I'm going to HNL in September to visit a friend. I'll hang out with her during the week in HNL, then want to visit another island on the weekend. I'm sure they're all nice, but can anyone suggest the best weekend trip for a first timer in Hawaii?

Would suggest the Big Island. Why?

See the lava flows (very neat at night).

Drive towards the top of Mauna kea and see a star display like you have never seen at night.

Take the 3hr (roundtrip) beautiful hike to the "green sand" beach at the southern tip of the Big Island. very close to the black sand beach as well (no hiking here, you can drive right to it.)

I agree with Sweet Willie. The Big Island is definitely the place to go. Fly into Kona, rent a car & if your budget permits, stay at the Four Seasons (the best hotel in the islands).

Big Island, definitely. Even flying to Hilo for a day-long visit to the volcano is worthwhile and affordable. If you want more variety, fly into Kona and fly back from Hilo. There are plenty of things to see, and you can stop for Kona coffee along the way.

Visiting another island for just a weekend will limit your enjoyment of that island. Since that is all you can spend, the side trip will only be long enough to give you a small taste of what you could have seen or done.

Each island is different and are like seperate vacations. Oahu as you will see, is full of tourists, there is much competition for your money and lots to do in a relatively small island.

The big island has the active volcano and every kind of climate you can iamgine. The problem with the big island is that all of the neat things to see are spread far apart from each other. To dive from the Kona side to the volcano and a few stops along the way will take a day. Driving across the middle of the island to Hilo and the falls will take most of another day.

A few weeks ago I tried to show a friend the island of Kauai in 2 days. It was very difficult and we barely saw the canyon and never got on the beach at all.

I would say that for a weekend trip, you need to decide which one attraction/sight you want to see and fill the rest of the time as you can. Then plan a longer trip to that island and maybe another.

My site (http://myhawaiiansite.com) has photos and writeups on most of the islands and may give you some ideas of another island to visit.

Perhaps a visit to the calendar at the Hawaii Convention and Visitors Center (http://gohawaii.com) will show an event that you might want to attend. There are outrigger races, triathalons, music and hula competitions spead throughout the islands and that might help you choose an island.

Perhaps unwinding on Molokai might be just the thing. Regardless of your choice, you really can't make a bad choice of islands. Each island is different and offers things that other islands can't.

Both here and especially over on the Frequent Flyer Program forum, there are trip reports for Hawaii which may also offer suggestions you have not considered.

Good luck and let us know where you finally end up!

[This message has been edited by Lavarock7 (edited 03-22-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Lavarock7 (edited 03-22-2002).]