Oahu

Hawaii, as travel agents and Hollywood like to remind us, is "paradise". Mark Twain himself described it as "the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean". When we think of Hawaii we imagine beautiful beaches bordered by palm trees, hula dancers swaying gracefully in the sun and richly colourful tropical sunsets, but if you push past the hype what do you actually find? Well, turns out they are pretty much right ...
...to it as I ever expect to find. Hawaii is spending days hiking through rainforests and up extinct volcanoes to savour dramatic views, before enjoying evenings sipping mai tais to the sound of slack-keyed guitar music as you bask in the last warm rays of the tropical sun. It is drinking gloriously fresh guava juice with flowers in your hair and garlanded round your neck, just because they are there. It is swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean and marvelling ... more

Hawaii, as travel agents and Hollywood like to remind us, is "paradise". Mark Twain himself described it as "the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean". When we think of Hawaii we imagine beautiful beaches bordered by palm trees, hula dancers swaying gracefully in the sun and richly colourful tropical sunsets, but if you push past the hype what do you actually find? Well, turns out they are pretty much right and this is paradise - or at least as close to it as I ever expect to find. Hawaii is spending days hiking through rainforests and up extinct volcanoes to savour dramatic views, before enjoying evenings sipping mai tais to the sound of slack-keyed guitar music as you bask in the last warm rays of the tropical sun. It is drinking gloriously fresh guava juice with flowers in your hair and garlanded round your neck, just because they are there. It is swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean and marvelling at the surfers, it is fiery volcanoes, Pacific Rim cuisine, the Aloha spirit and an enchanting multicultural society that has strong Polynesian roots with unmistakeable influences from Asia, North America and Europe. By luck (and general consensus), Hawaii is pretty much a flawless destination and attracts seven million visitors annually who go there to experience paradise for themselves.

The state of Hawaii is made of six major islands (there are 19 in total if you include all the minor islands and atolls), each with its own distinct personality: Kaua'i (the garden isle), O'ahu (the gathering place), Moloka'i (the friendly isle), Lana'i (the pineapple isle), Maui (the valley isle), and Big Island (the largest of the islands, also known as Hawai'i, from which the state takes its name). It is the island of O'ahu, the most populous of the islands (75% of Hawaii's population live here) and home to the state capital Honolulu, which attracts the most visitors, however. For the majority of the tourists who come to O'ahu, it is Waikiki, with its world famous beach that is the centre of the action, and while this playground in the Pacific is less than two miles in length, it is where three quarters of Hawaii's visitors stay during their visit. There is far more to O'ahu than just the delights of Waikiki, however. The island combines the excitement of a city break in Honolulu with the beauty and potential for adventure of the countryside and coast of the rest of the island: it is for when you want the best of both worlds. There are so many beach resorts in the world that create a high-rise manufactured fantasy for tourists, but O'ahu is different; sure, you can enjoy the sun, swimming and umbrella-ed cocktails of holiday dreams, but there is also a vibrant culture and wealth of activities to counterbalance this, which makes it perfect for people (like me) who get easily bored by resorts.

Waikiki

Imagine an area of less than one square mile, equipped with over 60,000 hotel rooms. Imagine this area is blessed with an embarrassingly equitable climate and one of the most user-friendly beaches in the world. A place with more restaurants than most decent-sized towns and with seemingly limitless shopping opportunities. Well, this place actually exists in the form of Waikiki (Hawaiian for "spouting waters"), a place that is the very essence of laid back and where visitors feel safe, warm and happy. Waikiki is about strolling and relaxing on the beach, about watching surfers (if you're not brave enough to try it yourself), about eating and drinking and shopping. While Waikiki as we know it today may be the most famous of Hawaii's resorts, it was actually originally a swamp (hence the "spouting waters"), and while the beach was a good enough place to swim that it got its first hotel, the Moana Surfrider, in 1901, it wasn't until the land was drained in 1921 that the area was ripe for development - and develop it did. The result was a long, narrow strip of land running along the coast on the southeast edge of Honolulu that is packed with everything a visitor could wish for from a beach resort.

Running the length of Waikiki is the legendary Waikiki beach, probably best known for its surfing culture - it was on this stretch of coast that Hawaiian hero Duke Kahanamoku learnt to swim and surf, later becoming an Olympic swimming champion at the 1912 and 1920 games. More significantly, Duke is credited as being the man who first popularised surfing, taking it out of Hawaii where it began, and to California and Australia. You will soon come to see how popular Duke is in Hawaii with the number of things named in his honour, the most prominent of which are Duke's Barefoot Bar, a beachside restaurant in the Outrigger Waikiki (which does excellent $15 all you can eat and drink breakfast buffets, incidentally) and the statue of Duke standing in front of his surfboard with arms outstretched (which seems to be daily honoured with leis). The beach all along this stretch of coast is narrow and crowded, but it is worth braving the crowds to take a dip in the warm ocean waters. The waters here are amazingly clear and deepen only very gradually as you leave the beach, and several areas have breakwaters that makes them very safe and pleasant to swim in. Be warned, though, that although the beach is very sandy, the waters often have a lot of rocks and reefs in them that conspire to attack your feet if you put them down in the wrong place. If you intend to do a lot of swimming, I would suggest investing in a pair of reef shoes, which can be bought cheaply from a lot of beachside shops and will protect your feet without impeding your swimming.

The second key feature of this area is Kalakaua Avenue, which I am informed is one of the most profitable shopping streets anywhere in the US. Running through Waikiki parallel to the beach, it offers many of the most prominent hotels, as well as a cacophony of shops selling everything from beachwear, t-shirts and souvenirs through to Tiffany, Gucci and other designer names, along with an abundance of restaurants, bars and nightlife. Most of the avenue is decidedly smart and upmarket, but if you want food and shopping that is a little less heavy on your wallet, you have only to venture along the side streets, where the crowds and prices drop off quite quickly. Shopping for pricey designer items is really not my thing, but the International Marketplace, which opens up onto Kalakaua Avenue is much more fun, and I would really recommend a visit there if you are in the area. The marketplace is a large tropical bazaar with a huge range of stalls selling more reasonably priced goodies than the beachfront shops, such as pearls still in the oyster, carved wooden tikis, artwork, Hawaiian shirts and a host of little trinkets that you can clutter up your desks and bookcases with back home. It is a great place to wander around, and the stallholders are friendly and helpful without the pushiness that you experience in many tourist hot spots.

Eating and drinking in Waikiki is difficult - if only because you are overwhelmed with choice, from the common or garden Burger Kings and Taco Bells to outrageously expensive steak houses. One of the most popular eateries is the Cheesecake Factory on Kalakaua Avenue, which although huge is always vastly oversubscribed, and you can expect to wait the best part of an hour for a table at off-peak times and longer when the evening gets going. The big draw here is naturally the choice of 30 different cheesecakes (from the sublime key lime to the ridiculous carrot cake), and while dessert is most definitely good, the main courses were for me quite ordinary, too expensive and not worth the wait. I would recommend eating your dinner elsewhere and then stopping here for takeaway cheesecake from the bakery counter for dessert instead (around $7 to $8 for a generous slice, and they will provide you with the plastic forks to eat it with, too). I much preferred Cha Cha Cha on Seaside Avenue, which serves good Mexican/Caribbean food (and the best nachos I have ever tasted) and Jimmy Buffet's at the Beachcomber, which can be found above the shops of central Kalakaua Avenue and does excellent cocktails and seasonal fish dishes with friendly service. If you still like your burgers but want something better than a greasy takeaway, head to Island Burgers, which is upstairs in the Ala Moana shopping mall - the "Hawaiian burger" I was served came marinated in teriyaki sauce and piled with pineapple, and is most definitely worth trying if you have a good appetite! The food and drinks to definitely try are shave ices (a favourite Hawaiian treat made from fluffy and finely shaved ice topped with fruits and juicy flavours - or a cocktail in many bars), mai tais (a fruity rum cocktail that is quintessentially Hawaiian), mahi mahi (deep sea fish) and the local macadamia nuts (best honey roasted or covered in chocolate in my experience).

Honolulu

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Venturing outside of Waikiki you find the rest of Honolulu (meaning "sheltered bay"), a city that felt to me more Asian in character than American. This is Hawaii's only true metropolis, its centre of government and commerce, that mixes history and culture with skyscrapers that make parts of the city feel like a tropical Manhattan. Getting around Honolulu is actually quite easy for visitors, as it has what is widely regarded as one of the best public transport systems in the United States - imaginatively named The Bus. One of the hardest things about using buses in cities you are not familiar with is knowing which stop to ask for and then recognising the stop when you reach it, but Hawaii's The Bus doesn't have these issues. Why? Because some clever person realised the system would work more smoothly if there was a flat fare (just $2) and if the buses had electronic displays that name each stop and what it serves. This makes The Bus quick, cheap, efficient and very easy for visitors to use to get around O'ahu and I would highly recommend it as a means of exploring the city in particular. And the city has a lot to offer.

More than just the seat of modern power, Honolulu was also the seat of Royal power in Hawaii from 1804, when the Hawaiian King Kamehameha I moved his court to the growing town from Big Island, to better protect local interests against what was a growing incursion from western countries. Both of these powers are reflected in what I found the most interesting part of the city, the Capitol District, a few blocks downtown where you can find the Hawaii State Capitol and Governor's House, gilded and lei'd statues of the most popular monarchs of Hawaii's royal past, and the 'Iolani Palace, the only royal residence to stand on American soil. The palace, an impressive late 19th century building, is a very significant landmark to Honolulu residents. It served the last two monarchs of the islands, King David Kalakaua and his sister and successor Queen Lili'uokalani, until the monarchy was deposed in 1893 by a consortium of white businessmen who were keen to exploit the natural resources of the islands. Lili'uokalani was arguably Hawaii's best-loved queen, who strongly believed that the islands should be preserved for their native inhabitants, and who fiercely contested the US's annexation of the islands in 1898, and was arrested and for a time held captive in the palace that was once her home. After becoming neglected when it fell out of use, 'Iolani Palace was later restored in the 1970s to reflect what it was like a royal residence - it is worth a visit, and I would recommended paying the $20 guided tour fee (it is $13 self guided) as an interesting use of time and money and to learn a little of the history of the islands.

Right next to the Capitol District is America's oldest Chinatown, although should more correctly be termed South East Asia town, as I noticed stalls and shops from across the region when I visited. I have heard that it is a good place for shopping and food, although to me it looked a bit shabby and was the only part of the city where I felt uncomfortable; I didn't spend much time exploring this area (it is not like I have been to similar ones before) and instead moved on to the south, towards the Aloha tower and marketplace. The marketplace, built around a pier in Honolulu harbour, is a stylish and attractive area of the city (it reminded me of a tropical version of the Cardiff dock area, actually), and is easily accessible from Waikiki and downtown by the bus, yet has not so far done well commercially. Certainly it was quite quiet when I visited and there were several empty shops, but the lack of crowds was actually a pleasant change from the bustle of the beach areas, and I rather enjoyed eating lunch on a shady deck overlooking the ocean (you wouldn't have got seats that good in Waikiki at that time of day!). The best part of this area of the city, however, is the Aloha tower, an art deco structure built in 1926 that pre-dates the marketplace by some 70 years. It was built in a time when all travel to Hawaii was by boat, so the tower was intended to create a lasting first and last impression of Honolulu for visitors. At 184 feet high, you can get excellent views out over the harbour and city from the observation deck, and it costs nothing to do so.

If you want to explore Hawaiian history and culture further, then it is worth spending a couple of hours at the Bishop museum, the islands' most comprehensive museum. The museum is not located near other visitor attractions (which makes it both harder to get to and far quieter when you do arrive), but it is easy enough to reach on the bus, with route B stopping nearby, and there is no shortage of friendly locals happy to point you in the right direction after that. As well as an impressive collection that covers everything from Hawaii's royal history to how surfing came about, it also offers a hand-on science centre explaining amongst other things how volcanoes work. For me, though, the best part was the planetarium show. When I visited, the planetarium was being put to good use in explaining how Polynesian sailors used the stars to navigate across the vast ocean to come to Hawaii from Tahiti, and it was all included in the cost of the entry ticket. For a $16 adult ticket it is an interesting experience and complemented our earlier visit to 'Iolani Palace.

The most visited attraction in Honolulu, however, is Pearl Harbor, located on the western edge of the city, just past the airport. This is really the "must see" attraction for visitors to Honolulu, with the USS Arizona memorial drawing in so many visitors that it has to open at 7am daily to give everyone who wants to a chance of getting in. For this reason there are understandably a lot of organised tours heading out to Pearl Harbor, which tend to leave very early in the morning (we were picked up for ours at 6.30am, and this is by no means unusual) to make sure that the tour party gets in without have to wait too long. We were advised by our local travel rep that it is best to arrive either early in the morning to minimise waiting time - the memorial can only hold a certain number of people, so you have a timed ticket - or come later in the day when the tour groups have gone, but when there is no guarantee of getting in at all. Come in the middle of the day and your wait could be two to three hours, or even more, so bear that in mind. Entrance to the memorial is free, and can be combined with a visit to the USS Missouri battleship docked nearby (entrance to which is $16 for adults) - there is even a handy free shuttle bus to ferry you between the attractions.

The Rest of O'ahu

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The island of O'ahu is divided into several areas - while Honolulu and Waikiki make up much of the southern shore of the island, the Ko'olau Mountains that run through the central region divide the island into eastern and western areas that have their own microclimate. The prevailing winds (called the trade winds) come from the northeast, bringing moisture with them; as the moist air reaches the mountains, it rises, cools and condenses into clouds and rain that fall mostly before the air finishes crossing the high land. So the east of O'ahu, known locally as the windward side, gets the majority of the rain and it is generally windier than the west. The other side of the mountains, or the leeward side, stays much drier as a consequence. I didn't see much of the leeward side of the island - other than a pleasant evening spent an a luau on a dramatically rocky beach - or the final region of the island, the famous north shore (where the big winter waves draws huge number of surfers looking for something more challenging than the gentle swells of Waikiki beach) as I unfortunately ran out of time, which is all too easily done in Hawaii. I did, however, spend some time on the windward side.

Less than an hour's drive from Waikiki (or taking the 22 or 23 bus) will bring you out to beaches with white powdery sand and the visitor attractions of the windward side of the island. Notable among these are what locals refer to as From Here to Eternity Beach - because that was where they filmed the famous scene with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr rolling around in the surf - the Hawaii Sea Life Park, and Diamond Head National Park, the looming extinct volcano that can be seen towering over the skyline from Waikiki beach. The road out to the east shore of the island is a very scenic drive and is almost worth doing for that alone. If you only get a little out of the Waikiki area, then the Diamond Head should be what you head for; it is such a prominent landmark, and the view from the top is so spectacular, that I would recommend it to anyone who is physically able to get up it. Diamond Head is basically a giant volcanic crater that was created anywhere between 100,000 and 400,000 years ago, which now has a visitor centre inside the crater and a hiking trail leading up to an observation point on the rim some 761 feet high, commanding impressive views along the coast, and over Waikiki and Honolulu (that will cost you a mere $1 to use). The trail itself, from visitor centre to observation point, is just under a mile in length but is very steep (as you might expect, given the that you are rising so high over so short a distance) and in places is uneven. My advice is to go, but try to go on a cooler day or early in the morning, and make sure you have something sensible on your feet (the people I saw trying to do it in flip flops looked decidedly unhappy), and sun block and plenty of water with you. Oh, and hang on to your hat at the top - I saw several piled up around the base of the lookout where people hadn't accounted for the strength of the wind at that height!

Concluding Thoughts

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There is so much to see, do and experience on O'ahu that it is difficult to sum it all up in a review of this length - and when I left, there was still so much I didn't fit in that would have kept me fully occupied for weeks more. Visiting this island was an amazing experience for me, as I hope I have managed to successfully convey, and offered both a wonderful opportunity to relax and enjoy romantic surroundings as it did for activity and adventure. One of the things that really stood out for me was the friendliness of all the locals I met. O'ahu was easily the friendliest and most welcoming place I have ever visited; people are quick to smile and wave, to offer help to a visitor who needs directions and are very laid back and relaxed. It probably comes down to a matter of happiness; people are happy to live in such a beautiful place, and happy people are friendly people. And yes, they do wear those loud shirts! The other aspect that really remains with me was the language. Hawaiian is still spoken (although not as am everyday language in O'ahu) and is a beautiful melodic language. The most famous word of it is of course "aloha", although you will also commonly hear "mahalo", meaning "thank you", "keikis" meaning "children" and "lei", referring to the garland of flowers that is used as a gift or greeting. It is often said that aloha means "hello" because it is used as a greeting, but this isn't strictly the case - it means "love". I think this really sums up the spirit of the place. Where else in the world other than Hawaii would the primary form of greeting be "love"?

Highly recommended.

Some Notes on Travelling to O'ahu

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When to travel: O'ahu is good to travel to all year round. There are two seasons; summer (May to October) when the weather is hot with an average temperature range of 75-88F (24-31C), and winter (November to April), when it is a little cooler (68-80F or 20-26C) and it generally rains more. When we travelled in March, we found the weather to be warm and pleasant, not too hot, and although it was busy we were told that it would get a lot more crowded come summer.

How to get there: The vast majority of flights to Hawaii land at Honolulu International Airport, six miles west of central Honolulu, which is served by most of the major American airlines. When flying from the UK, you would expect to change at one of the East Coast airports, principally Los Angeles International or San Francisco. If you can, I would recommend changing at the latter; it is a larger, friendlier, cleaner and better designed airport than LAX, and the flight to Hawaii is slightly shorter as well! As virtually all tourists flying into Honolulu will be staying in Waikiki, there is a regular shuttle service from outside the airport to the area that leaves around every half hour and will stop at your designated hotels - at $9 per person one way or $15 for a return ticket, it is an excellent way to reach your hotel.

Time zone: O'ahu is on Hawaiian Standard Time all year round, which is 5 hours behind the US East Coast (6 hours during daylight saving) and 10 hours behind GMT.

Currency: US dollars, although many businesses take traveller's cheques and some in Waikiki even take Yen due to the large number of Japanese tourists. When we travelled the exchange rate was 1.37 dollars/pound.

Go O'ahu card: A prepaid card that gives access to many of the island's tours and attractions, and can work out very good value with a bit of planning. You can buy passes for 1, 2, 3, 5 or 7 days (that do not have to be used consecutively) and they start from $48 for a one-day adult pass, including a free map and guidebook. They are best value with a 3, 5 or 7 day card as then you get an included "bonus", which is a big, expensive item like a day's car hire or a luau visit that you can use once in addition to all the other included attractions. Buy online at www.gooahucard.com.

Useful websites: www.gohawaii.com
www.iolanipalace.org
www.bishopmuseum.org
www.robertshawaii.com
www.discoverhawaiitours.com

Mahalo for reading and rating my review!

 

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