Hawaii planning?

[Trouble Maker]

Anyone been? Which island to go to, what to see, what to do, where/what to eat?

 

We are going to do about 10 days in March-April of next year. We like to eat good food and will probably want to do some excursions; snorkeling, kayaking, going to some parks/forest, waterfalls, maybe some biking.

 

So far we are thinking Maui for about half of the trip and Hawaii for about half of the time. The only big reason for that initial idea is we have a long term idea of gong to all of the National Parks and these are where the 2 national parks are.

 

Is the Island hopping as easy as people say? Should we even worry about which Island we fly into/out of? Seems like most flights are into Honolulu, Oahu, so if we go to Maui and Hawaii it's a concern.

 

Anyways, I'm welcoming any suggestions as we are having a tough time starting planning as there is way too much info out there!

[RyM3rC]

Island hopping is super easy, I walked right through the Hawaiian airports with no problem. Maui is very nice, there's lots of good snorkeling there. You can fly into anywhere, just go wherever is cheapest and see that island first then hop around. I'd make sure you hit Kauai as it's the least touristy of the bunch. Very third-world, but still America if you know what I mean. They've shot about a bazillion movies in Kauai so if that's your thing go you can drive to all the spots.

On Maui I'd skip the "road to Hana" as it is literally HOURS of super twisty, edge-of-the-cliff, sometimes one-lane roads with rock-slides, gravel, idiot tourists, and drama. Unless that's your thing. Learn to surf, take a helicopter tour, snorkel, rent a Harley (fail), see the historical sights... You could easily fill a whole month with stuff and still not have done it all.

[TurboNova]

Went to Maui last year for 8 days.. had great time... from what I recall island hopping was very expensive.

[RyM3rC]

And another thing: If you're going anywhere you plan on stepping out of the car, wear your swimsuit and wear some watershoes or something that you don't mind getting wet. A lot of the hikes (depending on the weather) will involve stream-crossings, and you never know when you'll find an awesome place to swim. Watch out for bugs (don't get the Dengue fever or whatever), wear tons of sunscreen all the time, don't fall on the rocks, don't go in the lava tubes, and don't be surprised if your nice hotel has bugs coming in after a heavy rain.

[Nitrousbird]

My wife went a few years ago, and said it isn't worth the super long flight, severe jet lag and higher expenses vs other tropical destinations that are much closer.

[Akula]

I go to Hawaii every year. I like the big island for diving/snorkeling. Oahu has beaches and surfing. I have never been to Maui as I always go to the big island.

 

Kilauea is pretty neat, so are the water falls - on the Big Island.

 

I have been to Hilton at Waikoloa 3 years in a row, its nice there.

[Sturg1647545502]

getting married in maui next july

[Dr. Apex]

Oahu has Hanauma(sp?) bay which is the tourist spot for snorkling, well worth it. Waimanalo beach near Kailua is great as it's not crowded with tourists, sports illustrated films there a lot. Laie point is gorgeous and has excellent cliff diving. Surfing is best at Waimea or Makaha but not if your a rook. Diamond head is a nice hike and there are some trails just north of honolulu that aren't well known if your willing to look for them. Dole plantation in the center if the island is neat to see.

 

Can't comment on the other islands.

[87GT]

Snorkeling and cliff jumping on the big island for sure. I can show you a google map of a great cliff jump area I found out from a local when I was there. On the west side the water is calm go anywhere to any beach they are all awesome. Make sure you visit the largest volcano in the volcano national park. There is no way to describe the size of it. You need to see it yourself. And make sure you drive around the highways of the island. Many good places to pull over the side of the road and just look. Once you start getting up there around 3000+ feet the view is unbelievable. Places stopped at I couldn't see where the sky and the ocean met. Some of my best pictures are of random places like this.

 

+1 on always wearing your swimming trunks and water shoes.

[10phone2]

I lived in Hawaii for most of my life and I was lucky enough to travel most the islands for junior tournaments probally 10 or more times each. I would recommend not going to Makaha because that means going through Waianae. That part of the island has a horrible homeless problem on the beach. You will drive for over an hour to find out the beaches are covered by people living in blue tarp tents. Also, your not from there so it can iffy for tourist and military out there.

 

Hilo, is nice, but there isn't shit else to do besides the Volcano National Park and a water fall here and there. There are no beaches and everything closes early. I would personally blow a day or two on Kaui before Hilo. The Volcano National Park takes alot of dam driving and it wears you down. It's nice to see, but you will need two days to catch it a good part of it. The only way you won't be worn down is if you stay over. So you can spend the last two days there if you want.

I came up with a ball-park schedule of what I would do if I went back there for a trip that was a family trip.

 

Day 1:

The Laie point idea is great. That part of the island is beautify. If you keep driving, you will end up at Kaneohe and Kaliua. That drive alone is hard to capture in words. I would start off early in the morning and hike Kaena point on the North Shore. I would recommend stopping at a beach on the north shore. Then keep driving through the North Shore, onto Laie, and finish the night in Kaneohe. There is a stupid good shrimp place in Kahuku, which is right before Laie. Grab lunch at the shrimp place and find some dinner in Kaneohe. If you are there when the waves are up, it will be worth it just to drive to various beaches up there to check it out.

Day 3:

Hike Diamond Head or Koko Head Creater in the morning. Then grab lunch somewhere in Waikiki. There is a great local place right across the Honolulu Zoo on the corner. It's on the second floor and over looks the beach. After, drive to Kailua Beach area. The drive alone is amazing.

Day 4-8: Maui

Everything in Maui is beautiful. Wailuku or Lahina is a can't miss. Lahina is alittle more touristy, but no where near as much as Waikiki. Maui, has in my opinion the best beaches overall for any island in Hawaii.

Days 9-10:

Come back to Oahu. If you don't mind hole in the wall places, you can find bead and breakfast places in Nuuanu Valley that sit in a valley. Make sure to check out Koolina Resort. There is a great beach there. There is also a great Hawaiian restaraunt in Kapolei. I can't remember the dam name. There is alot of restaraunts in Kaploei area. You can spend the last two days, just lounging at various beaches. I would make sure to check out Mai Tai Bar in the Ala Moana Shopping Mall outside Waikiki. They have the best chop steak on the island. Plus the pitchers are cheap.

 

One thing to remember, if you think Waikiki is expensive...wait to you get on the outer islands. I wouldn't be surprised if gas is 4.50-5 a gallon. The local plate lunch places can save you money because any sit down place in Waikiki is going to cost you 30-40 bucks. You do that 2-3 times and day and it add up. The Vietamiese(sp) Pho places are cheap and takes good. Last thing, make sure you hit up the Curry House in Pearl Kai. It's 5 minutes from Pearl Harbor and it's a can't miss. It will cost 15 bucks at most for both of you. It's taste pretty good and you can be in and out in 30-45 min at the very most.

 

The helicopter tours are nice, but those fuckers crash a kill and few people a year. The inter-island flights are easy and convenient. Maui is 20 minutes at most and the big island is 40 I think. The parasailing in Waikiki is worth the money.

 

Sorry for the rambling, but Hawaii and there is so much to fit it.

[10phone2]

I forgot, drive Tantalus on Oahu. It's a windy road through a rain forest that has views that you can see half the dam island. Plus, its a legendary road. Drive it and you will see why people do timed midnight runs on it.

[black00ws6]

I leave for Maui tomorrow for 16 days.. will send you a message when I get back.

 

Island hopping is EASY.. about 140-160 a person.

[Dr. Apex]

I forgot to mention the fact that Makaha is not a very friendly area, used to live near by and go to it all the time so I forget it's a rough area.

 

Laie point is awesome like I said, between the cliffs and blowholes in them it's worth checking out and the Polynesian Cultural center isn't far away though I never went there(mostly tourism).

 

I took a helicopter tour of Kualoa valley, smooth as silk and the views are phenomenol!

[russian rocket]

just got back last night from hawaii for my wedding/honey moon.

great place, we stayed at the hyatt regacy resort in waikiki which is on oahu. get ready to drop some cash there. everything and i mean everything is expensive in waikiki lol.

 

if you plan to travel to waikiki, i would recommend eating breakfast at dukes, they have an awesome breakfast buffet.

cheeseburger waikiki has some really good burgers

shore restaurant located in the hyatt regacy hotel has a good steak

resturant called top of waikiki is pretty cool. i think its 20 stories tall and the top is circle shaped and slowly spins. has a really awesome night view over the ocean and city and has really good steak

we also took a sunset dinner cruise. if your into crab legs than you should go on this cruise, its all you can eat.

 

also if you want to go to a water park, go to the wet and wild park on oahu. definitely a fun park and it has the surfing simulator

 

i booked most of my activities through http://www.hawaiidiscount.com

 

 

 

now, in my personal opinion, i dont think i would go back to hawaii. couple reasons:

long ass flight

expensive

the attractions like the aquarium are disappointing

 

i would go back to cacuun before going back to hawaii

 

 

btw dont rent a car in oahu, pretty confusing to drive around there and extremely bad traffic jams on their main freeways. they even have something called "beat the back to school jam"

[morabu]

I lived in Hawaii for most of my life and I was lucky enough to travel most the islands for junior tournaments probally 10 or more times each.

 

in all seriousness, what made you move?

i am thinking of making the move out there with my wife and 2 kids

[10phone2]

I was teaching tennis and most of my kids were seniors in high school. So i knew in 4 months or less I would be screwed. The economy sucked big time there and even though I had two girls in the top 120 in the nation, the chances of me picking up clients was slim. I also wanted to go back to grad school, the problem is the University of Hawaii is all day time and I would have to find a job at night, which any job was hard to find. Plus, the I went to University of Hawaii for their computer science masters program for a few weeks and it was a complete joke. I dropped out because I wan't about to spend 30-50k for a bs education. When I met my wife, she was able to transfer to Columbus with the same company and we could rent our her sisters town home. So I even though I really didn't want to leave, I jumped on a plane having no idea what the hell to expect. I just knew that Ohio had more schools and the economy had to better. I had the time of my life but at some point you have to make sacrifices. My older daughter is still there and once I finally get into grad school and finish, I am seriously considering moving back. Yes Hawaii is expensive, but from my limited experience the economy in Columbus doesn't justify the weather. I have meet some great people here, I just got spoiled working my hours and making good money. We'll see once I get out of school, but that won't be for some time.

[Wease]

A good friend of mine (roommate in the Air Force) moved out there a few years ago from Denver. He's married and has two young boys. He's a software engineer like me, but could not find a job there. I guess if you are not a local, finding a job and moving there is nearly impossible. They just don't like to give jobs to non-locals out there. So he ended up convincing (it actually didn't take much, as they didn't want to let him go) his company in Denver to allow him to work remotely, coming back to Denver like once a year for 2 - 3 weeks. Other than he pays more to rent a place than I do for my mortgage, it's worked out great for him.

 

I'm actually going out there next June to see him. It will be my first trip to Hawaii. I plan on going for about 10 days, staying half the time with him and the other half somewhere else...

[Casper]

Anyone been? Which island to go to, what to see, what to do, where/what to eat?

 

We are going to do about 10 days in March-April of next year. We like to eat good food and will probably want to do some excursions; snorkeling, kayaking, going to some parks/forest, waterfalls, maybe some biking.

 

So far we are thinking Maui for about half of the trip and Hawaii for about half of the time. The only big reason for that initial idea is we have a long term idea of gong to all of the National Parks and these are where the 2 national parks are.

 

Is the Island hopping as easy as people say? Should we even worry about which Island we fly into/out of? Seems like most flights are into Honolulu, Oahu, so if we go to Maui and Hawaii it's a concern.

 

Anyways, I'm welcoming any suggestions as we are having a tough time starting planning as there is way too much info out there!

 

It's a fucking dumpster; how hard can this be? It's not like he's asking for referrals for someone to birth his first child.

 

It's fucking Hawaii; how hard can this be? It's not like you're asking for referrals for someone to birth his first child.

 

:masturboy:

[RyM3rC]

It's fucking Hawaii; how hard can this be? It's not like you're asking for referrals for someone to birth his first child.

 

:masturboy:

 

Dayum! Look at this guy! If you still need suggestions send me a PM and I'll dig up some of my recent Hawaii stuff.

 

The Duke's restaurants are reasonably priced if you want to save some money. Buying groceries and cooking can be very money-saving, but some stuff (like milk) is 3 times what it costs here, while some is about the same.

[AWW$HEEET]

went to waikiki and had a blast. A+, would do again.

[Trouble Maker]

It's fucking Hawaii; how hard can this be? It's not like you're asking for referrals for someone to birth his first child.

 

:masturboy:

 

Fuck, now I have to leave Howard and you in the woods to die.

 

P.S. Multi-thousand dollar vacation which is essentially our honeymoon with thousands of choices != picking out a dumpster for a few hundo from 4 different local places.

 

I'm sorry I have to explain something like that to you, I thought you were smarter than that. :gabe:

Edited September 1, 2011 by Trouble Maker

[Casper]

Fuck, now I have to leave Howard and you in the woods to die.

 

P.S. Multi-thousand dollar vacation which is essentially our honeymoon with thousands of choices != picking out a dumpster for a few hundo from 4 different local places.

 

I'm sorry I have to explain something like that to you, I thought you were smarter than that. :gabe:

 

:masturboy: