Which Hawaiian Island Do I Choose For My Vacation If I Want To Go To ...

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A view of Pearl Harbor showing the USS Missouri Battleship and the USS Arizona Memorial

Pearl Harbor is home to the USS Arizona Memorial, Mighty Mo, Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum and the USS Bowfin submarine. With Pearl Harbor’s importance in American history, many people want to make sure they see it as part of their first Hawaii vacation. A question I commonly hear is: which island should I choose for my Hawaii vacation if I want to see Pearl Harbor?

Many people assume that they must plan an Oahu vacation in order to see Pearl Harbor. An Oahu vacation certainly makes visiting Pearl Harbor easy. However, you can actually stay on any Hawaiian island and visit Pearl Harbor with a day trip to Oahu.

With Oahu being the central airport hub of Hawaii, you can find more flights to and from Oahu from the other islands, which makes taking a day trip easy. Inter-island flights are relatively short — approximately 20 to 40 minutes long. (See our inter-island transportation guide.)

Getting access to the USS Arizona Memorial has become more challenging over the years. Several years back, a new, online reservation system was implemented, which makes it both more stressful and difficult to secure access. As such, we no longer recommend DIY day trip, island hops to Oahu. Instead, we recommend a guided tour that does all the planning, reservations and ticketing for you. See the following pages for advice on how to visit  Pearl Harbor from Kauai, Maui and the Big Island.

  • How to island hop from Kauai to Oahu to see Pearl Harbor 
  • How to island hop from Maui to Oahu to see Pearl Harbor
  • How to island hop from Hawaii, the Big Island to see Pearl Harbor
Sheila Beal

Sheila Beal is the founder and editor of Go Visit Hawaii. You can connect with Sheila Beal on Twitter, Go Visit Hawaii on Facebook, or Instagram.

5 comments

  1. Hi Sheila, we will be visiting Waikiki shortly. My children ages 14&12 want to take surfing lessons. Do you recommend a safe place for this on the island?. Do I need to purchase special gear beforehand. Also for snorkeling should we pack are own gear as suitcase space is limited. We plan on bringing carry-ons only. Cheers

    Reply

    1. Check out Hawaiian Fire for surfing lessons. I’ve not personally tried them, but I’ve heard many, many good things about them. It’s run by Honolulu firemen in their off time. They also hold the lessons on a beach with gentle waves. You don’t need any special gear for that.

      You can easily rent snorkel gear on the island.

      Reply

  2. Hi. I will be visiting in August on Norweigen cruise ship and was wondering since it appears its free to visit the Arizona how can I get there from the ship? Is it far or difficult? The excursion is over $100 a person and I’m thinking it can be cheaper to find another way to go. Also the Kauai helicopter that you recommend does that go over a volcano? Do they pick you y=up from the ship? Which Luau do u suggest? Thank you

    Reply

    1. I don’t know what a taxi ride would cost from the cruise ship to the USS Arizona Memorial, but I’m guessing it would be less than $100 round trip. If you got a rental car, you could probably do quite a bit of the Oahu sight-seeing listed in this post: https://govisithawaii.com/2011/04/04/a-day-trip-island-hop-to-oahu/

      There isn’t an active volcano on Kauai. I doubt helicopter tour companies pick you up from the ship, but you should call them to ask and verify that.

      There are lots of great luaus in Hawaii, so it’s hard to choose just one.

      Reply

      1. By the way, you can get shuttle service from the pier to the rental car companies.

        Reply
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