- 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.
