Hawaii

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by KarenG

In which case with only 12 nights I would do two islands only.

What are your interests? Hiking, fine dining, culture, shopping, history, other?

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I love shopping, but to be honest we could do that in LA, so that's not important for Hawaii.

What we really want to do in Hawaii is the outdoors stuff - walking/hiking, kayaking, snorkelling, trying to surf, seeing wildlife such as sea turtles, and so on. Husband would like to mountain bike. I'd like to do Pearl Harbor, and I'm also interested in learning about the culture, husband not so much, so not something to dedicate huge amounts of time to.

[Guest]

I hope you don't mind me following on. I've crazy notions of adding Hawaii on after my alaska cruise and before disneyland!

[Geordieprincess]

We went for honeymoon in 2004 so it’s been a while.
We flew straight to Oahu via San Fran and it was brutal.
We spent 10 nights in Hilton Hawaiian Village which was nice but food was so expensive we ended up eating out most of the time, and did a trip every other day - island tour, Pearl Harbour and Might Mo, Polynesian cultural centre and a day trip via plane to the Big Island to visit the active volcano which was amazing.
We then transferred to Kauai Marriott for 4 nights, mainly relaxing but with a one day island tour.
Then home via Las Vegas for 5 nights.
Glad we broke the journey coming home.
It was an amazing holiday. Enjoy!

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by skalexander

I love shopping, but to be honest we could do that in LA, so that's not important for Hawaii.

What we really want to do in Hawaii is the outdoors stuff - walking/hiking, kayaking, snorkelling, trying to surf, seeing wildlife such as sea turtles, and so on. Husband would like to mountain bike. I'd like to do Pearl Harbor, and I'm also interested in learning about the culture, husband not so much, so not something to dedicate huge amounts of time to.

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Here is how I’d approach it in terms of which islands I’d choose.

There are some things which can only be done on one island (Pearl Harbour springs to mind!) whereas hiking / snorkelling could be done on any albeit some may be better than others. I’d do a short list on that basis.

Oahu has Pearl Harbour and some nice low key cultural and historical attractions so I’d suggest there as one island. Many opportunities to hike. I know nothing about mountain biking but I guess you’d have to rent and transport the bike to the starting point as the main roads - like the interstates - wouldn’t be ok to ride on (there may be ways around this but having been there I’m not convinced it would be straightforward unless you had a car that you could use to move the bike). But a quick Google shows Oahu has trails. If you want anything more about what I liked there, happy to expand. Bonus with Oahu is that the accommodation options include more affordable ones.


The other island, assuming you did two? I’ve not been to Kauai but I wonder if that might fit? Big Island includes the (not currently active) volcano and is very varied in landscape. You can snorkel with manta rays, experience seven different micro climates, wonderful waterfalls, hikes etc etc. Maui has a bit of everything and is my favourite.

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by KarenG

Here is how I’d approach it in terms of which islands I’d choose.

There are some things which can only be done on one island (Pearl Harbour springs to mind!) whereas hiking / snorkelling could be done on any albeit some may be better than others. I’d do a short list on that basis.

Oahu has Pearl Harbour and some nice low key cultural and historical attractions so I’d suggest there as one island. Many opportunities to hike. I know nothing about mountain biking but I guess you’d have to rent and transport the bike to the starting point as the main roads - like the interstates - wouldn’t be ok to ride on (there may be ways around this but having been there I’m not convinced it would be straightforward unless you had a car that you could use to move the bike). But a quick Google shows Oahu has trails. If you want anything more about what I liked there, happy to expand. Bonus with Oahu is that the accommodation options include more affordable ones.


The other island, assuming you did two? I’ve not been to Kauai but I wonder if that might fit? Big Island includes the (not currently active) volcano and is very varied in landscape. You can snorkel with manta rays, experience seven different micro climates, wonderful waterfalls, hikes etc etc. Maui has a bit of everything and is my favourite.

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Thank you. I was hoping to do Oahu, Kauai and Maui, not sure how I’d narrow it down to 2. Maybe I’ll have to beg a couple of extra days off work so we can extend our time.

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by skalexander

Thank you. I was hoping to do Oahu, Kauai and Maui, not sure how I’d narrow it down to 2. Maybe I’ll have to beg a couple of extra days off work so we can extend our time.

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I’m not good at following my own advice (our first visit we did six nights Oahu and three nights Maui) but with each island change you lose the best part of a day. If you do three with 12 (or 14 or so if you can swing it) you’re going to spend a lot of time in airports / checking in and out / dropping off and picking up rental cars etc.

I really really wouldn’t do three islands with only 12 nights and I’m not sure I’d do it with 14.

Like I say I’m not good at following my own advice and many people told me not to do Oahu and Maui with only nine nights but I did it anyway. Our next trip was much better as we had three weeks (minus the travel time so actually 19 nights) but we only did three islands to try and maximise our island time

[landandword17]

Originally Posted by skalexander

Thank you. I was hoping to do Oahu, Kauai and Maui, not sure how I’d narrow it down to 2. Maybe I’ll have to beg a couple of extra days off work so we can extend our time.

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If you had to narrow it down to 2, I would do Oahu and Maui. I think that will give you a good feel for what Hawaii has to offer.

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by landandword17

If you had to narrow it down to 2, I would do Oahu and Maui. I think that will give you a good feel for what Hawaii has to offer.

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Thank you. I’m not sure whether I want to book right now. I keep flitting between being desperate to go away and wanting to book, and not wanting to book anything as I’m convinced it won’t go ahead. What strange times we all live in (but at least we’re safe and well).

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by skalexander

Thank you. I’m not sure whether I want to book right now. I keep flitting between being desperate to go away and wanting to book, and not wanting to book anything as I’m convinced it won’t go ahead. What strange times we all live in (but at least we’re safe and well).

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If I can be honest, I wouldn’t book Hawaii right now for a number of reasons. If you ever look on the TripAdvisor forums you would see things are a bit strange there at the moment, hopefully it will all unwind soon but I wouldn’t book right now (so so sorry to be negative).

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by KarenG

If I can be honest, I wouldn’t book Hawaii right now for a number of reasons. If you ever look on the TripAdvisor forums you would see things are a bit strange there at the moment, hopefully it will all unwind soon but I wouldn’t book right now (so so sorry to be negative).

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Not negative, Karen, just honest! We’ve got a trip booked to Canada in January and I regret booking it, not because I don’t want to go but because I hate the uncertainty. I love holiday planning, but takings thing as they come and booking late probably needs to be the order of the day for the time being.