Hawaii
 

Any of you guys been to Hawaii?

I'm looking into a holiday and I'll be honest I don't know much about the place:(

Looking at doing some Island hopping starting off with Honolulu, but don't know where to go next.

Any ideas???

Going for 10 to 15 days around May / June.

Any advice would be appreciated:)

We went to the big Island and stayed in Kona on the water in a condo last Aug.
Was a great time did some snorkeling,Kayaking site seeing etc.

I would recomend which ever island you decide to take an island tour, this will highlight the scenic areas for you and give you an idea of what you may want to spend more time with.

I've been spending the month of Feb. on Maui for the last 25 years. I've been to all the other islands as well (except Molokai). If you are going for 10-15 days, my advice is don't try to see it all. There won't be enough time. Personally, I would spend 2 days maximum on Oahu, see the major sites and then get off that island as soon as possible. It is a terrible representative of the Hawaiian islands. Spend the rest of your time between Maui and Kauai. The "Big Island" is okay but I certainly wouldn't put it on my list of "must see".

Jim

Appreciated guys.

I'll take on board the Oahu advice!

On Maui I've been recommended staying at the Aston Kaanapali Shores - Is this pretty good or could you recommend a better place to stay?

Where do you stay Jim?

Being there for the last 25 years I'm sure you'll be in the know with regards accommodation.

I'm now thinking short stay on Oahu possibly at the Outrigger at Waikiki and then base ourselves for the rest of the trip on Maui taking some other island day trips if that's possible.

Mate, I've got a 9'6" Brewer Gun in the roof of my garage made for large Waimea that you can take if you like!!!!

My advice is Kauai mate. It's magic!

Spookypt

Spook,

I'm still learning on a boogie board in shallow water:LOL:

Where did you stay at Kauai?

Focus on the holiday will be relaxation with plenty of photo shoot opportunities for Jack.

Somehow I don't think the two go together when I have to do the Sherpa Tenzing work carrying all the gear:eek::JEKYLHYDE

I'm not familiar with that area except to say, if it's raining on Maui, that's where it will be. I stay in the S. Kihei/Wailea area (the desert portion of the island). I stay at the Royal Mauian as I like to be right on the water.

On Kauai, stay in the Poipu area (the desert portion). A must see on Kauai is the Waimea Canyon and the Princeville/Hanalei area.

Best time of the year to go to Hawaii is late September or October most families are all done with vacations. Oahu is the most crowded of all the Islands, depends on what your looking for. The Big Island has a lot to offer, sight seeing , golf, and the volcanoes , something not to miss. Here is a web site to go to that booked us an awesome vacation in Hawaii: Hawaii Golf Deals.com, to use this site you do not have to play golf. Five years ago we flew first class from St Louis, Missouri to Kona, on the Big Island. We spent 2 weeks there right on the ocean at the Manua Kea resort, 2 weeks car rental and 17 rounds of golf, for 6600.00 and that included the air fare. Make sure you ask for a resort that has breakfast included, one less meal to pay for. For 40.00 you can buy a Hawaii golf card that lets you play most public courses for 10.00 over what the locals pay. Weather is the same every day. Email me for any other info.

I LOVE Hawaii!
We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian village last year. It was just fantastic.
It is on several hectares of land and includes four of thier own hotels plus about 7 pools, loads of bars, restaurants, shops ect.
Well priced too!

My wife's favourite place on the planet is Kona on the Big Island (Hawaii), mine is Maui.

Have a look on www.hawaii.com there is heaps of info.

On Oahu the Hilton Hawaiian Village is a great hotel to stay and is at the start of Waikiki beach, I've also stayed at the Hyatt which is in the middle. Oahu is much like the gold coast, as in it's not a representation of the rest of Australian beaches.

Get a car and drive around the island, see;
- the magificent north shore (where they filmed Lost) with Sunset, Pipeline and Waimea Bay all fairly close.
- Do a day trip to Pearl Harbour, don't book a tour it's a rip off.
- Drive up to Diamond Head and do the trail along the rim of the crater where they have gun turrets from WW2.

On Maui we stayed either at Kaanapali or Makena areas, heaps of great hotels and golf courses. Again, get a car and cruise the island;
- Hana, one of the great drives in the world - think Great Ocean Road but tighter!
- Around the North West coast is spectacular and rugged. They say it's 4WD only but it's mostly sealed and we got around in an Subaru Impresa.
- Visit Lahaina a historic whaling village.
- Do the breakfast/bike ride. 4am start to have a champagne breakfast watching the sunrise and roll 0m downhill on a mountain bike.
- Golf !!!!

On Hawaii Kona is the place to stay. I love the airport with the grass huts and very laid back. It's been a while so it may have changed, but they had a supermarket turnstyle for security to keep you off the runway!
- Get a car and cruise the island. It's a great drive amongst the lava.
- A detour is to drive up to Mauna Kea and you would swear you were on the moon.
- Hilo on the East coast is more locals than tourists. The waterfalls on the east coast are spectacular!
- Along the southern end of the island you can stop and walk through the lava tubes.
- Do the helicopter ride over the volcano.
- Just south of Kona (about 20kms) you can see where Captain Cook was eaten. It is in a national park that still belongs to the British.
- Big game fishing, and get into the 1000 pound club for black marlin.

On Kauai, again, get a car (bit of a recuring theme!) and drive to Waimea Canyon, second biggest in the world after the Grand Canyon, simply awsome size and you can't believe it's on this tiny island.
Princeville was a great golf course back in the day, but I haven't been to Kauai for 20 years so I can't speak for it now.


Just a few ideas and some of the things we've done there...

--Jamie

Jamie,

That's exactly what I'm looking for.

I've always had an issue with Day Tours as if you do a number of them during your stay you're up for a $1,000 pretty easy - a car should easily offset that!

I'll be printing off what you've recommended and get my plan sorted well before I go.

Thanks again guys - appreciated!

Only one downside - don't play golf:p

Any hotels that you guys have stayed at that are highly recommended on Maui

I can see 10 to 15 days is not going to be enough time to explore most things!

Well it's about time you learnt! :D

No worries with the tips, it was like reminiscing! The first time I went there was 78 with the folks, since that I've been going back every couple of years since the late 80s.

I'll see if I can dig up some more, I've got 3 hours of video from the last trip - just the highlights! :JEKYLHYDE

--Jamie

2 cents worth having been to Maui, Kaui, Oahu, Big Island: for scenery and more off the grid exploring opportunities I would choose the Big Island: more driving than other islands as the distances are further but as you are on this site I assume you like driving :) The distances are also relative: you could drive around the whole island in one long day. You can be in 10 different climate zones inside of an hour.

Our Big Island trip was 14 days. First half we rented a top floor condo in the Puako area for 1/2 the trip (1/2 hr north of the airport, desert area, tons of beach options with NO people around). http://www.hawaiioceanfront.com/condos.asp

Second half we rented a turn of the century house in a cool ex-sugar plantation town called Pahala, (www.pahala-hawaii.com) down on the southern volcano side of the island. That way we could do tons of exploring, see the whole island, without spending the entire trip in the car.

Have fun, hard to go wrong!

Lounge ?????



.

Well the flight part's booked.

$260 e/w per person with Hawaiian Airlines - now that is dirt cheap:eek::eek::D

It wasn't too long ago that you would pay that to fly to Sydney!

Now the hard part - which island / hotel(s) to stay at.

Pete, I'm not much help to you with an accom guide as I generally stay with mates when I (surf) travel. I do have a few friends in Kauai but their places aren't perhaps what you and the your lovely wife would be looking for....LOL

Spookypt

The marriott on kauai is a central located place. Good rate on expedia.com Take a drive up the east coast, there is great stuff to see. there is a hike/park at the end of the road, if you are in to hiking it is one of the best. To truelly see the island you need to do a helo ride, safari has the best rates and flight. There is also kayak day trips if you are into that.

I second the Kehei area of Maui. We were at the Four Seasons with a great view. Beaches are accessible via well-disguised public access paths from anywhere though.

Feb. is Whale Baby season. They're everywhere.

The drive around the small side of the island is gorgeous, and for a large portion of it, open range. It goes through a working ranch. We had to stop for Texas Longhorns several times.

We drove part of the Hana but had to head back for a dinner so didn't get all the way. One of the people along got car sick too. It's a windy road.