Christmas in Waikiki: A Family Hawaii Getaway Without the Beachfront Price Tag

There are certainly worse places to spend Christmas than Hawaii.

For our family Christmas trip, we headed to Waikiki for a few days of beaches, sunshine, animals, shopping and—this being Hawaii in December—even a visit with Santa in a Hawaiian shirt.

One of the best decisions we made actually came before we arrived: we didn't stay directly on Waikiki Beach.

Waikiki Beach in December

Of course, much of the trip revolved around the beach.

That's one of the wonderful things about spending Christmas in Hawaii. While December means winter elsewhere, in Waikiki we could walk along the sand, watch the waves, and let the kids explore the shoreline.

The weather wasn't relentlessly sunny—and that actually made for some spectacular scenery.

One afternoon, a huge rainbow stretched across Waikiki after the rain, seemingly from one end of the beach to the other. It was one of those completely unplanned travel moments that ends up producing one of your favorite photographs of the entire trip.

A Family Day at the Honolulu Zoo

Another advantage of staying in this part of Waikiki was being close to the Honolulu Zoo.

The zoo made for an easy family outing and a nice change of pace from spending another full day on the beach. The girls explored the exhibits, spotted giraffes across the grounds, studied the zoo map and got to see animals ranging from the very tall to the very small—including an exceptionally sleepy-looking fennec fox.

The lush surroundings also make the Honolulu Zoo feel very different from many city zoos. You're still right beside Waikiki, but for a few hours it feels like you've stepped away from the hotels and shopping streets.

Parks, Beaches and a Hawaiian Santa

We also enjoyed simply exploring the parks and open spaces around the hotel and Waikiki.

That's something we appreciated about this trip: not every activity needed to be a major attraction or expensive excursion.

A walk through the park, an afternoon at the beach or wandering around Waikiki gave us plenty to do.

And since this was Christmas, we even encountered Santa—although this particular Santa had wisely exchanged the heavy winter coat for a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and flip-flops.

Somehow, Santa holding a coconut in Hawaii makes perfect sense.

A Little Christmas Shopping at Ala Moana

We also made time for a trip to Ala Moana Center, one of Honolulu's enormous shopping destinations.

It was a fun break from the beach and, being Christmas, an obvious place to do a little shopping. Ala Moana is easy to incorporate into a Waikiki stay, particularly if you have kids who eventually reach their limit on beaches and sightseeing.

Was Staying Off the Beach Worth It?

Absolutely.

If we were planning the same family trip again, we'd seriously consider making the same decision.

There's obviously something wonderful about opening your hotel door and being directly on Waikiki Beach. But when the difference is an 8–10 minute walk versus paying three times as much for the hotel, we'd rather walk.

We still got the Waikiki experience: swimming in the Pacific, beautiful sunsets, a spectacular rainbow, the zoo, parks, shopping and plenty of time together as a family.

And really, that's what this Christmas trip was about.

We weren't going to Hawaii to spend Christmas inside our hotel room.

We were going to Hawaii to be in Hawaii.

Getting There

Getting to Hawaii is relatively easy, especially from the West Coast of the United States, with plenty of nonstop flights into Honolulu International Airport (HNL).

Once you arrive, Waikiki is only about 10 miles from the airport. Depending on traffic, the drive generally takes around 20–30 minutes, making it an easy transfer after a long flight—particularly when traveling with kids.

We found that once we were in Waikiki, we really didn't need a rental car for this trip. The beach, Honolulu Zoo, parks, restaurants and plenty of shopping were all within walking distance of our hotel, while places farther away—such as Ala Moana Center—were easy to reach when we wanted to venture out.

For a family staying primarily around Waikiki, skipping the rental car can also mean avoiding another significant expense: Waikiki hotel parking fees.

Our approach was simple: get ourselves from the airport to Waikiki, unpack the bags, and explore mostly on foot from there.