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Oahu Attractions
The incredible variety of tourist attractions in Oahu has helped make this island the most popular of all the Hawaiian Islands. You'll find something exciting, fascinating, and fun for every member of your family. The top Oahu attractions of course include Waikiki Beach and Pearl Harbor's Arizona Memorial and historic monuments like Punchbowl National Cemetery. There are many historic Hawaiian sites such as "Iolani Palace", where the Kings and Queens of old Hawaii once held court. You'll also find Hawaii's largest collection of museums, with fascinating exhibits about everything Hawaiian, including how ancient Polynesians navigated the Pacific in outrigger canoes (Polynesian Cultural Center) to how Nantucket whalers fashioned harpoons. Tourist attractions in Oahu are found throughout the island.
Here are the Top Oahu attractions in terms of visitor count:
Pearl Harbor and the Battleship Misouri.
This is perhaps the most recognized attraction in Oahu.- This is many miles from Waikiki but it still ranks number 2 in regard to all of Oahu's attractions.
Kualoa Ranch.
Enjoy horseback riding, ATV, movie tours and a variety of cultural and historic tours found on the land and in the sea.Sea Life Park.
Here your find dolphins, seals and many fish on display in its many sea creature enclosures.
Checkout Tom's Tips and Insights about Oahu Attractions
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Tom's Tips - Oahu Attractions
So as far as island attractions go in Hawaii, the island of Oahu is the 'bonanza' for 'attractions' as we define them. We generally consider attractions in this section as 'man made' attractions rather than those simply provided for us by nature in her birthday suit. And of these we have many: Pearl Harbor, Sea Life Park, Kualoa Ranch and the Polynesian Cultural Center. Each one of these have their own particular draw and they are all very, very popular (as in, they need to be booked early). .. read more.
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Video Transcript
In this video, we're going to be talking about attractions on the Island of Oahu.
Big exhibits that have interesting things that you can see. There are more of them of the on the Island of Oahu than you'll find elsewhere on the other islands. We'll be talking about basically four of them here today in this little segment. Pearl Harbor, which is a huge draw. The Polynesian Cultural Center. Same for that. Kualoa Ranch, big attraction on Oahu and also Sea Life Park.
Let's start with Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor of course is at Pearl Harbor and this is more than anything else that I think that we have in Hawaii, people want to go see Pearl Harbor. It just means so much to so many people. Everybody knows ... Has a grandfather perhaps; even a father that was there and certainly know many of the stories about this important part of the history of the United States and so we actually have people come from all the different islands, special one day tours and everything just to see Pearl Harbor.
If you're on Oahu that's great because you can just go right over there and catch it all. You'll certainly want to be seeing the Arizona Memorial. That's kind of the center-point of all things in Pearl Harbor. But then we've got the Battleship Missouri, which you can get on and walk around. Be on a real World War II type battleship and see the way the sailors lived and what the ship looked like in those days.
Same thing could be done on the USS Bowfin which is a submarine, World War II era that is a very, very big part of the attractions that we have there at Pearl Harbor. You can climb down into that vessel and cruise around on it and really see what it was like to be on one of these Submarines. Pretty amazing. They also have the Aviation Museum there, so you've got just tons of exhibits. Different things, you can wanders it seems like for days. This is kind of a day thing I think. Most people can find a lot to do all day long. So anyway, that's one thing.
You can visit Pearl Harbor on your own but you can actually, maybe it's a little bit easier to understand what's going on and to be ushered around when you take a tour that gets you there and has all the tickets ready for you and organized. It could be a little bit confusing. There's just so many people and so much going on and so many cars going in and out. Anyway, we can arrange whatever you'd like with regards to Pearl Harbor. So that's one thing.
That's here and then way up kind of the other side of the island, up in this area, we have the Polynesian Cultural Center. The Polynesian Cultural Center is very, very, very popular. Essentially it is an area that was created that has seven fairly authentic Polynesian villages from cultures all around the Pacific rim. Tahitian, Fiji and Samoa and all the different cultures that you could find there. Although they're similar, being island nations, they are different also in terms of how they developed and so these little villages, when you walk in you can see the different styles of thatched homes and so on that were built. The different types of dress.
There'll be authentic actual natives from those areas that are wearing the traditional clothing, doing dances and song, chants, whatever happened to be appropriate for that particular culture. Games that they play. It's a wonderful way to spend a day, especially if you've got children. You just come up, they open like noonish, 12:30. Then you just wander through the afternoon, going from one village to another and just taking it all in.
There's other things. They have a giant IMAX theater that you can go to which talks about Polynesia. In the evening they have a Big Lu'au that you can attend and there's also a giant show that they put on for you which deals with the various cultures of Polynesia. Anyway, a very popular attraction on the Island of Oahu.
Going further down the coast, you come to this area called Kualoa Ranch. Kualoa Ranch is beautiful and it's located in a beautiful, beautiful valley. They have the entire valley, just kind of goes back into ... It's kind of like almost like a box canyon, if you will. You can kind of see the walls of the valley at the very end and on both sides and they're very primitive looking walls that are just cut by nature. They're just carved and straight down and pinnacles and very lot of rainfall back there so you've got a lot of foliage and jungle. Very, very beautiful.
In fact, this has been the scene of dozens and dozens of Hollywood movies and TV productions. When you first get there you probably will recognize it right away just simply because you've seen it on so many of the various TV programs and movies and so on. They have a lot going on there.
First of all, let's go back to that theme. You can go on a movie tour so you can see all the things that were produced there. That's one thing that can happen, but they've also got beautiful ... They've got Horseback Rides. They go back up into the valley so you can do that. They have ATV Rides that can be taken back up into the valley as well and there's a Zip-Line there that was one of the latest developments that they put together in this valley. A great feature because there's really not much in the way of zip-lines on Oahu and that's something that everybody seems to want to do.
In addition to that, they've got historical tours that they take you on. They have a garden tour that also goes to the fishing ponds, the old Hawaiian fishing ponds. Takes you down to the ocean and you can see that. There's a jungle tour that takes you outback into the rugged parts of the valley and you kind of get bumped around and jostled as you're going up these dirt roads and through creeks and up on ridges and you've got beautiful views and so on. These are all things that they've got that happen and there's also a navigation tour that they have as well. Hawaiian navigation on ships. It's a lot of the cultural events surrounding Hawaii and it's kind of all in one place where you can learn a lot.
Another spot that we got is going down the coast a little bit further, you get into this area, Waimanalo, and you've got Sea Life Park. Sea Life Park is where they've taken many of the animals and fish from the environment and kind of brought them all up in one area that you can see them all and enjoy them and interact with them in many ways. It's more than just kind of a zoo where you see them. There is some aspect of it that is that, but also it's more of a participating, getting near them. Touching them in many cases.
They also have shows that you can go to and be entertained by the trainers and the various acts that they have. They have sea lions that they have. They have penguins. They have a giant shark tank that you can get in with the sharks. You got kind of a stainless steel mesh between you and the sharks which is comforting but you get a chance to be up close and personal with some actual sharks.
One of the most popular of all the events that they have there have to do with the Dolphins. They have a number of different experiences that you could have but probably the most exciting is where you actually get in and swim with them and you can actually on some them, you can hold onto their dorsal fins and they'll pull you. You can touch them and pet them. They're very friendly and it's a big-time attraction, especially if you've got kids. They will really enjoy it.
So that's a taste of some of the different activities or attractions that are available for you on the Island of Oahu.
So if you have any questions about Tours or Activities in Hawaii, just give us a call or check out TomBarefoot.com. We're here to help.
