10 Best Outdoor Adventures in Honolulu

Kualoa Ranch is a private nature reserve that offers among the best outdoor adventures in Honolulu. At the ranch, you can ride horses, ATVs, and explore the beautiful landscape of this expansive preserve on Oahu’s north-eastern shore by pedal-assisted electric mountain bikes. You and your family can even go ziplining with tandem rides available.

Adventures at Kualoa Ranch take you through some wild, breathtaking tropical scenery, especially in the lush and aptly named Jurassic Valley – it was front-and-centre during the filming of key scenes for the Jurassic Park movies. Such tours take you through the same vast open greenness as Richard Attenborough, Sam Neill, and their co-stars did in jeeps in memorable scenes from the movie.

Diamond Head is a huge volcanic crater and one of Hawaii’s most famous state parks and natural monuments. Locals refer to this natural feature at the eastern edge of Waikiki’s coastline as Leʻahi – ahi itself is Hawaiian for “tuna”. From afar, the high-rising ridgeline profile does indeed resemble a tuna’s dorsal fin.

The unique monument is well-known for its 0.8-mile historic hiking trail. This trail welcomes determined hikers with a reward of breathtaking ocean panoramas from the top. Diamond Head also has an interpretive kiosk where you can gain a deeper understanding of the natural aspects and the history of the crater.

Kaneohe Bay is a snorkellers’ and sea kayakers’ paradise on Oahu’s pristine eastern shore. The bay has clear, protected waters with sections where you can view the reef teeming with vibrant marine life from the surface. There are also sandbars as well as uniquely shaped offshore islands where you can land as you paddle further out.

Among the unique small islands is Mokoli’I, nicknamed “Chinaman’s Hat” due to its 200-ft tall hill, which makes it resemble a conical hat. The aptly named Sand Bar or Sunken Island often appears only at low tide. And when it does, it serves as an oasis the size of a football field in the middle of the bay – a great snorkelling base. You can launch your kayak from Kualoa Beach Park to the north.

Oahu spoils hikers with a wide variety of adventures to choose from. As the 3^rd largest of the Hawaiian Islands, it has a diverse topography paired with breathtaking natural scenery. Besides the ever-popular Diamond Head crater, for some of the best valley views on Oahu you can try the Kuliouou Ridge Trail, which awards you with panoramas of the Kailua coastline as well as the Koko Crater, northeast of Hanauma Bay.

Koko Crater and Hanauma Bay also each have their own hiking trails. The 2-mile Makapu‘u Point Lighthouse Trail offers views of Koko Crater, plus whale watching from the lighthouse itself. Whether it be ridgeline, mountain forest, or oceanfront, Oahu offers the challenge for any hike.

Pūpūkea-Paumalū Forest Reserve on Oahu’s north shore is home to one of the island’s best trails for mountain biking. The whole reserve is about 782 acres in size, with the exceptional Kaunala trail stretching for about 2.5 miles. The course’s terrain is highly varied, combining ridge and valley trails, and accommodating various skill levels.

The undulating red dirt trails that snake through the paperbark woods bring an adrenaline rush as soon as you launch off the wooden ramps. The trail network is quite dense so you could navigate and make it your own. The scenery also varies throughout the trail, so you’re never short of an exciting downhill experience. The trail is shared with hikers so always remember to give way to other adventurers enjoying the woods at a different pace.

There are well over a dozen waterfalls in Oahu, most of which are hidden among rainforests but readily accessible to hikers via trails. Top of the list is Manoa Falls with its 150-ft-tall cascade. Waimea Falls is shorter, about 45 ft tall, but reachable via beautiful botanical garden grounds.

For a wilder experience, consider a hike down to Maunawili Falls, where you'll find a pool that you can jump into from steep rocks. Talking about rocky pools in dreamy settings, Waimano Falls is worth a try, but it’s one of the most challenging hikes to get to, with sheer rock faces and steep slopes overgrown with tree roots involved. To seasoned hikers, this simply translates as just another challenge to conquer.

Oahu’s best surf spots go beyond the famous waves of Waikiki Beach – there are plenty of other surf breaks around the island for wave riders to conquer. Firstly, there’s the unmissable Banzai Pipeline, or simply “the Pipeline” reef break off Ehukai Beach Park on the North Shore. For extreme riders and pros, and as exhilarating to watch as it is to ride, earning the title as the world's deadliest break.

The North Shore is reserved for the pros, and another reef break to conquer is Hale’iwa, right off Ali’i Beach Park. With considerable rights and lefts, it offers some barrelling action during perfect conditions. Surfing off Pua’ena Point is popular among intermediates thanks to the foam and small bay-like setting. Fresh beginners can opt for the mellow eaves off Diamond Head, or Chun’s Reef with its gentle, after-break section.

Oahu has several places where you can zipline through the island’s spectacular scenery while experiencing a continuous adrenaline rush. There are several places around the island where you can speed across beautiful scenery with a true bird’s-eye view.

Kualoa Ranch has ziplining through Jurassic Park land. Coral Crater Adventure Park is a family treetop adventure park with ziplining for all in the family. Bay View Mini-Putt offers ziplining besides golf, and CLIMB Works at Keana Farms has parallel lines that let you race against friends or family members over treetops by the coast.

Diving in Oahu takes you to see the island’s underwater gardens, which can be just as beautiful as its overland scenery. The great dive sites around Oahu teem with diverse marine life such as green sea turtles and butterflyfish, as well as whales during certain times of the year. But beyond the coral reefs, you also have a good choice of wreck dives, with ships and sunken warplanes among the highlights.

One is the Sea Tiger wreck near Kewalo Basin, with nudibranches and occasional whitetip reef sharks to see. Right off Waikiki, there’s the YO-257, a former World War II replenishment oil tanker with cutaway sections accessible to divers. Another great shipwreck you can dive through is the 109-ft-long Nashua tugboat that sits on the sand 65 ft under the waves off Pearl Harbor. For a haunting sight, there’s the World War II Corsair plane wreck that lies below 115 ft of water off Oahu’s southeast coast.

Oahu’s collection of beaches is pretty varied, with some offering exciting reef breaks for surfers and others offering calm waves that are ideal for snorkellers. With trade winds blowing from the northeast, Oahu’s south and southwest shores are where you want to take your snorkel and fin.

Hanauma Bay tops the list of the best snorkelling spots near Honolulu. This secluded nature preserve that formed within a volcanic cone is a lively natural habitat – you can snorkel right from the coast and you’re almost guaranteed a sighting of sea turtles. The rocky coast of Shark's Cove is another great snorkelling site, part of Pupukea Beach Park on the North Shore. Colourful schooling fish and marine life live among the rocky nooks, sometimes even visible from the surface.