I haven’t been to Waikiki since I went to summer school once at the University of Hawaii in Oahu, which was a very long time ago! Our family chose Waikiki because it had the beach and plenty of amenities nearby, and that’s the convenience we needed at the time. We also knew we could rent a car for a few days to see sites around Oahu, which is what we did.
It was a classic style vacation: we stayed for 10 days at the Hilton Waikiki Beach (centrally located in Waikiki), hung out by the pool and the beach, ate at the local restaurants and did a little shopping and site-seeing. I also got to visit with a couple of friends who happened to be there! Although we watched our food spending this still turned out to be one of our priciest holidays.
Here are some places to eat and things to do. Note that we visited at the end of November, 2022, so the temperatures were a little cooler (76 F) and comfortable.
Places to Eat in Waikiki
It’s hard not to eat well in Waikiki. The food is so good!
Duke’s Waikiki (on the beach) – Popular place to eat right on the beach. Dinners start at 4pm and reservations are booked months in advance. But the bar area is open seating, so if you arrive at the right time … before 2pm is best, or just wait to see a table become available, you can sit there. (In the one week, I got lucky to sit in the bar area 3 times: once with my family, once with local friends, and once with my girl.) The food is excellent and highly rated! I had the poke tacos – amazing! And the coconut mojito is divine. They have smoothies too.
Shorefyre Restaurant at the International Market Place (on 2nd floor) – It has an outdoor deck overlooking the main shopping strip in Waikiki. Live music in the evenings. Really yummy food!! Shorefyre Restaurant on the Kao Rd. location serves up some good breakfasts! They also have yummy food!
Maguro Spot (2441 Kūhiō Ave., Honolulu, HI 96815) – Hands down the best poke I’ve ever had. Really good quality fish. It’s a snack bar. You stand in line and pick which fish and sauce you want, then eat at the picnic table next to this small, casual joint.
Marugame Udon – popular udon noodle restaurant, line to order gets long but it moves fast! After you order you sit down inside to eat. Located across from International Marketplace in Waikiki (they also have a location in Honolulu). The restaurant is casual, busy, cute. The noodle dishes are so flavorful! And filling.
Barefoot Beach Cafe – casual, outdoor snack bar with amazing garlic shrimp (and other excellent dishes). Their sunrise smoothie is the best! So delicious. They are located by the beach in the very south of Waikiki.
Blue Ocean Seafood and Steak – This is a casual, roadside shack with outdoor seating. They have a ton of grilled food options, a lot of Hawaiian comfort food. Convenient, fast, and affordable (for Waikiki), plus a huge variety.
Kai Coffee (2490 Kalakaua Ave.) – located on the main strip in front of the beach. Nice for coffee and baked items. Across the street right on the beach there is another seating area associated with the cafe, and they have a guy playing oldies on the guitar there on some days.
Cheeseburger in Paradise – on the main strip (Kalakaua Ave.). We didn’t go into this restaurant/bar, but it looked fun!
Tommy Bahama restaurant & the Yard House – closer to northern part of Waikiki. We didn’t go to either of these, but you can try them! The food at Tommy Bahama’s looks so good online!
Oahu Beaches and Points of Interest
East (and Southeast) Beaches
Kailua Beach is absolutely gorgeous, long/big, and very swimmable!
Lanikai Beach is even better and more gorgeous! It is the beach next door to Kailua beach. Access is tucked in the local neighborhood (so can be hard to find a parking spot), and you need to locate an alleyway between houses to get there (but it’ll be obvious where that is). The beach is smaller (still big!) and quieter, and the snorkeling there is amazing (I saw a turtle!). Very swimmable waters, for getting in and out, and snorkeling. My favorite beach on the island!
Town of Kailua – There’s a Whole Foods store and shopping and restaurants and bars all around in that same area. We had some awesome poke from a market place recommended to us called The Habachi.
Diamond Head/South-East areas – The drive from Waikiki to Kailua Beach via the coastline is gorgeous! Stunning views. You’ll pass Diamond Head, where you can stop and hike and have a look (we didn’t stop). And there’s a gorgeous lookout point off the side of the road called Makapu’u Lookout. Stop here, if you have a car. Buses were stopping here too! We actually stopped at the Makapu’pu Point Lighthouse Trail just before and did part of the hike on the paved trail.
Hanauma Bay (nature preserve) – This is a big snorkeling spot but gets crowded. You now need reservations in advance, as they limit visitors. We didn’t go here, as we hand’t reserved in advance.
North Shore
Waimea Falls – Short hike through a botanical gardens to the falls, and you can get in the water there and swim. Admission to the falls is $25/person right now. There is also a restaurant and some shops there.
Shark’s Cove – Beach not far from Waimea Falls. It is a great place to snorkel! Shallow, lots of craggy rocks around and absolutely beautiful! There is an area with a bunch of food trucks right across the street from Shark’s Cove.
West beaches:
They’re beautiful to see and the surrounding nature is lovely, but the water is a little rougher (in December), for getting in, and there isn’t a lot around in terms of restaurants or shops. If on a time crunch, I’d skip. The North shore and South /East beaches have more to offer the visitor, in both natural beauty and accessibility.
Pearl Harbor
You can take a taxi or Uber there, or drive there if you have a car. Your hotel probably has a tour. We drove there and toured the USS Arizona memorial, which comes with entry to Pearl Harbor. You can reserve to see that in advance, or just wait in the “walk-in” line. We waited in the line for 20 minutes. We also read all the stories and went through the museum. We didn’t pay to do any of the extras, such as seeing a couple other battleships. They have some entrance guidelines, so check out in advance.
WaikikiTrolly
The Waikiki tourist trolly system is great! It costs $5 for a day pass (at this writing), and you ride the color line for where you want to go. It’s a great way to see Waikiki and nearby areas.
The Pink line is convenient because it takes passengers up and down the full length of Waikiki (you can just stay on the get a full tour) – as far south as the Zoo, and as far north as Ala Moana shopping center (a huge outdoor shopping mall, with restaurants galore). It can be nice to just take the pink line and stay on it to get a feel for all Waikiki has to offer. We took the Pink line a few times, when walking to the other end of Waikiki would be too much.
The Green line looks awesome, as it goes to Diamond Head, and makes stops at certain restaurants along the way. The Blue line goes to Diamond Head too. The Green is about the restaurants, and the Blue is about site-seeing. We didn’t take either of these, as we drove to Diamond Head on the way to Kailua on the days we had the car. (I would have loved to try the Green line, though!)
Shopping in Waikiki
It’s everywhere all over Waikiki, but the main areas are:
- International Marketplace (across from Duke’s)
- Waikiki Shopping Plaza
- Waikiki Beach Walk
- Ala Moana Center (largest outdoor mall in the US, they say) – take the Pink line to get here.
Other Things to Do on Oahu
Things we didn’t do, but you could! Ask your hotel concierge for more information.
- Visit the Polynesian Cultural Center
- Do a Luau!
- Zipline through Jurassic park at Kualoa Ranch; ATVs (hotels have tours for this)