Any advice for a couple going to Oahu, Hawaii?
January 05, 2013So, me and my husband are going to Hawaii in August of this year (2009). I have no idea how the weather is there.. what kind of clothes would i pack? We are staying at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel on Waikiki Beach. Is there any advice for cheap food? We don’t want to spend a lot of money….
My husband and I went to Oahu in Feb. and it was like 80 everyday so I am sure with it being summer it will be plenty warm. I did pack a pair of capris and a pair of jeans for myself just in case & my husband had the pair of jeans he wore on the flight (I wore yoga pants). Bring flip flops and sandals; and of course bring your bikinis and swim trunks, if you plan on doing any hiking bring comfortable tennis shoes or hiking shoes. If you have a fridge or anything in your room a good money saver is buying some food and eating it in your hotel room instead of eating every meal out. We had a full kitchen at the Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk Hotel we stayed in so we usually only ate one meal a day at a restaurant. We ate at the shorebird cafe & beach bar a couple of different times for lunch. The first time we ate there we had a buy one get 1/2 off from a coupon book & our sever gave us another coupon with our check that time. We ate lunch there & I ordered a burger and fries and the burger so was large I could not eat all of it and took the rest to our room for supper.
The most expensive things we did were our sunset dinner cruise & spending a day at the Polynesian Cultural center. I booked those two activities from home so it didn’t seem like we were spending so much money there. A great place to go shopping is the International Marketplace – you can haggel with the vendors and knock off maybe $5 on the things you are buying. If you drink be prepared to pay an arm and a leg for drinks. We went to a bar one night and maybe had like 2 or 3 mixed drinks a piece and paid like $60 for that!
Waikiki beach will probably be pretty busy that time of year – when we traveled it wasn’t bad at all. Drive up to the North Shore and around the island to check out the other beaches. I used www.gohawaii.com to plan a lot of our trip. Hope this helps & have a great time!
January 5th, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Hawaii isn’t that expensive once you are there – depending where you are from?
Prices are pretty similar to the mainland – which is a lot cheaper than the rest of Europe!
the Searaton Waikiki is in a great location and there is many free things to do around there.
Waikiki beach gets crowded but it isn’t as bad as people make out,no doubt you’ll spend some time here being right on the doorstep!
Hike up diamond head – which costs a dollar or 2 on the bus and $1 for walk ins ($5 with car)
Take a bus to the north shore for $2 and spend a day up there on the quiet relaxed beaches and parks.
Visit Pearl Harbor. Entrance is free but it is first come first serve so take a bus there as early as poss – i got there for 8am and the queue was still pretty big.
Hanauma bay is only $5 and is a beautiful snorkelling beach and well worth a visit.
Hawaii is HOT all year round, so plenty of bikinis/shorts/tshirts – you wont need anything else!
References :
Many visits to Oahu, Hawaii
January 5th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
My husband and I went to Oahu in Feb. and it was like 80 everyday so I am sure with it being summer it will be plenty warm. I did pack a pair of capris and a pair of jeans for myself just in case & my husband had the pair of jeans he wore on the flight (I wore yoga pants). Bring flip flops and sandals; and of course bring your bikinis and swim trunks, if you plan on doing any hiking bring comfortable tennis shoes or hiking shoes. If you have a fridge or anything in your room a good money saver is buying some food and eating it in your hotel room instead of eating every meal out. We had a full kitchen at the Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk Hotel we stayed in so we usually only ate one meal a day at a restaurant. We ate at the shorebird cafe & beach bar a couple of different times for lunch. The first time we ate there we had a buy one get 1/2 off from a coupon book & our sever gave us another coupon with our check that time. We ate lunch there & I ordered a burger and fries and the burger so was large I could not eat all of it and took the rest to our room for supper.
The most expensive things we did were our sunset dinner cruise & spending a day at the Polynesian Cultural center. I booked those two activities from home so it didn’t seem like we were spending so much money there. A great place to go shopping is the International Marketplace – you can haggel with the vendors and knock off maybe $5 on the things you are buying. If you drink be prepared to pay an arm and a leg for drinks. We went to a bar one night and maybe had like 2 or 3 mixed drinks a piece and paid like $60 for that!
Waikiki beach will probably be pretty busy that time of year – when we traveled it wasn’t bad at all. Drive up to the North Shore and around the island to check out the other beaches. I used http://www.gohawaii.com to plan a lot of our trip. Hope this helps & have a great time!
References :
January 5th, 2013 at 3:39 pm
Recommend that you purchase the book, "Frommer’s Hawaii … See Hawaii on $60 a Day". We have been several times and found it to be very helpful in finding good places to eat and in planning a schedule so that we could see everything of interest to us. You will find many points of interest detailed in the book and it should be a big help.
For example, not far from Waikiki Beach (just a couple blocks actually) is a restaurant that all the locals use for very good Hawaiian Food. It was great … just a hole-n-the-wall actually (only about 8 tables) but folks started lining up for food early.
I know your staying on Oahu but from that book we found a great motel right on the water on Kauai in Kappa We could hear the waves at night and sea turtles swam in the surf. Two bedroom with kitchen facilities and directly on the beach for a very reasonable rate. It could not be beat and we would not have found it had it not been for our research using the Frommer’s book
I know you have made your plans but I would suggest you get out and experience the real Hawaii (it isn’t found on Waikiki Beach). Maybe visit some other islands (they have inter-island flights almost hourly).
Concerning dress …. dress light and be comfortable. Hawaii is very laid back and you will probably want to purchase some of those great Hawaiian shirts shortly after you arrive.
You will most like want to return someday but make the most of your time while there.
Enjoy and Best Wishes
References :
We Have Enjoyed The Experience Several Times and Have Been To Most All the Islands (kentuckyfella@yahoo.com)