RustyC

I'm generally a fan of Hawaii and did a series of rediscovery trips as 3 or 4-day stopovers on Asian trips (when those were easier to book) in the 1994-2006 timeframe. I tried to do a lot of the "hidden" kind of stuff.

Hawaii is a tremendous marketing success story and has been for a long time, and therefore gets SO many visitors it's easy to diss as overtouristed and inauthentic.

If the marketing themes were a big draw, then checking out the alternatives with strong points along those lines would be good.

POLYNESIAN-NESS: I think the slogan for Tahiti used to be that Hawaii gets more people in a week than Tahiti gets in a year (it might be more like a month now on the Hawaii side), but Tahiti can get a little more intense and less crowded. OTOH, costs can make even Japan look cheap, which is why I'd favor the Cook Islands. Great "Island Nights", half the cost of Tahiti and Aitutaki is wonderful on the beaches.

BEACHES: Western Samoa has some great ones without much development. Though it's hard to look at beaches the same after going to the Seychelles.

AUTHENTICITY: Some of the United Micronesia destinations, like Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap get so few visitors you can recognize every one of them from people you saw on the plane. It's like the opposite problem with Hawaii. Not many beaches, though.

DIVING/SNORKELING/etc.: It's hard to beat Palau.

I like Costa Rica and Bali a lot as well, though I'd classify them as their own "thing." So much of the real attraction with Bali is cultural, even though it's a beautiful island as well.