My husband and I are going to Oahu for 7 days. How many days do you think we'll need a rental car?

Question

Our hotel is 1 block from the beach, the zoo, and the aquatic park. It's also across from the International Marketplace.

Answer 1

Perhaps the following iternary can give you a hint of how many days you need a car, should you want to visit some of the areas listed below.

Have a nice trip!

Day 1 - Mon ~ Waikiki
Arrive this day, check into hotel and check out Waikiki beaches or areas (like the zoo, aquarimum, Kapiolani park) in the morning.
Then, go to Ala Moana Shopping Center (just outskirt of Waikiki) for lunch.
Opposite of Ala Moana Shopping Center is Ala Moana Beach Park.
Magic Island, part of Ala Moana Beach Park, is an enclosed area, great & safer for younger kids.
Be sure to take a great picture of Diamond Head view from the park.

Keep the first day around your hotel as you might be tired to go farther.

Check out Todai resturants for dinner. They have great seafood (mostly Japanese style) buffet.

Day 2 - Tue
Drive around the island. Visit North Shore, Dole Plantation (see the world largest maze), more beaches at Sunset Beach, Sandy beach, Bellow Beach, Ko O lina. Make this a drive day and visit as many places as you can.

Find a beach you like and come back another day.

Day 3 - Wed ~ Aloha Stadium/Pearl Harbor/Might Mo Battleship/Pearlridge Shopping Center
Go to Aloha Stadium Swap Meat/Flea market in the morning (like 7a.m is the best time). This Swap Meat is only available on Wed, Sat & Sun morning. Large selections of Hawaii gifts to take home for family & friends. Be sure to negiotiate when buying large quality.

A small fee required to enter the stadium (50 cent per head currently).

Spent about 1-2 hours in this place.

Then, process to Pearl Harbor/Arizona Memorial, which locate across from Aloha Stadium.

Free admission to watch the World War II documentary (about 20 min) on Pearl Harbor attack and a free boat ride to the Memorial after documentary., a donation will be helpful to the center. Surroundings are plates of history.

The documentary & boat ride is about 1 hours. However, on Wed/Sat/Sun, it is very crowded. You might have to wait a few hours before you can into the movie.

If you have a ticket for a late show, go & visit Might Mo Battleship (next door to Arizona Memorial) or do it after Pearl Harbor.

Fee required. A trolley will take you to the battle ship. Please join the guide tour as it is very informative. Went with a few friends and the history the guide told was very helpful.

Spent about 3-4 hours on the ship.

In the evening, proceed to Pearlridge Shopping Center. It is about 5 min drive from Pearl Harbor. Turn left at the traffic light at Pearl Harbor/Arizona Memorial exit. Right turn at Pali Momi road and into the Shopping Center. You can do great shopping there or just have dinner there before going back to hotels.


Day 4 - Thu
Take a hike to Diamond Head. Great city view. But fee required to go in. At the end of the paved path, there are a lots of stairs to climb.

Spent about 1-2 hours.

[If you want free hike and great view, proceed to the East for Makapuu. Also paved hike path, but mostly ocean view, not city view. Another free city view will be at Punchbowl National Cemetery (see Friday).]

For lunch, stop at Koko Marina. There is a Zippy Resturant which is a local delight.

After Diamond Head, go to Hamauma Bay. Closed on Tuesday. Great safe snorkeling place.
Fee required.

Spent whole afternoon.

Head back to Waikiki for dinner. There is a place called Palama Market, outskirt of Waikiki, is famous for great Korean food. Prices are very reasonable.


Day 5 - Fri
Visit Punchbowl National Cemetery in the morning. Varies wars history can be read on the wall displays. Also, take a short walk to open area. Great city view.

Free entrance. Please be respectful to the dead bury there.

Spent less than 1 hours.

Drive about 10 min down to Iolani Palace. This is the only Hawaiian Palace here. Take pictures outside the palace only. Join the Grand Tour for interesting Hawaiian history. You can watch a film too.

Fee required for touring inside the palace.

Spent about 1 - 1 ½ hour if joining tour.

Across from the palace is the famous King Kamehameha Status.

Next to the left of the palace is the Downtown Business District. Walk down Hotel Street (this street only allow Bus to drive thru, no cars allow) towards Chinatown.

Chinatown only 2-3 blocks away. Visit Little Village resturant for delicious Chinese food. Or go to Chinese Culture Plaza for good dim sum.

If you like art, visit Honolulu Art Museum which is outskirt of Downtown, towards Waikiki. Fee required.

Head down to Kakaoko Park for a great sun set view. This was once a dump site. But now a nice park area.

Find a L&L Plate Lunch for dinner. Local favorite eat out. There is one in Wal-Mart (near Ala Moana Shopping Center).
Then, head to Tantatus Mountain for a great city night view. Driving required to get up there. Free.


Day 6 - Sat
If you find a beach worth second visit (from Day 2), spend another day at this beach. If not, visit Waikele Shopping Outlet for some last minutes gifts. There are also places like Pali Lookout (great view also has hiking trail), Bishop muesum, Hawaiian Water Park (theme park for family), Kualoa Ranch Horseback riding, etc. Just a note, some locals do visit these places, so it might get crowded during weekends.

Note, Swap Meat at Aloha Stadium available in the morning.

Day 7 - Sun
Fly home.

If you have a longer stay at Hawaii, I would suggest that you visit other islands.

My favorite recommendation is Big Island (also known as Volcano Island or the island of Hawaii).

Big Island is worth at least one day trip to the Volcano. You can do a early morning flight & jump on the latest flight back to Oahu. Fly to Hilo if you want to visit Volcano Park.

Otherwise, spend another 3 day there is great.

Answer 2

It depends on what you want to see. If you're staying in Waikiki, there are usually shuttles to the major attractions for reasonable/free prices.

If you want to visit someplace like Hanauma Bay (a natural preserve where you can swim with the myriads of fishes), I would suggest you rent a car.

Same goes for if you want to see the North Shore and it's waves.

I would suggest you get a travel book and check out sites you want to go. Look the sites up on the internet and group all the far ones together. Rent car for that number of days (probably 2 or 3 days would be okay). Don't forget that you'll have to pay a parking fee for the car in Waikiki in addition to the car rental (these fees run up to $20/day).

You can also get on the city bus (www.thebus.org) and visit places that are too far to walk but too close to drive.

Good luck and happy travels!

Answer 3

There is excellent bus service on Oahu, but I would get a car for two days. You will want to go to the Northern part of the island. There is some of the best surfing in the world up there, and the sunsets are fantastic--you have heard of sunset beach maybe. Also the Dole pineapple plant is worth visiting, and there are other beautiful sights.

Answer 4

I would maybe rent a car for 1-2 days.. maybe.
The Bus service here is excellent, $2 per trip and one transfer slip is given.
Parking, especially in Waikiki is scarce and expensive, some places charge over $5/hour to park.

Answer 5

Just get a car for about 2 - 3 days.

Answer 6

If you're going to the north shore, I would suggest renting a car for a couple of days because it's going to be a long ride by bus.

Answer 7

I would just walk everywhere and maybe rent a car for a day or two for other adventures. are you going exploring all over the island or what? If you are healthy walking in great exercise to walk off all the great food you will be eating.'
Have a great time...........