Best swimming and beginner surfing in Hawaii.

North shore has a small swimming areas and less aesthetic waters. They’re ghost towns for a reason

I went to Hawaii back in '89 or '90. From what I recall, Maui and the Big Island were my favorites. Oahu not so much...

I thought waimanalo beach was a nice little spot when I was there

Pearl Harbor is not in Waikiki (other side of Honolulu...).

I'll look into the mud hoppers like donblaximus suggested but that might be more than I'm willing to chew off this trip since it's only 6 days. I'm also leaning towards 4 seasons which is looking like 1800 a night so that sounds like a lot of moving around for me that I don't really want to do. I'm sure I can fill up 6 days with plenty to meander around on Oahu. Have you done the skydiving? I saw that they offered that. It's been a while since I've jumped so that sounds fun.

Congrats on the job & the move! I love moving to new cities and experiencing it as a local instead of a tourist. So it sounds like you'll be moving back to Ohau for sure in 5 years? Planning on retiring there? I've always wondered if people get bored living in Hawaii. I'll have to pencil you in for this face sitting session.I'm sure there will be the possibility of a next time to go visit other islands. I booked it based off direct flights from Austin. I'm spoiled and do not do layovers if I could help it. So Oahu won.

I do enjoy helicopter tours. I'll look into that to see if they have something like that in Ohau. I booked an Airbus EC 120 last month as a bday present to my bf to toot around my city at sunset and it's made me appreciate it a lot more. Mainly the pilot was the one who made the couple hours super enjoyable.

Good luck

Laughed cause this happens like daily in FL



Also make sure you book your USS Arizona tour before you get there, it fills up. IMO Maui is the best part of Hawaii.

I was there last February.

Tons of homeless in Waikiki. What's odd is that they're around the designer shops. It's very touristy and I'd completely avoid Waikiki altogether myself.

I also rented a car and spent my time away from Waikiki as much as I could. It was surprisingly chilly and rainy when I was there. But there were a couple good moments of sunshine and warmth.

There is some hiking, but there's also a ton of signage saying everything is illegal. I went anyway but it wasn't the best feeling to partake. It's also really hard to park like plenty of other trail heads. I think one hike I had to about a 2 mile walk to the trailhead.

Wouldn't go back personally. Wasn't really my idea to go, but the flights were cheap so I figured I'd check it out. Since there was a lot of COVID BS when I went, I didn't want to take tests just to get to a better island. Go to another island if you can.

Thank youI never thought about flying in and then hopping on a cruise. That's pretty cool. Will try to find a Luau.
I am pretty critical of beaches growing up in socal lol so I am curious to see what this famous beach is like.
I think the weather is suppose to be decent in the winter there so I'm hoping for clear days. Thank you for the cool recommendations. Sounds like I have some planning to do. I'm even reading that snorkeling needs to be booked in advance. And a lot of the hotels I'm interested in (that were suggested by TonyTriangles) are already fully bookedI want to try to stop by as many as I can but I do like the smaller ones. My fav beach spots in ca growing up were the off the path cliff side beaches in Laguna in ca.

Agree with the others, it's a waste to fly all the way to Hawaii if you're just going to stay on Oahu. May as well go to California and save a couple bucks.

I spent 2 days on Oahu after the Big Island and Maui and it was a big letdown. The highlight was sitting in a park eating ice cream and watching the prostitutes proposition Japanese businessmen.

Stayed at royal hawaiian and it was nice and the beach is great, but everything around it was touristy. Prefer maui.

Haven't been trolling the misc as much as I'd like to these days but wanted to thank people for their recs in here. Oahu was enjoyable. I'd go back. Def didn't mind the city feel esp with the shopping and for some reason luxury items were cheaper there? lol

Paid for a tour guide to drive us around an entire day and saw the entire place. He booked a doors off helicopter ride for a couple hours. Beautiful from up there. So many places are tourist traps but I def still enjoyed them. Also got trapped into saying 'yes' since he brought me to a cliff to ask me the question :P jk he did good. He hired a photographer that was hiding. All in all, it was a nice week to spend Christmas to end the year. Waikiki's sunset / sunrise is no joke. Glad we stayed there and got the oceanfront room. Will give turtle bay a try next year for christmas.