I agree with this wholeheartedly. I'm always so surprised when I see people describe Aulani's location as "remote." I also don't find traffic to be awful on Oahu--I think it's pretty easy to drive. That being said, I have lived in several large cities, including Chicago and Houston, so comparatively, Oahu is small and driving is easy.
This is just a guess, but I suspect a lot of non-Aulani Hawaii tourists stay in Waikiki and rely on various shuttles and taxi services. I suppose if you *didn't* rent a car, Aulani could be seen as remote in that sense. But there are destinations to visit all around the island,, so nothing is going to be right in the neighborhood of everything you're going to want to do.
I'd respectfully disagree, but its all relative. When I describe Ko Olina as isolated or remote, I mean its relegated to the western side of the island with nothing (worth noting) north of it. A place like Waikiki I'd consider fairly central to many things people want to see and do on Oahu. But Ko Olina has no true tourist spots within a couple mile drive - everything is at least a 25 minute drive via highway driving, and in our experience, heavy traffic is a factor. We live in Buffalo and are not at all used to traffic like that. Some people want things in walking distance or a quick couple block or mile drive away. Ko Olina does not offer that, so I think its worth noting for those who may want to consider it.
Ka'ena Point from the leeward side is, in my opinion, the best family hike anywhere.
Ok, but I would not consider that to be a main tourist spot. So, I'd still stand by my point that Ko Olina is not central to the main tourist spots and aside from the place you mention, there's nothing worth visiting north of it. In fact, I think Waianae may be high crime and impoverished, though I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that.
I would agree--Ko Olina is definitely not centrally located, but i guess for me, if you have a car, it really doesn't make much difference where you stay on the island, b/c it's a pretty small area. If you are looking at for a home base from which you can walk to other attractions or take a short shuttle ride, then no, Aulani is not your place. For those who are used to big cities, though, having to drive 25 mins to get somewhere is really nothing--I mean, I drive 20 mins one way just to take my kid to school everyday, so I guess we just have different perspectives, based on what our home norm is.
Very true, definitely relative and subjective. When visiting WDW, we choose our hotel based on proximity to the park we spend the most time at. When we go to Vegas, we stay center strip. Ease of logistics is something important to us for cost, convenience, and to maximize time/efficiency. I don't think Aulani's location is conducive to that, but not everyone shares those priorities. But because we like it and we love Disney, we'd still choose to stay there. I'd just couple it with a split stay in Waikiki again, and choose to have more resort time while at Aulani. Different strokes for different folks for sure though!
It's not about the priorities, I think you're making an actual miscalculation in your logistics planning. In other words, I'm not saying "you're wrong for picking a place that's closer to attractions," I'm saying "Waikiki isn't actually much closer to the attractions, because the attractions are spread all over the island."
Well, no, I'm not miscalculating anything. This is all a matter of opinion. I used Waikiki in my post as its more central for things that are of interest to us. I didn't say for you or for everyone. We like shopping and dining, and it has that in walking distance. If you want Diamond Head, the zoo, Bishop Museum, Iolani Palace, Hanuama Bay, various snorkeling, and a million other organized tours with roundtrip transportation plus proximity to the airport - Waikiki is your place. Its a fact that Ko Olina has less to offer in terms of excursions and things in walking distance - whether that's good, bad or indifferent to you absolutely depends on your priorities. I'm not saying Waikiki is superior to Ko Olina, but the proximity and logistics for what you want to do is of course an important thing for anyone to consider when deciding where to say.
These two statements kind of cause one another. If you don't rent a car and you're going to be physically at Aulani for the duration of your stay, yeah three nights is probably appropriate because, like you said, it's mostly sunbathing and pool time.
I quite prefer Aulani’s location to Waikiki. The ”one and done”sights you mentioned are pretty much all doable in a day or two, and its fun to spend a morning or afternoon checking out Waikiki. But to me it’s not really Hawaii. It’s a commercial expanse of shopping malls, concrete, and wall to wall hotels along a narrow, mediocre beach. In a normal year, it’s also congested and crowded. And it’s far from being either picturesque or beautiful.
To each their own. I agree that Waikiki doesn't encapsulate true Hawaii, but neither does Ko Olina. Its a gated planned tourist community with man-made lagoons and restaurants designed and priced for tourists. Its curated to emulate true Hawaii, but its not. That's not a bad thing - its still enjoyable and beautiful, but I don't think one can argue that Waikiki or Ko Olina are representative of Hawaii because neither are. In fact, whenever car rental threads come up, I almost always say a rental car is a must so that one can experience Oahu outside of the bubble of Ko Olina. Without leaving Ko Olina, you might as well be at any expensive resort on any beach in the world.
I think renting a car when you go on vacation to another state is pretty normal. I'm not sure why anyone would fly 5 to 12 hours to get some place just to be stuck relying on shuttles and whatever is within walking distance of your hotel, no matter how centrally located the hotel. In other words, yeah I agree that people should rent a car in Ko Olina, but I'd absolutely rent a car if I was staying in Waikiki, too.
All true! But I have a slightly harsher view of Waikiki. Yes, I guess the nightlife is better (though I don’t think Hawaii has ever been famous for it’s nightlife), and there are more malls and such (though I don’t think Hawaii has ever been famous for its malls), but there’s one negative that for me overshadows everything...it’s a crowded, concrete tourist mess! And yes, Ko Olina is a curated, fantasy version of Hawaii. Yes please! The resort didn’t materialize out of nature, it was built! But unlike the hotels in Waikiki, or elsewhere on the islands, it’s theming and design represent a genuine effort to reflect Hawaiian culture. It’s not just a glass tower. It’s more.
You're right - most of Hawaii is a dead zone after 8pm. This was particularly true for us at Aulani, as two adults. After dinner and once the pools were closed, we really lacked for things to do in the evenings during our Aulani stay. Most nights we were back in the room by 9pm watching Netflix. At least in Waikiki, we could have an after dinner drink along the strip enjoying live music or even fireworks on some nights. We also found that since we came from the east coast, we were wide awake by 4am our first few days. Waikiki was the only spot of all the places we stayed in Hawaii that had signs of life at that time of the morning. Because so many travel from other time zones and because Waikiki is one of the main areas to stay in, there was a good number of people out and about and coffee shops open. Just a little thing for early risers to consider too.
As a woman and someone who lives in Buffalo, we don't have a lot of the stores that other big cities have so I appreciated the shopping! I still wear my shirt from 88 Tees and the Ala Moana Center is the nicest mall I've ever been to. But I agree that shopping would not be a priority for everyone.
Its definitely a tourist hotspot and, at least pre-pandemic, was very crowded. I always advise people that Waikiki is not the place for beach time. But, I do like the lively atmosphere and the people watching that comes with a bustling area like that. One of the other benefits is that out of the three nights we spent in Waikiki, there were different things going on each night - for instance, one night, the road was closed and a bunch of food vendors and local arts & crafts vendors set-up shop. Just made it interesting with more to do.
