Morning
Book Hanauma Bay and Diamond Head
Both require advance entry for non-residents. Hanauma slots open online at 7 AM two days ahead and sell out in minutes; Diamond Head books separately.
Land at HNL
Daniel K. Inouye International. Waikiki is about 20 minutes by car; collect the rental here, you need it every day of this trip.
Afternoon / Day
Check in: Surfjack Hotel
412 Lewers Street, two blocks back from the sand. Mid-century surf hotel built round a mosaic-tiled pool, with a coffee bar in the courtyard.
Waikiki Beach and Kuhio Beach
Kalakaua Avenue. Rent a longboard from the beach stands; the rolling break off Queens is the gentlest first surf on Oahu.
Evening
Dinner at Mahina and Sun's
Inside the Surfjack at 412 Lewers Street. Island-caught fish and local produce, and you do not have to move a car on a jet-lagged night.
Sunset from Magic Island
Ala Moana Regional Park, 1201 Ala Moana Boulevard. The lagoon point frames Diamond Head against the sunset; free parking, ten minutes from Waikiki.
Morning
Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve
7455 Kalanianaole Highway. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays; $25 per adult, no entry after 1:30 PM, and everyone watches the nine-minute conservation film first.
Halona Blowhole Lookout
Kalanianaole Highway, ten minutes further east. Lava tube that spouts on a good swell; the cove below is Eternity Beach.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Buzz's Original Steakhouse
413 Kawailoa Road, Kailua. On this beach since 1962; lunch runs 11 to 3 daily, and Kailua Beach Park is across the road.
Lanikai Beach
Mokulua Drive, Kailua. No facilities and residential street parking only, but the Mokulua islets offshore are the postcard.
Byodo-In Temple
47-200 Kahekili Highway, Kaneohe. A 1963 smaller-scale replica of the Uji original under the Koolau cliffs; grounds 8:30 to 4:30, last entry 4:15.
Evening
Nuuanu Pali Lookout
Off the Pali Highway on the drive back to town. The whole windward coast from the top of the cliff, and wind strong enough to lean on. Non-residents pay to park.
Dinner at Rainbow Drive-In
3308 Kanaina Ave, Kapahulu. The plate lunch benchmark since 1961: loco moco or shoyu chicken, two scoops rice, mac salad.
Morning
Drive H-2 to the North Shore
About an hour from Waikiki to Haleiwa through the pineapple fields. Leave by 8 to beat the tour buses to Waimea.
Waimea Valley
59-864 Kamehameha Hwy, Haleiwa. A paved trail through 60 themed botanical gardens to a waterfall you can swim in, lifeguards on duty.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Ted's Bakery
59-024 Kamehameha Hwy, open daily 8 to 6:30. Get a plate lunch, then a slice of the original chocolate haupia cream pie.
Ehukai Beach and the Banzai Pipeline
59-337 Ke Nui Road. April is the flat season, so this is a swimming and walking beach rather than the winter wave circus.
Matsumoto Shave Ice
66-111 Kamehameha Hwy Suite 605, Haleiwa. Serving the North Shore since 1951; order it with azuki beans and ice cream underneath.
Evening
Dinner at Haleiwa Joe's
66-011 Kamehameha Hwy, at the harbour. Open nightly from 4:30; fresh catch and coconut shrimp with the boats outside the window.
Drive back to Waikiki
Roughly 75 minutes down the H-2. Leaving after dinner avoids the worst of the afternoon town-bound traffic.
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Morning
Pearl Harbor Visitor Center
1 Arizona Memorial Place. The museums and grounds are free. No bags of any kind past the gate, so leave everything in the car or the storage counter.
USS Arizona Memorial program
Reserve the timed boat program on recreation.gov ahead of time; a limited standby line exists but it is a gamble. Programs run from 8 AM, with the last boat out at 3:30 PM.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Helena's Hawaiian Food
1240 N. School St, Kalihi. Open Tuesday to Friday only, family-run since 1946, James Beard America's Classics. Order the pipikaula short ribs.
Bishop Museum
1525 Bernice Street, five minutes from lunch. Open daily 9 to 5; the koa-panelled Hawaiian Hall and the Watumull Planetarium are the two to book time for.
Iolani Palace
364 South King Street. Tours run Tuesday to Saturday, 9 to 4, and the ticket office shuts at 3:30; reserve, and take the docent-led tour over the audio one.
Evening
Dinner at MW Restaurant
888 Kapiolani Boulevard, Suite 201. Dinner Tuesday to Saturday, 5 to 8 only, so book the table before you book anything else that evening.
Morning
Diamond Head State Monument
Diamond Head Road at 18th Ave. Non-residents must reserve an entry slot online, and pay separately per person and per car. 0.8 miles and 560 feet up, 90 minutes return.
Malasadas at Leonard's Bakery
933 Kapahulu Ave, ten minutes down from the crater and open from 5:30 AM. Buy them hot; they do not survive the flight.
Afternoon / Day
Fly HNL to Kona (KOA)
The inter-island hop is about 50 minutes gate to gate. Drop the Oahu rental at HNL and pick up a fresh one at Kona.
Check in: Royal Kona Resort
75-5852 Alii Drive, on the lava point at the south end of Kailua Bay. Ask for an oceanfront lanai; the sunsets are the whole point.
Alii Drive and Kailua Pier
Walk the seafront strip north to the pier, past Ahuena Heiau, the restored temple where Kamehameha I spent his last years.
Evening
Dinner at Don the Beachcomber
At the Royal Kona, 75-5852 Alii Drive. The largest open-air oceanfront room in Kailua-Kona; order a mai tai and time it for sundown.
Morning
Snorkel at Kahaluu Beach Park
78-6710 Alii Drive. Shallow, sheltered, and thick with reef fish and honu; go early before the wind and the crowd arrive.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Da Poke Shack
76-6246 Alii Drive, Suite 101. Weekdays only, 10 to 4, and they close when the fish runs out. Get the spicy ahi and the pipikaula.
Greenwell Farms coffee tour
81-6581 Mamalahoa Highway, Kealakekua. Free guided farm tours daily 9 to 3, last one at 3, and the tasting bar opens at 8:30.
Puuhonua o Honaunau
Off Highway 160, Honaunau. The place of refuge, where a defeated warrior or a kapu-breaker who reached the wall was absolved. Gates 8:15 AM to sunset.
Evening
Early dinner at Umeke's
74-5599 Pawaii Place. Monday to Saturday, 11 to 9. Boat-to-bowl poke and Cajun ahi tacos; eat before the boat, not after.
Manta ray night snorkel
Fair Wind departs Keauhou at 78-7130 Kaleiopapa Street. Lights on the water draw plankton, and the mantas barrel-roll underneath you. Sells out weeks ahead.
Morning
Highway 11 south through Kau
About two hours of empty lava coast from Kailua-Kona to Naalehu. Fill the tank in Kona; services thin out badly past Captain Cook.
Punaluu Black Sand Beach
Ninole Loop Road, between Pahala and Naalehu. Green sea turtles haul out on the black sand. Do not touch them, and do not take sand home.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Punaluu Bake Shop
Naalehu, on Highway 11. The southernmost bakery in the United States; Hawaiian sweet bread from a generations-old recipe and macadamia shortbread.
Ka Lae (South Point)
End of South Point Road, the southernmost land in the United States. Twelve miles of single-lane paving off Highway 11; check your rental agreement first.
Check in: Volcano House
1 Crater Rim Drive, inside the national park at 4,000 feet. The $30 vehicle pass covers seven days, so buy it once on the way in.
Evening
Dinner at Kilauea Lodge
19-3948 Old Volcano Road, a mile outside the park gate in Volcano Village. Locally sourced menu in a lodge built round an old stone fireplace; book, it is small.
Kilauea Overlook after dark
Crater Rim Drive. The summit eruption is episodic, so check the USGS status that morning. Bring a headlamp and a warm layer either way.
Morning
Pack lunch and fill water bottles
There is no food, water or fuel anywhere on Chain of Craters Road, and only vault toilets at the far end. Sort it before you leave the summit.
Park welcome center
Crater Rim Drive, just inside the entrance. Ask the desk about vog and today's closures - a multi-year construction project at the summit shuts buildings and lots in rotation, so which building staff are working from moves.
Haakulamanu (Sulphur Banks)
Short boardwalk from the visitor center over ground where volcanic gas has crusted the rock in yellow crystals. Skip it if you have asthma.
Kilauea Iki Trail
Drops 400 feet through rainforest and out across the hardened lava lake left by the 1959 eruption. Steam still rises from the cracks; allow three hours.
Afternoon / Day
Chain of Craters Road
18.8 miles down to the sea, ending where a lava flow buried the highway. Watch for nene on the tarmac; cars are the main killer of adult birds.
Puu Loa Petroglyphs
A boardwalk loop out over the lava reaches the largest concentration of petroglyphs in Hawaii. Stay on the walkway - the carvings are fragile.
Evening
Dinner at Volcano House
1 Crater Rim Drive. The dining room looks straight across Kilauea caldera to Halemaumau; get a window table and eat early enough to keep the light.
Keanakakoi Overlook walk
When the route is open, park at Devastation Trail and walk the closed section of Crater Rim Drive out to the overlook. Quieter than the summit lots after dark.
Hilo Waterfalls and Home
Morning
Drive down to Hilo
Thirty miles and about 45 minutes on Highway 11, dropping 4,000 feet through the tree ferns into the wet side of the island.
Breakfast at Ken's House of Pancakes
1730 Kamehameha Ave, open 6 AM to 9 PM daily. A Hilo institution; the sumo-size loco moco is genuinely sumo-size.
Rainbow Falls
Wailuku River State Park, off Waianuenue Ave. Morning is when the mist throws the rainbow; the lookout is a two-minute walk from the car. Non-residents pay to park.
Afternoon / Day
Hilo Farmers Market
20 Mamo Street at Kamehameha Ave, daily 7 AM to 3 PM. Rambutan, apple bananas, lauhala weaving - the last easy souvenir stop before the airport.
Liliuokalani Gardens
Banyan Drive, on the Waiakea peninsula. Free Japanese garden with pagodas and arched bridges over the tidal ponds; 20 quiet minutes.
Evening
Fly out of Hilo (ITO)
Hilo International is ten minutes from Banyan Drive. Mainland routings usually connect through Honolulu, so budget for the extra hop.
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