Customer Reviews

Oahu Trailblazer: Where to Hike, Snorkel, Surf from Waikiki to the North Shore

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We highly recommend this book. This was our first visit to Hawaii and we bought it because we aren't keen on organized tours.

We started out slowly by following their trail through Honolulu downtown and beaching ourselves all afternoon near Waikiki. After getting over jetlag, we felt fresh enough on day two to hike to Manoa Falls and wander the arboretum nextdoor. That's when we knew we scored by buying this book - this list of trails seems endless and they all sound worth trying. Our big escape to Oahu was enormous fun and we eventually hope to see all the islands one year at a time.

It's surprising how many well established trails dot this island. Finding the brown and yellow trailhead signs would have been next to impossible without exact directions. The Trailblazer took care of that for us on Oahu. All the photos served as a fantastic preview of what we were in store for.

We needed things to keep our kids busy and Oahu Trailblazer was the answer. The perfect book for water sports, picnics and dayhiking. We rented our own boogieboards and found plenty of beaches to use them, a new experience for us. You'll find that this book is activity rich and multitiered for all levels. Our boys are 12 and 14 and took charge of planning our days using the trailblazer guide. They too give it High Five.

The Oahu Trailblazer came out right before we decided to get married on Waikiki Beach on December 8. We had used the Kauai and Maui Trailblazers and considered ourselves lucky with the timing of their newest book. We left the 6 lane freeways and crowds of Honolulu and found a whole system of trails where we found ourselves alone(at last). We really ate up the rural life and found it hard to tear away from watching the big wave riders at Sunset Beach. We had the best of both worlds.

Our week on Oahu was amazing but just way too short. The Trailblazer book helped us sort out all the beaches within a few hours of our hotel in Honolulu. Our major discoverey was Lanakai Beach where the color of the water was bright turquoise and it felt more like real Paradise with a long long stretch of sand to run. There are so many ideas in this book, sometimes we flipped a coin to decide. If you go, planning is key and so is this book to get it done. A month there would have been so nice!

For two couples not knowing their way around, this guidebook certainly was our anchor. It's an idea book and with it come all the directions.What we really valued: the detailed tour of the windward side that you never read about.The beaches there were prettier and cleaner than any of the ones we saw on Maui. Most fun: We split up to swim (with fins) and kayak to an offshore island for a picnic. The cliffs are more dramatic and the two lane road was so scenic. Driving directions in this book are right on. They've even recommended hotels and restaurants, just enough. We liked their take on Oahu.

We bought this book for hikes and snorkeling (after reading the Sprout's great guides for Maui and Kauai) but wound up using it as our all around guide for Oahu Island. We literally would have been lost without it. If you're thinking of hitting Waikiki and the famous snorkeling bay around the corner, this is your ticket. Getting there before everyone else and watching the turtles was a lifetime experience.

This book is full of good tips and it's fun to read and so well organized. A great deal!

Oahu was a good vacation spot. We picked the Ko Olina Resort and intended to stay put but came across this book before leaving. It changed everything and allowed us to sample the less trampled corners of the west side. In some places you'd never know you're on the same island that is home to Honolulu.

I guess you could call this a Full Service guide because it covers alot of territory. The travel tips for avoiding the commute traffic is worth the price of the book alone. Their walking tour of historic Honolulu was well worth our time, the Iolani Palace and Chinatown and Academy of Arts Museum - DO SEE, it filled up one day.

Our best beach experience was not Waikiki, but Sandy Beach were the water was bluer and the sand was yellow and clean. Both of us can unequivocally recommend trailblazing Oahu.

The driving force that got us up the trails was this guide. Inspiring, high adrenaline, options unlimited. All the big name stuff you'd expect plus alot of cool places you'd never dream of.
Our vote is ten stars.

We've been to other islands with this series and on the spur of the moment took a week off to try one that was new. One word for Oahu: exciting. There was diversity there like nightlife, shopping, great restaurants, history and drop dead beauty. We didn't realize this until we opened the pages of this book right before leaving. On the way over we planned our itinerary and everyday brought something more amazing than the next.

For starters, the hikes. We took six of them and discovered beautiful waterfalls and pools and lush green forests. These books really excel when it comes to directions to spots not many other tourists know about.

I recommend this guidebook. Oahu was a great destination.