Diamond Head or Kualoa Ranch?

[Luv2trav]

If you had to decided between these two which would you choose and why? I need to eliminate something from our schedule because my family wants to more downtime. I know what is all involved in each. 1 is hiking to top of diamond and head and the other we would choose 3 tours of Kualoa Ranch. Ranch would take more time and money but that is not the factor. We are trying to determine which one we would enjoy more.

To give you and idea on what we already have scheduled
-Pearl Harbor
-2 day Hybrid tour with Oahuprivatetours
-Climb works
-Luau
-Hanauma Bay

 

[Pete W.]

You could substitute Tantalus Lookout (Puu Ualakaa State Park) for Diamond Head. This will give you a great view of Metro Honolulu (and Diamond Head itself) without the sweaty hike and significant time commitment, and then you could still do Kualoa Ranch for which there is no ready alternative.

 

[The Mayor]

It depends on what you want to do at Kualoa Ranch but I would try to find time for both. We did Diamond Head and the views were breathtaking. We also did the two hour ATV tour at Kualoa and that was a lot of fun with amazing views also.

 

[nkereina]

Call me crazy, but we weren't fans of Diamond Head. I agree the views were beautiful but it was a bit more difficult than we anticipated - uphill (obviously), rough terrain, in the hot sun, busy path so no room for stopping to take a breather, etc. It was very crowded and windy at the top. We were quite sweaty and gross after, so we needed to go back to our hotel to shower before we could do anything else. Glad we did it, but its a one and done for us. Won't do it again.

Kualoa Ranch, on the other hand, was a highlight for us. The windward side of the island was a different vibe so we were glad we got to see it. We did the VIP Movie Tour which was very cool, and we saw quite a bit of the ranch. Lots of great views as well. I might caution against the 3 tour package they have only because it would make for a long day there. Our tour was 2.5 hours and incorporated a few elements of the other tours. By the time we were done there, we were ready to move on. It also took us almost 90 minutes to get there due to rush hour traffic, an accident, etc. Luckily we had left Aulani early. If you do spend an entire day there, the lunch buffet was delicious! We stopped to eat that before we left. After, we spent the afternoon at Kailua which was a great stop on that side of the island. Best beaches we saw our whole trip!

 

[Luv2trav]

Call me crazy, but we weren't fans of Diamond Head. I agree the views were beautiful but it was a bit more difficult than we anticipated - uphill (obviously), rough terrain, in the hot sun, busy path so no room for stopping to take a breather, etc. It was very crowded and windy at the top. We were quite sweaty and gross after, so we needed to go back to our hotel to shower before we could do anything else. Glad we did it, but its a one and done for us. Won't do it again.

Kualoa Ranch, on the other hand, was a highlight for us. The windward side of the island was a different vibe so we were glad we got to see it. We did the VIP Movie Tour which was very cool, and we saw quite a bit of the ranch. Lots of great views as well. I might caution against the 3 tour package they have only because it would make for a long day there. Our tour was 2.5 hours and incorporated a few elements of the other tours. By the time we were done there, we were ready to move on. It also took us almost 90 minutes to get there due to rush hour traffic, an accident, etc. Luckily we had left Aulani early. If you do spend an entire day there, the lunch buffet was delicious! We stopped to eat that before we left. After, we spent the afternoon at Kailua which was a great stop on that side of the island. Best beaches we saw our whole trip!

We are interested in their Movie tour and Catamaran tour.

 

[nkereina]

We are interested in their Movie tour and Catamaran tour.

We did the VIP movie tour which differs from the standard movie tour. The VIP tour is 2.5 hours long, and is limited to about 12 people. It's in a 12 passenger air conditioned van, they provide refreshments, and its nice because you spend as long or as little time as you want at each site. It visits every movie location at the Ranch, and they have a TV in the van that plays movie clips to give you location context. I have more info and pics in my trip report in my signature. We really enjoyed it!

 

[Luv2trav]

We did the VIP movie tour which differs from the standard movie tour. The VIP tour is 2.5 hours long, and is limited to about 12 people. It's in a 12 passenger air conditioned van, they provide refreshments, and its nice because you spend as long or as little time as you want at each site. It visits every movie location at the Ranch, and they have a TV in the van that plays movie clips to give you location context. I have more info and pics in my trip report in my signature. We really enjoyed it!

Awesome thank you. I will read it!

 

[DVCRSheridan]

We personally didn't love Diamond Head. There were several other hikes around the island that we preferred. I'd lean towards the Ranch if I were you guys.

 

[dmetcalfrn]

We did the movie tour and it was awesome! My family loved Aulani and Kualoa Ranch was a highlight of our trip.

 

[iheartcoasters]

Pick whichever one is less like your hybrid tour. We hiked Diamond Head early in the morning. It was pretty busy but wouldn't trade it for the world. We also enjoyed the atv and bus tour at Kua Loa and loved that too. If you are doing some other tours that show you the lush greenery on Oahu, maybe hike Diamond Head. Also, Diamond Head is maybe a half day, Kua Loa Ranch would be a full day commitment.

 

[newdeal]

We did both when we went to Aulani. BY FAR I would pick the Kualoa ranch. It was AWESOME in my opinion. Even the drive there was really stunningly beautiful. Diamond head on the other hand was a long walk up a lot of stairs and when you got to the top you get a view of Waikiki beach...its a lot of work for not much payoff to me. If I wanted to do ONE hike, it wouldn't be diamond head, it would be Manoa falls. On that one you walk through the jungle to get to a waterfall which you can (although there are signs posted saying not to and we obeyed them but many didn't) swim in the lagoon at the bottom of the waterfall. We did the Horseback tour, catamaran tour, and movie sites tour. All were great and I would do them all again. Hidden beach looked a bit lame, as did the fish pond so we didn't do them and were glad for this because the catamaran tour takes you in a small boat across the fish pond, then you walk down a path to see the hidden beach where you get on the catamaran and go out for a ride instead of just sitting on the beach

 

[kdonnel]

We have done both. Maybe I have never done the right tour on the ranch but I see it as just ok and really overpriced. Sure the land is beautiful and seeing sites where movies were filmed is neat but with so much "magic" used in movies now, the terrain is not really going to look very much like what ends up in the movie.

Diamond Head is a pain to find a parking spot unless you go extremely early. We ended up having to park outside the crater at a church a half mile or so away. The whole time we were hiking I was wondering if our rental car would be towed or booted when we returned.

As far as hikes the KoKo Head Stairs is the one my family says they enjoyed the most even though it is by far the hardest cardio workout I have ever done! The views are way better then from Diamond Head but the climb to the top is way harder. Be sure to bring twice as much water as you would think you need if you opt for the KoKo Head Stairs.

Here are some great pictures and a great explanation of the hike I found:
https://www.journeyera.com/koko-head-stairs/

 

[newdeal]

Kualoa could be overpriced but that could be said about any tourist trap

 

[nkereina]

We have done both. Maybe I have never done the right tour on the ranch but I see it as just ok and really overpriced. Sure the land is beautiful and seeing sites where movies were filmed is neat but with so much "magic" used in movies now, the terrain is not really going to look very much like what ends up in the movie.

This is one of the reasons why we liked the VIP Movie Sites tour. There is a TV in the van you ride in and the driver will play clips from the movie as you approach a site to give you context. Then you can see the site with the CGI and extras worked in during the movie, and it was also helpful to better appreciate the sites for movies I hadn't seen before.

Another reason we loved Kualoa Ranch is because the grounds there, like the valley, provide views unlike anything you'd see on the leeward side of the island or in Waikiki. It was very unique. If someone is not a movie buff, traveling to the ranch and doing the jungle tour or even the secret island tour for a beach day would be worth it to see the unique views. Plus the food was great!

 

[pjacobi]

Google has "street views" of Diamond Head trail. You can see steps, tunnel, the view and the crowds at the top.

-Paul