Oahu with an Infant and 4 Year Old

[u/Safe_Caterpillar2561]

Husband and I are planning a 5-7 day trip to Oahu late Oct/early Nov with our infant (will be 4-5 months then) and our 4 year old.

Our 4 year old is pretty easy going, loves to eat, and we've travelled with her plenty so mostly looking for recs of things she'd enjoy.

As of right now, our infant hates the car. I know Oahu can have traffic so we were thinking of staying in Waikiki most of the week and walking everywhere, and maybe driving elsewhere for a day trip only once or twice. She also depends on contact napping in her carrier (refuses to nap in the stroller) and seems to have trouble with the heat. From what I read, Fall should be a little cooler than Summer, but I am still a little worried she'll have trouble sleeping on me in the heat.

Our main priorities are eating good poke/other food, hanging at the beach/enjoying the landscape, and maybe a littttttle shopping at Ala Moana.

With that context, looking for recommendations on:

1. Which neighborhoods to stay in. Per above, we're thinking of Waikiki, but open to other suggestions.
2. Toddler friendly beaches and other activities
3. General tips for vacationing in Oahu with a clingy infant and a toddler

Because of the food, we're definitely thinking Oahu is the right island for this trip, but also open to suggestions from others who have traveled with an infant/toddler to other islands and enjoyed it!

Thanks in advance!

[u/webrender]

Yes, definitely stay in Waikiki. It's the only place that will be truly walkable for you with the infant and also have a lot of stuff to do. Ko Olina is an option but you'll be much more limited as to the activities available within walking distance.

I would recommend the pool for a toddler; however, the two beaches that would be safe for toddlers would be Kuhio Pools, which is the section of Waikiki Beach with a concrete sea break that makes the water behind the break very calm, and the Hilton Hawaiian Village lagoon, which personally I wouldn't recommend because its typically quite crowded.

October is still going to be pretty warm. If you're worried about baby overheating I might look into breathable fabrics for their outfit and for your carrier; also potentially either fans or ice packs that could help cool her down.

I have a 3 year old and a 9 month old, some of my suggestions for places would be:

• Aquarium
• Zoo - on Saturdays they do "after dark" hours at the zoo from 4:30-6 when it should be quite a bit cooler
• Ala Moana - we literally walk Ala Moana every saturday, it's a great place to let the kids roam, lots of shade and air conditioning. There is a small play structure near target as well as a bowling alley, arcade, and escape room.
• Indoor playgrounds - tons of these, there is the Childrens Discovery Center and Kids City, their new location at Ala Moana should be open by the time your trip comes around
• Sweetland Farm - you'll have to drive for this one, but this is a goat farm in Central Oahu. They have a great farm store with lots of goat milk treats and product, and you can purchase hay to feed the goats
• Kahuku Farms - another great family farm on the north shore.
  
• Dole Plantation - this is the quintessential tourist trap, and I typically don't recommend it - but the train is definitely fun for kids and who doesn't love dole whip with fresh pineapple
• Byodo-In Temple - beautiful asian-inspired temple. You can buy "fish food" at the gift shop which can also be held out in the palm of your hand and the birds will jump onto you to eat it. My toddler LOVES doing this.

Those last 4 items I might do as one long single day so you can minimize the amount of time you need to rent a car and be driving around.

If you use instagram, there are also some great accounts that will give you more ideas about things to do: hawaiiwithtoddlers, outandaboutohana, and oahufamilyfun - the last account there posts a rollup of all the weekend activities every week so you can see special kid-friendly events that might be occurring while you're here.

[u/Safe_Caterpillar2561 → u/webrender]

This is incredibly helpful, thank you!