Last month, we headed on a much-desired getaway to Hawaii for my birthday and we couldn’t have had a more perfect week on Oahu.
Rick has been to Oahu before but I hadn’t. After having done Kauai and Maui together, I was so excited to explore Oahu with Rick – and enjoy some downtime by lazing on the beach. I was so excited for a relaxing getaway, but we also made sure to book some fun activities, like a ghost tour and sunset sail.
Here’s what we did during our five-night stay in Honolulu!
Day 1
We had a great direct flight out to Honolulu from Denver as we left right before noon and landed around 3 p.m. Hawaii time. No early wake-up calls and we got to head straight to the hotel and check-in when we arrived. We checked in at our hotel, Park Shore Waikiki, and fell instantly in love with the view from our room.
We then went downstairs and into the attached ABC Store to stock up on sunscreen, snacks, and drinks for the beach. We then took a stroll along the beach and Kalakaua Avenue and popped into a few shops to get some souvenirs. We had a bit of time to kill before dinner and enjoyed a lovely walk along the beachfront.
We had reservations at Lulu’s Waikiki for dinner as they have a great view of the beach and the sunset. We had a great view, great tropical cocktails, and yummy loco mocos for dinner. And we got a complimentary scoop of ice cream since it was my birthday!
Day 2
We were up bright and early on our first full day in Hawaii thanks to that four-hour time difference! But that was fine with us, we sat outside on our lanai and watched the sunrise over Diamond Head while waiting for Beach Candy to open at 7 a.m. so we could pick up our complimentary beach chairs and umbrella.
For my birthday, I wanted to hang out on the beach all day and read and enjoy some fun drinks and that’s exactly what we did.
We had no reservations for dinner that night and decided to go on a walk and see what restaurants jumped out at us, and we came across Momosan and their fantastic happy hour specials ($2 beers!). We got some affordable apps and then did their ramen + a side option and my god, were the sticky ribs to die for.
That evening we headed into downtown Honolulu for one of my favorite activities when we travel: a ghost tour! On our way, we discussed the possibility it would be a repeat of our New York ghost tour where we’d be the only ones on it. And we were.
But it was fine! Our guide, Hope, was fantastic and so easy to hang out with. Since we were the only ones on the tour, we could take our time taking pictures of the haunted sites and had no problem hearing her when she told us the spooky stories. It was the perfect blend of Hawaiian history as we started our tour at the King Kamehameha statue and stopped at the Queen’s Palace and heard about the Night Marchers, but it also had more “modern” hauntings at the post office and Saint Andrew’s.
Day 3
We started this day off with a complimentary sunrise yoga class available through our hotel. Again, the time change worked in our favor and it was no problem to be up and ready for a 7 a.m. yoga class on the beach. The session was an hour and featured a mix of meditation, breath work, and poses. It was easy to follow and open to all levels.
We then turned in our yoga mats and picked up our beach chairs and umbrella for another day of reading and relaxing on the beach.
We then started to make our way along Waikiki Beach toward Duke’s for a light lunch before our sunset sail. It was packed, but we got some cocktails and poke tacos and calamari. We took a little stroll around the marketplace to stretch our legs before finding our sea legs on the catamaran.
That evening we were booked on a sunset sail on the Maita’i Catamaran, and since sunset is earlier in Hawaii meant we were getting on our boat at 5:30 p.m. for an hour and a half sail. We booked the option that included unlimited drinks, which included sparkling wine, seltzers, beer, and mai tais.
It was a super fun way to see the coastline and Diamond Head from the water, and the crew was fantastic. They even let us do a photo opp where we were driving the catamaran! Our drinks were always topped off and they were happy to take any pictures we asked for.
We had amazing views and as someone who gets seasick, I was a bit worried, but it was quite smooth sailing. I never felt ill and was able to walk around the catamaran just fine and enjoy different views.
Day 4
The next morning we decided to go back to Lulu’s and try some things off their breakfast menu. Rick got the Big Kahuna Burger which was bomb and I got the Spam fried rice which truly hit the spot. I can’t get enough Spam musubis while we’re in Hawaii. We got to sit along the bar and had a great view of the beach.
Speaking of the beach, that’s where we headed to after breakfast for another day spent sunbathing and relaxing.
It got a bit windy in the afternoon so we decided to stop fighting the wind and fixing our umbrella and went back to our hotel. En route, we grabbed a bottle of pineapple wine and opened that while enjoying the view from our lanai (and protected from the wind).
That night we had plans to get some amazing-sounding sushi at Sansei, which was less than a 10-minute walk from our hotel. We got two of their specialty rolls and a Kahlua mud pie and holy cow were we full when we waddled out of there.
We ended the night with some stargazing from our lanai.
Day 5
We started this day off with iced coffees and yummy waffles, which we enjoyed on the beach. And then just stayed and enjoyed yet one more day doing nothing but relaxing and playing in the water.
In the afternoon, we headed over to Maui Brewing as we loved visiting the brewery when we were actually on Maui. We got some great Hawaiian beers and dinner. It worked out well for us as they were running a Christmas in July sale so we got a $100 gift card that came with a bonus $20 gift card! With Hawaii prices we knew we could easily spend that much at a restaurant.
We had wanted to do a luau since we hadn’t done one yet together in Hawaii, but we were having trouble finding one that sounded like it was worth the price. They are so expensive for a buffet dinner! While researching the shows, I came across the Rock-A-Hula show and luau and found out you can buy tickets to just the show portion, and they were running a BOGO deal. Sold!
This show was a lot of fun! It had an Elvis impersonator and strangely enough a Michael Jackson impersonator, but also had hula dancers and fire dancers. It was a fun blend of traditional Hawaiian dances and other musical influences on the islands. Since we had bought tickets for just the show, we ended up sitting on the left-hand side of the theater but still had an amazing view of the stage. The theater had a bar and of course I got a mai tai to go with the theme of the evening. Fair warning, the theater was quite cool so bring a light sweater!
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped for some traditional shave ice and took it back to our hotel room for more stargazing and a sweet treat.
Day 6
On our last day, we started it off with an early alarm as we had a 6-7 a.m. entry time for our hike on Diamond Head. Now, we got extremely lucky to snag this time as we did not know ahead of time that they are on a timed entry system.
Had we known that, we would have booked before arriving in Honolulu. But a server at a coffeeshop we went to told us to keep checking the reservation system as sometimes people cancel their bookings and spots will open up, which happened for us, luckily!
We reserved an Uber ahead of time and had a 6 a.m. pickup, and since our hotel was so close to Diamond Head, we were dropped off by 6:05. We climbed to the top of the volcano and enjoyed the expansive view of Honolulu below us. Even though it was early, it was a great time to get there. The sun was just coming up and it wasn’t too muggy or hot yet.
After enjoying the amazing views, we ended up walking back to our hotel from the trailhead, which was about a 25-minute walk. We then went down to the beach for a bit but it ended up raining a bit so we returned to the hotel to pack. We left our luggage with the concierge and checked out of the hotel.
We then took a stroll and popped into different shops and got some snacks. We had plenty of time until we had to leave for the airport, so we found an early happy hour at Tiki’s and got some drinks and appetizers.
After our snacks, we took a long walk in the park to enjoy the views of the beach one last time.
Before we knew it, it was time to get our luggage from our hotel and say goodbye to Honolulu. We got an Uber and headed off to the airport for our nighttime flight home.
It was an amazing getaway and we absolutely loved staying in Waikiki. We cannot wait to return and see more of the island, and revisit Honolulu as it was so much fun.
If you have recommendations for what we should do next time we visit Oahu, please share your ideas in the comments below!
