Hawaii Itinerary for 7 days for families

This is our Hawaii Itinerary for 7 days, perfect for families!

Let me start of by saying this was a 7-day trip for a family of four on the island of Oahu. Our kids are teen/tween age, and this trip was in July. Those things matter for planning based on weather and kids ages and interests.

This is how we planned our trip. Hopefully, it can give you some ideas on how you can enjoy a family trip to Hawaii. Of course, feel free to tailor this itinerary to what suits your family best. I've shared some other fun ideas that we just didn't have time for on our trip at the bottom of the post.

Feel free to use these links below to skip ahead to different parts of the trip:

Hawaii Trip with Kids Highlights:

• Turtle Bay

• Surfing North Shore

• Food City Poke Bowls

• 7-11 Spam Musubi

• Island Soul Shaved Ice

• Kualoa Ranch Tour

• Byodo-In Temple

• Leonard's Bakery

• Hale Koa Luau

• Bishop Museum

• Lolani Palace

• Shark's Cove snorkeling

• Lanikai Beach and Kailua Beach

Hawaiian Itinerary for Families

Day 1 - Travel day, Waikiki beach

Travel to Hawaii and get checked into your room. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu.

We had a few self-guided snorkel things planned for later that week, so we immediately went and bought snorkels for everyone and extra bottles of reef safe sunblock since Hawaii has strict regulations on reef safe sunblock to protect its marine life. We also stopped at 7-11 and got a Musubi snack because we heard it was amazing, and it was!

We didn't want to go far since it had been a long travel day, but had a few hours so we headed down to Waikiki beach by our hotel to play in the surf and just unwind after a long travel day. Then we ordered food for dinner to take back to our room. The view of the saltwater lagoon was beautiful!

Day 2 - Swim with Turtles and Poke on the Beach

We started off our first full day with a boat ride out to Turtle Bay to swim with green sea turtles. We used the company Living Ocean Tours. One of our tour guides was great and swam down and got an awesome video of a turtle for us. In Hawaii, you can be fined for touching turtles, even by accident, so don't risk it and always be aware of your surroundings when snorkeling or swimming. We saw lots of pretty fish, green sea turtles, stingray, and even dolphins! If you aren't a fan of boats (I'm not really, don't worry we saw sea turtles and did lots of snorkeling to see fish so you could skip this if you want).

Tip - Invest in swim shirts. We got sunburned badly on a snorkel trip in Belize, so now we always bring swim shirts when we're going out on the water, the extra SPF never hurts. Also, the water off the coast and boat ride was pretty choppy. If you are prone to getting seasick I recommend having Dramamine or seasick bands on hand.

Then, we stopped for Poke at Foodland. Yes, it's grocery store but it is delicious and affordable poke. They have a deli style poke counter where you build your own bowl by choosing the rice, poke, and any add-ons you want. Seriously, so so amazing! I will never get over how fresh that tasted. You can get a poke bowl for as little as 7.99.

We took our poke to Waimanalo Beach Park and ate under the shade of the trees by the beach. We spent the afternoon, reading, playing in the water, and snorkeling.

Day 3 - North Shore - Surfing, Snorkeling, and more Turtles

In the morning, we drove up to North Shore to take surfing lessons. We booked lessons through Fozzy's Surf School and had a blast learning to surf on Chun's Reef. We did a private small group lesson which was 2 hours and you get right out on the board after a quick tutorial of how to get up. It's much harder than it looks though and so exhausting. Our instructor was so nice and patient with us and made sure we each got some good waves to ride. We paid for the extra photo/video package, which was fun to look back on even though we fell a lot.

After surfing we were all starving, so we drove up to Shark's Cove which is part of Pupukea Beach Park. There is a small sandy beach area but the water into the cove is very rocky. There are several food trucks set up across the street. There was a good variety of food ranging between garlic shrimp, burgers, tacos, and shaved ice. There were also shaded picnic tables to sit at and enjoy eating.

Then, we spent the afternoon hoping around different beaches - snorkeling in Shark's Cove one of Oahu's best snorkeling spots and watching sea turtles and relaxing on Laniakea Beach also known as turtle beach.

Day 4 - Kuoloa Ranch and Byodo Temple

We decided to take a break from the beaches and do some sightseeing in the mountains. On this day we booked a jungle expedition tour at Kualoa Ranch. You can ride in open air jungle jeeps through the ranch and explore many scenic views as well as filming locations (Jurassic World, Kong Skull Island and Jumanji). There are other tours you can take if you're interested in seeing more of the film locations.

There are a lot of Japanese immigrants in Hawaii. We were close to the Byodo-in Temple which is a stunning red Buddhist temple nestled at the bottom of the Ko’olau mountains. It is a replica of a 1,000 year old temple in Japan, and a beautiful place to worship, meditate, or just admire the beauty. Perfect for slowing down and recharging after a busy few days.

Day 5 - Beach Bum Day - Windward Side (East)

We started our morning off with donuts from Leonard's Bakery the home of delicious malasadas a Portuguese donuts. We took our donuts and went to find some beautiful beaches - Lanikai Beach and Kailua Beach. I wanted to spend as much time on the beautiful beaches as we could. We didn't want to leave for too long and we had loved the poke so much we did it again for lunch on the beach. After spending pretty much the whole day being beach bums, we headed back to our hotel for showers and then went out for homemade Udon at Marugame Udon in Honolulu.

Day 6 - Resort Day - Hula lessons, Pool/Waikiki, and Dinner Luau

We have learned we do best on busy vacations like this if we can have a day of rest somewhere along the way. A day we can sleep in, enjoy the hotel amenities and not have to drive anywhere. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village which I would highly recommend. A beautiful resort with multiple pools, private lagoon, shopping, and right on the Waikiki Beach.

My daughter and I took free Hula lessons offered at the resort (always check the activity calendar), did some shopping at the resort shops, and spent time enjoying the resort pools and poolside cafe.

We ended the day by going to a Luau. We are military, so we got tickets to the Hale Koa Luau. We saw amazing dancers, roasting a pig, and got to our own make leis and leaf woven crowns. My daughter even volunteered to go on stage for Tahiti dancing lessons. The night ended with a performance from the fire knife champion Hale, and of course the food was amazing!

We ended the night with the Friday night fireworks over Waikiki Beach. Every Friday, the Hilton Hawaiian Resort shoots off fireworks.

Day 7 - History Day - Bishop Museum and Lolani Palace

We decided to learn a little bit of Hawaiian culture on our last full day in Hawaii. We started at the Bishop Museum which is full of natural and cultural exhibits. The last original straw hut standing is preserved inside which was so cool. The Hawaiian Hall section is a three-story space full of Hawaii history. We especially enjoyed learning about the Hawaiian Gods.

We grabbed some shaved ice at nearby Island Soul Shaved Ice to cool off. They had so many amazing flavors and my son enjoyed building his own shaved ice.

Then, we took a tour of Lolani Palace, the former residence of the Hawaiian monarchy. It was also the first palace to have electricity, even before the White House! After the monarchy was overthrown, Queen Liliʻuokalani was imprisoned in one of the rooms for several months. You can take a guided tour to see the palace and the regalia it houses.

Other things to do in Oahu:

We had so many things on our list of things to do in Hawaii but we had to narrow it down. Here are some other spots that maybe you want to mix and match to make your own itinerary.

• Dole Plantation - Learn about Hawaii's pineapple growing tradition and of course enjoy some Dole Whip!

• Pearl Harbor - Remember the attack on Pearl Harbor and honor those who lost their lives during WWII.

• Manoa Falls - Hike to a 100 foot waterfall in the rainforest near Honolulu.

• Hanauma Bay - America's Best Beach, also Hawaii's deadliest beach, $25 fee per person to swim and it is recommended to reserve tickets online in advance.

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• Diamond Head - Hawaii's most recognizable landmark with hiking trail and stunning views.

• Duke Kahanamoku Statue - Hawaii's most well-known and well-loved surfers

• Honolulu Zoo - another fun family activity, especially if you have younger kids.

• Polynesian Culture Center - I heard great things about this one stop type place but we didn't have a full day to dedicate to it and opted to do other local museums instead.

Travel must-have items for Hawaii

Swim shirt - we learned the hard way one year that on a boat and snorkeling you can very quickly get sunburnt and that makes for a less fun rest of the trip. This is a must have for our beach vacations now.

Luau outfits - shop women/men/kids/matching family

water shoes - a great addition for those beaches with rocks like Shark's Cove (above)

snorkel gear - you can literally snorkel anywhere so take your own gear

Reef-safe sunblock - Hawaii has strict regulations on sunscreens so make sure you are getting reef safe sunblock. Of course you can always buy more there but bringing your own is helpful.

seasick bands - if you plan on taking any boat rides and are prone to getting seasick

flip flops - I like the ones with arch support these or these

phone dry bag - if you're on the beach, boat, or out snorkeling this is a great must have

power bank - to keep your devices charged wherever you are on the island all day!

compression bags - great for saving space in the suitcase

sunglasses - protect your eyes with sunglasses for the whole family

beach mat - oversized for the whole family

aloe vera - if you do get a sunburn this is a lifesaver

underwater camera - the kids loved these while snorkeling

beach bag - you'll need something to carry all your stuff to the beach

electrolyte powder - Stay hydrated after being out in the sun and heat all day

You can see a lot of the places we visited or mentioned in this illustration by Asta Wu of Oahu Island.