Since we live in Seattle and Hawaii is only one non-stop hop away, I hear a lot of people asking “We’re thinking about a trip to Hawaii, what should we do?”
First, you want to decide what type of trip you’re looking for: adventurous with lots of action/activity? Or relaxed? Or a mix?
With the ages our kids were (6.5, 5, 3.5, 4 mo), we chose a 6-day very relaxed-style trip, where we didn’t even rent a car (also rental prices in 2021 were crazy high). We wanted to be in a warm place, where we could walk around, be outside, enjoy the beach, and fit in some culture/history if possible, but not have it dominate relaxation :).
If this itinerary is helpful, by all means feel free to follow it, take it and modify it, etc!
TLDR:
Fly into Honolulu, stay at the Waikiki Sheraton
Day 1: Arrive and enjoy an early evening/sunset swim
Day 2: Walk through town, play on beach
Day 3: Escalators, market, swim, luau
Day 4: Pearl Harbor & swimming
Day 5. Beach and pool day
Day 6: Beach, pool, and beach walk
Day 7: Fly home
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Island and hotel selection:
There were well-timed, non-stop flights to Honolulu (on the island of Oahu)– and along Waikiki Beach, everything is very accessible on foot (although yes, it is super touristy). When we were maximizing for ease and convenience, we were willing to suck up “touristy”.
We looked for a hotel along Waikiki that also had
- Pools
- easy sandy-beach access
- good reviews for families with kids.
With that criteria, we landed on the The Sheraton Waikiki and it ended up meeting our needs quite well. (Theoretically that hotel is also supposed to offer child care in the hotel with an outside vendor, but with Covid it wasn’t really functioning.)
Also, to simplify life, instead of traveling with four car seats, we used car seat vests for the older kids. (If you’re asking “What are car seat vests?”, see post here.)
Day 1: Arrive and enjoy an early evening/sunset swim
We arrived at the airport and took an UberXL to our hotel, which worked out very well. After getting situated, we went down to the beach in the late afternoon and just let the kids enjoy running around after being on an airplane for so long.
Day 2: Walk through town, play on beach
As mentioned, from a young kid-perspective there are many things that can be walked to in the Waikiki area… We had breakfast, slowly, at the hotel and then set out to walk through town. We stumbled across a little grassy area along Lewers street (closest cross street: Helumoa Rd) where they have free Hula performances (with a schedule of other activities listed out) – and anyone watching got to try out a Hula lesson too). Random fun #1! The kids definitely enjoyed it.
There are tour vendors along the street, so you can also walk around and chat with them about activities you may be interested in. We did decide on a Luau at the Sea Life Park after talking with them.
Close by there’s also the Hawaii Army Museum, which has large cannons outside that the kids can climb all over. We never made it INSIDE the museum; climbing outside was entertaining enough for them.
From the museum, you can walk towards the beach and you’ll hit a boardwalk, a jetty, and a sandy beach… conveniently located by public restrooms for young ones that have to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes. There’s also a little “Steak Shack” there in case you’re out of food by then. The kids played to their hearts’ content for a while and then we walked back to our hotel, where we spent the rest of the day between food, pool, beach, and naps.
Yep. Very low key.
Note: regarding the boardwalk mentioned above: there is a little cabana called “Koa Oasis” along that boardwalk (headed north-ish, away from the hotel), which makes for a really nice spot for grownups to have fun drinks at around sunset if you have a chance to make it back there…(if you’re with kids, they could run and play in the sand… and if you’re not, just enjoy the gorgeous view and the quiet)
Day 3: Escalators, market, swim, luau
Nearby to the hotel, there is a large outdoor mall with enormous escalators…which the kids rode up and down and all around for a good 45 minutes if not longer. If your child loves escalators, don’t walk by there unless you’re willing to have time disappear into a big black hole for a while. The kids were in heaven.
Past the mall we did finally find a little craft market in the back alley way…and the kids practiced speaking to strangers as well as their decision-making and bargaining skills. And they did come away with a fun outfit each, which they pranced around in as they explored around the market area.
We relaxed back at the hotel for a while, with some more swimming – and then we took an Uber (with the car seat vests), to the Luau at the Sea Life Park. (Note: There were several Luau options, all of which seem quite highly-priced. This one was a little lower and a little farther away than some (requiring a car ride), and it had availability on the days we could do it – we were there over Thanksgiving, which made availability and show-closure-days a bit trickier). The Luau was outdoors (bring sweaters/jackets for the eveningtime and the wind – you’re right above the water), there were some craft activities for the kids, we had our own table, there was dinner table service and also a buffet – and the kids were utterly mesmerized by the show (yay!)!
Getting home in ubers took a little longer than normal since it’s out in the middle of nowhere, but it eventually worked out (in fact, we had a Tesla Uber and it was the highlight of my daughter’s whole trip). If you’re anxiety prone, you could pre-order a taxi to pick you up when the show ends.
We thought about trying to get back on a different day to go to the park itself, but with holiday closures, it didn’t work. Also, the park closes like an hour and a half before the luau, so it doesn’t seem like you can go same-day, which is a bummer, as that would be pretty convenient.
Day 4: Pearl Harbor & swimming
First thing about Pearl Harbor is that if you want to visit the USS Arizona Memorial (a boat takes you over to the memorial, you go into the memorial, and then you take a boat back), you need to make advanced reservations through the recreation.gov website. The rest of the parts of the Pearl Harbor memorial do not require tickets/advanced-planning 🙂 …at least at the time of writing this.
The next most important thing, which sucks for parents who like to take snacks and waterbottles for your kids, is that you’ll want to read the most up-to-date list of what they allow you to take in or not to the memorial complex. It’s like going to a high-security sports game or concert where you’re NOT allowed purses, backpacks, etc, although they do allow “clear plastic bags, such as those allowed at football games.”. There is a secure locker place to store your stuff (and pay for storing it) before you get in. So, definitely plan ahead for how this might affect you. We threw a bunch of stuff in the bottom of the stroller, loose, so that it was visible. Food and waterbottles are ALLOWED, you just can’t put them in what you normally would – and if you don’t have a stroller, this strategy doesn’t help much.. (in the FAQ, you can also scroll down to their “bag policy”)
The kids did surprisingly well in the Arizona Memorial; we did some prepping beforehand about respect and soft voices. So it’s very doable with kids (and we were not the only ones with kids either).
The Bowfin submarine was one of their favorite activities. You get to walk on top of a sub and then all the way through it, which is pretty eye-opening as the kids imagine being submerged in water with a whole ton of people in this little capsule with no windows. Also, there are usually volunteers on the submarine– and they are very eager to answer questions, tell you more, etc. Definitely take advantage of them and encourage your kiddos to engage with them and ask questions.
NOTE: they wouldn’t let kids less than 4 on the submarine (ie, if you had a 3.5 year old they said no-way Jose, and if you had a baby in a front pack, they still said NO.). So, you may have to trade off kids and parents with the closeby submarine museum or running around in the grass, etc…
The day was getting long (and hot) for the younger kids by this point. The older ones appreciated the Submarine Museum to some degree, but I’m not sure if it was for the history or for the air conditioning.
There are places to buy food inside the complex as well. We got some non-thrilling sandwiches in one little store which we ate on the grass under the shade of a tiny tree and some (better) food from the food trucks by the Submarine & Sub Museum which also had a shady covered area and tables.
With the heat, the length of the day, and the kids’ mood-of-the-day, getting to the Missouri Battleship Memorial and the Aviation Museum was just not in the cards. Next time.
We Ubered back to the hotel (going to places like Pearl Harbor was another example of why we didn’t want to be lugging around big car seats…and the car seat vests worked great.) and then the kids cooled down and relaxed in the pools in the later afternoon.
Day 5. Beach and pool day
Today we just decided to swim, build sand castles, read books, and nap. Highly recommended :).
In the evening, there were some children performing in the mall across the street which we walked over to see. There are a surprising amount of free, easily accessible things for the kids to see that you can just discover when you’re walking around town…
Day 6: Beach, pool, and beach walk
Today was also a low-key day. We took the kids on a “long” walk (south-ish) down the beach, which, contrary to one’s thought that the beach might be all the same all the way down, it was not. We found an area (on the map it’s labeled as Waikiki Beach Center), with a protective wall around a large section of shallow water – which made the whole area very shallow with no waves. The kids LOVED running around and playing in there.
The rest of the day was spent swimming, reading, and packing up to leave the next day.
Day 7: Head home
Breakfast at the hotel, then an easy UberXL to the airport!
Additional thoughts
- Next time: If we were going back again with differently-aged kids and/or more time, we would also have worked in a day trip to the Polynesian Cultural Center (many hotels and tours offer bus rides there, so you could still accomplish it with no rental car). It is quite a unique cultural experience and chock full of things to see and do!
- If this looks like too much beach/pool time for your liking, fitting in the Sea Life Park would work well on Day 5 or 6. (We were stymied because of Thanksgiving which was our Day 6 and it was closed)
- For the parents: If we’d been in the mood to work in a real grown-ups-only adventure, and if child-care wasn’t an issue, it would have been lovely to hike Diamond Head. For the future…
- Another thing that made this location (Sheraton Waikiki) pretty easy: While there are some restaurants in the hotel, there are also some fast/easy, less expensive ones, like Subway, VERY close by. I was able to just order some of our lunches ahead of time through the Subway App and pick them up while someone else was with the kids back by the pool.
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