Having family and work on Oahu means we have visited the island a lot! Our kids have been so much they consider it their second home. We absolutely love it there and think it’s such a fantastic place to bring the family for a vacation, but it can be incredibly overwhelming trying to plan it yourself.
A family vacation is a big investment, especially traveling to somewhere like Hawaii. If you’re like me, when you go somewhere new, you want to make sure you get to see the best places, try all of the best food, and find the local hidden gems that give you a more true experience of the place you’re in. Oh and one other thing? You need to figure out how to blend all of these “must-see” places with things that are kid-friendly and will be good for the whole family. It’s a lot to try and plan yourself on top of everything you do from day to day.
I’m a planner. I love doing it when we travel and I LOVE helping other people plan their trips to give them options to create fantasic family memories. Travel as a family can be such a special gift to give your kids becasue it challenges them to try new things, find a little spirit of adventure, and grow closer as a family. Granted, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows (we’ve been there many times), but if you can find things that bring the family together, everyone will have an overall great memory of their trip.
After our countless trips to the island, we’ve compiled a fantastic list of rescources for families to use when they travel to Oahu to help you feel more prepared for any type of adventure you feel up for. By no means is this an exhaustive list, and we aren’t saying we are experts on every single thing to do on the island of Oahu, but these are our tried-and-true places that have given multiple families a great experience on their trip.
THIS TRAVEL GUIDE INCLUDES:
- Favorite beaches, best beaches for little kids, what the swimming situation is like at each beach, what to bring, parking, etc.
- Different hikes and how kid-friendly they are and what the terrain is like for each hike
- No travel guide would be complete without some great food recommendations! We have all of our favorite things to eat (and what is kid-friendly!) included here.
- A “must-see for your first time visiting” list with short descriptions of some notable places around the island and favorite spots to visit.
- Shows and luau recommendations around the island
- Some of our favorite day-trip adventures that we’ve been on, how to do them and get there, and how to do handle them with kids.
- A full 5-day trip itinerary of plans and what we would do each day around each area of the island to get a full trip expereince. Places are broken down into mini-guides of different areas on the island and what we would do and combine each day of our trip. It has our favorite places in each spot, so you have a full day-plan if you’re in a certain area. Use these to really get a full-day’s worth of fun/relaxation/adventure and find the best way to maximize your time around the island.
- A link to a google map with every single place bookmarked and mapped out. THIS IS PROBABLY MY FAVORITE PART OF THIS GUIDE! Now, when you’re driving around the island you can see where all of our favorites are and if you’re passing by fun recommendations to stop and check out. Having a list of places is great, but it’s hard to know where all of those places are when you’re in the moment driving around. (See an example of what this looks like below)
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE TRAVEL GUIDE
“This is a must have if you’re traveling to Hawaii, in fact, add it to your packing list because it’s kind of a necessity! I’ll be using it every single time I go because it’s just filled with so many preplanned fun ideas like the best spots to swim, hike and snorkel! And it has so many delicious local places to eat! It literally took out all the hard part of traveling and we were left with the most fun, stress free vacation!” – Nikki J.
“This travel guide was INVALUABLE traveling with our four kids ages 4-12. It was our first time taking our kids to Oahu and we could not have been happier with this travel guide. It’s hard to find kid friendly, yet not boring things to do for a wide range of kids.
The hikes were breathtaking and even our begrudging hikers loved them. The beaches were unbelievable. We were worried about waters being too rough, so we were so happy to have the kid friendly beaches as our go-to. We loved the snorkeling and these places were on point. The kids spent hours following the fish around. We kayaked to an Island, hiked all the way around and came back to a Sea Turtle. Magic! It was non-touristy, adventurous, relaxing, and perfectly kid friendly. Our pocket books thanked us for enjoying so many free things, yet our days were packed with amazing sites and memories that we will have forever. You guys nailed this one, Mini Voyager! Recommending this Travel Guide to all of our friends for sure.” – Erin C.