California may be home but the Hawaiian islands will always have a special place in my heart. Our family has visited the four most popular islands multiple times over the years. Everyday can be Aloha Friday with all of these virtual walks, beach cams and online experiences around the Hawaiian islands. It’s easy to do some armchair traveling to the islands and enjoy the scenery, attractions and culture.
Oahu – The Gathering Place
Oahu is the most populated of the Hawaiian Islands and where many tourists seem to visit or use as a jumping off point to the other islands. This is the island I’ve visited the most because several family and friends live there and I used to spend multi-day stopovers here to go home to Guam from California before having kids. It does offer the best of everything you could want in a Hawaiian vacation like these many things to do in Oahu.
Check out these virtual walks to enjoy the ocean and picturesque scenery. This is a two-hour relaxation video and virtual beach walk of Waikiki Beach. It even has the sound of waves crashing and can become the perfect accompaniment for treadmill walks.
Looking at the ocean always makes me feel relaxed. I hope these beach webcams can help you too. It’s also a great way to add some of these beaches to your Oahu bucket list.
- Waikiki Beach Web cam
- Waimea Beach
- Kahala Resort Live Webcam Beach views are live from 5:30 AM – 8 PM Hawaii Standard Time
- Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Cam We’ve stayed at this hotel a few times. We love their property with the widest stretch of beach in all of Waikiki plus a nearby lagoon. The views from their rooms are amazing.
Other Oahu Attractions
Did you ever wonder how Hawaiian royalty lived? While visits to the 19th century Iolani Palace aren’t possible now, you can take a wonderful 3D virtual walkthrough of the palace rooms. We have never visited the palace despite many visits to the island.
So, I enjoyed doing this virtual tour throughout the building and seeing what we’ve missed all these years. I loved seeing all the details in each room and seeing some of them up close.
The North Shore
It really is worth going to the North Shore to get away from the crowds, have some delicious shrimp plates and watch the surfers. It is the best day trip visitors can take from the Honolulu area.
This is another virtual walk at Sunset Beach in the North Shore Area
Turtle Bay Resort is on my hotel wish list to stay in Oahu. Its expansive grounds in the North Shore make it an ultimate getaway experience. Go on a virtual tour of this Hawaiian landmark including an interactive map.
See why the surfers flock to the Banzai Pipeline.
Oahu Flyovers
This is a fantastic flyover that covers a wider area of Oahu from Honolulu to the North Shore. It’ll give a serious case of Hawaiian wanderlust. It even comes with relaxing music for stress relief.
Check out this aerial tour of Waikiki, Oahu’s most popular beach. It’s such a great perspective of the area.
Maui – The Valley Isle
We love visiting this island for the many things to do in Maui. The island has some of the most spectacular beaches and sunsets in the world. You can virtually visit some of them through these webcams.
- Wailea Beach webcam from Grand Wailea. This webcam offers 360 degree views of Wailea Beach the hotel’s grounds.Webcam is live from 5:00AM HST – 7:30PM HST, 7 days a week. Outside these hours, they play a time lapse of the day.
- Makena Beach Surf Cam
- Napili Sunset Beachfront Resort
- Kanaha Beach live webcam
- Lahaina Harbor
- The Maui Sands Resort
- Paia Bay Views
Haleakala National Park
Maui’s only National Park is actually a volcano. Its name translates to “House of the Sun” and is one of the best places in the world to view a sunrise or sunset. The summit and crater provides breathtaking and otherworldly panoramic scenes.
This is a wonderful day trip if you can get away from the beaches of Maui. Visitors must make reservations to enter the park and watch the sunrise. These virtual tours are a great way to see the views and see the sunrise. We’re not early risers so we’ve never managed to make it up there at the crack of dawn.
Road to Hana
This winding road of over 600 curves and 50 one-lane bridges leads to the sleepy town of Hana. It is almost a rite of passage for tourists to complete the 64.4-mile (103.6 km) roundtrip. We’ve made it as far as Mile 9 and have yet to make it to Hana one of these days. I loved this multi-part video which gives a great overview of the journey.
Beach Walk
Enjoy this 3.2 mile virtual beach walk from the Andaz hotel to the Fairmont Hotel and through the Wailea Beach Path. The video is about 47 minutes long and really makes you feel like you’re this person’s walking partner. My husband and I walked part of this path last year on our trip to Maui.
Aerial Tour
Seeing Maui from above is an incredible perspective. Explore a bird’s eye view of Maui with this 80-minute video. It’s guaranteed to make you want to book a trip there soon.
Other Maui Attractions
Maui Ocean Center is one of the best family friendly activities in Maui. See their outdoor live cam and also browse through their video gallery with many behind the scenes tours and exhibits.
We love the tranquil views and gardens of Maui Tropical Plantation and always make a stop here when in Maui. This is an actual working farm and a great way to see how local produce is grown. Their restaurant, the Mill House, serves delicious farm-to-table food with a scenic backdrop.
Kauai – The Garden Isle
I tell everyone this is my favorite island. There are many things about Kauai that remind me about growing up in the Pacific Island of Guam. The verdant scenery, chickens, beaches, very laidback lifestyle and lack of crowds compared to the other islands makes me want to retire here.
Kauai has some beautiful beaches and we’ve hung out at many of them for hours during our visits. They’re also the best places to watch the Hawaiian sunsets. Here are a few beach webcams that I’ve actually ran in the background as I yearned for a virtual Kauai visit.
- Poipu Beach Webcam Take a glimpse of paradise at one of Kauai’s most popular beaches.
- Brennecke’s Beach Cam in the South Shore
- This is a collection of short videos that give you a glimpse of the Lawai Beach Resort in Poipu area and the nearby beaches. There are even monk seal videos.
- Whalers Cove Resort Beach Cam
- Hanalei Bay Resort Web Cam
Other Kauai Attractions
My favorite area in Kauai is Hanalei Valley and Hanalei Bay in the North Shore. It is just postcard perfect with the rugged mountains in the background.
The Wailua River is a familiar sight in Kauai. These are the views from the Fern Grotto Inn.
Go on this virtual tour of the North Shore area for another reason to visit and stay in the area.
Visiting the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” never gets old. The views of Waimea Canyon are incredible. See these photos and videos of the park.
Flying over Kauai
There’s a reason helicopter tours are very popular on the island. It provides an enviable view of the valleys, mountains and waterfalls scattered around the island. We haven’t done it yet but really want to one of these days. For now, this is a wonderful 1.5-hour virtual flyover tour with music.
Hawaii – The Big Island
We were supposed to spend Spring Break 2020 in The Big Island after we canceled our cruise. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it there either and really hoping we can go later in the summer. These are some virtual tours that will do for now.
Volcanoes National Park
Undoubtedly, the most popular attraction on the island is this national park. See how new lands are formed in the park as well as lava fields, smoking calderas and a even a tropical rainforest. We loved our visit to this park. We haven’t been lucky to see lava flowing into the ocean or visited when there’s active volcanic activity. These digital experiences are incredible to watch.
- Google Arts and Culture Feature –shows volcano virtual tour and 360-degree views of some of the park’s attractions
- Lava Flow Footage
- 11-Minute Park Video Tour
- 24/7 Hawaii Volcano Observatory cams including the Kilauea caldera and the Halema’uma’u Crater overlook
The island has four active volcanoes – Kilauea, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, and Hualalai. You can actually watch some of their labs cams.
- Mauna Kea Web Cams
- If you time it right and watching at one of the Mauna Loa Observatory NOAA Lab Cams, you may just see a breathtaking sunrise.
- Watch through these multiple web cams of Kilauea Volcano and see its summit to its different rift zones and calderas.
Other Hawaii Attractions
This is a wonderful overview of the Big Island’s top attractions and certain to fuel tropical wanderlust.
One of the things we wanted to do but didn’t get a chance to do was to swim with the manta rays in Kona at night. See if you want to add this tour to your travel wish list.
Beach and Town Webcam
- The KonaWeb Cam is located near the Kailua-Kona pier.
- This resort is one of the best places our family has stayed. Check out Hilton Waikoloa Live Lagoon webcam.
- Hilo Bay Live web cam
- These are various surf reports and web cams from several beaches around Hawaii
Digital Experiences of the Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian culture, music and food is unique and need to be experienced when visiting the islands. You can also take a little piece of Hawaii with you with these lessons and inspiration. They’re also great for whenever you just need a virtual Hawaiian getaway.
- Explore the Hawaiian islands through this virtual reality tour.
- The Hawaiian sunsets are unrivaled. I love this sunset video with relaxing music and the sound of the ocean,
- This is the 10-hour version of the sunset video with music. It’ll make a working from home a little bit easier with this in the background.
Hawaiian Music/Culture
I also listen to Hawaiian music when I want to relax or when I need some island comfort.
- Hi*Sessions has some wonderful local artists with a very scenic backdrop and setting for their stage. There new videos and sessions every week.
- Hawaii No Ka Oi 99.1 Radio Station
- Happy Hawaiian Music with 10 hours of traditional and relaxing music. It’s guaranteed to make you feel relaxed.
Hawaiian Hula Lessons
I am always in awe when watching the hula dancers at luaus or performances around the islands.
- Here’s a beginner video to teach you some moves.
- Hula Lessons
Do you want to learn how to play the ukulele, Hawaii’s most iconic instrument? Here are some basic and beginner videos to help you.
- This series has four lessons and 14 step-by-step videos will make you want to order a Uke asap.
- Ukulele Play along
- Ukulele Play along – Somewhere Over the Rainbow
- Easy Ukuleke Tutorial – You Are My Sunshine
Flower Leis
Who doesn’t love getting flower leis on arrival at the airport or hotels.
- Provided you can get some orchids or plumeria, learn how to make a flower lei.
- Here’s how to make a ribbon lei with products that are more accessible.
- How to make Two Ribbon leis
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