From major cities to the off-the-beaten-track destinations, we’ve got this place covered. We’ll share the hidden gems that only a local can discover.
Founded by Bob and Pam Cooper, the Hawaiian Chocolate Company headquarters and six acre farm has been doing business in Kailua, Hawaii since relocating in 1997 from North Carolina.
Home of the world’s finest Estate chocolate, the Hawaiian Chocolate Company does not go the traditional route of making their chocolate from cocoa beans from various parts of the world. Instead, they grow cocoa beans from their own cacao trees. For five months, they wait until the pods are ripe before handpicking and slicing them open. Cocoa beans are extracted and fermented before being sun dried for almost a month.
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Spend any time watching TV or movies and the are is no doubt that you have seen Hawaii in a number of them. Some movies are obvious, films like Pearl Harbor and Blue Crush are a given. But, did you know Punch Drunk Love, LOST, and Tour of Duty were all filmed in Hawaii as well? Check out some of the other movies and TV shows we found there were filmed in Hawaii. Some of them might surprise you!
If you are looking to visit these locations, check out the Hummer Movie Tours
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South Shore Oahu,
1201 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu
It’s no wonder Ala Moana Beach Park on the south shore of Oahu is one of the most popular beaches among Oahu residents. The 76-acre park includes a beautiful ½ mile long stretch of beach that leads down to the beautiful blue (and swimmable) ocean waters. There are palms shading a beautiful picnic area with tables, pavilions and barbeques, a grassy area where locals like to fly kites, and a great stretch of beach in a very swimmer friendly section of coast line. There are also tennis courts for those looking to break a sweat before grilling up a batch of hotdogs. There are also lifeguards on duty, restrooms, showers and ample free parking. Located just west of the famous (and often crowded) Waikiki Beach, Ala Moana, which means “Path to the Sea” in Hawaiian, is one of Oahu’s greatest beach parks. It is also very family friendly, with plenty to satisfy everyone. It is easy to pack a cooler and spend the day at Ala Moana.
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South Lanai,
approximately 13 miles from Lanai City
Hulopo’e Beach on Lanai has been ranked as one of the world’s best beaches. In fact, in 1997 Dr. Stephen Letherman, a professional beach surveyor known as Dr. Beach, ranked Hulopo’e has the best beach in the entire United States. The golden sand beach fringed by palms and protected by fingers of coral, makes it one of the best spots in the islands. When you picture paradise, you picture a beach like Hulopo’e, the blue water sparkling and gently lapping onto the golden sand shores as palms sway in the breeze above. It is truly a magical spot.
Because of the protection provided by unique coral formations, Hulopo’e beach is the safest and best swimming spot in Lanai and offers great snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming and body boarding opportunities. The beach is also part of an extensive marine conservation preserve that stretches all the way from the shores of Maui to the south shore of Lanai The preserve is teeming with colorful tropical fish and humpback whales can be seen off shore in the winter months. The coral and rock formations in the shallower waters also provide great tide pooling opportunities during low tides.
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Kauai’s North Shore,
5-10 minutes north of Hanalei on Highway 56
Haena Beach Park is a favorite camping spot for both visitors and locals. Located on the very end of the North Shore of Kauai, the park sits at the edge of the Na Pali coast and is just a short walk to the famous snorkeling and swimming beach Tunnels. Haena is a small park (about 5.5 acres) situated just at the base of a green velvet coasted mountain looking out over turquiose colored surf. It offers a grassy picnic area with tables and benches, restrooms, cold showers, shady trees and camping spots.
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Any true fan of LOST, the hit TV show, is well aware that the majority of the show is filmed all over the islands of Hawaii. If you have ever been to Hawaii, some of the shows landmarks and filming locations are easy to spot, but others are a little deeper in the jungle and hard to find. SO, for all you hardcore LOST fans who want to visit Hurleys golf course, see the caves from season one, or the famous crash site; you may want to look into the LOST TV Tour by Big Kahuna Hawaii.
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1450 Ala Moana Blvd.
Honolulu, Big Island
808-955-9517
Want to take an afternoon away from the beach and do some shopping on your Hawaiian getaway? If you are looking for the ultimate one-stop shopping spot, it is for sure the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu. Not only is Ala Moana the largest shopping center in the islands, it was once the largest mall in the entire United States when it first opened in 1959. Today it remains one of the 15 largest malls in the U.S. With almost 300 shops and restaurants, a center stage for performances and open-air corridors lined with palm trees and tropical vegetation, it is easy to spend an entire day shopping and eating at Ala Moana.
Ala Moana has a myriad of different shops from beachwear and souvenirs to high fashion. The restaurants are just as varied, with everything from a casual food court to fine dining. The mall has all the major department stores, many local shops and designer stores like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Versace and Armani.
In addition to great shopping, Ala Moana also has a variety of different events and activities throughout the summer for tourists who want to be entertained while doing their shopping. The Royal Hawaiian Band (accompanied by hula dancers) frequently plays at Center Stage, which is one of the most popular amphitheatres in Hawaii.
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Pololu Valley
End of Highway 270, Big Island
Pololu Valley is a pristine and beautiful valley once inhabited by early Hawaiians, but long since abandoned because of fear of Tsunamis. The valley, however, offers spectacular vistas of green sloping cliffs dropping into the ocean below. Pololu Beach, located at the bottom of the valley, is also a gorgeous black sand beach. Because of these areas inaccessibility to cars, the area remains calm and pristine and is a great out of the way destination.
To get to Pololu Valley, drive to the very end of Highway 270 on the big island. At the parking lot/trailhead at the end of the highway you can either enjoy the spectacular scenery from your car, or you can take the adventurous route and hike down into the valley and onto the black sand beach below. The hike is relatively short (about 25 minutes), but is rather steep and can be wet and treacherous. In fact, the trail was long closed due to earthquake damage, but has now re-opened to the public. The zigzagging dirt path will take you through beautiful ironwood trees, through marshland, lead you past the creek flowing through the valley and offer you stunning views of waterfalls and the cliffs dropping into the ocean.
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Lanai,
approximately 7 miles outside of Lanai City
Lanai is the often forgotten and much more remote island in the Hawaiian archipelago. Consisting of a gigantic pineapple plantation for decades owned by Hawaii’s pineapple king James Dole, there is less development and fewer places to stay for visitors. But for tourists who want to get off the beaten path in Hawaii, Lanai offers a plethora of unique and interesting landscapes. One popular spot for tourists is the Garden of the Gods in North Central Lanai. The moon-like landscape of red and purple soil and interesting rock makes you feel like you are visiting another planet. The area got its name from the ancient Hawaiian people who thought the rock formations and boulders looked like they had been dropped from the sky by the gods tending their gardens. The unique formations were actually created by thousands of years or erosion, which created the rock pinnacles and buttes in the remote canyon area. The landscape gets an even more eerie feel by the dry wind the often blows through this area.
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When I first saw the name “Molokini” I assumed it was either a new kind of tiny swimsuit or a fruity but potent cocktail. Thankfully, I was wrong on both counts.
Molokini is a tiny crescent-shaped island off the coast of Maui, and it’s a great spot for snorkeling and diving. Its distinct shape is half of a volcanic crater being above water, although Hawaiian legend holds that the island is part of the body of the goddess Molokini. Regardless of the island’s origins, Molokini is a beautiful spot off the southern coast of Maui. The Molokini volcano underneath the water reportedly last erupted more than 200,000 years ago, so visitors shouldn’t worry too much about it.
The tiny island - an islet, really - of Molokini is a haven for diving and snorkeling, partly because of the abundance of sea life that just naturally exists around Hawaii and partly because the volcano’s crater means that waters in certain parts are only 35 feet deep. This makes it a great spot for beginners, although even experienced divers will appreciate what Molokini has to offer. For instance, there’s an underwater wall that goes down 70 feet, and around the back side of the crater the ocean floor drops down 350 feet. One of the charms of Molokini that makes it such a great spot for checking out what’s going on underwater is that the water around the island is stunningly clear most of the time.
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