- Ten things to know before you go to Oahu in Hawaii.
I'm Chris, this is Yellow Productions.
I at Waikiki beach on Oahu, as part of my series on Hawaii.
You can find links in the description,
or at the end of this video.
There are 30 more videos on Hawaii,
but in this video I'm gonna be telling you
everything you need to know
before you visit this fabulous island.
So, here we go!
The first thing to know is just some general information
about Oahu.
It's 44 miles long, 30 miles wide,
and it's 112 miles if you were to drive
around the whole island.
Oahu is the third largest of the Hawaiian islands,
but it's the most populated, with one million residence.
The capital of Oahu is Honolulu, and sometimes known
as the Manhattan of the Pacific.
Yes, Oahu has some great beaches.
The most famous being Waikiki where I'm standing right now.
And there's a little boat that's coming back in,
taking people on a sunset cruise.
But while Oahu is lined with sandy beaches,
and impressive mountains, Diamond Head in the back,
one of the most famous.
Make no mistake, this is a buzzing metropolis.
A tropical city.
You can drive around the island in a day,
but there's easily a weeks worth of stuff here to do.
Maybe even more.
The second thing you need to know about Oahu
is about some of the major areas.
We'll first start with Waikiki.
Waikiki, right here,
it is
to Hawaii
what the Las Vegas strip is to Las Vegas and to Nevada.
It is busy. It is loud. It is touristy.
The hotels are very large, as you can see behind me.
These are very big hotels.
There are restaurants that front pretty much
the whole beach.
If you are looking for someplace that is low key
Waikiki is not the place to stay.
Waikiki is the place to stay to be in the center of it all.
Waikiki attracts 72 thousand tourists a day,
and 44 percent of all the tourists in Hawaii are in Waikiki.
The second major area is the North Shore,
know as the surfing capital of the world.
An easy hour long drive from Waikiki will bring you
to the lovely Haleiwa town where the North Shore begins.
It has a seven mile stretch of world class surf breaks
and Hawaiian country vibes.
The other major areas of Oahu are the East coast,
known as the Windward coast,
the West coast, known as the Leeward coast,
and Central Oahu where you'll be coming into the airport,
and also home to Pearl Harbor.
The third thing to know about Oahu is the weather.
And look, I found another sunset catamaran so let's take
a look at that in the background there.
But, the weather in Oahu, the high temperatures range
from the low 80s to the high 80s all year round,
and it's very humid.
The humidity, on average, is 64 percent.
The coolest months are January and February
where the average high temperature is a cool 81 degrees.
And the hottest months, June, July, and August,
where the average high temperature is
around 89 degrees Fahrenheit.
At night time it doesn't really cool down that much,
it's usually about 10 degrees cooler in the night
than it is during the day.
Oahu really only has two seasons,
and no not summer and winter.
It has the wet and the dry season.
The dry season kinda coincides with summer,
April to October.
The wet season is November to March.
That brings the rain.
It can rain anytime of the year
but the winter months are considerably rainier.
The fourth thing to know before you go to Oahu is
about when to go.
And I moved a little bit off the beach.
I've now got the main street of Waikiki behind me.
And so, the best times to go are in shoulder season
which is spring, mid-April to mid-June.
Or fall, September to mid-December.
Those are when crowds are gonna be the lowest
and hotel prices are gonna be the cheapest,
and airfare the cheapest too.
The times that are busiest is Oahu are the times
when the weather is basically crappy everywhere else,
or when the kids are off school.
The summer, June, July, August, that's high season.
Also, December around the holidays.
December, January, March.
Really busy.
The last two weeks of December, cause its Christmas.
That's extra busy.
There's also a week in April that's Golden Week in Japan
and its full of Japanese tourists.
So, you know, if you wanna go when everybody else goes
and it's expensive make sure you book your hotels
ahead of time, your flights ahead of time.
Expect to pay premium prices and wait in lines
when you get here.
More word to the wise, come in shoulder season
when not everybody else is here.
If you're coming to Oahu to surf,
particularly the North Shore,
some of the best time for intermediate surfers
are October to November.
The waves are kinda gonna be medium size then.
If you're super advanced, and what I would consider crazy,
but if you're out here for the huge waves
or you just wanna look at them that's generally
between December to February on the North Shore.
Then the waves are huge.
Me, if I surf in Hawaii--
well actually, I just boogie board, but I like the waves
at classic Waikiki beach, again.
Which is why I'm filming most of this
because see those waves they don't look very big.
They look very calm, and friendly.
Though I will point out what's different in Hawaii versus
a lot of places.
On the bottom it's not just sand, its coral.
So make sure you don't fall on that coral.
It's sharp, and it can hurt.
The fifth thing to know before you come to Oahu is
about the beaches.
Lots of people come to Oahu for the beaches
because the water is warm.
It ranges from about 72 Fahrenheit to 81 Fahrenheit.
That's 22 to 27 Celsius.
My favorite beaches are Hanauma Bay for snorkeling
and Ko Olina for swimming.
Ko Olina, that's where the Disney Aulani hotel is.
Waikiki, the most famous that I've been walking along,
and what's right here behind me.
It is hard in the daytime to really get any sand
because it's that busy.
Though a lot of it's really popular for surfing there's
this little area back behind where I'm standing right now
that has a protected seawall.
I do like this area for swimming.
It's right out in front of the Hyatt and the Marriott
if you're coming to Waikiki to swim.
If you're looking for other beaches a good options
are beaches that have the name beach park in them.
Like Ala Moana Beach Park.
That typically indicates it'll have a parking lot
and bathrooms.
As I mentioned before in the surfing section,
do be careful of coral and of sharp rocks.
Generally the places you'll wanna go out and swim
and wade are the places you see other people.
If nobody's there, well maybe that's because
it's really sharp and jagged underneath.
Also, if you see sea turtles please stay sex feet away
from sea turtles. They are protected in Hawaii.
The sixth thing to know before you go to Oahu is
about shopping, and if you've come to Hawaii to shop Oahu
is definitely your place.
Oahu is the mecca for shopping,
and the mecca of the mecca is in Waikiki.
The Royal Hawaiian Center right here in the center
of Waikiki, big shopping center.
There's shopping all along Waikiki's main street.
This is basically a never ending set of shops
and restaurants.
There's also the international market place
if you wanna get outside of Waikiki.
Just near Waikiki is the Ala Moana shopping center.
That is Hawaii's largest shopping center.
It's pretty impressive.
They've got pretty good food in there as well.
If you're looking for discount things Oahu is home to
a few locations of Costco.
And if you wanted to see what I'd consider to be
an awesome Japanese store check out Don Quijote.
It is like a Japanese Walmart. It's amazing.
I think there's three of them on Oahu.
And if you're just looking for kinda cheapish souvenirs
or cheapish Hawaiian food to bring back check out
Longs Drugs or Food Land.
They're a couple of local-- a pharmacy chain
and a supermarket chain.
But you can pick up things like the macadamia nuts
and that sort of stuff a lot cheaper at those places.
And one more store you should definitely know about
is the ABC Store.
It seems like they're every couple blocks on Oahu,
but the ABC Store has everything you'll ever need
as a tourist.
Food, clothes, souvenirs, beach supplies.
Make sure to check out the ABC Stores while you're here.
The seventh thing to know before you to go Oahu is
about transportation, and first off Oahu,
big city,
so the traffic can be pretty epic.
The worst time is in the afternoons from three to six p.m.
I think the traffic is the worst here in Hawaii than
it is anywhere in the U.S.
Yes, Oahu traffic makes Las Angeles traffic,
I think, look like nothing.
And when there isn't traffic
the speed limits can be quite slow. 35 mile per hour,
25 mile per hour speed limits are pretty common
on the Hawaiian islands.
But, it's in Hawaii so slow down, have a little bit
of aloha.
There are a lot of merges on the freeway,
so if you are renting a car and you're driving generally
the etiquette is to let one car go from each lane
in the merges.
If you are renting a car, don't rent one at your hotel
in Waikiki.
That will cost you a fortune.
Rent on at the airport. That'll be cheapest.
There are decent public transportation options in Oahu;
not so in the rest of Hawaii,
but the bus here is fairly decent.
And if you're staying in Waikiki there's a lot
of private tour groups that you can join up to take tours
of the island.
Particularly Japanese tour operators like LeaLea and OliOli.
The Waikiki bus is another option to go around Waikiki,
but I think one of the best options is just to walk.
Use your own two feet and walk around.
I mean you can't walk around the whole island
but spend some time in Hawaii walking because
it is very walkable in Oahu.
And yes, Uber operates in Oahu so that's
a pretty good option to get around as well.
You'll find taxis to be pretty plentiful
in the tourist areas around Waikiki.
The eighth thing to know before you go to Oahu is
about hotels. Most hotels are in Waikiki.
I'm right here in front of the Sheridan Waikiki.
There's a whole bunch that have ocean views if you wanna get
a little cheaper just go one or two streets back away
from the ocean.
But the cheapest hotels in Waikiki are gonna run you
about 200 dollars a night and up.
If you want an ocean view room expect to pay 400
or maybe even more per night.
Hotels are not cheap.
Also, factor in parking.
Parking at many of these hotels can
be 40 to 50 dollars a night.
If you don't want to stay in Waikiki,
you wanna stay in some places that are a little bit
more relaxed, check out Ko Olina.
I mentioned that earlier.
That's where the Disney Aulani hotel is.
Or, check out the North Shore.
There's a bit more relaxed hotel on the North Shore.
But whatever you do, if you're coming on a busy time, again,
book your hotels ahead of time to lock in
some inexpensive rates.
The ninth thing to know before you go to Oahu is
about the food. Hawaiian food, and the food in Oahu,
is quite delicious.
And it's been influenced by a wide range of cultures.
From the Portuguese donuts,
the malasadas,
to the kahlua pig,
to the Japanese influenced spamacubie
you'll find lots of unique things to eat here.
And so while there are a lot of standard american chains
like Cheesecake Factory or Hardrock Cafe and Subway,
man you can eat those other places.
Eat some of the unique things here.
There's a lot of great high end restaurants in Oahu
and there's a lot of great low end restaurants as well.
Actually, some of the best things in Oahu you can find
at food trucks.
There'll be a lot of these food truck set ups around Oahu.
This is one that's in Waikiki.
There's something that sells Hawaiian style friend chicken.
Over here there's a truck that sells ramen.
And of course super popular, and something I really love,
is garlic shrimp.
There's the Five Star Shrimp truck right here.
Now garlic shrimp really originated up on the North Shore
of Oahu.
There's Giovanni's. I got a whole video on that.
Actually, I've got a whole video on cheap eats in Waikiki.
So, if you wanna know more about food check that one out.
That'll give you a great microcosm of the macrocosm
of the food that there is to sample in Oahu.
A local chain I recommend everybody check out
when they're in Hawaii is called Zippy's.
One of the best locations is on Kamehameha Highway in Oahu.
But Zippy's, it's like a Hawaiian version of Denny's.
Kinda a classic Hawaiian eat-in and take-out place.
They've also got baked goods.
They do Hawaiian style plate lunches.
They're particularly famous for their chili.
Check it out at least once on your stay in Oahu.
And finally, this one's in my cheap eats video so
I won't spend a lot of time talking about it here
but the Ala Moana Foodcourt is amazing.
It is one of the largest food courts in the United States,
with one thousand five hundred seats.
The tenth and final thing to know before you go to Oahu
is that we've got more videos.
That's right, I've mentioned a whole bunch.
Definitely check out that cheap eats in Waikiki video.
We've got probably 30 more videos across Hawaii,
including Maui and Kawaii.
You'll find links to more of those in the description below.
I won't say bye bye because I'll see you in the next video.