January 16 to 23
Before I can tell you about Waikiki, I have to tell you about Playa del Carmen. If you’re lucky, sometime in your lifetime, you’ll find a place that speaks to you. It will have everything you like, and the sky is bluer when you’re there, bluer than the Minnesota sky during the winter. That place for me is Playa del Carmen, specifically the north end. I know people that think Playa is touristy and it can be, but it works for me.
Why Waikiki
One of the reasons I chose Waikiki was because my passport expires in July 2024. We usually go on vacation in March or April and with reports of wait times of many months to renew I needed to send mine in for renewal in January. That meant I couldn’t travel internationally until I got it back.
I had stayed in Waikiki several times for work but was too busy to explore the beaches and city. Even back then I thought it had a Playa feel to it, walkable, on the ocean, plenty of bars and restaurants.
I made the mistake of deciding to not dive on this trip. I searched for Honolulu ocean temperature and found a website that told me told me it was seventy-five degrees. That’s too cold for me to comfortably dive. I am use to eighty-one degrees so I left my equipment at home. However, I took a surf lesson and discovered that the water was warm, definitely not seventy-five degrees.
Getting there
I found a cheap ticket to Honolulu on Delta for $700 round trip, but that price required long layovers in Seattle, six hours each way. I was lucky enough to have first class upgrades and they were expiring at the end of January, so my timing was good. When I applied the upgrades, I was only guaranteed first class for the final leg back to MSP but because of my Delta status I had been upgraded to Comfort Plus for the other three legs.
I saw on my Delta app that I was number one on the upgrade list for first class, so I stood in line waiting to board quietly, hoping that someone in first class hadn’t made it. I’d been upgraded previously when the gate agent scanned my boarding pass and the upgrade automatically printed out; I had to wait a bit longer this time. They scanned my boarding pass, I boarded, and settled into my Comfort Plus seat. The gate agent came down the aisle and told me that I had been upgraded to first class. It was worth the wait.
I left MSP at 9 am, and after a three and a half hours flight I arrived in Seattle. I had six hours to kill so before my trip I upgraded to the Reserve Delta card. It has a ridiculous annual fee but it allows me access to the Delta Sky Clubs so it was worth it for this trip. I hung out in the club, comfortable seating, free food and alcohol. The club is beautiful. It has a wall of windows looking out at the mountains. The food was just okay but it’s free once you get in. I’ve read a lot of complaints about the Sky Clubs being overcrowded but it wasn’t crowded while I was there.
I was upgraded to first class before I boarded the roughly six-hour flight. This and the return flight were the reason I wanted to use my upgrade, first class on a long haul flight is definitely more enjoyable. Once I landed I had to get to my hotel. I had posted a question about transportation from the airport to my hotel on Trip Advisor. The responses were in favor of booking a private shuttle because of surge pricing on Uber. I booked with Charley’s Taxis. The fee they quoted was $33 but that was without taxes and fees which took it up to $40. I checked Uber which was almost $60.
I got to my hotel about 11:30 pm and it was after midnight by the time I checked in and unpacked. I hadn’t slept on any of the flights I was beat by the time I got to my room.
Park Shore
Park Shore is an older hotel but it’s well maintained. My room was small, as was the TV in my room but I didn’t come here to watch TV. The pool area was nice. The pool was on the smaller side but there were plenty of lounge chairs and umbrellas. It wasn’t easy to move the umbrellas, so it was hard to stay in the shade throughout the day. The staff was friendly. I liked having an ABC store connected to the lobby. I was able to get free beach chairs and umbrellas at the Beach Candy store nearby. The best thing about the hotel was the location. It was across the street from the beach and to the south was a park and the Honolulu Zoo.
Coffee Shops
I write, so when I travel, I hang out at coffee shops.
There are a number of them on Kalakaua blvd. The one closest to the Park shore was full every time I went there but I had luck getting into the one at the Hyatt.
Later in the week, on my walk back from Diamond Head, I found Knots Coffee Roasters in Queen Kapiolaini. It’s a block or so from Park Shore. It was occasionally busy but never full. Decent coffee and ambiance. I ordered a breakfast sandwich here one morning and it was terrible. If you go here stick to the coffee.
I found this on my first day. I walked through International Market Place, turned left and it was right there. It shares a building with Basalt restaurant and Dukes Lane Market and Eatery. I originally thought it had limited seating, but I eventually figured out there was outdoor seating alongside the building. The lattes were good and only $5, dirt cheap for Waikiki. Their pastries were delicious. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a walk from Park Shore.
My wife and I used to be against doing anything overtly touristy when traveling but in Sorento Italy, on a whim, we decided to take an open-air bus tour and we learned about beaches and great restaurants. It was worth it. The same in Barcelona, we took two Runnerbean tours that gave us so much information about the area. Unfortunately, I waited a couple of days to book the Waikiki Trolley, I wish I had booked sooner because it was a good way to see the area.
I took the Green Line to Diamond Head.
The Blue Line was my favorite. It went up the coast to Sea Life Park. On the way we had a fifteen-minute stop at an overlook. The views were amazing.
The Red Line was my least favorite of the trolleys I took. It brought us through Honolulu and made a fifteen-minute stop downtown.
The Pink Line went around Waikiki and the shopping malls. I never took this line.
The trollies would pick up in from the Duke Kahanamoku statue. I was impressed to find out that when the duke was surfing the boards were solid wood and weighed over a hundred pounds.
Diamond Head
I decided to walk to Diamond Head. Google Maps was confusing, it showed me it was two miles each way to get to Diamond Head from my hotel. A four-mile hike is easy but it turned out that distance to the entrance to Diamond Head. When I walked from my hotel to Diamond Head my Fitbit told me it was over six miles and it’s up hill to get into the park where you purchase tickets.
I didn’t know that you have to purchase tickets for a specific time and I would have had to wait an hour to get into the park. I am glad I didn’t hike Diamond Head that day because the hike up Diamond Head isn’t easy and combining the Diamond Head hike with the six mile hike to get there and back would have been a lot for one day.
Several days later I took the Green Line trolley to Diamond Head and hiked it. It’s worth the climb to get to the top. The views are amazing.
Restaurants and Tap Rooms
I am low key (you could say cheap) when traveling by myself. I knew food and drink was going to be expensive in Waikiki, but I happened to stumble on some happy hours deals that made it affordable.
My first evening in Waikiki I discovered the Sky Box Tap House. I ordered a $25 burger and a tap beer. When the bill came, I fully expected it to be at least $35 but it was only $20, It was my luck that I happened in during happy hour. That was a great way to start my vacation. Sky Box is located on the upper level of International Market Place. You can see the burger was delicious. The staff was friendly too.
La Pina Cantina
The restaurant is located on the main floor of International Market Place near the back entrance. It was cheap for Hawaii but I guess you get what you pay for. I ordered a chicken burrito. It was barely eatable. The tortilla was dry to the point it was crunchy and it was flavorless. Maybe it was the three-dollar beer that drew me in.
ABC Store
One evening I couldn’t decide where to eat and I was tired so did the easiest thing I could think of for dinner, I bought a Ceasar salad from the ABC store. It was good option for a ‘low key’ dinner.
I had dinner here once and stopped in for a beer once. The BBQ sandwich was good and the beer was cold. They also had bands playing regularly. I was hoping for a quiet place to have a beer but was very busy both times I went.
As you can see the restaurant didn’t look fancy from the outside. The interior is fairly basic too. It has good reviews on Trip Advisor. As far as I could figure out everyone working there seemed to be family. I don’t think my waitress spoke a lot of English, it didn’t matter, the food was good. I’d go back.
This was my place to go before heading back to my room at night. Great atmosphere and I liked the beer better than Maui Brewing and friendly servers.
I had my favorite happy hour meal at The Gallery. $10 for a tap beer and a pizza. I mean tap beers are almost $10! It was twelve-ounce beer and a small pizza, pepperoni in my case. The pizza was great.
I shared the picnic table with a guy that just got in from Australia, he had the happy hour special like I did. He commented that he heard Waikiki was expensive, but this was reasonable. I let him know that everything would get more expensive from that point. They had bands playing in the evening. I stopped in once, it was crowded with hardly any standing room much less a place to sit.
Surfing
I want to start by saying I am sixty-nine years old and I believe you can’t come to Hawaii without trying to surf. Beach Candy in the same building as The Park Shore and if you stay at the Park Shore you can check our beach chairs, umbrellas and other ‘beach candy’ no charge and you get discounted surf lessons. They had a photographer videoing the lessons. I watched it when we got back to the shop. It was so bad that I would have paid them to delete video. It was fun, be sure to give it a try when you go.
Uber
I read a lot of posts about Uber being more expensive than taxis. That was true for my ride from the airport to Park shore but for my return I asked at the front desk what a taxi back to the airport could cost and I was told $60. I pulled up the Uber app and it was $22. The lesson is to check, sometimes Uber might be cheaper.
Waikiki Beach
The beach is beautiful. It is lined with hotels, restaurants, bars and coffee shops. All my favorite things. It runs almost uninterrupted from the Hilton on the north end to south of the Park Shore.
Final thoughts
I’m glad I upgraded to the reserve card. The card itself is metal and a cool shade of purple, I’m partial to purple because I live in Minnesota, the land of Prince and the Vikings. It was so worth it to be able to relax in a Sky Club in Seattle for six hours on the way out and the way back. And to be able to go to the Honolulu airport early and eat, have a glass of wine before my flight and find a spot to open my laptop. The best part is that the Seattle Sky Club had showers, so I was able to shower after I arrived in Seattle at 6 am. Will I downgrade my card before the annual payment next year? I don’t know. I’m spoiled now.
Did I enjoy Waikiki? I did. There was more than enough for me to do for the week.
Is Waikiki the Playa del Carmen of the Pacific? It’s close enough for me. It’s walkable which is nice. They are plenty of good bars, restaurants and coffee shops to keep me busy and the beautiful beach. I will scuba dive when I come back.
Will I go back? I showed my wife the photos of Hawaii I took, and she thought it was beautiful and would like to travel there when she’s retired.
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