SusanDK

I'm doing some preliminary planning for a trip to Hawaii - husband wants to go and has never been there. I spent three weeks on Oahu in the mid-80's for work and had the chance to see many of the main attractions (Pearl Harbor, snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, Waimea, stayed at an apartment near Waikiki and with a view of Diamond Head). It was crowded then and traffic was a lot, so I can only imagine now. With that said, I'm considering suggesting to my husband that we skip Oahu altogether since he's not fond of crowds.

We are road-trippers and enjoy scenery and doing our own driving, also prefer to make our own meals with only occasional dining out. So I think we'd prefer either an AirBnB or, perhaps more likely, one of the resorts with kitchen facilities like a Marriott or Hilton Vacation Club type place. And a rental car for sure on each island we visit. We are not spend-all-day-at-a-beach people, but enjoy ocean views, walks on the beach and a quick dip, maybe some snorkeling. We aren't super-athletic hikers but enjoy walking or biking in nature. We used to sail and he used to windsurf, so not sure if he'd want to try to do that while there, or if he'd want to go out whale-watching, for example. He's more of a do-our-own-thing in our own vehicle and stop when and where we want, rather than joining an organized event.

I'm thinking two islands are probably plenty and have narrowed down to the Big Island, Maui and Kauai. Which two out of three would you choose? Or is it worth the transport between them to do all three? Others you would consider? I don't know how long we'd want to plan for but let's estimate 2 weeks, plus or minus some days.

We live in Florida, but take road trips in a small motorhome. I'm wondering if it is better to do the Hawaii trip as a one-off from Florida which means a longer flight and definitely requiring a connection. Or if we should consider trying to arrange a trip from the western US, grabbing a direct flight when we are already out west in the motorhome. This would require finding an airport with oversize vehicle parking (27' - so not hugely oversize). I quite like the idea of finding a direct option out of one of the CA cities or even PHX. But I'm not sure our summer trip will keep us out west as late as I'd like because I'm thinking September for Hawaii.

I'm open to suggestions from the community - about anything. Which islands, recommended accommodations (I'm Hilton Diamond and Marriott Platinum and have ca. 500k points in each program), which month to go for the best combination of good weather with lower crowds (understanding there will be compromises between the two). Which airlines are preferred? I'm Delta Platinum but used up most of our miles for two round-trip flights to Denmark last year, so don't have many miles. I've got some SW and AA miles. I'm thinking the SW miles might come in handy for an intra-island flight or two. I would prefer to fly either above economy class (premium / comfort economy, business, first) for the mainland to Hawaii flight. Which airport to fly to if I want to avoid Oahu even for a flight connection and fly directly to one of the islands we plan to spend time in.

We are retired with no kids, so our schedule is our own but are already scheduled for Denmark in May/June, so this would be later in the year or next year.

FlyinHawaiian

Based on that, Big Island and Kauai would be less crowded than Maui. I think more than two islands would be pushing it for a two-week trip.

Whales are best seen from tours on Maui but September is too early for whales.

If you have one of the Delta-branded Amex cards, you can use points to knock down the airfare. No checked bags on Southwest would be a big plus over Hawaiian Air.

Kauai has a very short runway so no widebody service. Maui and, to a less extent, the Big Island (Kona) do get some widebodies but not many (mostly UA). DL lie-flats would be out of JFK, ATL, DTW, MSP, and sometimes SLC to HNL and seasonal ATL-OGG.

escapefromphl

+1 For Kauai and Big Island. Weather is good in September and October. If you're looking to use your Marriott points my recommendation would be 5 days at the Mauna Kea, yes it's expensive, but they have free beach toys (kayaks, SUP's etc) no resort fees and its not a mega resort. On Kauai we usually go with a condo rental.

gaobest

In kaua’i we stayed at koloa landing hotel resort with a kitchen. It’s a Marriott autograph property. Maui is definitely more dense of tourists. I only went to Kaua’i in February of this year and loved it.

Appleseeeeed

I'd agree with Kauai and Big Island. Maui is more busy and touristy.

SusanDK

Thanks all - I'll focus my research on Kauai and the Big Island. The one thing in Maui I thought would be for us would be the Road to Hana. We would want to self-drive it, and I'm not sure if we could do it in a day if we were staying multiple days at one of the resorts either in Wailea or Lahaina. So it's still on my radar despite the crowds - which still would be much less than Oahu I hope.

FlyinHawaiian

In general, visitor counts have been pretty high post-COVID restrictions; I’ll let some of our Maui members provide what they are seeing these days. Maui is a large island and driving distances and times can be surprisingly long.

There’s an existing thread for the drive to Hana that you can use as a reference: Consolidated "Road to Hana" thread

SusanDK

Thank you for the reference thread! I will read through it and also do more research.

gaobest

this although Hana / Paia (Maui) are less touristy for Maui. Still, I prefer Kaua’i over maui right now.
have a great trip!