spurg

diving in snorkelling in guam = top notch.

KosraeTV

Yeah travelling half way around the world to rock it out at the KMart ^

The beaches, it depends on where you're from, or where you've been to. To a lot of folks the beaches up there in GUM are incredible, to others who have been to some islands and such think they are not so great. To me I wouldn't bother setting foot on the beaches in GUM. Saying that there there are some nice ones that are around the island away from the main hotels that are pretty much deserted and are nice.

For 3 days?? 90% of the folks will spend the first day recovering from the flight, the extra 8 hours past HNL is generally a killer for most folks. So you really have two days. That isn't enough to really spend time and get to know GUM even if you do like it. If you knew where you wanted to go and where the hidden beaches are and such then yeah maybe I could see it. But for a first time visitor, I don't see it as the best destination.

dme

You should take KosraeTV's posts to heart- and without salt- as both are very well said - and very true. Except the part about Saipan.

bostonbali

I had a 24 hour layover in GUM. I thought that was the perfect amount of time. Not sure I'd want to hang out there for 3 days. As others have mentioned, there really isn't too much to do on the island. We stayed at the Hilton (executive room), and that hotel was showing its age a bit.

RustyC

I'd say go for GUM, too, if it's an opportunity you don't expect to get very often. I'm a real stopover stickler, trying to maximize that and open-jaw rules to add more destinations and get to see more places. Have been to GUM 7 or 8 times, usually on daylong layovers, but twice involving overnights. I think the beach compares favorably to most in the U.S., certainly if you like calm, shallow water. Two Lovers' Point has a great view...you can even see isolated showers coming in over the water. It also makes a good whole-day trip to circle the island and see the quieter and historic south side, as well as the War in the Pacific park.

You can even appreciate the KMart and chain places if, say, you're hitting GUM on a stopover and have been in Asia for a month (try getting American XL size socks for size 13 feet in the Philippines!).

Lodgings aren't particularly cheap, but they may be cheaper than Maui.

GUM rarely tops peoples' lists of must-visit islands, but that's in a perfect world where you could choose equally between that and a Bora-Bora. In the real world you get possible stopovers along the routing that you can take or leave. Against that backdrop I think you can make GUM worthwhile.

P.S. I assume you're going on CO. I had a situation about a year ago where I was booking an ATL-MNL award trip using NW miles and NW's online system for CO metal and got it to give me a stopover in ROR (there were 2-3 GUM-ROR flights a week and one ROR-MNL nonstop per week). The lady on the phone insisted it wasn't allowed, but I got the computer to take it. Am sure it also would have taken YAP, but I had already been there. YMMV with CO's website, but sometimes the websites will allow things the human agents resist even trying to do.

KosraeTV

LMFAO

Yes we use GUM as a shopping place, we'll fly up there when we don't have time to get to HNL but we're in the middle between HNL and GUM so it's a toss up which way we go to shop. And what you folks are fogetting is that GUM did have a Costco before but it has since closed down. Between Ross and Costco and KMart people were in hog heaven out this way.

I didn't bring up Yap (where I used to live) or ROR as a location as you're almost in PI by that point. For most first time flyers out to the Pacific it's one heck of a flight to take. To power fly it from the mainland to Yap or ROR and then rest for three days is a little much IMO for most rookie flyers out this way. That's why I had suggested spending three days in Kauai. Makes it break up the trip a little better.

If you have the option then yes I think Palau or Yap are excellent choices but it's a haul, a serious haul. Most folks don't realize what the actual flight is like as the time changes do not give you a realistic feeling of what the flights really are like. Yap and Palau are more "island" to me, GUM is more of a wanna be HNL.

I've bashed GUM enough so I'll give some info... For cheap hotels you got a few options in GUM, if you don't want to be in Tumon and you want CHEAP, I would pick the Harmon Loop is right across the street from a McD's by a Cost U Less and by a great little diner that the locals eat at. It's NOT near the beach and it's close to the airport and I think it's still 50 a night. The lady who owns it has the shopping center on the bottom, and the rooms are on the second floor. But.... it's clean and since I've been stranded in GUM for three different typhoons, the lady keeps enough fuel on hand so if the power goes out you'll have power for your room for a week whereas most larger hotels don't stock enough fuel to keep the lights on for too long. But it isn't near the larger hotels at all.

Driving in GUM is simple and easy. There are some discount car rental places as well that the hotel desks can direct you too if you want to skip the budget or such. They are like local "rent a wrecks". The desk folks at the major hotels push you to branded rental names but if you persist they will give you contact info for the local type rent a wrecks. Taxi's I find extremely expensive (to me) in GUM. I've tried the two day's inn up in GUM and would not recommend either if you're looking for other budget hotels. The airport hotel isn't bad but not a great place for a tourist, more for business folks stopping over.

You got the regular list of branded hotels in GUM, hilton, hyatt, outrigger, marriott, westin etc... all in Tumon (the main area for tourists) and some more asian branded hotels. For others that are not such names you can try Santa Fe on the Bay, Palace Hotel, or Inn on the Bay, which are all beach front hotels but not in Tumon. A minister I know has been to all of them and he stays at the Inn on the Bay over the others. I"m not going to recommend a branded hotel in Tumon as that depends on where you have your status or the brand you like. I will say that GUM has had a serious down turn in economy since the asian financial crisis so most hotels were let to go down some.

And for a little reference, I was told that 90% of the visitors to GUM never leave Tumon / Agana area. So if you want to see GUM, then get away from the main area. There is drugs and crime in GUM but it is still a friendly Island place and the crime and such is NOTHING like you have in the mainland. I wouldn't leave my wallet in the car with the windows down but I don't fear for my safety or look over my shoulder in GUM either. So it's still safe to wander around and take a drive and get lost etc... Folks will help you get back to where you need or want to go.

Here's on web site on GUM:

http://www.guam-online.com/

If you want specific info or comments on hotels or such you're welcome to PM me.

RustyC

Yeah, thanks to CO and creative award-travel booking I've gotten out to MAJ, KSA, PNI, GUM, SPN, ROR and YAP as a tourist. On the laid-back scale (least to most) I'd have to rank 'em GUM, SPN, MAJ, ROR, PNI, YAP, and KSA (laid-back champ). I remember leaving some brochures lying around that I had picked up to read and seeing several of the hotel help looking attentively at one for Angeles, Philippines (for general audiences). It was like I'd left the Coke bottle in "The Gods Must Be Crazy."

I learned early that Continental can be a sore topic in some places, though, and many people didn't have the best opinion of them because of the monopolistic pricing. Was ironic that that same pricing was what was freeing up award seats for a trickle of footloose mainlanders to use.

KosraeTV

HAHAHA, WE WIN WE WIN ^ ^ yeah my home KSA has to be the laid back champ of the world. That's one reason I don't suggest it to many folks. But in reality I work harder here then I did in the mainland . The population in general and my family (I'm married locally), they're out on the beach just sittin and chillin. And yeah, even a PG version of Angeles isn't for KSA. Must be why I never took my wife there.

CO is nasty for some but I support them (except when I'm privately emailing them bad words ) and they are used a campaign topic no matter the election no matter the island. Most hotel operators and tourist places have a love hate relationship with CO and it's mostly a hate relationship.

MisterTanaka

On the other hand, that leaves the OP part-way to being on Manila time when he arrives.

As a former Guam resident, I think there's plenty to do there for two or three days, unless you're particulary beach averse.

I echo Kosrae's suggestion of the Harmon Loop Hotel, though when we visited in September, we did stay in Tumon, where we were able to find a deal that didn't cost much more and included breakfast and easy beach access. (We stayed at the Royal Orchid; I think it ended up costing $50 or $60 more than the Harmon Loop for a four-day stay. We found the deal on their website, so it wasn't some cheap locals-only deal.)

BamaVol

I'd choose Guam even though I've been to Maui and loved it.

Maui can be done cheaply, but don't expect a helicopter ride, snorkel cruise and luau on your budget. If you pick Maui, get close to a beach, rent a boogie board and snorkel gear and bring a good book.

I prefer having your choice to mine (CLE or ABE).