I’ve just returned from a quick trip to Honolulu. My husband and I wanted to celebrate my 30th Birthday and also do a babymoon in one fell swoop. Hawaii ended up being the perfect location for us. Here’s a quick roundup of our favorite spots and tips for spending your babymoon in Hawaii.

How to Get There

We flew on one of the new Southwest routes to Hawaii and used the companion pass that we earned from our credit card. The card also gives us 4 upgraded boarding passes per year and since we were celebrating, we decided to use those on this trip. I am SO GLAD WE DID! Hawaii is a big family destination especially during summer vacation and even though we checked in right at the 24-hour mark, we still ended up in the “B” section which is behind all of the “As” and the family boarding. By using the credit card to upgrade, we ended up being one of the first 15 people on the plane and thus got front row seats (oh yeah extra leg room!).

There are a few other airlines that fly to Hawaii and since Southwest has created a bit of competition among the airlines, prices seem to be lower than usual.

Lastly, you could do a cruise to Hawaii. My husband and I were not super interested in a cruise for this trip so flying was an easy choice for us.

Getting Around

We decided to stay in Waikiki and rent a car from there to explore the island. Overnight parking in Waikiki at the hotels is really expensive (I believe ours charged $35/night) but there are spots to rent a car that is walking distance from all the major hotels (some are even located inside of the hotels). So we rented a car from 8 am to 8 pm one day so we could use it all day and then return it before we needed to pay for overnight parking.

We spent our “car day” driving all the way around the island of Oahu and I felt like we got to see a lot of the island in just a day. For a future trip, I might even book a second car day because we had so much fun exploring and Waikiki gets a bit touristy feeling after a while.

Where to Stay

I loved our hotel, The Laylow. It was easy walking distance to the beach without the waterfront price tag. They included some nice amenities like a welcome basket with snacks and flip flops, free ukulele classes and snacks by the pool. We had a little bit of rain during our June trip so it was extra nice to have a hotel that we enjoyed spending time at. I booked the accommodations via Groupon and was thrilled that it included a dining credit each day at the hotel restaurant.

Where To Eat

We ate tons of great food on our trip. Eating was one of my favorite parts 🙂

Waikiki is expensive, but there are a few great options that are budget friendly. My biggest tip if you want to try some of the more expensive spots, go during Happy Hour. Most of the nice places have happy hour from 4 – 6 pm-ish and they have great deals on drinks and food. We were operating at a bit of a time difference anyway so eating at off-times wasn’t a problem for us, we actually enjoyed it. I particularly loved happy hour at Herringbone (buffalo octopus for me and a white negroni for my husband) and Basalt (charcoal bao buns!).

There are a few other affordable spots, we loved Marukame Udon, they have 8,000+ positive Yelp reviews, we are not alone. There is always a line. Even when they open at 7 am. But it moves fast and we were thrilled with the quick service and delicious food once we reached the front. Our hotel also offered free shave ice in the afternoons and as I mentioned above, our booking deal included dining credit at their restaurant which was delicious.

Not too far of a walk (35 mins-ish) or a cheap uber ride away you can try a hot malasada (a Portuguese doughnut) from Leonard’s Bakery and fantastic breakfast burritos at Kono’s. We ended up doing this on one of our Waikiki days but you could also easily add this as a stop on your way to the North Shore on a car day. Once you get to the North Shore, check out the Shrimp Trucks. Giovanni’s is the king with 3,000+ reviews on Yelp. But there are tons of great options with shorter lines. Be sure to also grab a slice of pie at Ted’s.

What To Do

Outside of eating, we did a lot of beach time. I wasn’t up for too many activities and was very into napping on the beach. My husband caught a cold halfway through our trip so between me being pregnant and him being sick, we spent a lot of low key time on the beach. The beach is busy in Waikiki but the north shore beaches offered a bit more privacy and it was cool to see how the shore changed as we drove along the coast.

What to Wear/Bring

Bring more outfits than you need. Some days it was hot, others it rained, either way, I needed multiple outfits each day, not something I am used to. I brought 3 bathing suits for our 3-day trip and was shocked that I ended up wearing all of them. I loved this one from Amazon it was so comfortable and I felt way better in than my non-maternity suit. I also wore a lot of items from the Old Navy Maternity line (mostly hand-me-downs from Laura :)). I wore these fantastic leggings on the plane, my best maternity purchase to date and they are not even a maternity item! At night I wore dresses to dinner which felt fun and was a nice change from shorts and bathing suits during the day.

Don’t forget to bring bug spray, sunscreen and all of your usual items for staying healthy on a plane trip. I actually used a lot of my tips from our Africa trip last year (outlined here) and was thrilled that a lot of the items were ok to use during pregnancy.

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Overall, this was a great babymoon spot. We loved getting to spend time together and I can easily see us returning with the munchkin to see even more of this island and the others.

PS – this post is part of our “30 Posts We Want to Write in 2019” list. Check out the full list here.

Has anyone else been on a babymoon recently? Where did you go and what did you do? Let us know in the comments!