The following is a typical tour, 8 hours, 120 miles:
8:30 Pick-up
Hawaii Kai lookout (view of the Ko’olau volcano that formed east Oahu).
Blow Hole/From Here to Eternity Beach (15 Minutes) When the waves are right, the water shoots up through a hole/filming site of the 1953 movie “From Here to Eternity”
Makapu’u Lookout (15 minutes) great view overlooking Rabbit Island
Malasadas at Leonard’s Bakery truck in Kaneohe.
View of Gillagan’s Island and He’eia Fishpond (15 minutes) closed on Mondays / or Byodo-In Temple (45 minutes) $5 per person entry fee to get to the Temple.
Macadamia Nut Outlet (20 minutes) Tourist trap but free samples of Macadamia Nuts and Kona Coffee.
Chinaman’s Hat/Kualoa Ranch (10 minute photo stop)
Fumi’s Garlic Shrimp (45 minutes)
Fruit Stand (10 minutes)
Sunset Beach or Banzai Pipeline (10 minutes) Famous surfing beaches (waves only in Winter)
Hike through the Botanical Garden to Waimea Falls, 3/4 of a mile each way, $20 per person entry fee, (just over 1 hour to go there and back, and swim in the waterfall).
Turtle Beach (15 minutes) site where turtles come onto the beach. Due to the traffic congestion that this site causes, the local residents severely frown at Commercial tours stopping at Laniakea’s, but we have other turtle beaches in Hale’iwa.
Haleiwa town (drive through, or stop at some shops, or Shave ice at Matsumotos)
Wailua Coffee and Chocolate outlet, and Soap Factory
Dole Pineapple Plantation (40 minutes)(Gift shop tourist trap)
The drive back to Waikiki from Dole Pineapple is about 1 hour.
Iolani Palace/King Kamehameha Statue or Tantalus lookout
4:30 Drop-off
Alternate stops:
- Wahiawa Botanical Gardens
- Foster’s Botanical Garden
- Waimea Falls & Botanical Garden ($20 per person)
- Diamond Head (no, you can’t drive to the top) 45 minute hike to the top. $50.00 for Parking.
- Diamond Head Lookout, view of the ocean, not a good view of Diamond Head.
- Sandy Beach
- Pali Lookout ($30 for parking)
- Valley of the Temples – Byodo-In Temple ($5 per person)
- Haleiwa Market Place
- Kahala Estates
- Morman Temple
- Hukilau Beach swim
- Pounders Beach
- Kualoa Ranch
- Waimea Bay swim
- Pearl Harbor (tickets for the Arizona Memorial are hard to get, Try to book them online ASAP, the tickets are FREE, but there’s a small fee for booking online)
- Bishop Museum
- Waikele Shopping
- Punchbowl National Cemetery
- Hanauma Bay lookout (15 minutes max by Law) Overlooking Hanauma Bay. (The State has recently imposed a fee for this stop, so it would cost $20 for the 15 minute stop. However the Commercial lot is closed to all tour vehicles, taxis, and even the City bus due to Covid restrictions.