Hello,

I’m interested in experiencing Hawaii’s culinary culture. I was wondering if there’s a food tasting type of tour in Oahu? Thanks!

Sherman

There’s a company called Hawaii Food Tours that exactly deals with what you’re looking for. It’s created by Matthew Gray, one of Honolulu’s top food critics and restaurant reviewers. We haven’t experienced the tour (yet) but judging from the testimonials found on their site, it looks like it’s worth a try.

We’re planning a vacation to Hawaii (bet 5 to 7 days) — we’re not very fond of the Beach but want to see and experience Hawaii — is it advisable for us to just stay in Honolulu or Maui? We are also very fond of shopping in outlet stores

If you can’t stay in both places and REALLY experience what Hawaii has to offer, then I would suggest to stay in Honoulu, especially if you’re very fond of shopping in outlet stores. Honolulu (and the entire island of Oahu for that matter) has a lot of world-famous sites and landmarks that have helped make Hawaii a world-class tourist destination. Think Diamond Head. Pearl Harbor. Hanauma Bay. Waikiki. North Shore. My suggestion is to take a sightseeing tour of the entire island such as E Noa Tours’ Tour #3: Pearl Harbor / Circle Island Combo Tour.

And if you’re looking for outlet stores, look no further than Oahu’s Waikele Premium Outlets.  We’ve written about Waikele a few times so look around to see what we think about it. If memory serves me right, Waikele is the only outlet mall in Hawaii.

which of the luaus’s you have mentioned above is closed to the Doubletree hotel we are staying at? I think it is alamouna street or something, where the hotel is located near waikiki. So, part of deciding which luau is best, is of course, knowing which one is closest to our hotel.

The DoubleTree Alana Waikiki is indeed on Ala Moana Boulevard, near the corner of Ala Moana and Kalakaua Avenues.

Being that it’s close to Kalakaua Avenue, the closest luau from your hotel is the Royal Hawaiian Luau, as we previously mentioned in a different post.  And as we said in that post, the Royal Hawaiian Luau is the only luau in Waikiki; there are no other luaus  aside from the ones that are located at the Polynesian Cultural Center and the ones held on the western shores of Oahu.

It’s very possible to walk to the Royal Hawaiian Luau from your hotel. To get there, walk along Kalakaua Avenue, following the flow of traffic (Kalakaua is one-way, with the traffic going towards the direction of Diamond Head) until you reach Royal Hawaiian Avenue, which is about three blocks from Ala Moana Boulevard. Make a right on Royal Hawaiian Avenue and follow it to the end, which is where the Royal Hawaiian Hotel is located.

For more information and for online reservations, please visit http://www.royal-hawaiian.com/de_luau.htm

By the way, it looks like the Royal Hawaiian Luau has increased their prices to $99.00 per adult from $97.00 per adult. However, they’re currently offering a 20% discount coupon through their site.

Again, which luau is closest to the Waikiki beach, we are staying at a hotel near the beach and would prefer to go to a luau within 5 miles or so of the beach, if that is possible.

The Royal Hawaiian Luau is situated on Waikiki Beach, with Diamond Head as its backdrop.

Hi : How can we go Waikele Premium Outlets if we did not take the Waikiki trolley and limousine tour ?

Aside from taking the Waikele Trolley and the limousine service from All Occasion, you can also take theBus. The only downside to taking theBus is that it might take you longer than expected to get to Waikele. For more information about theBus, please visit http://www.thebus.org.

However, there are other Waikele shuttle services that you can consider:

AMT Transportation offers a shuttle service from Waikiki-based hotels to Waikele at both one-way and round-trip rates. In addition to being more affordable than the Waikele Trolley, they also have more flexible return times. Visit them at http://www.amthawaii.com/eng/waikele_shuttle.html.

Reliable Shuttle also offers a similar service, priced at $25.00 per person, round-trip. For more information, please visit http://www.reliableshuttle.com/waikele.html.

Just saw something interesting while at work today:

The building is located near Waikiki, so I’m sure a few tourists can see it from their hotels.

Apparently, the fire is more visible on the other side of the building. I’m a bit lazy to go there so this’ll have to do for now.