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Eastern and Western traditions meet on Oahu, where savvy shoppers find luxury goods at high-end malls and scout tiny boutiques and galleries filled with pottery, blown glass, woodwork, and Hawaiian-print clothing by local artists. This blend of cultures is pervasive in the wide selection of spas as well. Hawaiian lomilomi and hot-stone massages are as omnipresent as the orchid and plumeria flowers decorating every treatment room.
Exploring downtown Honolulu, Kailua on the windward side, and the North Shore often yields the most original merchandise. Some of the small stores carry imported clothes and gifts from around the world—a reminder that, on this island halfway between Asia and the United States, shopping is a multicultural experience.
If you're getting a massage at a spa, there's a spiritual element to the lomilomi that calms the soul while the muscles release tension. During a hot-stone massage, smooth rocks, taken from the earth with permission from Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, are heated and placed at focal points on the body. Others are covered in oil and rubbed over tired limbs, feeling like powerful fingers. For an alternative, refresh skin with mango scrubs so fragrant they seem edible. Savor the unusual sensation of bamboo tapped against the arches of the feet. Indulge in a scalp massage that makes the entire body tingle. Day spas provide additional options to the self-indulgent services offered in almost every major hotel on the island.
This triathlon shop near the Bike Factory offers training gear and bike rentals, aerial yoga and capoeira classes, and nutritional products. Inquire directly about the latest schedule of classes at the store, which is owned and operated by top athletes.
Look for old-style Birdwell surf trunks here, along with popular labels, such as Quiksilver, Roxy, Dakine, and Billabong, which supplement Downing's own line of surf wear and surfboards.
Fashionable beach clothing and bags, bathing suits, hats, and rash guards supplement a huge selection of paddling accessories. Check out the wooden decorative paddles: they become works of art when mounted on the wall at home.
The chain, popular throughout the Islands, sells or rents gear—including fins, snorkels, wet suits, and beach chairs—and schedules ocean activities with other suppliers. It's also a good place to seek advice about the best snorkeling beaches and conditions, which vary considerably with the seasons.
This water-sports store has everything you need for an active vacation under one roof. Purchase rash guards, swimwear, T-shirts, footwear, hats, and shorts. Book scuba-diving tours and lessons and rent kayaks, snorkeling or scuba gear, spears for free diving, surfboards, stand-up paddleboards, and bodyboards. Experienced surfing instructors will take beginners to the small breaks on the North Shore beaches, with their notoriously huge (winter) or flat (summer) waves. Warning to fishing enthusiasts: a fishing pole is the one ocean apparatus this shop doesn't carry.
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