We had an awesome experience staying in the van! It was so fun getting away from the crowds and exploring the windward side of the island! We loved that all our stuff was with us and we always had cold drinks and food in the fridge. We stayed at Malaekahana Beach Campground in their vehicle parking area. It was beautiful and we were about 300 feet from the beach in parking spot V2. The gates do lock at 7pm so make sure you watch your clock. With the time change we didn’t mind turning in a little early every evening.
We split up our trip by location. One day we explored North Shore and another we hiked Makapu’u Point Lighthouse Trail. We visited and stopped at a bunch of towns, beaches, and food trucks in between those two points. In the 6 days we had the van, our favorite beach was Lanikai. We found parking the the residential area (go early). We loved Papa Ole’s for breakfast. Apple Maps says it’s closed but they are doing takeout only. Hands down the best banana chocolate chip pancakes I’ve ever had. We LOVED North Shore Zipline experience. The guides were awesome! Shoutout to Hollywood!
This was our first experience renting and sleeping in a van and we’d do it again in a heartbeat!