1st Cav Vet

Sunday most remaining tourists will be heading towards HNL airport. If you head to North Shore by way of Pali or LikeLike highways, you will have moderate to heavy traffic for a very short stretch. Returning from North Shore by Hawaii Kai there is a great Costco. Monday you will find more traffic as the locals will be travelling for work reasons. I vote for renting a car on Sunday. If you arrived Saturday night from the mainland...you may wake up early Sunday by Hawaii time. Check your rental car at pickup and return very carefully for damage.

Mary2e

I'm going to disagree a bit. I think during the week, at non-rush hours, will be better.

On Sunday the locals are all on the road, and lots of them go "to the country" to the North shore. You'll see many families having luaus at various parks. Traffic will be heavier there.

During the week, if you go via the East route (through Hawaii Kai), any remaining traffic will be going the other way toward HNL. You can also come back that way. I wouldn't recommend coming back via the Pali during the week as it's always trafficy

I also prefer to let the locals enjoy their parks and island on the weekends without being overrun by tourists

I do agree about the Costco in Hawaii Kai - it's a nice one, plus you can get the cheapest lunch on the island there

philemer

I was kind of leaning toward a Monday rental because the locals will be at work and not at the beaches. This will resort in a morning & evening rush hour issue I know. How about heading in a clockwise direction about 9AM (Waikiki>Mililani>Waimea>Laie>Kaneohe>Waimanalo>Wa ikiki) and stopping at the Hawaii Kai Costco after 6 or 7PM.
That would put us back to Waikiki about 8 or 9PM. Thoughts?

We'll probably be renting the car at the Hertz desk at Hilton Haw. Village. Do they have an after-hours drop area where we can unload the car and avoid paying an overnight parking fee?

Mary2e

That's the way we usually go, but leave later than 9am - more like 9:30-10am and it's generally ok.

We don't stay that long - and are usually back in Waikiki around 5pm or so, but I don't see any problem at all with your plans. I'm not sure what time costco closes. In NJ it's 8:30pm I would check, but can't imagine it's much different.

I haven't a clue about the hertz desk at all. I would call them directly to see how to handle it.

slippahs

We did a circle island tour in the Prius over the Labor Day weekend on Sunday, leaving at about 1 p.m. and ending up passing Kahuku around 3 p.m.-ish. The only traffic we came across was after Sunset Beach. That was backed up for a good 15 minutes until we got closer to Haleiwa town. No traffic anywhere else. Of course, it could've been worse earlier in the day, and perhaps it was, but that was our experience that particular day.

The problem with Monday is that if you come back to town during 4 p.m.-7 p.m. via the H-2/H-1 route, inevitably, somewhere along the H-1, you'll hit traffic. On Sunday, no such traffic on the freeway. I suppose if you do it on Monday, you could always try coming back into town as Mary suggested going all the way back through Hawaii Kai, but that's a pretty far route to backtrack. You could also try the Pali/Likelike Highways but you'll snag a little in Kaneohe and again in town.

Now, seeing how you're planning a January travel date, if there is any bit of crazy North Shore waves at all, the North Shore, regardless of whether it's a Sunday or Monday will be packed with tons of people trying to go and watch the waves. So this discussion could be moot.

Thanks.
But no gas station, unfortunately.
The above itinerary sounds good, but just remember that Costco closes at 8:30 p.m. If you do this on Sunday, Costco closes at 6 p.m. So perhaps that will factor into your decision. There is a Costco in Waipio on the way back from the North Shore (near the large Tony Group Auto Mall visible from the Freeway before you get to Mililani), so if you do it the other way, you'd also have a Costco there (with a gas station, but probably too far from Waikiki to ensure that it's still full when you return the rental). With the above itinerary, you'll snag traffic in town a little but should be pretty smooth sailing until getting to Kaneohe around rush hour.

The only issue I'd have with the itinerary is that you'd be at the beach, if you make a stop on the N. Shore, probably around Noon-1, the hottest hours of the day. We like to go around 3-4, when it's a little cooler and people are leaving, meaning that parking is easier to find (I suppose another reason to choose Monday over Sunday, since there'll be less parking on Sunday). So that's why we did the reverse route on our little trip earlier this month. Also, you can get in an unbelievable sunset if you drive out to Mokuleia near where the road ends heading to Laie Point. You can then drive back in the dark using the freeway without any traffic.

Make sure to skip Matsumoto's (overrated) and have some shave ice at Aoki's in Haleiwa (right next door to Matsumoto's), shrimp at the shack near Kahuku, and shave ice again at Kokonuts (where Obama dropped by once) in the Hawaii Kai Town Center (across the lake from Costco).

djakio

id say go on sunday if you want less traffic, and monday if you want less bodies at the beach. costco in honolulu is always packed. hit the one in waipio on the way back from north shore (still packed) but maybe not as much so

jdk_74

I haven't seen any posts on this... Would anyone recommend renting a moped for a day and drive around the entire island?

Any recommendations for where to rent and anything I should be aware of?

philemer

Which of the four main islands are you talking about?

jdk_74

Oahu.

I've been looking at hawaiimoped.com

sylvas808

If you just want to cruise around the waikiki diamondhead area then its not a bad idea, but if you are planning on doing a tour around the whole island I wouldn't recommend it. The rental mopeds don't got much faster than 25-35 and aren't allowed on the freeways. If you want to tour the whole island I'd recommend renting a car, its much safer.

FlyerGoldII

If one wants to book for more than 1 consecutive day from the downtown rental location, any chance that the car rental agency will allow for overnight free parking at their location, rather than keeping it overnight at the Embassy Suites parking lot for $25 per night?

Ancien Maestro

Your trip is short.. so each second is valuable on the island.. my vote is to rent a car.^

alem25

There is plenty of free overnight parking past the Honolulu Zoo. We stayed at the Hyatt for a week in Nov '09 before our cruise and we parked there every night without any issues. During the day (10am-6pm I believe), it's only 25 cents for 15 or 30 mins so you have move the car or pay the meter. The walk is about 10 mins but it saves me $25 per night.

dstan

That's great info now that the Marina has raised their rates - please post it here!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hawai...ns-thread.html

slippahs

While this is a cheap (free) place to park at night, it should come with a big disclaimer that local cops know this place to be a go-to place for targeting break-ins. Don't leave any valuables in the car.