I did not hike it, but hubby did and wore his regular walking shoes.Do you need to wear hiking boots for the Diamond Head and other hikes on Oahu? If so, I will wear them on the flight.
I think Diamond Head is really just a hilly walk, and not really a hike (similar to walking up to the top of Coit Tower from a main street in San Francisco). And I consider myself to out of shape. Also despite recommendations to bring a flashlight for the tunnel, I find it completely unnecessary.
I think Diamond Head is really just a hilly walk, and not really a hike (similar to walking up to the top of Coit Tower from a main street in San Francisco). And I consider myself to out of shape. Also despite recommendations to bring a flashlight for the tunnel, I find it completely unnecessary.
For more intense hikes, you will want good soles, but generally we wore older shoes because trails can get muddy and shoes waterlogged. But when I lived in Hawaii I never found any type of hiking specific gear necessary. If you're sensitive to mosquito bites, insect repellent is a good idea when hiking.
I do think sunscreen and a good insulated water bottle (especially if it has a wide enough mouth to add ice) is great for carrying around all the time (not just on hikes). And tap water in Hawaii is the absolute best, the only place I drink tap water.
KoKo Head was intense for sure!I wore sneakers for every hike that I did on Oahu and rarely saw people wearing anything else, even for Koko Head, which many consider the most difficult short hike on the island. Boots would probably make it easier but they definitely aren’t needed.
We did ours through Discover Oahu Nature tours. We booked it on our own during our stay in Waikiki because the tour offered transportation to and from our Waikiki hotel. I would recommend doing a tour that offers transportation if you can swing it because they dropped us off nearly at the start of the path. Had we tried to go ourselves, parking is a challenge and we would have had to park a ways away making for a long walk before the hike even started.So did you guys do the excursion with Aulani? I saw a few weeks ago that aluani did this as an excursion, but now on the website I can't find it anywhere.
I was reading this and thinking about Koko Head, as we plan to do that hike on our upcoming trip. Thanks for answering that! One less thing to pack. (I have to bring too much stuff already.) We are used to technical hikes where we live and rarely need anything but good running shoes for half-day hikes.I wore sneakers for every hike that I did on Oahu and rarely saw people wearing anything else, even for Koko Head, which many consider the most difficult short hike on the island. Boots would probably make it easier but they definitely aren’t needed.