Aulani: Things We Should Not Miss On Northeast Side of Island

[disneypoor]

Hi! We leave for Aulani in a little over two weeks. We will be doing the ATV Tour at Kualoa Ranch on the northeast side of the island. Since I have heard that traffic can be terrible, I was wondering what places/things you would recommend we visit while on that side of the island? I don't know where things are located, but we would like to see turtle beach, waterfalls, etc. any recommendations? Thank you!

Susan

 

[owensjro]

We did a north shore exploration a few weeks ago when we were there. Traffic was not a problem at all as it was the opposite direction away from Honolulu. We stopped at Turtle Beach (saw one turtle swimming....got better/closer to the turtles at the "secret" beach on the other side of the JW) and went to Waimea Valley. There is a fee to get into Waimea but at the end of the botanical gardens walk is a waterfall that you can swim up to. It was a lot of fun.

We had hoped to hit a beach on the North Shore but by the time we were done with Waimea it was afternoon and the parking was terrible. We went back through Haleiwa hoping to hit up a shrimp truck but again the places were all swamped. We ended up eating at a Mexican place in a small plaza which was actually pretty good.

Some of our party stopped at the Dole plantation on the way back but we did not.

There is definitely enough to do on the North side to make a full day of it.

Jim

 

[disneypoor]

Thank you for your reply! It sounds like we definitely want to fit in Waimea then. Swimming under a water fall is on the top of the list for my daughter, so that will be a must do.

I'm glad to hear traffic wasn't awful. I read some posts that talk about how horrible it is and then some that say it wasn't bad at all. Not sure what to expect. I will soon be finding out for myself though.

Thanks again!

Susan