"Is this Hawaii?" Waikiki by GracesTrips

When someone mentions Hawaii, you immediately invision sandy aqua beaches, swaying palm trees and the cool soft breezes. But not exactly so in Waikiki. Fortunately for us, we stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village which I highly recommend if you can afford it. It was a very nice hotel not in the heart of the Waikiki shopping area where more of the hotels are located. The Hilton is still close enough to the area that you can hop on a bus or hail a taxi (and not cost a fortune to get there). The International Market place was not very appealing to me. I think they sold a lot of what I call "crap". But since I've read about it here on VT, I thought I should at least see it. Next time I'm in Waikiki, I don't have to waste any time in this part of town. Being from SoCal, we have a ton of shopping available to us. The internet really allows you to shop, virtually, anywhere in the world! So, why spend your vacation shopping? I bought my souvenirs to take back home from the ABC store (also a recommendation from VT which I liked) and spent the rest of our vacation site seeing, enjoying the beaches and dining out.

Beach at the Hilton Hawaiian Village

So, in other words, spend some time outside of Waikiki and see what Oahu really has to offer. I can't say enough about the North Shore area of the island! So, see my travel page on Haleiwa. I didn't get a chance to see the interior of the island. It would have been nice to see the East Shore, too!

See my Hilton Hawaii Village photos and comments under the hotel tip. The photo below was taken from the 12th floor of the Rainbow Tower where we stayed. Isn't that some view?!

Waikiki in the morning

• Pros:In the heart of town, if you like that sort of thing
• Cons:You don't feel like you're in paradise