Aloha friends! I’m visiting Waikiki next week Feb 3 - Feb 7 for the first time and I’m so happy I happened to stumble in here.

The subs already been a great help for general recs, but couldn’t find anything recent on vintage/thrift shops in the area and was wondering if anyone had any recs on any outdoor markets/flea markets that are going on next week I may have missed? I saw there’s the kaka’ako farmers market but I’m pretty sure it’s on Saturdays :/ which unfortunately I’m gonna miss, but was wondering if there may be some others I’m missing or any vintage/boutique stores in the area! (but also if you want to gatekeep and don’t want to say I totally get it!! lol). I’m staying in the Hyatt Place, which I’ve seen is a little out of the way but I’m from NYC so I don’t mind walking! Or taking an Uber if necessary.

I also don’t really have anything planned for this trip other than hopefully attending a luau so if there’s anything else I need to check out pls lmk! I’m super excited and wanna have fun while also being respectful to all the locals and exploring the culture so any and all recs are welcome honestly TYIA I really appreciate it! 🫶

What side should we stay on we want relaxing soft clear beaches to lounge, lots of nature obviously, probably more secluded, relaxed but still around stores and cool things to do. Thanks so much!

Hi-

Does anyone know if/where I can find any of these papers on Oahu - IBD and/or Barron's? The Barnes and Noble at Ala Moana didn't have them although it was unclear if they were just sold out of this week's supply.

Mahalo in advance for your response.

Hey everyone! I’m visiting my buddy in Lanikai until Tuesday and would love to get a surf lesson while I’m here. I know I could go through a surf school, but I think it’d be cool to learn from a local more informally - I’m a little shy. I’m happy to pay the same rate as the schools—so if anyone’s up for sharing their skills and making some easy money, let me know! Appreciate any recommendations too.

Hey everyone, I will be goign to Oahu next week and would love to get some feedback on my itinerary:

Monday Feb 10

• YVR -> HNL (Arrive 10:30 PM)
• Hotel, Eat, Explore, Sleep Early 

Tuesday Feb 11

• Early Morning Wakeup 
• Diamond Headhike 
• Manoa Falls 
• Magic Island Beach Park
• Pearl Harbour
• Tantalus Lookout (Sunset)

Wednesday Feb 12 (NORTH DAY)

• Sharks Cove 
• Three Tables
• Waimea Valley and Falls 
• Haleiwa Town 
• Turtle Beach 
• Sunset Beach

Thursday Feb 13 (EAST DAY)

• Lanikai Pillbox Hike
• Lanikal Beach 
• Ho’omalhulia Botanical Garden 
• Byodo-in Temple 
• Kaaawa Beach
• Kuala Ranch Tour - Horse back riding ?

Friday Feb 14

• Wiliwilinui Ridge Hike
• Sans Souci Beach (Next to Waikiki) 
• Waikiki Fireworks 

Saturday Feb 15

• Surfing Lessons in Waikiki 
• Ala Moana Beach Park 
• Luau Experience 

Sunday Feb 16

• Kokocrater Railway Hike
• Makapu’u Lighthouse Trail
• Halona Blowhole Beach

Monday Feb 17

• Waikiki Beach? 
• HNL (3:40 PM) -> YVR

Does anybody know when Tonkatsu Tamafuji opens their reservations for each month? Just a few days ago I was looking and you couldn't book beyond April 1st. When I looked today all of April was booked up and you aren't able to book beyond May 1st.

For reference I'll be trying to book a reservation in early August.

Thanks!

Planning a trip with my husband to Kauai and BI. We've both been to Hawaii before and will be staying on each island for a week respectively. We will be going in June and are looking for hotels for our stay. I was hoping to stay at the Westin Hapuna on the BI but bummed I don't have enough points and cannot use my free night. I was told Marriott Waikoloa was available but not sure how I feel about that. I've read some bad reviews about that hotel. I am pretty bummed had my heart set on the Westin. Anyway, on to Kauai, we are looking at Marriott Waiohai beach club but it's sold out for our dates. I could probably call the hotel and see what's up but wanted so see if anyone has ever stayed there and what it's like? So, now we are looking at Ko'a Kea in Poipu. I like resorts, but I also like very nice Inns/Bnbs. My husband found a great Inn in Kona that we may stay at for a few nights.

Ok, so for the BI...does anyone have any experience with the Marriott Waikoloa and / or Westin Hapuna? Any great hotels/inn that can be recommended in Kauai?

Thoughts on any other hotels/ inns on either island would be greatly appreciated! Mahalo!

Aloha all,

Especially to the kamaʻāina on the Big Island!

I am going to be visiting from the next island over (Maui) and I like know the best restaurants! I’ll be visiting Hilo, but willing to drive to Kona for some good spots too!

I like all kine food, but I love bakeries, birria, and Hawaiian food, poke, you name it. I am open to any suggestions! I’ll be bringing my other half and our baby. I’ve been to Hilo before, but I was only a bebe. So, I basically going with fresh eyes at this point.

And also, I like know the good sightseeing places like Rainbow Falls, the National Park, etc.

Mahalos! 🤙🏽🤙🏽

Hello,

I'm hoping to visit the big island and stay in the hostel in Hilo! I'm planning on getting a rental car, but wanted to see about the parking options. I hear it can be tricky or very expensive to park a car and I want to make sure I know all the options.

Alternatively, also open to suggestions about affordable places to stay other than the hostel.

He’s a highly active kid and very big for his size, so I think he should be able to handle it, but I am just wondering if I’m going to regret trying half way up.

A lot of reviews are on both extremes like “my entire extended family did this hike” and “not for the faint of heart!” but maybe the latter are just not in shape? I’m out of shape but my preferred workout is the stairmaster so I’m not super worried.

Plus any other hikes with spectacular views we could manage would be greatly appreciated!

Where do I look for vacation deals if I’m traveling to Maui, in the first week of April for one week? I’m open to suggestions, but I’d like to stay oceanfront, with a nice ocean view. I’d love to stay near Kihei, near the Whale sanctuary, and very interesting in whale watching, and other sea like as well. I know nothing about traveling to Hawaii, so any advice would be appreciated. Right now I’m looking at some great VRBOs, but I’m wondering if there are better options? We are a couple in our late 40s.

Is there anything we're missing during our time on the Big Island? We'll be there for about 2 weeks and staying on different parts of the Island. We love hiking in the morning and relaxing on the beach in the afternoon. We have a couple open days for both activities and dinner so let us know if there's any must-see or must-eats we missed. If it matters, we are 27F and 31M.

Day 1 - Day 4: Hilo

Day 1

• Arrive on Big Island (Kona- 5pm)
• Pick Up Rental Car
• Stay in Hilo
• Find dinner - Ola Brew or Hilo Burger Joint?

Day 2

• Drive and checkout the following gardens/waterfalls: Akaka Falls, Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden (Onomea and Donkey Trails), Rainbow Falls
• Lunch at Hawaiian Style Cafe Hilo
• Drive to Kaumana Caves
• Dinner at Ola Brew or Hilo Burger Joint (whatever we didn’t eat the night before)

Day 3

• Mauna Kea!
• Brunch at Ken's House of Pancakes
• Drive to Mauna Kea
• Humu'ula Trail for sunset (Hopefully a stargazing tour of some sort?)

Day 4

• Beach Day
• Kea’Au Beach or Honoli’i Beach Park
• Lunch at Suisan Fish Market (poke)
• Coconut Island / Liliʻuokalani Gardens
• Drinks at Wailuku Brew Works
• Dinner at Hilo Bay Cafe

Day 5

• Beach Day + Last Day in Hilo
• Hilo Farmer’s Market
• Kea’Au Beach or Honoli’i Beach Park
• Dinner at Moon and Turtle

Day 5 - Day 6: Volcanoes

Day 5

• First Day in Volcano
• Lunch at Pahoa Fresh Fish
• Kehena Black Sand Beach
• Dinner at Ohelo Cafe or Volcano’s Lava Rock Cafe

Day 6

• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
• Kilauea Iki & Crater Rim Trail for sunrise, Kilauea Craters Trail, Halema’uma’u Steam Bluff and Sulfur Banks, Thurston Lava Tube Holei Sea Arch
• Drive Chain of Craters Road

Day 7 - Day 11: Kona

Day 7

• First Day in Kona
• Breakfast at Punalu'u Bake Shop
• Hike Papakolea Green Sand Beach (5.6mi) and checkout the Southernmost Point of USA

Day 8

• Southside Beach / Snorkel Day
• Breakfast at Kona Farmers Market or 808 Grindz Cafe
• Kealakekua Bay
• 5 hr kayak / snorkel tour (worth it?)
• Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park
• Honaunau Bay / Two Step Beach
• Dinner at Kua Thai Cuisine

Day 9

• Lunch at Da Poke Shack
• Beach Day: Decide between Waialea Beach, Beach 69, Mauna Kea Beach, and Hapuna Beach
• Kua Bay
• Dinner TBD

Day 10

• Kaʻawaloa - Captain Cook Monument Trail
• Dinner at Teshima Restaurant

Day 11

• Free Day!
• Dinner TBD

Day 12

• Fly Home

Traveling to Hawaii this March for our honeymoon and looking for recommendations for the must see places (excursions, restaurants). We’re spending time on Oahu, Maui, & Kauai. So far we’ve booked Kualoa Ranch, Old Lahaina Luau, & whale watching in Maui. Looking especially for recommendations for best hikes & best sunset dinner cruise in Maui but any & all suggestions welcome!

Also debating between sunrise or sunset at Haleakala Natl Park if anyone has any thoughts, esp if you drove it yourself (tours are crazy expensive)

Hello fantastic reddit Visiting Hawaii community. ☺️ I am planning to travel to Hawaii in the end of this year and the people from travel agency told me that do not advise to rent a car while I am staying in O'ahu. Since I am planning to see the most of the island and getting to know the culture, I would say that gives me more flexibility. Any advice about it? Many thanks 🙏

Hello everyone

I saw some lovely Niihau shell earrings tonight at the art night and I’m wondering if anyone knows the best place to buy them on Kauai?

Thank you!

I'm in waikoloa village and have 2 masks, 2 snorkels, a set of fins and 2 snorkeling vests for free. If anybody wants them please message. We're flying out at 9 AM, and I have no room to take them home. Brand new never used. We had that storm, and did you get a chance to use them? essage and we'll meet up

Found today in the water at Tunnels beach, in rough shape but would like to get it back to its owner. Please send me the serial number of your drone if you think it’s yours and I will confirm. It probably isn’t working anymore, I dried it but it’s full of sand. SD card is still in, not able to read it.

Hi, we are going to be in the Kona area for a couple weeks. A friend grew up south of Kona and said that snorkeling near Captain Cook was something she loved all her years there. She's been on the mainland quite a while so doesn't have any recommendations. We'd love it if people would share their experiences and recommendations. It's been ages since snorkeling but will be bringing my own mask with prescription lens. May want to upgrade the snorkel. Thank you!

Does anyone know if any places in #Honolulu that have a #luau for Saturday 2/1/2025? We had one for today (1/31/2025) but it was cancelled cause their “power was out” supposedly

Hello!

My wife and I will be going on our baby moon in April, and we'll be spending some of our time on Oahu.

It's an extended trip - 15 days, we'll be staying the first 10 days on Kauai in Hanalei bay.

The next 5 we'll be on Oahu, I'm debating between Ko Olina or Waikiki.

My thoughts are that since we did nothing but relax on Kauai, it might make sense to stay in Waikiki? Is there much to do around Ko Olina? We'll have a rental car regardless.

Gut check?

Waimano falls is absolutely beautiful right now (1/31) but unfortunately I lost my camera in the pool under the rope swing. We swam and tried to find it for an hour but the water was too deep/murky - we needed swimming goggles to find it.

I don’t care as much about the camera but my entire trip was on that SD card.

Hoping someone will be able to find it when it shallows out this weekend maybe.

Willing to pay up to $50 if someone has swimming goggles and finds it! Please DM me for more info.

Hi, I could use some help, my husband and I along with our two toddlers (ages 2 and 3) are planning to go stay at the Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach in late June/early July. We’ll be in Hawaii for about a week. It is our very first trip to Hawaii and our first time flying with toddlers from California.

What do you think of the Alohilani?

Any suggestions for kids/family friendly activities?

Should we rent a car and bring car seats or are we able to get around by walking?

It’s our first time to Hawaii and we really want to make the most of it! Any tips/guidance or advice would be most appreciated! Thank you!!

Is 100 sails still strict on attire? I was thinking of putting on my plain black T-shirt and my black board shorts that look like shorts and my slippers lol I’m gonna be at the beach all day showing my friend around and we won’t have time to go back home on the north side to change ( I forgot to bring extra clothes)

I haven’t been there in forever I know it used to be strict before but not sure if they are more chill on it now

Hello all, I am booking a separate connecting flight from Honolulu to Maui.

My United Airlines flight from EWR is landing at 330pm @ HNL. I need to catch a connecting flight to Maui (OGG) that same day and would of course like to get there as early as possible.

I would need to deboard the plane, grab my luggage, (maybe transfer to a different terminal?), check in again, go through security and catch a Southwest Airlines flight.

My question is, how easy is it to navigate through HNL and is it realistic to catch a 5pm or 520pm flight or should I play it safe at book the 6pm flight?

Thanks for any advice in advance!

Spending three nights in Waikiki at the end of March -- two 30-something adults. Our priorities are a comfortable bed, a balcony/lanai, and most important, quiet at night! I'd also love a quiet pool but that may be too much to ask :)

Hotels we're considering: White Sands, Laylow, Surfjack, Wayfinder

Any thoughts among these? Is there somewhere else we should consider?

Title says it all, which has better Poke?

What’s a decent budget for a solo traveler? If you went by yourself around how much did you end up spending in Oahu?

Hello,

I'm Anishinaabe from the Great Lakes and I will be coming as a tourist to Hawaii February 27th to March 9th. I'm incredibly excited! We are in the planning stages now and I'd like to see if I could get any recommendations from Reddit! What shouldn't I miss? We are interested in seeing the Kingdom of Hawai'i rather than the U.S state if that makes sense.

We would like to stay at Native Hawaiian owned accommodations where possible (airbnb or hotels). And if there are Kanaka Maoli owned and operated excursions and restaurants that anybody can recommend I would be appreciative.

I am somewhat aware of the impact tourists have on all people living in Hawaii but especially our Hawaiian brothers and sisters. That's why, where possible we are looking to support native Hawaiian business and restaurants. We are flying into Oahu, then to the Big Island and we wanted to get a good canyon hike in on Kauaʻi

Thank you!

I'm camping at Kumu Camp in Anahola this spring. I was wondering about camping at Anini Beach as well, but from what I can see it looks like it would be hard to get there (and to get around if I do get there) without a vehicle. Would it be better to stay put in Anahola and just take the bus to explore places like Hanalei, or is it possible to get to and from Anini without a car? Thanks in advance for your help!

*I should add that I know I won't get to see much of the island without a car, but I'm okay with that. I want to camp, and I want to be able to explore a couple of towns and go to farmers markets, stuff like that.