Things to Do in Oahu: Tours, Tickets & Boat Trips

Ranked by traveller reviews: 1) the Grand Circle Island tour, 2) the circle island tour with snorkelling and the Dole Plantation, 3) the Waikiki Trolley hop-on-hop-off, 4) the circle island tour with the Waimea Valley waterfall, 5) the Turtle Canyon snorkel sail, 6) a luau — Toa Luau at Waimea Valley or Mauka Warriors, 7) the Magical Mystery Show at the Hilton Waikiki Beach, 8) the North Shore shark dive, 9) Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial and 10) whale watching from Waikiki between December and April.

Plan five to seven days. Day one: settle into Waikiki, take a surf lesson and watch the sunset from Duke’s. Day two: Pearl Harbor early, then Iolani Palace and Chinatown. Day three: the Grand Circle Island tour, or drive it yourself anticlockwise. Day four: Diamond Head at dawn, Hanauma Bay or the Turtle Canyon snorkel, a luau at night. Day five: Kailua, Lanikai and Kualoa Ranch. Day six: the North Shore — Haleiwa, Waimea Bay, Laniakea’s turtles and the shark cage. Day seven: the Polynesian Cultural Center or a free beach day.

Waikiki Beach and the free hula show at Kuhio Beach (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays), the Friday-night fireworks at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Lanikai Beach and the Pillbox trail, Kailua Beach, the Makapu‘u lighthouse trail and its whales in winter, the Halona Blowhole and Sandy Beach, the Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden, the turtles at Laniakea, the North Shore beaches and Haleiwa town, the USS Arizona Memorial (reservation $1), Iolani Palace grounds, the Kaka‘ako murals and the Tantalus lookout over Honolulu at night.

On Oahu itself: the North Shore (one hour from Waikiki), Kualoa Ranch’s Jurassic Park valleys (45 minutes), the Polynesian Cultural Center in La‘ie (one hour), Kailua and Lanikai (30 minutes), Hanauma Bay (25 minutes), the Dole Plantation and Waimea Valley — or simply the Grand Circle Island tour, which strings them together for about $85–118. To other islands, 40-minute flights make a day on Maui, the Big Island’s volcanoes or Kauai possible, though an overnight is better.

A luau — Toa Luau at Waimea Valley, Mauka Warriors, Paradise Cove or the Polynesian Cultural Center’s Ali‘i Luau; sunset from Duke’s or House Without a Key; a sunset or fireworks catamaran sail off Waikiki; the Friday fireworks and the Kuhio Beach hula show; the Magical Mystery Show; Chinatown’s First Friday art walk and cocktail bars; Kaka‘ako’s breweries; jazz at Blue Note Hawaii; and the city lights from the Tantalus lookout.

Winter is whale season — humpbacks from December to April, watched from Waikiki boats ($40–53) and the Makapu‘u trail — and big-wave season on the North Shore, where the Vans Triple Crown and, on the rare years it runs, the Eddie Aikau contest draw crowds to Pipeline and Waimea Bay (spectacular to watch, swim on the south shore instead). Temperatures stay around 80°F; Honolulu City Lights fills December, and the Honolulu Marathon is the second Sunday of the month.

The Turtle Canyon snorkel sail, the Waikiki Aquarium and Honolulu Zoo, Kualoa Ranch’s movie-site and ATV tours, the Dole Plantation’s train and pineapple maze, Sea Life Park, the Polynesian Cultural Center, the calm Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon and a family surf lesson at Waikiki, Hanauma Bay’s shallow reef, Wet ‘n’ Wild Hawaii, the Bishop Museum’s planetarium, a luau and, for older children, the shark-cage dive and the Diamond Head hike.

April to June and September to early December — warm, drier, calmer seas and lower prices than the peaks. Summer is hot, busy and best for North Shore swimming. December to March brings whales, big North Shore surf, slightly more rain and the highest prices around Christmas and New Year.

Yes — with more than 19,000 reviews it is the most popular tour in Hawaii, covering Hanauma Bay’s lookout, the Halona Blowhole, the Pali Lookout, the Byodo-In Temple, Kualoa, the North Shore beaches, Laniakea’s turtles and the Dole Plantation in one day for about $85–118. Do it on your first or second day to decide where to return; choose the snorkelling or Waimea Valley variant if you want time in the water.