Places to Visit on Oahu- Waimea Valley

Another place we visited on Oahu was Waimea Valley. Here you can walk through some lovely botanical gardens as you make your way to a waterfall. The main path is wide and paved.

There is an admission price to enter the gardens and walk to the falls, but it is well worth it. You’ll enjoy the casual stroll and lush green scenery.

This was an area showing off traditional Hawaiian houses. You might miss this section if you don’t go off one of the side detours.

It is not one of the more impressive waterfalls, but it is fun because you can swim and enjoy the water (as long as you wear one of their lifejackets). The water is 30 feet deep.

The word waimea translates to “reddish brown water” in Hawaiian.

I waited twenty minutes for this stunning guy to flaunt his lovely tail feathers. He was in the free part of the park. There is also a restaurant called The Proud Peacock (which we didn’t try out) and a concession stand.

Stay tuned for my final post on this series and if you’ve missed any of my previous posts, make sure you check them out. You can start here with my visit to Pearl Harbor. ♥ Thanks for stopping by!

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Places to Visit on Oahu- Dole Plantation

Visiting the lovely Hawaiian island of Oahu? So far, I’ve highlighted Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Cultural Center as two great tourist destinations on Oahu. Today I want to add the Dole Plantation to my list. Plan to spend 2-3 hours here, possibly longer depending on how many experiences you choose.

One of the views of the plantation from the train ride

First you’ll enter their specialty store (not pictured), where you’ll be tempted by all kinds of fun merchandise, including pineapple specialty treats. There are also pineapple cutting demonstrations and a grille. Don’t miss out on a tasty Dole Whip. Yum!

This train just unloaded its passengers and was on its way to pick up more.

From the store, venture out back where you can purchase tickets to ride the Pineapple Express train. This is how you tour the plantation fields. And who doesn’t enjoy a train ride?

After the train ride, why not take a stroll through the plantation gardens? We purchased combination tickets that included both the train and the gardens. The gardens are a self-guided tour. There is a free app you download for an audio tour if you’d like. (There is free WiFi at the plantation.)

There is also a giant garden maze to explore, but I can’t tell you anything about it because we only took the train ride and walked through the lovely gardens. But it sounds fun!

So, if you find yourself in Oahu (lucky you!) than I recommend a visit to the lovely Dole Plantation.