- Where to stay on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
I'm Chris, this is Yellow Productions.
I do travel guides that are fun, informative,
and entertaining.
This video is part of my series on Hawaii.
I've got a whole bunch more videos on Oahu, Maui, and Kauai.
You'll find the links in the description below
or at the end of this video.
But in this video, I'm gonna be answering
the question that people often asked me which is,
Chris, I'm going to Oahu, where should I stay?
That's a great question, and so in this video,
I'm gonna be telling you about all the different
neighborhoods on Oahu that you could potentially stay
in a hotel, break it down for you with the pros and the cons
of each of these neighborhoods.
The first area that we'll start in is Waikiki.
It's where I am right now.
This is where most of the major hotels on Oahu are,
Waikiki.
It's about a 20 or 30 minute drive from Honolulu Airport,
and it has a lot of oceanfront hotels
which are gonna be expensive,
but you could get some good values
if you go just a couple blocks inland.
So let's talk about the pros and then
we'll talk about the cons of Waikiki.
Pros of Waikiki, there's lots of oceanfront hotels,
lots of oceanfront rooms,
and if you're staying in these hotels right on the beach,
well it's a pretty nice beach.
It's soft sand, white sand,
and it's a really pretty good beach.
The waves are pretty calm, good for swimming,
good for surfing.
And the other pros about staying in Waikiki,
there's lots to do!
There's lots of restaurants, there's lots of entertainment,
there's lots of choice in the hotels.
You'll find there's Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton,
every chain you'd ever want is here in Waikiki.
And you're not gonna be far from an ABC store
or a convenience store.
There's an ABC store pretty much on every block.
Okay, Waikiki sounds pretty great, right?
Well, let's talk about the cons of Waikiki.
Cons of Waikiki, it is expensive.
It's probably one of the most expensive place
to stay in Oahu, particularly these oceanfront hotels.
The rooms are gonna be expensive,
the food's gonna be expensive,
the parking's gonna be expensive.
Everything is pretty expensive in Waikiki.
It's also really busy.
As you can tell, I'm on the beach right here
at Sunset, there are a lot of people back there
behind me on this beach.
There were way more a couple hours ago
when it was actually bright and sunny,
but you're not gonna have this beach to yourself.
You're gonna have this beach with like 70%
of all the tourists on Oahu 'cause that's the percentage
of people that stay in Waikiki.
Actually there's many people that, I feel, come to Hawaii,
particularly the Japanese tourists that
maybe never even leave Waikiki.
I didn't mention this as a pro, but a pro of Waikiki is
you don't need a car, really, to see everything around
Waikiki and 'cause parking is so expensive,
you might not want one if you're staying here
'cause there's a lot of good things to do
in walking distance, lot of good taxis
and public transportation in and around Waikiki.
But the other cons about Waikiki,
people often feel and say it's kind of like
a city by the sea.
I'm not standing on the street,
but there's a pretty busy main street back there,
and it feels a little bit like
the Las Vegas Strip by the sea.
So you don't come to Waikiki for a relaxing beach vacation,
you come to Waikiki for a hustling, bustling vacation
with lots of entertainment and food by the water.
Okay so if you're considering staying in Waikiki,
let me give you some of my suggested hotels
that I like in Waikiki.
Probably my favorite that I stay in Waikiki most of the time
is the Marriott Waikiki.
I like the Marriott just 'cause it has a pretty good value.
It has a lot of rooms, it's one block from the beach,
well just right across the street from it.
It's in front of the Kuhio Beach, protected swimming area,
which is pretty great for swimming.
You'll find rooms at the Marriott Waikiki
between about 200 and 500 dollars,
and you'll find a link in the description below
to my video review on the Marriott Waikiki.
My second favorite hotel in Waikiki
is this one right behind me.
This is the Westin Moana Surfrider.
This hotel is famous for the banyan tree
which now my head is right in front of,
but it's got this banyan tree right here.
This is the first hotel in Waikiki right on the beach.
It's got this middle building,
it's got two buildings on either side.
This one a little pricier than the Marriott,
rooms generally 250 and up to 600,
but you can get pretty good deals often
if you stay in the historic banyan building
which is this one right here in the middle
'cause that's original from 1901.
They have remodeled it since then,
but it's just steps to the beach, it's really great.
It just has a cool vibe.
You feel like you're stepping back in time,
and if you're a Marriott member that you get lounge access,
well this is the lounge right here.
Great place to have breakfast
and look out right on the beach in Waikiki.
My third favorite hotel in Waikiki is the Sheraton Waikiki.
It's that building right back there,
and the Sheraton Waikiki, little more expensive than
the Marriott but a little less expensive than the Westin,
rooms there, maybe 300 to 700 dollars.
Sheraton is nice because, boy,
it's right on the beach, isn't it?
And it's in the middle of Waikiki,
it's got a really great location
and 'cause it's got this interesting triangle design.
Most of the rooms have really great views of the ocean
from that tall tower.
It's also got a really neat infinity pool
that looks out on the water.
My fourth favorite hotel on Waikiki is
the Hilton Hawaiian Village
which is on the other end of Waikiki
from where I'm standing,
maybe it's the beginning not the end,
but the Hilton Hawaiian Village,
it is one of the biggest hotels in the world.
It's a really impressive hotel
with lots of different towers.
It is truly a resort in and of itself,
has lots of pools.
It has its own lagoon.
You can generally get fairly good deals
at the Hilton Hawaiian Village as well.
Standard rooms run from about 200 to 450 dollars.
I like about the Hilton Hawaiian Village
being on the other end of Waikiki or the beginning
is it's actually walking distance
to the Ala Moana Shopping Mall,
so if you like shopping or you like the food court,
you can check that out
then you don't need a car to get there.
Members of the US military want
to check out the Hale Koa Hotel.
It's right next to the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
It is a military hotel only for military personnel,
but because that's the case, room rates are low.
They start at 119 dollars, and it's right on the beach.
And if you're coming to Waikiki and you like the beach
but not really all the action and then you want some place
a little quieter but still nearby,
well I'm panning over this way,
there's the new Otani Hotel which is right down here,
closer to Diamond Head.
That one is on its little, almost private, secluded section
of Waikiki Beach, well it's about a mile walk
down this little park,
but it's close to the action, a 10 minute walk
but away enough that you don't feel like you're in
the middle of a city.
The good thing about the new Otani room rates,
they're lower than Waikiki.
They start at about 180 and go up to about 300 dollars.
Waikiki is located in the city called Honolulu.
Honolulu is the capital of the state of Hawaii.
Honolulu has a few more places that you can stay
outside of Waikiki, so I'll talk about those now.
One of them, I mentioned the Ala Moana Shopping Mall,
well the Ala Moana Shopping Mall,
it's right outside of Waikiki,
and there's the Ala Moana Hotel.
Ala Moana Hotel, pretty good place to stay,
you'll get cheaper prices than in Waikiki.
Rooms there you can get for 120 to 150 dollars
kinda starting rate.
It's just walking distance to the mall about one minute.
It's about a five minute walk to the Ala Moana Beach Park
which is a pretty good beach park.
And if you're driving around the rest of Oahu,
well, it's really close to get to the freeway.
Waikiki is kind of a haul from the freeway,
so it takes a while to get in and out of here
'cause the traffic Ala Moana puts you, 15 minutes,
pretty much closer to just about everything on this island.
Going the other way in Waikiki,
on the other side of Diamond Head,
there's a hotel called the Kahala Resort and Spa.
It's in Kahala, and it used to be the Hilton,
then it was the Mandarin Oriental, but now it's the Kahala.
It's a pretty upscale hotel.
It's just one hotel by itself.
It's located on a semi-private beach.
Every US President from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush
has stayed at the Kahala.
Room rates, on the higher end side, it's a luxury hotel,
start at 400 dollars go up to about 650 for standard rooms.
And the final spot in Honolulu that has a concentration
of hotels is around the airport, Honolulu Airport.
There's about three hotels there,
but I don't know why you would stay there.
Frankly, there is not much around the airport
unless maybe you're air crew or you're delayed on a flight,
you just need a place to crash till the next morning,
but you can pretty much cross
the airport area off your list.
Next stop, going clockwise around Oahu, from the airport
is the resort area of Ko Olina.
Ko Olina, it's a fairly new resort area on Oahu.
It's new because actually it has these four man-made
lagoons, literally they were man-made,
but what really put Ko Olina on the map
is the Disney Aulani Hotel.
There's a few other hotels in this area,
but Ko Olina is my favorite place to stay on Oahu.
We'll talk a little bit more about why that is.
And if you wanna go in depth on Ko Olina,
I've got a whole video where I walk through
the whole neighborhood,
but we'll start with the pros and then we'll go to the cons.
The pros of Ko Olina, well, because there's only
four or five hotels over here,
it feels a lot more relaxed than Waikiki does.
The beaches are beautiful.
The lagoons are protected from the waves.
There's actually good snorkeling in their lagoons,
and you feel a little bit more like it's a private beach
though it's actually a public beach.
Many of the hotels here provide beach chairs.
You don't have to pay extra for beach chairs,
particularly if you're staying at the Aulani
or the Four Seasons Hotel
which are definitely two of my favorites in this area.
Ko Olina being relatively new is also very well-manicured
and has quite an amazing golf course if you're a golfer.
And being away from the city, it has a much more
relaxed atmosphere than Waikiki.
You're not constantly bombarded by the sounds of cars
and traffic and sirens.
But the cons of Ko Olina, well, like Waikiki,
it's expensive because you don't have many choices.
Also, some people can say it feels a bit manufactured
and not that natural since it actually is manufactured.
And finally, it is a bit remote from things.
There's only a few restaurants in Ko Olina,
but about a 10 minute drive away is Kapolei,
and there's a Costco, a Zippy's, and things like that.
So if you have a car, it's not that far to get there.
If you don't have a car, you're gonna be stuck
just eating the really expensive resort food.
Next stop, continuing clockwise from Ko Olina, is Makaha.
Makaha has one hotel, the Hawaiian Princess Resort,
but you'll find other vacation rental by owners
or Airbnbs in this area.
Makaha is good if you want hotels that are cheaper.
So the pros of Makaha, it is less expensive.
You'll find rooms that might start here
at 150 dollars a night, 200 dollars way less than
you'll find in Waikiki or Ko Olina.
It's also great because it's secluded.
It's off the beaten path.
You'll feel much more like you have this area to yourself.
Now the cons, when I say it's secluded
and off the beaten path, it's kind of the middle of nowhere.
I mean it's like an hour from Makaha to Waikiki,
so you'll be secluded and probably staying in this area
pretty much for your trip here,
unless you like driving a really long time.
Also, unfortunately, Makaha is known
for having a high crime rate.
There's also been a number of car breakings in the area,
so make sure to not leave any valuables in plain sight
in your vehicle if you're staying in Makaha.
Continuing around the island from Makaha is the North Shore.
Though if you were driving to get to the North Shore
from Makaha, you'd have to drive south and back up
through the middle of the island by the Dole Plantation
to get there, but the North Shore, it is some of
Hawaii's most famous surf breaks, the bansai of pipeline,
mega waves here in the winter,
but the North Shore is easygoing, laidback Hawaii.
It's Hawaii without the mega resorts.
What are the pros of the North Shore?
Less crowded beaches in the summer
and some really tasty food trucks,
particularly if you like garlic shrimp.
The North Shore is like the capital
of garlic shrimp in Hawaii.
The cons, well if you're here in the winter,
winter brings huge waves, and so actually that might be
a pro if you're like a pro surfer,
but if you're not a pro surfer,
then these beaches are not suitable for the average person
to do anything on 'cause the waves are
so huge and so dangerous.
If you're going to the North Shore,
the biggest hotel in the North Shore
is the Turtle Bay Resort with 400 rooms.
Basically it's at the northern tip of Oahu.
It has its own private beach, two golf courses.
It's definitely a relaxing, all-inclusive kind of place.
Basic rooms at the Turtle Bay Resort
go from 250 to 400 dollars.
If you continue around the bend, on the east side,
is the Courtyard by Marriott with 140 rooms.
It's the second biggest hotel on the North Shore.
It's a bit cheaper around 200 dollars a night,
and the pro of this hotel is it's really close
to the Polynesian Cultural Center,
the biggest attraction on this side of the island.
And the final neighborhood to consider in Oahu
is the east side known as the Windward Side.
There's towns here of Kailua and Kaneohe to name a couple,
but there's not much in the way of hotels out here.
It's mostly bed and breakfasts, but it has really nice
quite beaches, and it's only a 30 minute drive to Waikiki,
so it's not quite as remote as the North Shore or as Makaha.
So now that you know all that, where should you stay?
So my final recommendations, if you're here in Oahu
for just two to three days and it's your first time,
I would recommend Waikiki just because it's so close
to all the other major attractions,
it's a lot easier to get around from here,
you'll have plenty of things to eat
and plenty of things to do in Waikiki.
If you're here for longer like you're here for a week,
say seven days, then I would suggest splitting your time
between Waikiki and either
Ko Olina or the North Shore.
So arrive in Honolulu Airport, go spend three or four nights
over in Ko Olina or the North Shore,
and then spend two or three nights in Waikiki.
That way you'll get the best of both worlds.
You'll get some relaxed Oahu with nice beaches,
and then to see all the hustle and bustle in Waikiki,
you can stay here.
And the reason why I recommend that
and not just driving into Waikiki all the time
is I really feel to experience Waikiki,
you have to be here.
It's crazy, it's busy Waikiki, not the part
that I'm standing at right now
'cause I know where the people aren't,
but it's busy!
It's a crazy town.
Parking's expensive, it's hard to park,
the traffic is awful,
so it really helps to stay in Waikiki to experience it.
Whether you're heading to Oahu, Maui, or Kauai,
I've got videos on all of those places.
You can click these links to my playlists for Hawaii
and some of those islands where you can find the link
in the description below to those playlists.
My master Hawaii playlists are one for each of the islands.
Well I won't say goodbye because I'll see you
in one of these videos.