Z_Dash
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Just back from Honolulu and Maui so i'll share up on travelling cost and option.
Ticket
I took Scoot on promotion which works out about $640 per pax.
Scoot charges $20 for credit card processing fee.
20kg luggage cost $124 round trip.
So total works out about $784 per person.
Flight is about 6hr 20mins to Japan Osaka
~9hr from Osaka to Honolulu across pacific ocean.
Honolulu
Or rather O`ahu island where honolulu airport is on.
Waikiki is the tourist area where hotel, shopping, food and beaches are. This is the southern side of O`ahu island.
Transportation
You have 2 options on transportation here.
1) Rental a car
Which cost about $60 per day. Weekly rental is about $262.
Petrol is cheap as prolly 3 days of drive around cost USD$20.
I rented via below website. Recommended to have full insurance coverage (Loss Damage Waiver or Collision Damage Waiver they called it)
https://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/
https://www.carrentalhawaii.com/
Two main concern of rental on this island. Car jacking is rumored to be rampant at tourist spot where you will be away from car for long duration such as hiking for 1hr.
The other problem is parking can be painful as hotel charges USD$20~USD$50 valet parking. There's some free parking spots which allows you to park 2hr during daytime, and 6pm onwards free till 7am/10am depending on side. I'll share this further via pm if you needed.
2) Public Transport (which i took for convenience not to worry about car problems)
From airport to waikiki beach area usually cab/uber would cost USD$40 (per direction) or so. Cab in US can be a little costly. So use shuttle services which cost about ($20+ per direction).
I booked hawaii23 (for $23 per 2 pax including 2 luggage) which was quite hassle free and quick.
Another i read on travel forums is johnny cab (for $25 per 2 pax).
Within O`ahu there is convenient bus service all around island and it takes approximate double the time (or triple if north shore area) compared to driving a rental.
TheBus (their local bus company) charges USD$2.75 per trip per pax. Just buy the day trip from the bus driver at $5.50/pax and you can take unlimited trip for that day.
Accomodation
Most would be staying along waikiki beach as North shore offers no convenience other than the beautiful beach which you could drive up.
Hawaii hotel comes with a hidden Amenities fee which can range from USD$10 to USD$50 per night!
Also higher end hotel has much higher parking fee if you decide to park at hotel.
Also factor the hotel location how many streets away from the beach as beachfront hotel can be quite costly especially at waikiki beach side.
Kuhio beach area has more budget hotels and its unobstructed view of sea (if you're taking sea view.
Also if you want ocean views hotel. Please do some homework especially if hotel has other buildings in between the beach and the hotel itself. You may end up paying for just some views between the building tower gaps which is pathetic.
A few worthy hotel which i stayed in 2 of them
1) Stay Hotel (cheap and very near beach about sgd$130/night and USD$10/day fee)
2) Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki (Comfortable 4 star hotel but abit further away from beach for about $200+/night and no amenities fee! This hotel seems to be cheaper if you book more than 4 days)
3) Aston Waikiki Circle (Directly opposite Kuhio beach! Booking via their website has a promo which they offer 1 day free car rental per night stay!! Oceanfront view cost USD$210 + $25 amenities fee)
There are many more but its up to individual budget to comfort. I saved up per night so more bags to bring home from outlet mall! I can share if you ask as i walked around the whole area looking at the hotel location and its view.
Locations of Interest
1) Waikiki Beach/Kuhio Beach
This is within heart of waikiki and is walking distance. Waikiki beach (towards western side of waikiki) has unobstructed water coming into the beach, kuhio beach (nearer to honolulu zoo) has a safety wall to lessen the heavy wave and is more suitable for family with children.
2) Diamond Head hike
This is one of the easy access location from waikiki and the scenery is beautiful. Consider this twice the effort compared to bukit timah hill hike.
Cost USD$1 per pax or if driving in USD$5 per car entry.
You will not be able to see sunrise or sunset due to operating hours from 6am to 6pm and last recommended entry is 4:30pm as it takes about 1.5hrs to hike up and come down.
3) Pearl Harbour
One of the must visit and can be free to to enter.
They offer 1300 free entry to USS arizona memorial (which you must have ticket to enter as its in middle of water.
Free ticket can be either via online booking for USD$1.50 fee which starts reservation 2 months before..........or you can do a walk in from 7am and ticket is while stock last.
I went for walk in at 11:30am and it was out!
Luckily i figured out they will have some return or unused ticket if you check with the counter or the USS arizona entry gate (where theatre and ferry venue is).
Typically spends about 3hr here as the USS Arizona memorial takes 75mins already for theatre playback on history and Navy ferry to memorial
4) Waikele Outlet mall
This is the main outlet malls where US brands like coach and kate spade are having sales.
Its about 30 mins drive from waikiki and parking is free and aplenty.
By public transport you can take TheBus service "E" along Kuhio Street (direction towards west)
Some tips here on savings.
1) Always register for waikele outlet membership as they offers coupon for additional discount such as 10% more or like $10 discount for $100 purchase etc. I wasted USD$25 not knowing this.
2) Some brand has additional discount of 10% for spending of USD$500 and above. Give a check if you're buying quite abit.
Kate spade was giving 70% flat discount for all priced items
Michael Kors was giving 60% flat discount plus 20% additional (making it 78% flat discount off all items)
Coach was giving 60% for all priced items and additional 20%~25% for some limited stocks item.
5) North Shore beach
One of the more beautiful and quieter beach on O`ahu
I remember reading one of the beach is also name quicksilver adopted beach for surfing competition where waves can reach 50 feet high on crazy season.
TheBus service "55" goes around whole north island from Kuhio Street stop but it can take between 2hrs to 3hrs to reach places like Laniakea Beach. I rented 1 day car for North Shore attack.
Some notable beach
a) Laniakea Beach - Is where you see sea turtles resting on beach. There will be officials there to guide and protect as its an offence to come into contact with turtles and fine is USD$1000
b) Sunset Beach - Has very beautiful view at sunset
c) Waimea Bay Beach - Beach of quicksilver surfing
6) Some Trails Hike
There are some hikes that has beautiful scenery and are quite leisure.
Makapu‘u Lighthouse - This is located at eastern side of island and is about 1hr stroll from parking area.
Kaena Point State Park - This is located at Western side of island and has beautiful nature scenery to walk along
7) Kualoa Ranch
Located at North-Eastern side of island. This is where Jurassic Park was filmed and some other blockbuster movies.
Typically cost about USD$60/pax per activity to hang around.
8) Polynesian Cultural Center
Located at North-Eastern side of island. This place is more of family place to visit and see the cultural of polynesian where they have shows and feast in the polynesian people. I skipped this as it cost more than USD$100/pax.
9) Tropical Farms
Just a mention of this as they sells fresh Macadamia nuts as compared to this with preservatives from supermarket. Maui onion is one of the nice favor which i dun get to eat here (i'm a big fan of Macadamia nuts).
10) Ala Moana Center
US 7th biggest shopping mall and hawaii biggest!
It has 3 tier, first tier is basic shops such as cosmetics, slippers, shoes etc
2nd tier is all designer brands
3rd tier is slightly lower end brands such as converse, zara etc.
Prices definitely higher than outlet mall but it has vast varieties.
Can take almost all TheBus service to reach here but i'll just mention service "8" for convenience.
To walk over from waikiki is possible and it takes about 40mins each way.
Apologies for the messy formatting as i'm still cleaning up the mess i brought back. Will touch up the above further when i find some time and also add in Maui as its really a nice place to spend more time.
Also between attraction it is possible to take public transport as i took bus to Pearl Harbour and found a way to transfer myself over to Waikele Premium outlet.
Ticket
I took Scoot on promotion which works out about $640 per pax.
Scoot charges $20 for credit card processing fee.
20kg luggage cost $124 round trip.
So total works out about $784 per person.
Flight is about 6hr 20mins to Japan Osaka
~9hr from Osaka to Honolulu across pacific ocean.
Honolulu
Or rather O`ahu island where honolulu airport is on.
Waikiki is the tourist area where hotel, shopping, food and beaches are. This is the southern side of O`ahu island.
Transportation
You have 2 options on transportation here.
1) Rental a car
Which cost about $60 per day. Weekly rental is about $262.
Petrol is cheap as prolly 3 days of drive around cost USD$20.
I rented via below website. Recommended to have full insurance coverage (Loss Damage Waiver or Collision Damage Waiver they called it)
https://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/
https://www.carrentalhawaii.com/
Two main concern of rental on this island. Car jacking is rumored to be rampant at tourist spot where you will be away from car for long duration such as hiking for 1hr.
The other problem is parking can be painful as hotel charges USD$20~USD$50 valet parking. There's some free parking spots which allows you to park 2hr during daytime, and 6pm onwards free till 7am/10am depending on side. I'll share this further via pm if you needed.
2) Public Transport (which i took for convenience not to worry about car problems)
From airport to waikiki beach area usually cab/uber would cost USD$40 (per direction) or so. Cab in US can be a little costly. So use shuttle services which cost about ($20+ per direction).
I booked hawaii23 (for $23 per 2 pax including 2 luggage) which was quite hassle free and quick.
Another i read on travel forums is johnny cab (for $25 per 2 pax).
Within O`ahu there is convenient bus service all around island and it takes approximate double the time (or triple if north shore area) compared to driving a rental.
TheBus (their local bus company) charges USD$2.75 per trip per pax. Just buy the day trip from the bus driver at $5.50/pax and you can take unlimited trip for that day.
Accomodation
Most would be staying along waikiki beach as North shore offers no convenience other than the beautiful beach which you could drive up.
Hawaii hotel comes with a hidden Amenities fee which can range from USD$10 to USD$50 per night!
Also higher end hotel has much higher parking fee if you decide to park at hotel.
Also factor the hotel location how many streets away from the beach as beachfront hotel can be quite costly especially at waikiki beach side.
Kuhio beach area has more budget hotels and its unobstructed view of sea (if you're taking sea view.
Also if you want ocean views hotel. Please do some homework especially if hotel has other buildings in between the beach and the hotel itself. You may end up paying for just some views between the building tower gaps which is pathetic.
A few worthy hotel which i stayed in 2 of them
1) Stay Hotel (cheap and very near beach about sgd$130/night and USD$10/day fee)
2) Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki (Comfortable 4 star hotel but abit further away from beach for about $200+/night and no amenities fee! This hotel seems to be cheaper if you book more than 4 days)
3) Aston Waikiki Circle (Directly opposite Kuhio beach! Booking via their website has a promo which they offer 1 day free car rental per night stay!! Oceanfront view cost USD$210 + $25 amenities fee)
There are many more but its up to individual budget to comfort. I saved up per night so more bags to bring home from outlet mall! I can share if you ask as i walked around the whole area looking at the hotel location and its view.
Locations of Interest
1) Waikiki Beach/Kuhio Beach
This is within heart of waikiki and is walking distance. Waikiki beach (towards western side of waikiki) has unobstructed water coming into the beach, kuhio beach (nearer to honolulu zoo) has a safety wall to lessen the heavy wave and is more suitable for family with children.
2) Diamond Head hike
This is one of the easy access location from waikiki and the scenery is beautiful. Consider this twice the effort compared to bukit timah hill hike.
Cost USD$1 per pax or if driving in USD$5 per car entry.
You will not be able to see sunrise or sunset due to operating hours from 6am to 6pm and last recommended entry is 4:30pm as it takes about 1.5hrs to hike up and come down.
3) Pearl Harbour
One of the must visit and can be free to to enter.
They offer 1300 free entry to USS arizona memorial (which you must have ticket to enter as its in middle of water.
Free ticket can be either via online booking for USD$1.50 fee which starts reservation 2 months before..........or you can do a walk in from 7am and ticket is while stock last.
I went for walk in at 11:30am and it was out!
Luckily i figured out they will have some return or unused ticket if you check with the counter or the USS arizona entry gate (where theatre and ferry venue is).
Typically spends about 3hr here as the USS Arizona memorial takes 75mins already for theatre playback on history and Navy ferry to memorial
4) Waikele Outlet mall
This is the main outlet malls where US brands like coach and kate spade are having sales.
Its about 30 mins drive from waikiki and parking is free and aplenty.
By public transport you can take TheBus service "E" along Kuhio Street (direction towards west)
Some tips here on savings.
1) Always register for waikele outlet membership as they offers coupon for additional discount such as 10% more or like $10 discount for $100 purchase etc. I wasted USD$25 not knowing this.
2) Some brand has additional discount of 10% for spending of USD$500 and above. Give a check if you're buying quite abit.
Kate spade was giving 70% flat discount for all priced items
Michael Kors was giving 60% flat discount plus 20% additional (making it 78% flat discount off all items)
Coach was giving 60% for all priced items and additional 20%~25% for some limited stocks item.
5) North Shore beach
One of the more beautiful and quieter beach on O`ahu
I remember reading one of the beach is also name quicksilver adopted beach for surfing competition where waves can reach 50 feet high on crazy season.
TheBus service "55" goes around whole north island from Kuhio Street stop but it can take between 2hrs to 3hrs to reach places like Laniakea Beach. I rented 1 day car for North Shore attack.
Some notable beach
a) Laniakea Beach - Is where you see sea turtles resting on beach. There will be officials there to guide and protect as its an offence to come into contact with turtles and fine is USD$1000
b) Sunset Beach - Has very beautiful view at sunset
c) Waimea Bay Beach - Beach of quicksilver surfing
6) Some Trails Hike
There are some hikes that has beautiful scenery and are quite leisure.
Makapu‘u Lighthouse - This is located at eastern side of island and is about 1hr stroll from parking area.
Kaena Point State Park - This is located at Western side of island and has beautiful nature scenery to walk along
7) Kualoa Ranch
Located at North-Eastern side of island. This is where Jurassic Park was filmed and some other blockbuster movies.
Typically cost about USD$60/pax per activity to hang around.
8) Polynesian Cultural Center
Located at North-Eastern side of island. This place is more of family place to visit and see the cultural of polynesian where they have shows and feast in the polynesian people. I skipped this as it cost more than USD$100/pax.
9) Tropical Farms
Just a mention of this as they sells fresh Macadamia nuts as compared to this with preservatives from supermarket. Maui onion is one of the nice favor which i dun get to eat here (i'm a big fan of Macadamia nuts).
10) Ala Moana Center
US 7th biggest shopping mall and hawaii biggest!
It has 3 tier, first tier is basic shops such as cosmetics, slippers, shoes etc
2nd tier is all designer brands
3rd tier is slightly lower end brands such as converse, zara etc.
Prices definitely higher than outlet mall but it has vast varieties.
Can take almost all TheBus service to reach here but i'll just mention service "8" for convenience.
To walk over from waikiki is possible and it takes about 40mins each way.
Apologies for the messy formatting as i'm still cleaning up the mess i brought back. Will touch up the above further when i find some time and also add in Maui as its really a nice place to spend more time.
Also between attraction it is possible to take public transport as i took bus to Pearl Harbour and found a way to transfer myself over to Waikele Premium outlet.
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