Sweet Willie

If you are from the mainland US, 5:40am is not a problem for most the first few days as one is still on mainland time, but coming from Oz as I assume you are is probably different.

On the other hand, during a nice romantic meal at Chef Mavro's in HNL, my wife and I almost fell face firsts into our soups because of a late seating time!


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Latitudes

Success!!

I finally snagged an award HNL-OGG on AQ using UA miles, albeit in F. I'm trying to cost this out as cheaply as possible and 10,000 miles won't be missed out of my account.


Now I just need to find accommodation. I think I'll try Priceline...

BTW - Avis rental car prices are expensive compared to the mainland. Has anyone rented a moped or used public transport on Maui?

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Latitudes.

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move; to feel the needs and hitches of our life more nearly; to come down off this feather-bed of civilisation, and find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)

slippahs

Public transportation on Maui? There is none... this is why hitchhiking is legal according to the Maui County Council!

Aloha

wannabe

This is my first trip to Hawaii where I'll actually get to leave the airport.
The SO and I are planning on 11 days total, of which we want to spend the last 3 or 4 in HNL, to visit with a friend.

We are debating what to do about the remaining days. Right now we are booked flying into Maui on a Tuesday afternoon. We depart the following Friday afternoon from HNL. We picked the flights because of low fare availability on AA.

We were thinking about Kauai and Big Island as possibilities after Maui. What is your opinion for first-timers to Hawaii? Which of the two islands should we go to?

We are not the sort of people to spend a lot of time just sitting on a beach, but when we do, we like it to be quiet and pristine. we probably would want 1 out of each 3 days to be a beach day. Ideally, we want to see beauty, without it being too touristy, but also without it being so non-touristy that we have to spend a lot of time planning things in advance (we're time-constrained at home pre-trip). Also, we'd like to have fun and see the beauty of the islands without having to spend huge $$ for every activity (i.e. no helicopters for us). I am sure someone will tell us that with these parameters we should skip Maui, but my Mom swears by it, and my SO is dying to bike down the dormant volcano (the one with the amazing sunrises).

We don't scuba dive, though we do snorkel, and we like hiking, but not anything too extreme. We're in our late 20s/early 30s, and we usually like to get a rental car and drive off on our own rather than spend all our time at the resort. We also play a (very) poor game of golf, but enjoy doing it.

Help us pick a second island, please! And Thanks in advance!

KonaHi

I would check the great thread that Slippahs has provided and also do a search on all the islands that you are interested in. That should get you pointed in the right direction. On the Big Island, you will be able to car-tour for weeks.

wannabe

Thanks - I just discovered the sticky! Seems like a lot of great advice in there.

SimpleManToo

[QUOTE=wannabe]This is my first trip to Hawaii where I'll actually get to leave the airport.
We were thinking about Kauai and Big Island as possibilities after Maui. What is your opinion for first-timers to Hawaii? Which of the two islands should we go to?


Maui is crowded with people until you get over to the Hana side of the island.

Kauai and Hawaii are very beautiful and you will find that the big island of Hawaii has lots of hidden little places. Due to it's size, there is a lot more privacy there.

I liked Kauai because we went to both Poipu and Princeville. It tends to rain more on the princeville side of the island and Poipu has more resorts & beaches.

If you golf, there is excellent courses on both. If you like sightseeing, you can do it on both islands though Kauai is known as the Garden Island.

I do not know how much time you have but you may not want to spend it going between the islands.

DeniseM

Two islands is more than enough for 11 days. Remember, each time you change islands, you lose most of a day. I would stick with just Maui and Oahu. If you really want to do more, you can make day trips to Molokai and/or Lania via ferry from Maui.

If you visit Molokai, I would do a tour through the ferry Co., because of the limited amount of time you will have and the fact that the island is relatively undeveloped - you could waste a lot of time figuring out where to go on your own. There are basically two tours, one of the island, and one of the Kalaupapa, which is the leper's colony. To visit the colony, I suggest that you fly directly from Maui because the only way to get there is to fly, or hike or ride a mule down a steep trail.
www.molokaiferry.com

If you visit Lanai, I recommend that you do a Trilogy II Catamaran trip. We loved their all-inclusive Lanai sunset cruise. (10:30 am - sunset.) http://www.sailtrilogy.com/adventure...set/index.html

CPRich

Far from suggesting you skip Maui, I would suggest you spend most of your time there and then HNL for the final few days.

You only really have 9 days, given arrival and departure days will be packing, unpacking, etc. We had 11 days (13 days less 2 for travel, although we didn't depart the last day until 8pm) between 3 islands and it bordering on being rushed. Only during the last 5 on Maui did we really unwind.

If you're alreay on Maui and need to end up on Oahu, you will be shortchanging at least one, if not all, the islands by trying to hit one more.

The parameters you laid out line up perfectly with Maui. Spend time on manay of the beaches, bike down the volcano, hike a little in Io Valley, take a boat trip to Molikini for some of the best snorkeling around. Take a long day for a drive to Hana to see the scenery, the waterfalls, etc.

On Oahu, Haunama Bay is the best snorkeling *anywhere*, spend a day or two seeing Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head and the the other "must sees" and then another day or two on the beaches.

We did the Big Island as our third. It was nice, and I'm glad we did the helicopter thing to the volcano, but that was a 6:30am-11pm crazy-long day. We were there only 3 days but I don't feel any real urge to return now that we've seen it. Maui, I'd go back to in a heartbeat. And I've heard Kauai is very similar to Maui - probably not worth the time to pack, fly, unpack, etc. to see more of the same. Each inter-island trip pretty much burns a day.

I'd say 6 on Muai, 5 on Oahu, maybe even 7&4.

wannabe

Thanks for the advice. I am glad to hear the endorsement of Maui, since we didn't get a chance to read up about the islands before we booked our flights. We're not worried about the unpacking/packing time being lost, since we travel with only carry ons. But we didn't realize that inter-islands kill a whole day.

ksandness

Can't say anything about Maui, not having been there, but if you're into sightseeing rather than the traditional resort "vegging out" vacation, I have a couple of suggestions for Oahu:

1) The Bishop Museum: a terrific museum of Pacific anthropology and natural history. At one time it had a planetarium, too, but I don't know if it still does.

2) I recommend Hanauma Bay as snorkeling for beginners. Get a snorkeling kit at any of the ABC Stores in Waikiki and take the bus out to Hanauma Bay. Be sure to apply sunscreen *everywhere.* I thought I had, but I forgot the backs of my legs, and I ended up having to sleep prone for the rest of the trip.

3) Diamond Head is actually an old crater, and there's a trail inside it leading to the top for spectacular views of southern Oahu. Be sure to bring water along, because it will be hot, and no beverages or any other kind of creature comforts are available on the trail.

4) Ala Moana Center is a big shopping mall, but you can often catch free entertainment in its courtyard, and where else will you find a food court that features food from so many unusual places?

I spent two summer sessions at UH-Manoa, and during those times, I relied on the public bus system almost exclusively. The price for a one-month pass is lower than the cost of renting a car for one day. There's even a bus route that circles the island, which is a great way to get off the beaten path.

alanwar

Be careful on the bike ride. Heading downhill you will pick up lots of speed and need to be very careful of the other traffic. Also dress warmly especially if you are doing the early morning tours. Inexperienced bike riders can get seriously hurt on these rides.

gardener

First trip to Hawaii? 11 days total? 7 on Maui and 4 on Oahu sounds about right to me.

And yes, by the time you check out of a property by 10 AM, get to the airport and dump off the rental car, schlep your luggage to the long check in line, go through a MAJOR shoe carnival, fly 20 minutes and then repeat the luggage / rental car/ drive to resort area, you have killed an entire day.

This summer we did 3 islands over 19 days. Maui, Kauai, BI. It is a good pace, 5-6 nights per island. Previous two trips we did Oahu, Maui over 12 days and Maui, Molokai, and Kauai over 16. We won't be going back to Molokai.

If you insist on adding a 3rd island, I would favor Kauai over BI. But that is me.

I never understood the bike ride down Haleakala or the sunrise thing. Hiking IN the crater, however, is awesome - like hiking on Mars. Very cool.

chobby100

Yeah, I have to say that the best combo of two islands imho is kauai and the BI.

I agree with everything in the above post. I find Oahu too commercialized and Maui can be that way as well, depending on where you are going.

Kauai is lush green with that red soil and the BI has such diverse topography with the lava flows, snow capped mountains and beatiful beaches.

They are a great contrast and at the same time not so commercialized.

Of course hawaii is paradise so you can't really go wrong which ever you choose.

When we went last year we bascially did one full day on oahu, 5 days or so kauai and five days or so BI FWIW.

kersie

We just returned from Maui and Kauai. FAR preferred Kauai to Maui. Maui is beautiful, but it's not worth it to go that far and just go to Maui for the vast majority of the time. It's a big resort culture and doesn't feel all that different than a lot of resorts you can go to that are closer to home. The road to Hana is interesting, but we found that a lot of the stuff on the road to Hana was just THERE in Kauai. Kauai is just a lot more active. (We're in our mid-20s, and while hanging around the pool for a day or 2 is fun beyond that I go crazy... especially with all of the kids that always seem to be at the Maui resorts.)

I'd also recommend spending time on both the north and the south in Kauai... depending on when you are going. I wouldn't want to be in Princeville in the middle of winter.

That being said, I agree that 11 days is only time to really explore two islands.