding or just dipping in the water. It's unique because you don't find great big sandy beaches with so few people all the time. There are periodic presence of poisonous jelly fish so get out when you see them in the water or on the beach.


Baby Hana enjoys a cocktail on the beach



Lanikai Beach is in the city of Kailua. It's one of the most famous beaches in Oahu. You can hang out on the beach or rent a kayak at Kailua Beach Adventures or one of the other kayak rental shops in Kailua to paddle out to one of the two islands just off the coast (Popoia and Moku Nui). You can surf the waves a little bit in the kayaks as well. It's a little tricky but watch the locals with the fancy wooden canoes and you might get the hang of it.


Mike and Ree on a kayak at Lanikai before Hana was born.



First of all, we're both Chinese. With that out of the way, let's talk about Chinaman's Hat. It's more off the beaten track than most of the stuff in our list but it's here because 1. we've been there and 2. it's fun. It's a little island right off the coast near the popular Kualoa Ranch. You can either swim or kayak to the island, but the current could be funky there and apparently a few die trying to make it there. We rented a kayak from Kailua Beach Adventures - they will put it on the top of your car for you and it's about a 20 minute drive from Kailua. Like getting anywhere on a kayak, it was farther than it looked, but the current didn't seem too bad on that day. Once you get on the island, there are a few things to explore besides the majestic view of the main island. There is a tiny beach on the ocean side of the island, and there is a trail that leads to the top of the island (it's kind of steep on the top so be careful). Very few non-local people go to this island so it's definite a special destination.


View of Chinaman's Hat (and our friends Yang and Sonia) from its tiny beach and a drone shot with Oahu in the background.



5. The Byodo-In Temple Buddhist Temple


This is a highly instagram-able yet actually interesting spot. A bright red Japanese-style buddhist temple set against the backdrop of Kaneohe's impressive mountain ranges (where Jurassic Park was filmed). There is a Koi pond and a bunch of cats for random chance encounters to enhance your zen experience. The temple is located in a big cemetery, where famous Chinese general Zhang Xueliang is buried - not a bad ending for someone who carried out a failed (or succeeded? It's complicated) coup.


Proof of instagram-ability



A vista point on the very north part of the windward side. You would drive through a quiet residential neighborhood to get to this dramatic rocky seashore. We stopped here on a drive through the North Shore and had some lunch watching the waves. You could also walk down the rocks closer to the water - some locals will be fishing there.


A short clip of the view as we enjoyed our lunch


Food


1. Easy 'Que Texas Style BBQ


Great BBQ, beer and vibe. Brisket and ribs are amazing. The chicken sandwich is also great.



North Shore


Activities


1. Shark's Cove Tide Pools


This is a really unique spot. The cove is well protected by rocks and reefs so the pool is almost always calm and quiet. It's usually very shallow as well so really great for kids to explore. There is a deeper area that's also pretty protected, which makes for great snorkeling.


Satellite view of the cove.


2. Dole Plantation The name says it all


We have visited Dole Plantation almost every time we visit Oahu. It's a lot of fun, especially if you like pineapple. There is a train ride the takes you through the plantation to see the fields and some old machinery; a koi pond where the fish literally go nuts when you feed them; tiny pineapples; a real maze; and the famous Dole pineapple whip soft serve. It's a rich experience for a touristy spot, and it's on the way to North Shore. Give it a try.


Food


1. Giovanni's Shrimp Truck


The legendary shrimp trucks of North Shore are real! Giovanni's is the most famous but others are good as well. There are couple of locations for Giovanni, one in Haleiwa and another much further north. The shrimps are really really good. The garlic ones are the most famous/popular ones and we'd recommend getting those. The spicy ones were definitely not what we expected - it was much more of a hot and tangy kind of taste (think a lot of Tabasco) rather than savory/garlic-y and spicy. For us the garlic was much better, but who are we to second guess the legend? Try for yourselves.



Mike has to be a snobby local (which he's not) and point out that it's shave𝚍̶̶ ice, no d. Matsumoto Shave Ice is a famous famous spot and it has its own souvenir shop. Pretty fun stop for your North Shore day trip.



 
 
 

1 Comment

Yan Kaidi
Yan Kaidi
Feb 01, 2022

I've been to Hawaii twice but after reading this I feel I have missed way too much!

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