Slower-paced North and East sides of the island are a nice alternative to HonoluluLife on Oahu’s verdant East and North shores flows at a deliciously slow pace and has a distinct outer island feel, like the more rural parts of Maui, the Big Island and Kauai. Here, just over an hour’s drive from busy Waikiki, you’ll find lush, steep mountains and hidden valleys, pristine beach-and-surf lined shorelines, and small towns whose easy-going pace and surf culture sets a welcoming tone of aloha.

In colorful Hale’iwa town, the North Shore’s main hub, we paused for plates of buttery garlic shrimp, in the shell and over rice, at Jenny’s Shrimp truck — one of dozens of food trucks offering local-style food options. After enjoying a cooling treat at nearby Haleiwa Shave Ice and exploring some of the fun and funky shops in town, we felt fully refueled and headed down the scenic, coast-hugging Kamehameha Highway to the first of two lodgings we booked for our North Shore-East Side escape: a three-night stay at the Courtyard Marriott in Laie to be followed by a two-night splurge at the Ritz-Carlton O’ahu Turtle Bay.

That evening, in the nearby town of Kahuku, we enjoyed a casual, alfresco dinner at the Kahuku Sugar Mill, a former plantation-era complex where Seven Brothers dishes out tasty seafood dishes (I loved the seared ahi sandwich and garlic shrimp plate), bacon-embellished burgers and tasty “crazy” fries topped with grilled pineapple, caramelized onions, melted cheese and bacon. Nearby, several food trucks bustled with activity, including Giovanni’s Shrimp truck and the Taro Hut, which serves up smash burgers in signature purple taro buns and chicken curry with slices of taro.

Keana Farms

The next morning we headed off for a North Shore adventure at CLIMB Works at Keana Farms in Kahuku, where we spent the morning ziplining over the lush terrain of a working farm that produces more than a million pounds of papaya, apple bananas, taro, eggplant, cherry tomatoes and Thai basil annually. The thrilling three-hour tour includes ziplines ranging from 500 feet to nearly half a mile long on eight dual lines. Along the way you also do two rappels, cross three sky bridges, and enjoy panoramic ocean and mountain views of the North Shore. It’s a great way to get an aerial overview of the North Shore, not to mention feel briefly like Superman or Supergirl along the way.

Details >> climbworks.comPolynesian Cultural Center

After our ziplining adventure, we headed back to Laie and the Polynesian Cultural Center, (PCC) located next to the Courtyard Marriott North Shore. At the PCC, we grabbed a quick lunch at Hapas Sushi & Poke before the PCC doors opened — at 12:30 p.m. daily except Sundays and Wednesdays.

The PCC offers a full immersion in Polynesian culture in a beautifully landscaped 42-acre, park-like complex. A nonprofit run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the center celebrates the traditions of Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Hawaii. We wandered the center’s “villages”, each representing a different country, to play a Maori stick game, make Fijian stamp prints on cloth, learn how Tahitian coconut bread is made and how Hawaiian poi is pounded from taro.

We topped off the day with the center’s Ali’i luau with performances centered on the life and legacy of Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s last reigning monarch and a famed composer of classic Hawaiian music. There’s a spectacular evening show, too, “Ha: Breath of Life,” staged in the expansive, open-air Pacific Theater.

Details >> polynesia.com

Kualoa Ranch

Up early, we headed to the main attraction of Oahu’s East Side: the 4,000-acre Kualoa Ranch, a private nature reserve set in a breathtaking location on Kaneohe Bay. Nestled in valleys sacred to ancient Hawaiians, the ranch has served as a set for 200 movies and TV series, including “Jumanji,” “Jurassic Park,” “Hawaii Five-0” and “Lost.”

Activities here include ATV and UTV “Raptor” expeditions, jeep expeditions, e-bike tours, ziplining, horseback riding and a boat excursion to a “secret island” beach for water fun. stand-up paddleboarding, kayak and sandbar wading activities. We chose a guided three-hour UTV tour, where we followed our guide into scenic valleys and remote areas of the ranch, tackling dirt roads and dusty trails and crossing seasonal streams.

Afterward, who could resist that secret island? A flat-bottomed boat spirits guests across an ancient Hawaiian fishpond to a quiet strand of sand for an afternoon of kayaking, stand-up paddle-boarding, sandbar wading and beach volleyball — followed by hammock time under a swaying palm tree.

Details >> kualoa.com

Kuilima Farm

Heading to the North Shore, we stopped for a walking tour of Kuilima Farm, which supplies produce for Turtle Bay Resort and the surrounding community. We learned about Oahu’s ancient ahupua’a land divisions and traditional farming practices while strolling the orchards, taro fields and row crops and tasting produce — vine-ripened tomatoes, sugar cane, ripe papaya — along the way. The food stands on the farm’s road frontage are packed with apple bananas, pineapple, dragonfruit, papaya and local delights such as Filipino “turon,” which is rather like fried banana lumpia.

Details >> kuilimafarm.com

North Shore

The following morning was dedicated to the famed surf beaches of the North Shore: ‘Ehukai Beach (Banzai Pipeline), Waimea Beach, Sunset Beach and Chun’s Reef, a great beach for all ages. Snorkeling is popular in the reef-protected tidepool adjacent to Pupukea’s Beach’s Sharks Cove (don’t forget the reef-safe sunscreen!). (Safety note: Winter on the North Shore brings massive waves to the coast, which is great for expert surfers but can be dangerous for less experienced swimmers and surfers. Stay safe. Swim, snorkel and wade at beaches with lifeguards and never turn your back to the ocean.)

We wrapped up our beach day with a late afternoon visit to the lush botanical garden of Waimea Valley, a sacred historical site. You can explore 52 themed gardens and more than 5,000 documented types of tropical and subtropical plants and, depending on the water conditions, swim at Waimea Falls (free lifevests are required).

Details >> waimeavalley.net

Where to stay

The newly remodeled Courtyard Marriott North Shore offers family-friendly suites with full kitchens and rooms with bunk beds for the kids. The lobby bistro serves light meals, breakfast and coffee. And the hotel’s large pool has cabanas and shaded tables. and there’s a new pickleball and volleyball court nearby.

Details >> www.marriott.com.

Now a Ritz-Carlton property, the North Shore’s famous Turtle Bay resort and its oceanfront rooms, suites and bungalows have been remodeled. The resort also offers a small scale paniolo or cowboy luau near the resort’s stables. Before dinner and the show, we sipped mai tais, checked out traditional native Hawaiian games and learned some basic hula moves before being entertained by Hawaiian dance, music and fire knife performances. Dinner includes banana leaf-steamed fish, huli huli chicken, colorful fresh taro rolls and savory kalua pork, a luau staple cooked traditionally in a nearby imu or underground pit oven. It was a perfect way to cap a week of island adventure.

Details >> turtlebayresort.com