OAHU · HAWAII
Big surf, Pearl Harbor, the loop around.
Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona, the North Shore in winter, snorkeling with sea turtles, sunset luaus and the full circle of the island. Every good day on Oahu, from Waikiki out.
Only on Oahu
Three days you can’t have anywhere else.
Beaches and boat trips you can find on any island. Standing over the Arizona, riding a winter swell on the North Shore and walking into the valley from the movies you cannot.
Where the war began
Pearl Harbor
The USS Arizona still lies where she sank on December 7, 1941, more than a thousand sailors below the white memorial that bridges her hull, oil still rising to the surface. A boat carries you out over the wreck; the battleship Missouri, where the war ended, is moored a short walk away. No other place holds both bookends of a world war in one harbor.
- 1 Oahu: Pearl Harbor USS Arizona Memorial
- 2 Pearl Harbor Remembered Tour
- 3 Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona Memorial & Honolulu City Tour
The birthplace of big-wave surfing
The North Shore
Seven miles of coast where winter swells stack up two storeys high and the best surfers on earth come to prove it: the Banzai Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Waimea Bay. In summer the same water goes glass-flat and the green sea turtles haul out on the sand. Then a shave ice in Haleiwa and the shrimp trucks down the road.
- 1 Tour of North Shore & Waimea Waterfall
- 2 Oahu’s North Shore: 8-Line Zipline Adventure
- 3 Oahu North Shore Experience: Activities, Waterfall & Free Time
The valley from the movies
Kualoa Ranch
A 4,000-acre cattle ranch in a cathedral of green ridges on the windward coast, and the most-filmed valley in Hawaii. Jurassic Park ran here, and Kong, and Lost; you ride out by ATV, horseback or jungle jeep past the same cliffs. The Kaaawa Valley looks prehistoric because almost nothing has touched it.
- 1 Oahu: Kualoa Ranch Movie Sites and Ranch Tour
- 2 Oahu: Kualoa Ranch UTV Raptor Tour
- 3 Oahu: Kualoa Open Air Jungle Expedition Tour
Start here
The one almost everyone books first.
If you do a single guided day on Oahu, this tends to be it. A good place to start planning the rest.
Where most people start
Oahu's Most Popular Tours
Pearl Harbor, the circle-island loop, snorkeling with turtles and a sunset sail off Waikiki. The days most visitors come to Oahu for.
Where to begin
The days an Oahu week is built around.
Pearl Harbor, the circle-island loop, snorkeling with sea turtles, a sunset catamaran, a luau night and the Diamond Head climb. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
Plan the big one
How to see Pearl Harbor.
Free timed tickets that vanish, several memorials spread across the harbor, real security rules at the gate. The how matters as much as the if — three ways to do it, depending on your time.
Snorkel with turtles
Float over the reef with the honu.
Off Waikiki the catamarans cut out to Turtle Canyon, where Hawaiian green sea turtles graze the coral in the warm shallows. The honu are protected and unbothered, gliding up to feed while you hang at the surface. Calm water, bright fish, and a mask is all the gear you need.
Read the guide: the best turtle snorkeling on Oahu →When the sun goes down
The night ends with fire and hula.
A luau is the old island feast made an evening out: the kalua pig lifted steaming from the underground imu, poi and lomi salmon down the long table, then hula and the chant of the islands before a fire-knife dancer spins the night to a close. Pick the oceanfront show on the west side or the cultural one up at the Polynesian Cultural Center.
See the luau shows & dinners →The crater
The whole coast lines up from the rim.
Leahi — Diamond Head — is the extinct tuff cone that closes the end of Waikiki, and the climb up its inside wall is the city’s signature hike. Switchbacks, a lit tunnel and an old military bunker bring you to the summit, where the whole arc of the south shore and the high-rises of Waikiki spread out below. Go at first light, before the trade winds and the heat build.
Diamond Head hikes & tours →The full loop
All of Oahu, in a single day.
Oahu is small enough to drive right around, and the circle-island day is how you see the parts a Waikiki base never reaches: the Pali Lookout and the windward bays, the surf towns and shrimp trucks of the North Shore, the Dole pineapple fields and the Halona Blowhole on the way back. One long, well-judged loop with the stops timed so you are never rushed.
- 1 Oahu: Grand Tour Around Island 16 Locations plus Snorkeling
- 2 Majestic Circle Island Tour with Lunch
- 3 Oahu Circle Island Tour with Waimea Waterfall
Plan by distance
Pick how far around you want to go.
Waikiki sits on the south shore, and how far you roam sets the day. Stay in town, cross the mountains to the windward coast, or commit to the whole loop around the island.
Stay in town
Waikiki and Honolulu.Walk the beach, hike Diamond Head before the heat, tour the only royal palace on American soil and end the night at a luau. Days you never leave the south shore.
Cross to the windward side
Over the Pali.Through the mountains to the green windward coast: Kualoa’s movie valley, the Byodo-In temple, Kailua’s turquoise bays. Out after breakfast, back by dinner.
Right around the island
The whole loop.The full circle of Oahu in a day: the North Shore surf towns, the Dole pineapple fields, Halona Blowhole and the lookouts. The long day that shows you everything.
On the water
The best of Oahu is offshore.
The catamarans launch straight off Waikiki Beach, no harbor transfer needed. Sail out for a snorkel over the turtle reef, a whale on the winter horizon, or the slow tack home as the sun drops behind the Waianae range and the mai tais come out. The island looks different with Diamond Head behind you.
See all 95 catamaran cruises →By place
Pick your corner of the island.
Waikiki and Honolulu for the beach and the royal city. Pearl Harbor for the memorials. Diamond Head for the climb. The North Shore for the surf and the turtles. Kualoa for the green windward valleys. Or the whole loop, coast to coast.
By activity
Pick what kind of day you want.
Snorkel the reef if you want the turtles. Sail if you want the sunset. A helicopter if you want the whole island at once. A surf lesson if you want to stand up on Waikiki.
Plan it
Three days that cover the essentials.
First time on Oahu? Here is how three days plays out without a wasted hour.
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