If you do only ONE thing while visiting Oahu then this should be the thing…read more Besides the beautiful views on the Ranch they have such a great history. You can do the standard movie tour and see the literally hundreds of movies and TV shows filmed there or explore a bit more on your own with their ATV tour or horseback tour. Everything is reasonably priced and our guide was fantastic. So much knowledge of history, filming, wildlife and lore. All done without a script in sight. There is a bunker built for WW2 that was never really used but now houses movie memorabilia from the many productions on the ranch. Staff everywhere was super friendly and be sure to check out ALL of the buildings as they offer food souvenirs and even a shop with meat and products from the ranch itself.

If you're visiting Oahu, Kualoa Ranch is an absolute must-do. Every time we find ourselves on the…read moreisland, we make it a point to come back and try a different excursion and it never disappoints. Whether it's the farm tour, ATVs, e-bikes, or even visiting the secret beach, every experience has been fun, unique, and incredibly well run. The setting alone is worth it you're surrounded by some of the most breathtaking natural beauty on the island, with views that are easily among the best in Oahu. The staff is always friendly and welcoming, and there's even a chance you'll stumble upon a movie being filmed, which adds a little extra excitement to the day. This time around, we did the e-bike tour (novice level). Even though it's labeled beginner-friendly, I'd say it can still be a bit of a workout. I consider myself pretty athletic, and there were definitely moments where I had to push myself. That said, it just made the experience more rewarding. They do have you complete a practice run beforehand to make sure you're comfortable handling the bikes, which is reassuring. Our tour guide was fantastic and really made the experience enjoyable. As a bonus, we even got to catch a glimpse of the next Jumanji movie being filmed, which was such a cool surprise. We can't say enough good things about Kualoa Ranch. It's one of those places that keeps you coming back, and it absolutely deserves a spot on your Oahu itinerary.

If you're looking for good, inexpensive poke in Hawaii, grocery stores are the way to go. We…read morestopped by Tamura's on our way back to Laie from the Crouching Lion hike. The friendly worker explained the options to us and let us sample a few. They give you two scoops of rice and two different poke flavors. We got sunrise/spicy and shoyu/garlic. The sunrise was our favorite. Total was about $30 for two bowls that were good servings. There's no where to sit, so plan to take it to go to eat at the beach or your hotel.

I had a high expectations after my great 1st poke in Honolulu. This place has fresh poke and we…read moreordered spicy tuna and something lumi but this was lacked flavor. It was mediocre.

Be a pineapple: Stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside…read more Visiting Dole Plantation was honestly a strange mix of fun, beauty, history, and a little bit of emotional whiplash. Which, to be fair, is probably the most historically accurate way to experience a place with the word "plantation" in the name. On one hand, it's genuinely beautiful. The grounds are lush, the air smells incredible, and the pineapple everything is incredibly delicious. The Dole Whip absolutely lived up to the hype, and the gardens, train ride, and giant maze had this cheerful old Hawai'i roadside attraction energy that felt charming instead of overly polished. It was wholesome. I even saw a few adorable cats being fed by the workers. There is also this underlying awareness the entire time where your brain quietly goes, "...wait." Why? Because plantations are not cute historically. The word itself carries a lot of weight tied to colonization, labor exploitation, and the reshaping of Hawai'i for corporate agriculture and tourism. So walking through a place that's simultaneously serving pineapple soft serve while existing within that history creates a peculiar emotional duality that's hard to ignore. Honestly, I appreciated that feeling. Not because the history is good, because it absolutely isn't, but because places should make us think a little. Hawai'i is stunning but it's also layered and complicated and visiting somewhere like this becomes more meaningful when you acknowledge both the beauty and the discomfort instead of pretending one cancels out the other. The experience ended up feeling less like, "Yay pineapples!" and more like a reminder that travel is best when you let yourself enjoy the present while still respecting the history underneath it. Note: I totally destroyed a Dole Whip because personal growth, historical awareness, and pineapple ice cream with fresh pineapple can intertwine, okay?

Yes this is a tourist destination but one that you really need to visit…read more The shop is filled with so many food, drink and souvenirs from the Islands to purchase. They seemed super crowded when we were there. The train ride is a must and I recommend booking in advance for the Shaka ticket so you sit in the front car. There is a speaker the narrates your journey but until you are in the front car it's almost impossible to hear what they are saying. The real gem here is the local vendors outside with handcrafted items. So many beautiful and unique things there and great that you support local artists. Then lets not forget dole whip right at that dole plantation. That also is almost mandatory.

We had the absolute best time on our tour with Roy J, aka RJ, aka Cousin! At first, we were a…read morelittle concerned that an 8-hour tour might feel too long, but RJ made sure it was anything but boring. He kept us entertained with his humor, educated us with fascinating insights, and kept us engaged the entire time. One of the things we appreciated most was that he gave us space to explore every destination while still making the experience feel seamless. We were traveling with older family members as well as my young daughter, and somehow, RJ managed to connect with everyone--from our 7-year-old to our 70-year-old mother-in-law. Everyone absolutely loved him! This was, hands down, the best money we spent while visiting Waikiki. Thank you, RJ, for making our first visit to Hawaii truly unforgettable--you are a true gem! Highly recommend this tour to anyone looking for an informative, fun, and well-paced experience.

Echoing what Andrea V. said elsewhere, HawaiiTours.com appears to specialize in booking tours, not…read moreremitting funds for the actual tour, and waiting until the last minute to inform you that there are no slots available. In our case, we booked a luau and were only informed the evening before our flight -- when it was too late to arrange anything else -- that suddenly "there are no slots available" (but they of course had already charged us). While we did eventually receive a refund, we were still stiffed of our planned Christmas luau experience for my 7 year old through seemingly bad inventory management and travel arrangement by the company, well too late to make alternative arrangements.

make sure you get Paolo as your tour guide…read more we did a six hour tour and it was incredible we have done MANY of these over the years in several locations and this was, by far, the best one HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Best Tour guide. Paolo is heaven sent. Genuine and warm. Our family went on this Hawaii trip…read moregrieving the loss of a loved one. Paolo guided our tour with total compassion and kindness. You can surely tell he loves what he does. Hands down the highlight of our trip, Thank you Paolo!!!

If you're having a wedding anytime soon, I highly recommend ABC Weddings!! they are a wonderful…read moreteam with the sweetest, friendliest, most detail-oriented women who are always on top of it. We are super grateful to have had them be a big part of our big day. My husband and I booked Kualoa Ranch as our wedding venue. They require a coordinator, so I reached out to a friend who had recently gotten married and she recommended ABC Weddings because they did an awesome job on her wedding. So that is what we did! We booked the Signature Hybrid Package. We booked ABC about 1.5 years prior to our wedding day. The team was so organized and very thorough throughout the entire process! We filled out a questionnaire to give the team an idea of our vision. They provided a comprehensive Google Sheet which included a planning checklist, our budget/payment tracker, our event timeline, inventory list, seating chart & guest list, and a list of recommended vendors based on our budget. As we got closer to our wedding date, Sammy was assigned to be our lead coordinator. We communicated over emails and mostly via text message for convenience. We met with her regularly over Zoom so we could go over our sheets and discuss our timeline, layout, etc. You can trust the ABC team with the layout; they know what they're doing and the placement of vendors/stations makes sense. Sammy made sure to capture every little detail that we mentioned we wanted for our wedding. She answered all questions my husband and I had. We didn't have to wait more than a business day for a response, which we truly appreciated. We were in the middle of a Kona Low storm during the week of our wedding, and my husband and I were worried about the weather, especially on our big day. The ABC team had a solid rain plan just in case, and kept us updated quick. Very fortunately, we just had a slight drizzle the morning of and did not rain the rest of the day :') it was nice to have a good rain plan handy, thanks to the team. I consider myself a Type A person who likes to meticulously plan trips and friends' birthdays, and trust me when I say a wedding coordinator is a MUST, no matter how organized you think you are lol. There are so many little details we definitely would've missed if we didn't have one. Our wedding day turned out to be a dream come true for my husband and me. Our ceremony and reception literally looked like images I saved to my Pinterest board! Everything went as planned and more. We were mostly on time with our timeline. It was so beautiful seeing everything we've planned for in the past year and a half come to life. Everyone we love was under one tent, they all looked like they were having a fun time, including our vendors. Shoutout to Jamie, Krista, and Sammy for taking care of me, my bridesmaids, my husband, and his groomsmen from the morning of our wedding to the end of the night! They all made sure we had everything we needed, including giving us our pupus, cocktails, and dinner so we wouldn't have to wait in line, and for even helping me fix my dress bustle! They all did an excellent job coordinating our wedding and making sure everything was cleaned up at the end of the night. We ended up getting all our deposits back :) it has been almost 3 weeks since our wedding and we already miss them and their good vibes. We 1000% recommend the ABC Weddings team to help plan/coordinate your dream wedding :)

Despite the glowing reviews and many recommendations that ABC Weddings was one of the best planning…read moreand coordination teams in Oahu- I unfortunately was left very disappointed with the lack of presence/front-end coordination on the wedding day and miscommunication. For background information, we purchased their basic package for $3000 (which is only for hotel venues). The first mishap was when I wanted to schedule an appointment to discuss additional questions I had ($120 for 1 hour). They never showed up for my appointment. I did try calling their main line and the coordinators cell phone, but it all went to voicemail. In the end, it turned out that the coordinator was moving and had a lot on her plate, so my appointment fell through the cracks. They ended up scheduling me another meeting free of charge, which I did appreciate. In October, I was really feeling the pressure, so I inquired about having my coordinator start 3 weeks earlier than planned. ABC Weddings was quick to respond and have my lead coordinator, Sammy, start earlier for a $500 fee, to which I paid. Here's where things take a turn for the disappointing. When Sammy took over point of contact (POC), I still had my vendors emailing me directly for questions/info. Also, when I asked Sammy questions about my venue (i.e. rehearsal times/location, basic questions regarding catering, etc), she wasn't sure a lot of the times, which then meant I had to ask my venue directly. This wasn't EVERY time, but it was a lot of the time, which I felt defeated the purpose of taking over POC. I also felt there wasn't closed loop communication, so I was unsure of what Sammy was doing on her side with the vendors until the very end when I asked her to CC me on her final emails with timelines so I knew what they were being told. At the rehearsal, Sammy only had 2 copies of the timeline printed, which was not enough to distribute to both our parents and our maid of honor/best man. Additionally, we also learned at the rehearsal that she was NOT going to be the person actually coordinating the day. For example, letting us know where to go and when, updating the timeline if there are any changes, etc. Per our contract, it states: "We will check in with you before the professional photographer arrives to organize the important details, check in with family members, keep the timeline moving smoothly, get you out the door on time, organize requested group photos, and overall customer service throughout the day!" The huge missing pieces for us was checking in with family members, keeping the timeline moving smoothly, and getting us out the door on time. On the day of, Sammy was already confused on a decor piece that we had discussed at previous meetings, which led to me having to re-explain to her what I wanted during my hair/makeup. She did not check-in with any of my family members/bridal party. She only had communication with my matron of honor who was running the entire timeline/day, and this was largely because my matron of honor was the one checking in with her. She did not text us to let us know when to go where, so we were completely on our own. When it came time to put on my wedding gown, Sammy was unable to zip my dress, and the entire time I was clearly upset, she did not offer any reassurance or support, but rather spent time in the living room looking lost/confused. She did call the wedding shop, per my suggestion, and they came to the venue to help put on my dress which was amazing on their part (Casablanca!). Due to the issue with the dress, our timeline got pushed back by 15-20 mins, to which she told my matron of honor to let my parents know to delay our first look. Why didn't she text them and update the timeline herself? Although it worked out, this situation was not solved nor made better by Sammy. Honestly it felt like she didn't want to be there and didn't have a lot of care for our wedding day. I did share my thoughts with Lauren (CEO) post-wedding, and she was very apologetic but explained that "Our lead coordinators focus primarily on managing logistics, vendors, and timeline flow behind the scenes so couples can remain present and enjoy their day". This is confusing because that's not what is stated in our contract nor expected from our conversations. I understand she was doing the behind the scenes, but why was the timeline piece missing? There were two coordinators on site, to which I was told the 2nd coordinator would be doing setup/vendor management, but it seems like that's not the case? Irregardless, I felt the contract was not met, and that there was not any management for us, the wedding party and family members. Sadly, I would not recommend ABC Weddings if you are purchasing the basic coordination package. It definitely seemed that because I purchased the lowest tier, we were not high priority and it did not feel like they were willing to go above and beyond for one of the most special days of our lives.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I hope you all get a driver self-nicknamed "Short"…read more We booked a Pearl Harbor tour which included a visit to the Dole pineapple gift shop as well as a drive around the island (with a few stops and drivebys). Our driver nicknamed "Short" was a great driver as well as a native who knew the island and all it's customs, history, and it's little fun facts and quirks. Short is also a life philosopher. I won't spoil it should you get him, but he has a good way of keeping things light hearted but really makes you think about why the world and it's constant feuding is the way it is. The trip started sharply at 8AM (hotel lobby pickup) and after picking up a few passengers at different hotels, we were off. The Pearl Harbor tour and the ride over was excellent. While I knew a lot of what he was narrating, he goes into the back story of why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Much different than what you probably learned in history class. Nothing excuses the Japanese military government for doing what they did and he's not an apologist for them, but he laid out the facts leading up to it. Very informative. The movie at the Pearl Harbor center was well done by the Park Service, but we didn't have much time to look around much after that as we needed to keep to schedule. A few passengers were a full 30 minutes late, but he didn't give them the riot act but instead gently and jokingly chided them a little. It was pretty funny! The Dole pineapple gift shop stop was all about buying stuff, so if you've done it you'll be bored. But for first timers, get the Pineapple Freeze at the back of the store. We stopped by three parks and beaches which included the North Shore, a park whose name I forget, and Hanauma Bay. We highly recommend PPF. Just remember as part of a tour, be courteous and be on time. Write it down, put it in your phone, whatever it takes to keep everyone on the tour on track!

Our bus drive to Polynesian cultural center was both enlightening and entertaining. Pita was our…read moreguide and made our 1:15 hour drive feel like a 20 minute drive. As we drove through he shared some highlights and historical facts which was nice. We felt ready and excited to tour the PCC.

Our venues first choice when it comes to catering. I've had the pleasure working with Kimo on many…read moreoccasions. Great customer service, staff is wonderful and the food is always ono! Highly recommend!!!

My husband and I, both of our families and all of our closest 30 friends were in Hawaii for a week…read morefor our wedding and Kimo's food was THE best food any of us ate there! The pork spring rolls disappeared in seconds, the island berry salad with moscato was SO refreshing, and I still have dreams about the okinawan sweet potato mash. We got the island chicken roulade, macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi, and grilled paniolo beef and it was some of the best food I have ever had in my life. Besides the food, Chef Kimo helped us get tables, chairs, silverware/plates, speakers, microphones and everything else we needed for our reception. They were basically my second wedding planner and beyond helpful! Chef Kimo even went to our rental property and sent me videos to give me peace of mind since I was unable to see it before our arrival. We could not have done our wedding without them!

Ke Nui Catering was amazing, and we are so grateful they were part of our wedding…read more The morning of our wedding, flash flooding forced our original venue to cancel, and we had to move the entire event to a new venue on the next day. It was a complete scramble, and one of the many things we were worried about was whether our vendors would be able and willing to pivot with us. Ke Nui Catering did, and we were so thankful. Even with everything changing in less than 24 hours, they were accommodating and helped make sure we could still have a beautiful meal at our rescheduled wedding. That flexibility alone meant a lot to us, but the food itself was also truly excellent. The standout for us was the Fig Stuffed Porchetta. It was honestly some of the best pork we've ever had. The skin was unbelievably crispy, while the meat was still tender and juicy. We're still talking about it! We also had the Pan Seared Mahi & Macadamia, which was also very good and cooked much better than you might expect from a large wedding service. The fish was not overdone at all, which really impressed us. With all the uncertainty surrounding our wedding weekend, it meant a lot to have a catering team that could adapt without compromising quality. They helped make the day still feel celebratory and special, even though the entire wedding had been turned upside down less than a day earlier. We're very grateful to Ke Nui Catering for their flexibility and the quality of the meal they served. We would absolutely recommend them to any couple looking for delicious food and a team that can deliver even under difficult circumstances.

Found a hair in my food. I'm grossed out by this place now. The food is not bad but the hair made…read moreit terrible. Hair was found within the food... so sometime through the process of cooking, and nothing was noticed. Idk. This place seems like they have a high turnover that quality of the food gets discarded.