After a long hiatus we are finally back to traveling! We welcomed a beautiful baby boy into our family and this was our first trip as a family of three. While we have always preached living “carry on only”, this trip was a little different as we navigated our first trip with a baby in tow. We did unfortunately have to check a bag this trip – so bare with us as we navigate how to travel as minimally as possible with a baby! We will make a separate post highlighting what we brought with us and made traveling with an infant easier.
Day 1 - Check in and Monkeypod Kitchen
We flew out of Seattle at 9 am and landed on the beautiful island of Oahu at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. We had rented a car through Costco and picked it up at the Alamo pick up. We chose the large SUV option since we were traveling with 7 people and had the choice to pick between various different large SUV’s but we settled on a brand new Jeep Grand Wagoneer. The wagoneer was spacious even in the third row and trunk! It comfortably fit 6 adults and a car seat.
We checked into our hotel – we stayed at the Hale Koa which is a great and affordable location for those eligible (military, retirees, and DoD employees). For those that are not eligible to stay at the Hale Koa there are plenty of great options along Waikiki beach. We have received a few recommendations for hotels and we will link them below.
Our friends have stayed at both these locations. The Sheraton is right on the beach and clean and bright with a lot of shops and restaurants in walking distance. The White Sands Hotel is a smaller boutique hotel with funky styled rooms and a speakeasy bar.
After checking in to our hotel we relaxed by the pool until our dinner reservation at Monkeypod Kitchen. They are known for their Mai Tai with lilikoi (passion fruit) foam and beautiful views. I made the reservation online and requested a water view table. The food and the views were INCREDIBLE and I think this was our favorite meal the entire trip.
Day 2 - Pearl Harbor and Waikiki
Our second day was dedicated to Pearl Harbor. We started by driving through the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific located at the Punchbowl Crater. The grounds were beautiful and serene – if you like WWII history this is a good place to add to your visit itinerary. We reserved tickets online for the USS Arizona memorial – you can purchase tickets the day of and wait in line in the standby cue but there’s no telling how long you will wait. I highly recommend pre-booking the USS Arizona memorial if you would like to see it. You can do that here starting 8 weeks prior to your visit. Time slots do sell out so book early!
After we paid our respects and visited the USS Arizona/Pearl Harbor we went to the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. For those that do not have ID cards to get on base there is a shuttle that will take you over to the aviation museum from the Arizona Memorial. Entry to the museum is $26. If you are a fan of air museums this one is moderate in size but definitely does not compare to some of the bigger well known museums such as Boeing or Pensacola Naval Air Museum. We enjoyed looking around and reading about the WWII history and there was a neat display of Disney sketches and artwork during WWII.
After we went to the museums we went to downtown Honolulu and grabbed lunch at Marugame Udon. The made to order udon was incredible and the noodles were made in house! We even got to watch one of the employees make more noodles during our lunch. There are multiple broth and topping options and various different tempuras to try. This lunch was very rich and delicious. After getting our bellies full we went back to the hotel to rest and hung out by the pool.
That evening we walked down Waikiki beach and found ourselves in central Waikiki surrounded by various high end shops and lots of restaurants. We saw the iconic Duke Kahanamoku statue, shopped around at the International Marketplace, and got drinks and dinner at the Maui Brewing Co. I ordered a sour and their version of a loco moco (short rib with cilantro rice) and it was good but not my favorite. Very good beer though!
Day 3 - North Shore
We started our morning walking down the beach and going to Tropical Tribe for acai bowls. These acai bowls may have been the best I have ever had with various options for toppings. The bowl I got was topped with strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, shaved coconut, and raw honey. The raw honey was thick and absolutely the best honey I have ever consumed. Highly recommend this spot for yummy acai and good coffee.
After our breakfast and a morning walk we piled in the car to head to the North Shore. Our first stop was at the very popular food trucks for Giovanni’s Shrimp. The shrimp plates are $15 dollars and have a dozen jumbo peel and eat shrimp and 2 scoops of rice. We got a hot n’ spicy plate and a shrimp scampi plate. The hot n’ spicy is SPICY, it is drenched in this thick hot sauce which is flavorful but it was a little too much in my opinion – the shrimp scampi plate though was SO GOOD. There are other food trucks in this area so we also got a crepe to share from the truck right next to Giovanni’s and that was also very yummy. Afterwards, we drove to Laniakea beach with hopes of seeing sea turtles. Unfortunately there were no turtles on the beach but we had a good time watching them in the waves. We also got to watch local surfers catch some waves as well.
Next, we headed to Matsumoto’s shave ice for a treat (look, I know all we did was eat today but good food is what we live for okay). The shave ice comes in two sizes (small and large) and the large is huge. We got one of the recommended flavor combos topped with condensed milk. The lilikoi flavor was my favorite as its sweet and tart at the same time. We were supposed to go to Waimea Valley Falls but we ran out of time due to us having to get back to our hotel to get ready for family photos that we booked. If interested in Waimea Valley it is a botanical garden that is $25 dollars admission for adults ($10 for military adults) and has a beautiful waterfall hike that is approximately 2 miles and you can swim at the falls.
Our family photos were done at Kualoa Regional Park which is a beautiful park with beach and a view of the mountains! Our photographer was Stephanie from Stephanie Brynn Photography and she did an amazing job. I’ll share some photos she took below! Afterwards, we ate once again at the popular Halewai Joe’s at Haiku Gardens. The gardens are really pretty although we couldn’t really enjoy them as much because the sun had already gone down. We waited approximately one hour to be seated with a party of 6 (I baby wore). They don’t take reservations so if you would like to eat here without a wait then come early! Our brother-in-law ordered the prime rib and it looked like dinosaur food with how large and thick it was! The food was very good and we really enjoyed our dinner here.
Day 4 - Relax and Sunset cruise
Day 5 - Ho'Omaluhia Botanical Garden & Polynesian Cultural Center
We started our morning at Leonard’s Malasadas to try traditional malasadas or Portuguese donuts. Our crew had mixed reviews – if you like creme filled donuts they’re delicious, if not they’re “alright”. They were warm and fluffy, all the malasadas are made to order fresh! We tried one of every flavor and the coconut and seasonal salted caramel were our favorites. Afterward we headed to Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden. It is a beautiful garden with various different plants from different countries. There are different walking paths and hikes you can do in addition to driving through the whole garden.
After taking in the views we drove toward the Polynesian Cultural Center and stopped at a local spot called Papa Ole’s Kitchen for lunch. This place offers different plate lunches and gives you so much food! (We got the garlic chicken and teriyaki steak plates). It is cash only though so come prepared. It is in a shopping complex right next to the Polynesian Cultural Center. If you plan on doing the Polynesian Cultural Center we recommend showing up at 12:15. It opens at 12:30 and they have a welcoming show that is very neat where each group comes in on rafts and is introduced. If you plan on doing it in one day it is recommended to come when they open because it does take a while to go through all the countries and participate in each of their presentations/activities. Each island had presentations that encompassed their traditions and culture and it was a very educational, fun day! We were there from 12:30-4:00. We did find out while we were there that your ticket is good for 2 additional days if you want to break it up but the days have to be consecutive.
We drove back to our hotel and ended up staying on the resort the rest of the night – eating dinner at our hotel when we were finally hungry again after the big Papa Ole’s lunch.
Day 6 - Diamond Head and Pineapple Plantation
We made reservations to hike Diamond Head this day a few weeks in advance. They open 30 days in advance and do sell out. The reservation slots are for 2 hours and we scheduled ours from 8-10; You need to arrive within 30 minutes of your reservation time so we had to be there by 8:30. You can make reservations here. The hike itself is moderately challenging because it is all uphill the entire way and we were breathing pretty hard by the top, but, we were moving pretty quickly. There were children completing this hike so it is doable with kids. The lookout is a bunker from WWI and has beautiful views. There are multiple different look out spots with great views but the best is at the very top where you can see all of Waikiki. The way down was nice because it was all downhill – we completed this hike in approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.
We had planned on doing the Dole pineapple plantation the same day as North Shore because it is in the same area but we had run out of time with our family photos so we moved it to this day. The plantation is neat to see and has different activities for you to do. There is a maze in the shape of a pineapple which is one of the biggest mazes in the U.S., a small botanical garden, and a train ride around the outskirts of the plantation. We did the garden and the train ride and we had a good time. We stopped at the food court afterwards and got dole whip! We also got a “pineapple chili dog” which sounds appealing and interesting but it is really just a hot dog with chili and pineapple tidbits on top – definitely not worth it in my opinion. Afterwards I stopped at one of the oyster stands to pick a pearl because I had always done it as a kid when my family went to Hawaii. These oysters are farm raised fresh water so each oyster is guaranteed to have a pearl. My husband and father in law thought it was a scam because both me and my sister in law got twin pearls, however, Maui Divers Jewelry is a reputable company with good reviews. We got our pearls set into necklaces and both paid about $200 for a beautiful 14k gold pendant with a pearl in it.
We had reservations at Deck. which was a 15 minute drive from our hotel. There is paid parking across the street at the Honolulu Zoo. The restaurant had a nice patio area with great views of Diamond Head. The food was alright, some things were better than others but this restaurant is more of a tapas style place so we shared multiple things. Afterwards we went to Lahaina shave ice and the shave ice was more expensive than Matsumoto’s but they were also huge!
Day 7: Pool and Luau
Our last day we opted to spend by the pool because it was college game day and we’re huge football fans. We had looked at restaurants to watch the Georgia game but instead rented a cabana poolside and just watched the game on our phones. There is a large farmers market (Kaka’ako market on Ala Moana Blvd) that we wanted to try to go to as it is ranked number 3 in the nation for farmers markets but there was a parade and roads were closed and we didn’t want to have to deal with the traffic.
We started our morning at eggs n’ things and joined the waitlist on yelp prior to walking over because the wait was 45 minutes – 1 hour. All the tables are upstairs and the waiting area is downstairs, we carried our strolled upstairs when the table was ready and they asked us to leave it at the hostess desk downstairs, just an FYI. I got my macadamia pancakes with coconut and pineapple pancakes and they were delicious. Taylor got a mochi waffle which was yummy as well and we shared a plate of Portuguese sausage which we highly recommend trying.
The luau we chose to do was at our hotel and we really enjoyed it. If you are looking to do a luau and are not a military member the Polynesian Cultural Center luau and the Paradise Cove luaus were also highly recommended.
We loved our time in Oahu and highly recommend visiting this area. If you have any questions or comments leave them below! Where should we head to next?
Very detailed yet to the point. I feel like I could book a flight tomorrow and head to Oahu confident in my itinerary. No need to spend hours browsing the web, you’ve laid it all out here for us. Thank you!!
Thanks Kayla! Let us know if you have any questions!