The Healthy Highlights of Honolulu

Waikiki beach in the morning

Aloha!

Honolulu is the largest city in Hawaii, located on Oahu, one of the eight larger islands that makes up the state. I holidayed for a lovely week here in April with my hubby. We spent the majority of our time in Waikiki – the touristy part where you can find lots of hotels, restaurants, shops and sheltered (though crowded) beaches.

I found Hawaii to have a very healthy vibe in general. With such beautiful scenery and weather, it is very enticing to do active, outdoorsy activities. If, like me, you enjoy keeping up some of your healthy habits while on holiday, such as daily physical activity and eating healthy a majority of the time, here are some of the ways you can do it in Honolulu:

1) Go for a walk along Waikiki beach. It’s such a bustling beach full of a very diverse range of people!

2) Eat at Ruffage Natural Foods. Only five minutes walk from my hotel in Waikiki, I visited this great, healthy cafe and organic grocery store quite a few times! The veggie burrito was delicious and a very generous size. My husband and I both loved it and found it hearty and filling even though we’re both pretty keen meat eaters. The smoothie was delicious, too, and I was surprised at how thick and creamy it was despite having water as the base instead of milk. I would have loved to have tried more of their smoothies – they sounded amazing!

The organic peanut butter with banana smoothie and vegan burrito

3) Swim, surf and Stand Up Paddleboard at Waikiki beach. Sure, it’s packed with people, but it’s iconic and pretty beautiful! I found the surfers to be a bit aggressive and protective of their break, so be prepared for that and maybe just stay a bit closer to the shore if you’re a beginner.

An afternoon swim at Waikiki

4) Hike to the Diamond Head Lookout. It provides a very beautiful view of Waikiki. The Lookout hike is one of the most popular activities for visitors to Oahu. The hike only takes about ninety minutes as a round trip, and that’s including taking your time to stop for lots of photos.

5) Eat at Diamond Head Cove Health Bar. This was my favourite healthy place to eat in Honolulu. It’s very close to Diamond Head, so after we hiked to the Lookout we walked to the health bar and then back to our hotel. In the end, we only bought a fruit bowl, but I would have loved to have tried some of the savoury food. The menu featured lots of fresh local fish, eggs and greens.

The ‘Mana’ acai bowl (best acai bowl ever) and in the background a pitaya (dragon fruit) bowl

The bright coloured shop interior

6) Snorkel at Hanauma Bay. The water is crystal clear and the most amazing shades of blue. There are plenty of fish to see and apparently turtles are frequently sighted here, too. You can hire snorkelling equipment from a company right down on the beach – how convenient is that?! I am learning that Americans do tourism well!

Mahalo (thank you) for reading about my adventures in Honolulu. Have you been here before? If so, I’d love to hear about some of your favourite activities!

Holly x