Kahala Mandarin Oriental, Hawai’i

 There’s also a dolphin lagoon with five dolphins who look like Flipper! Swimming with them was a unique experience. I saw the hotel’s marine biologist lead kids on tours past the dolphins and to a small pool to study a sea tortoise, huge koi, and other colorful fish. Perhaps that was part of their Keiki Club program where counselors took care of kids five- to twelve-years-old while parents played golf, went to the spa or just read a book.

The food is great but expensive. However, at 4pm, every day during my visit, the restaurant near the pool serves fresh fruit punch, while three Hawai’ian women in muu-muus and leis play music and tell stories, sing and dance to old Hawaiian music, and re-enact classic folk tales.

My last day on O’ahu I hired a car and driver for $30/hour to target many sites around the island. I visited the Punch Bowl Cemetery, with those killed at Pearl Harbor, and the Pearl Harbor Monument. From a pier you can look down and see the wrecks of the bombed ships. An amazing documentary is shown that leaves everyone, including kids, crying. Then I went to the Ala Moana Shopping Mall with cool stores like Jams World, where they make their own Hawaiian shirts!

The setting was just like paradise. The Kahala is the place to go if you want to get away from other family crowds, watch palm trees swaying, and overlook the perfect beach. It’s every bit as exquisite and luxurious as you’d want when paying $350 for a room (though two kids under 17 can stay free in parents’ room.)

It’s simply a text book paradise.

[Editor’s Note: As of March 1, 2006, the luxury 364 room property was renamed The Kahala Hotel & Resort, an independent hotel under the Leading Hotels of the World.]