Top 10 Free Things to Do in North Shore, Oahu

Only about an hour drive from bustling Waikiki, North Shore in Oahu is the perfect mixture of beautiful beaches, an adorable rustic town, plenty of fun things to do, as well as the peace and tranquility that you won't be able to find in Waikiki. This is why North Shore is our favorite place to stay every time we visit Oahu. We've compiled a list of our top 10 favorite things not to miss if you're visiting North Shore, but keep in mind this list is not in any particular order. The first item on our list is making a visit to the Dole Plantation. Here you will find a pretty massive gift shop where you can get a ton of your souvenirs. Of course, a ton of what you'll find here is pineapple themed. They have everything from stuffed animals to lotions and soaps, snacks, and much more. This plantation has been in operation for over 120 years, so it's obvious that this place has a ton of history, some of which you can learn by exploring the grounds. And of course, one of the other things that we can do as we exit the gift shop is pick up some of the famous Dole Whip. If you do nothing else while you're here, get yourself a big bowl of Dole Whip. It's amazing. You can also hop aboard the Pineapple Express train tour, which takes you on a two-mile loop around the plantation. This is a narrated tour, so you'll be learning a ton about the day-to-day operations that produce these delicious pineapples. If you prefer to walk around, you can always take the Plantation Garden Tour. It never fails. Every time we visit, there are tons of tiny little golf ball to baseball sized pineapples, and they're super cute. A slightly lesser known fact is that in addition to pineapples, they also grow cacao here. And because of that, they have chocolate making demonstrations in the gift shop. If you're looking to challenge yourself, you can take on the Pineapple Garden Maze, which the Guinness Book of World Records declared the world's largest maze back in 2008. And one of the last things that you can see here is tons of roosters, chickens, and cats, which you know V and I were very excited about. Most of them were super cute and playful, but there were a couple that had a tiny bit of attitude, as you can see right here. So watch your fingers. On to item number two on our list, which is visiting Old Town Haleava. This is the perfect beach town with its laid-back vibe. It's also home to the Wailua Bakery, which has one of the best acai bowls that we've ever had. In addition to that, they evidently have the best buns on the North Shore and tons of other tasty treats. In addition to their amazing acai bowls, they also have really tasty smoothies here. And there's one other thing that makes us love this place so much, and that is the Gold Dust Day Geckos, who seem to be regulars here. They're always happy to clean up what falls out of your bowl, and they're so cute. After fueling up on delicious and healthy food, we headed out on the town. There are a ton of food options here, and you can even stop by the Clark Little Gallery. If you've never heard of him, he's an insane photographer that takes the pictures of the insides of waves. On the far end of town, you will see the Haleava Store Lots. It's usually pretty easy to spot, because there are a ton of people here for a reason that we'll cover in just a second. The Haleava Fruit Stand is another great place to stop by if you want to stock up on some souvenirs. They have a lot of cool stuff here, and on the average, it seems to be fairly reasonably priced. But the main star of this shopping center has to be Matsumoto's Shave Ice. It seems like it doesn't matter what time of day you stop by, the line is way out past the door. But the good thing is that even though the line can be really long at times, it seems like they get through it pretty fast. And once you taste the Shave Ice here, you'll understand why it's in such high demand, because it is delicious. They also have a pretty good assortment of flavors here, so you should be able to find something for everybody. We've covered a lot of sweets and treats so far, but if you're looking for a tasty lunch, you should head on over to the food trucks on the south side of town. A lot of these food trucks are open seven days a week, but if you have your heart set on one particular one, you might want to check their hours on Yelp. Item number three on our list is actually just outside of Haleiwa, and it's kayaking on the Anahulu River. If you have your own water toys, this is free and you can launch from the Haleiwa Beach Park. But if you don't have any, worry not, because there are a couple of rental places like Surf and Sea. The rentals are really affordable here, and this is a great beginner's paddle. It's even a great one for people who have never been in a kayak before. If you want to see our full video about this adventure, be sure to click in the upper corner right now. We have all the information in that video if you want to experience this for yourself. One great thing about this is that it will probably only take you about 45 minutes to an hour and a half, so you don't have to devote an entire day to it, and you can probably hit two or three other items on this list. Be sure to keep your eyes on these shores as you make your way up and down the river, because what we thought were boulders actually ended up being green sea turtles. If you aren't done with the water by the time you make your way back to shore, you can head on over to number four on this list, which is snorkeling at Shark Cove. This is one of the most popular spots in Hawaii for snorkeling because of its crystal clear water and tons of colorful fish. There are also coral reefs here, and you might even spot a green sea turtle. In the winter, you can only snorkel inside the cove because of the powerful waves, but there's still plenty to see. If you plan on getting into the water, you're going to want to either have flippers or water shoes on, because the entire area is covered in sharp volcanic rock. This can be pretty painful on your feet, but this is also the same rock that's protecting you from that pounding surf. Even though it can get pretty crowded at times, the cove is large enough where you can find a spot that makes you feel like you have it all to yourself. It seemed like a lot of the people were hanging out close to the shore, so we decided that we would head out towards the seawall. You do need to be careful because the waves do crash over it pretty hard sometimes, and you definitely don't want to get slammed into the volcanic rocks. Now it's time to head off to our next destination, which is visiting the sea turtles at Laniakea Beach. Not only is the pristine sand of this beach a great place to lay down your beach towel and enjoy the view, but the far end of the beach is regularly visited by sea turtles. Please note that these turtles are protected. Most of the time there is a red rope showing how close you can get to the turtles, but even if there's not, please be sure to give them 10 feet of space. We highly recommend bringing a camera with a good bit of zoom on it because that's the only way that you'll be able to get up close and personal with these turtles. In fact, harassing sea turtles, monk seals, dolphins, or whales is punishable by jail time, so we would not recommend it. Our next stop on the tour is visiting Waimea Bay Beach Park. This is yet another stunning beach, and in the winter it is known to have some of the largest surf in the world. If the waves surpass 30 feet tall, the Eddie Akau Surf Competition will be held here. Obviously if the conditions are like that, you do not want to swim here, but during the summertime the bay is transformed. The water has become extremely calm and it's perfect for swimming, snorkeling, and bodyboarding. If you're a bit of a thrill seeker, this large rock at the end of the beach is known for cliff jumping as well. For a second we thought this guy was going to jump off into the thrashing surf, but it turned out that he was just up there for a photo op. And we also spotted this girl rock climbing, so that's another option this beach has as well. Even if playing in the water or climbing rocks doesn't sound like your thing, this is a great spot to catch a sunset. You don't get to see it drop all the way down into the water, but as you can see right here, it's really beautiful watching the sun sink down behind the rocks. The big surf theme is continuing on to our next spot which is the Bonsai Pipeline. Be sure to pay attention to parking because evidently they don't mess around here, and also respect the locals. Not only here, but everywhere that you go on the islands. The Bonsai Pipeline is a legendary place where the best of the best come to showcase their skills. Obviously this is not a spot for beginners and they are known to get 30 foot waves here as well. It was definitely impressive watching these surfers take on these massive waves. They were definitely putting on a great show for the crowd, and it was fun to be a part of the audience's reaction. Everything from cheers when someone pulled off some awesome feet, to the ooh when someone wiped out really hard. Luckily surfers are tough and we didn't see anyone get hurt that day. We are now on to number eight on our list, and that is hiking to Catana Point. There are actually two routes that you can take to get to the Bird Sanctuary on Catana Point. The footage that you see right here is from the North Shore route at the end of Farrington Highway. If you want to learn more about this five mile hike, click up in the upper corner right now because we also made a full-length video about this adventure. Depending on what season you're visiting, once inside the sanctuary you will hopefully be able to see lots of Laysan albatross and monk seals. But remember as I said earlier, be sure to give the monk seals plenty of space. Luckily I had my Sony camera with me so I had plenty of zoom. Number nine on our list is going swing hunting. As we made our way along the coast we were lucky enough to spot several swings on postcard worthy beaches. Some of them were easier to get on than others, but with enough perseverance V was able to figure it out. Obviously these swings were out on public beaches, so if you decide to go swing hunting please obey all rules and don't trespass into someone's yard just because they have a swing. This is definitely a fun activity to do if you have a day where you don't have anything scheduled and there's not much more peaceful than hanging out on a swing and looking out over the ocean. We have finally reached the last item on our list and it is finding hidden beaches. Once again please be sure to respect the locals. If you see a sign that says Kapu on it, that means stay out. There are beaches in Hawaii that are locals only and it's very important that we respect that and give them their space. And besides there are plenty of beautiful hidden beaches all over the islands so there's plenty to go around. Whichever one you end up finding yourself on please be sure to clean up after yourself and leave the place looking even better than you found it. And that is going to do it for our list of the top 10 free things to do on the North Shore of Oahu. Do you think we missed anything? If so please be sure to let us know in the comments below. If you enjoy our ventures please be sure to hit that like button and subscribe. Not only does it really help out our channel but we have a ton of great videos on the way and you don't want to miss them. And for more information about awesome things to do on the North Shore of Oahu as well as other epic Hawaii adventures head on over to thatadventurelife.com