So we booked our tickets to Hawaii for December. We'll only be there from Monday to Sunday and I would like to split the time between Waikiki beach and the North Shore. We are young and would like to stay in the more lively area but we can get pretty tired of it so I thought we can stay in North Shore for a few days. We're thinking about 3 days each. Any thoughts on whether thats enough time to do things in each city? We don't care to do everything but we want to snorkel, go to Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, maybe take some surf lessons. We plan to have a rental car for the time in North Shore.
Re: Waikiki Beach and North Shore
The reef was also either dead or the ugly rock kind. There weren't a ton of fish in the water, but the ones I saw were pretty spectacular. I didn't see any turtles, but I have heard of others who have seen them.
The beach was very nice and being the surrounding area was very beautiful.
I had fun at the Polynesian Cultural Center. I thought of it as a Polynesian Disneyland. It takes up a good chunk of the day. I enjoyed grabbing a spontaneous sunset catamran cruise right off the beach in Waikiki. No reservations needed.
I think 3 days on each should be good. You could do Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor in one day if necessary. If you were interested in a luau, that would take one evening. We also did a catamaran cruise on Waikiki that took two hours.
On the North Shore, I'd recommend Sunset Beach (it was so dead in July when we were there and so peaceful). Waimea Bay Beach is much calmer for swimming, but a lot busier as well. I would check out Hale'iwa, a cute town up on the North Shore and stop at Aioki's for some shave ice. Grab lunch at a shrimp truck on the side of the road (we liked Fumi's).
When in Waikiki, I'd highly recommend Duke's for lunch or dinner.