# Hawaii Trip - Which Island(s)?



## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Going to Hawaii in May, we booked cheap tickets on a whim last week, and are flying to Honolulu (Oahu).

First disappointment was discovering that Oahu doesn't have any active volcano (Big Island only), second was that it doesn't seem to have as much "tropical" scenery as Kauai or Big Island or Maui.

What would you good folks suggest? Stay on Oahu the whole time? Go to another Island the whole time, or split between Oahu and another Island? I would like to island hop a max of once, as I don't want to spend all my time and money on plane tickets around the islands. It's only a week visit. Friday to Friday.

Is Hawaii in May a busy place? Would winging it with no reservations be advisable, or vacation suicide?


----------



## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

A week will go quickly. For a first time to the islands you could do worse than to chill on Oahu for a week. From our perspective, the plus of Honolulu/Waikiki is the broad selection and price range of hotels/eating. Your first impression will be 'just another American city'. But for sure rent a mustang convertable and drive around the Island (can be done in a day). Stop at Hanauma Bay to snorkel with the fish (coral not in good shape though). Stop at Waimea Valley for the lush tropical plants & flowers. Picnic on sunset beach, let the surf rip off your bathing suit. Have a romantic sunset dinner at Jameson's. Stroll the Waikiki beach, hike up Diamond Head, enjoy the warm weather, and marvel at where the week went.
Each Island has its own character and you would probably choose to visit another island the 'next time'. Kauai is the lush 'garden island'. The Big Island has the active and recent volcanics and black sand beaches. It is the 'newest' and least lush. Our first impression as we landed was 'MG we've landed on the moon'. But again there is lots of cool places to visit there also. 
Guess the question is how much you want to try to cram into the week. Enjoy


----------



## Terminator (Dec 17, 2014)

I absolutely love Hawaii. My wife and I have been there a total of 6 times in less than 8 years. 4 times to Maui, once to Oahu and once to Big Island. By the number of times we've been to Maui, I'm sure it's easy to see it's our favorite, I'll try to break each island down for you. Obviously everyone's opinion is different, but here is mine...

Maui - By far my favorite island that I've been too so far. It is a lot more laid back and quite when compared to Oahu. The pace is slower, and in my opinion, there are way more things to see and do (with the majority of them being free). We keep going back and never get sick of it. So many amazing beaches, snorkeling spots, road to Hana, whale watching, hiking and just amazing scenic drives along the amazing coast as well as the unbelievable drive up to the Haleakala crater. So many must do's that I could recommend.

Oahu - Obviously the busiest island. I just didn't realize HOW busy it really is. I guess I just had a misconception of the island before going and was slightly disappointed when I got there and realized how busy it was. We stayed in the heart of the tourism district (Waikiki). It is called the concrete jungle for a reason. Some of the main freeways heading out of and to Waikiki and Honolulu are 6-8 lanes wide. 
I must admit the night life was a lot more entertaining in Oahu than in Maui, but honestly, I went to Hawaii for the beaches, relaxation and weather...not nightlife (that's what Vegas is for )
There are still a good amount of nice beaches, but they usually are quite a bit more populated than in Maui. (The majority of all tourist do go to Oahu over the other islands...especially those from the Asian countries). Sometimes you can spend upwards of a few hours in traffic getting to a beach or location on the island because of traffic. I would not recommend this island if relaxation is your top priority.

Big Island - I only been to this island once for a day trip. But it was amazing! We did a volcano tour and it was really fun. Only regret was not having more time to explore the volcano and island as a whole. From the short time that I was there, I can say it was a lot of fun, traffic wasn't nearly as bad as Oahu and there is a lot to see and do.

I guess that's a very very basic break down on the 3 islands i've been too. I could literally write a book on my experiences and love for the islands. If you have any questions at at, please let me know. I would be happy to help you out.

Also, here are some typical things we would do on our trips...

- First off, we always book a condo or hotel with a kitchenette. Hawaii can be expensive, so having an option to buy our own food and cook is a must. We usually go to Costco and stock up on some stuff and get everything else from the local grocery stores. Most of the places we book have BBQ's, so we can relax at night and cook up some food with some drinks. Saves a lot instead of gong to a restaurant every single night.

-We always rent a vehicle (and the last few times its been a Jeep...having 4x4 can be useful in some spots). The cool thing about Hawaii is that it is extremely safe and there is so much natural beauty. If you can just get up and go, it makes it so easy instead of having to go on "tours" or excursions that add up pretty quick. Plus, the wife and I like the ability to be able to just get up and go on our own schedule.

-If you are into snorkeling (we love it and spend a good deal of our trip doing it), rent the gear there instead of lugging it with you in your luggage. I realized this after a few trips. The gear is heavy in your luggage, plus the rentals are so cheap. I believe snorkel bobs has fins for around $6/week. You can get larger fins than the ones that come in kits, which make it easier to swim and dive down. I already had a mask and snorkel, so I do bring those with me from home. It's mostly the fins that take up so much space when traveling.

-Plan ahead. Honestly, there is sooooo much to see and do. If you don't have a plan going in, you'll miss almost all of what Hawaii has to offer. We usually always go for 2 weeks. This gives us enough time to see and do a lot of stuff, but always gives us a few days to just relax and unwind at the beach. If you are going for only 7 days, unfortunately you will miss out on a lot of stuff. It is simply not near enough time. All I can suggest is to use your time wisely and figure out what interests you the most before you go and break it down that way. After all the trips I've taken there, I'm still finding new and amazing places to see and things to do. I don't think I'll ever really feel like I've seen it all.

I could go on and on with the tips and tricks. Maybe just let me know if you have any questions and I can go from there haha.

As for May, it shouldn't be too bad. The winter months are the busy season and in May, whale season is over so it shouldn't be too bad.


----------



## Fraser19 (Aug 23, 2013)

I usually go to Maui every year for 3 weeks. I am a big fan of it. Although I haven't been to the other islands.


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Terminator said:


> Oahu - Obviously the busiest island.
> 
> I just didn't realize HOW busy it really is. ... Some of the main freeways heading out of and to Waikiki and Honolulu are 6-8 lanes wide.


Weird ... that must be closer to Waikiki as going from the west side in the Ewa Beach area to Ala Moana Beach last week, I can only recall a few sections of H1 that was five lanes. Most of the way was three lanes.

No problems at all getting to the Dole Plantation or the North Shore, including Turtle Bay. Where I was expecting a slowdown when returning on H2 then H1 at 5:30pm, confirming whether to take a side road or the interstate took the most time.


Farrington Highway did get slow on Friday at 6pm on the way to Ko Olina for a couple of hours ... but only about one hundred yards before the exit.

With spending time with relatives, we weren't starting out at high traffic times ... but the only traffic we hit all week was trying to take a street shortcut coming back from the Pearl Harbour Visitor Center where there was a lane closed off for road work during rush hour. Once onto H1, we were back up to speed.




Terminator said:


> I must admit the night life was a lot more entertaining in Oahu than in Maui, but honestly, I went to Hawaii for the beaches, relaxation and weather...not nightlife


Yes ... though with all the family visiting, beach visiting, BBQ's etc. - night life wasn't on the agenda this time.




Terminator said:


> Sometimes you can spend upwards of a few hours in traffic getting to a beach or location on the island because of traffic. I would not recommend this island if relaxation is your top priority.


Interesting ... our worst traffic was something like forty minutes on the side street with the occasional slowdown for maybe five minutes on the interstate. Though it helps to be staying with relatives who have a good idea of the traffic patterns.


Next time I'd look for a couple of hour stop in Vancouver or several days in LA to break up the long flight.


Cheers


*PS*

We saw a whale in the distance about six times from the beach.


----------



## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

I'd buy a copy of Lonely Planet's Hawaii guidebook, read through it, and highlight your must-see places, then plan around that. The book will also help you with accommodation and inter-island info.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/hawaii

A good guidebook is a $30 investment in a $5,000 vacation that will save you money and increase your enjoyment immeasurably.


----------



## Terminator (Dec 17, 2014)

A few photos from my times in Hawaii...

Maui...


----------



## Terminator (Dec 17, 2014)

Continued...


----------



## Terminator (Dec 17, 2014)

....

Oahu...









....


----------



## Terminator (Dec 17, 2014)

Big Island...


----------



## Terminator (Dec 17, 2014)

My apologizes for all the photos...I just really like it there and thought I would share!


----------



## Ihatetaxes (May 5, 2010)

Nice photos! We've been to several of the islands and we've loved them all other than Oahu. Fine for flying in and out of but I would not spend another day there. Favourite two are Big Island and Kauai. Big Island has an incredible mix of landscapes and has something like 6 of the worlds 7 climate zones all one one island. You can go from driving through lava fields to rainforest to prairie meadows and they have some of the biggest cattle ranches anywhere outside of Texas. We did a lot of driving on Big Island and saw most of it, never bored for a second and doing it in a Mustang Convertible in perfect weather made it even better.

Kauai can be described in one word... Lush. The greenest place I've ever been and very relaxed pace. We had no problem finding empty beaches and generally loved it.

Stayed on Lanai at the Four Seasons a couple of years ago. Amazing hotel and we enjoyed it but the island itself wasn't as special. I would recommend it for a first time Hawaii visitor. The visa bill also still makes me shudder. 

Native Hawaiians the most welcoming, warm and friendly people we've found anywhere. It's a special place.


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Terminator said:


> .... My apologizes for all the photos...I just really like it there and thought I would share!


No need to apologise from my perspective ... :biggrin:

I'm jealous about the turtle as there weren't any around when we went ... though with relatives putting us up on Oahu - a lot of the time went into BBQ, beach & other family activities instead of the sights. I'm not sweating it as I'm sure we're going back.


Cheers


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Ihatetaxes said:


> ... Favourite two are Big Island and Kauai...


My girlfriend when to Kauai with Habitat to build a house last year and then island hopped back to Oahu to see here relatives. She had lots of weekend or after hours biking, swimming etc. on Kauai.


Cheers


----------



## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Wow! Looks like everyone on CMF has been to Hawaii. Thanks for all the input!

I would certainly like to see Pearl Harbor, maybe one night of nightlife, and a drive in a convertible would be excellent. I'm hoping to have some good "nature" time and beach time. How is Oahu compared to the other Islands in terms of day hikes and exploring the coastline, forests and old volcanoes?

Are accommodations and flights among all the islands plentiful enough that I could just wing it after showing up in Honolulu? Or are reservations needed for hotels/cars/flights? I'm sure I want to spend 2 or 3 days on Oahu since that where I'm flying, I'm just not sure if we'll want to venture to a second island or not for the rest of the trip...


----------



## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

Indexxx (#6 post) has the best idea - get a good travel book (to take with you), look at the sights & activities through the islands, check out cost and schedule to fly elsewhere online, and decide from there. Everyone has different interests and activity levels. 
Myself, I'd book my accommodation before I went to ensure I was staying where I wanted (usually like to be within walking distance of town), but that would mean deciding where I was going to go first and others (Oldpro) prefer to wing it. Again, check places like tripadvisor, thorntree - someone may have answered the question of pre-booking or not for that time of year.


----------



## Numbersman61 (Jan 26, 2015)

peterk said:


> Wow! Looks like everyone on CMF has been to Hawaii. Thanks for all the input!
> 
> I would certainly like to see Pearl Harbor, maybe one night of nightlife, and a drive in a convertible would be excellent. I'm hoping to have some good "nature" time and beach time. How is Oahu compared to the other Islands in terms of day hikes and exploring the coastline, forests and old volcanoes?
> 
> Are accommodations and flights among all the islands plentiful enough that I could just wing it after showing up in Honolulu? Or are reservations needed for hotels/cars/flights? I'm sure I want to spend 2 or 3 days on Oahu since that where I'm flying, I'm just not sure if we'll want to venture to a second island or not for the rest of the trip...


I've been to Oahu 3 times; Maui about 25 times so my preference is obvious. Oahu very busy with tons of tourists on tour buses. Maui is a more laid back with very few tour buses; just rent a car and tour the island. For a one week trip, I would recommend planning on staying on one island. Reasonable Condo rentals on Maui near good beaches (Kehei) are normally rented by the week; hotels at beaches are pretty expensive. Depending on your arrival and departure time, my suggestion is to fly from Honolulu to Maui and try to fit in Pearl Harbor tour between flights on day of arrival or departure (Pearl Harbor is close to airport).


----------



## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

I'd guess less than 1% of people who have visited all islands would state Oahu as their favourite. The air corridor between all the islands is one of the busiest in the US (#4 I think?), so getting flights between islands is easy.
If you want inexpensive, rent a condo (check out VRBO for last minute sales), rent a car, and do grocery shopping at costco. Maui has one. If you can snag a cheap flight, it's not really an expensive place to visit. Flights were around $400 all in from Alberta a couple months ago, though would be much more now as it's spring break season.

Don't try and do too much. 1 week isn't a whole lot of time considering the flying distance. And it's not a place where you want to rush (outside of Honolulu the locals don't like that).


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Numbersman61 said:


> I've been to Oahu 3 times; Maui about 25 times so my preference is obvious. Oahu very busy with tons of tourists on tour buses. Maui is a more laid back with very few tour buses; just rent a car and tour the island.


Maybe this varies by season, location and day? 

I only recall one or two tour buses, 80% empty for the afternoon we were at the beach in Honolulu. The busiest I can recall the beach was when the five Asians getting a board lesson paddled by and stopped to use the restroom. 

The beach on the west side, around Ewa Beach had no tourist buses and at Ko Olina, the four lagoon beaches as well as the hotel were quiet.


That said ... Maui had even less people at the time ... :biggrin:




Numbersman61 said:


> ... Depending on your arrival and departure time, my suggestion is to fly from Honolulu to Maui and try to fit in Pearl Harbor tour between flights on day of arrival or departure (Pearl Harbor is close to airport).


Back in the day, before what was available was expanded ... I could have agreed. 

Now I'd want to plan carefully ... there's the USS Arizona Memorial which requires a boat ride for which there's only 2,000 first come/first serve tickets made available each day. Then there's the USS Missouri Memorial (another boat ride), this time with an admission fee, the USS Bowfin submarine & the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island, accessed by shuttle bus. 

That's not counting various displays like torpedoes, a section of a submarine, conning tower to view the harbour, gun placements and mini museaums with film presentations to walk through.

http://www.nps.gov/valr/planyourvisit/index.htm
http://www.pearlharborhistoricsites.org/

If there's a couple of things of interest ... it's going to be a tight fit. 

The only reason I wasn't worried about it was with a place to stay for future visits, I figured I'd be back eventually.


Cheers


----------



## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

Thanks for sharing the pics Terminator.

Not sure when the OP booked their flights, however seeing all islands may be an option too, NCL, Pride of America cruises to all islands. www.ncl.com

And Roberts Hawaii is used for cruise excursions http://www.rhshorex.com/

Sorry I don't have the link to their land excursion site.


----------



## IFITSTOBEITSUP2ME (Mar 6, 2015)

We were supposed to go to Aussie for our 25th wedding anniversary for 3 months back in 2008 (planned for a quarter century and still didn't make it!), daughter said please do Hawaii so I can go Aussie trip with you after I finish Uni. Hawaii ironically had never appealed to us as possibly being a treasured memory type vacation. How wrong we were. So, she won, we did it with her in tow of course! Went to Maui and all really loved it for a week. If I recall we went to the only Walmart there near the airport area and spent about $20/25 on cheap fun bits like: boogie board, cooler and surf board body guard, also picked up our groceries enroute to our VRBO.com booked condo across quiet narrow street from great snorkelling and swimming area. We were on a cheap cheap budget to do this, not being an initially desired destination in our minds. Rented a car at that time from rent a wreck (and yes it was LOL), wouldn't do that again! Did the road to hell (oops, Hana), interesting (too many switch backs/bends for our liking, but went through so many different climates, rainforest, ocean fronts, tons of little bridges etc) and glad we did it but wouldn't do it again personally. Drove all two hundred and something miles around the whole island in a day, and went up a mountain above the clouds where we froze our tushes off. In all fairness loved the place for a week, as plenty to see and do and we were very much into swimming with the spinner dolphins very early in the mornings (can't remember the area name but we had to walk across shoe shredding volcanic rocks to get to them), snorkelling at every nook and cranny as we drove around the island and out to the turtle cleaning stations as they call them in the ocean. Whale watching was awesome from land even in early March, but was recommended to us to be there in February for the maximum sightings. If we go back as well we might, would probably go for minimum 15 days and do 3 island hops of min 5 days each. Oahu, we've been told Waikiki is like many large cities anywhere, but northwards on that island is supposed to be worth exploring scenery wise, also the big Island, and for sure we'd do Maui again 

FWIW: In summary for us and in all fairness only having explored Maui thus far, if only going for a week, I'd just stay on the one island and explore as much of that one as we could, rather than be wasting out time waiting for departures, delays of flights etc eating into our vacation. If island hopping would try to aim for at least 5 days on each to get a reasonable amount of time to savour the flavour and make the dollar costs of doing so beneficial. VRBO two bed self contained condo worked really well for us on Maui being such a small island to explore, but if we were on a larger island and intending to travel a lot around it spending maybe a couple nights here and there before moving further along, I'd use hotel type accommodations. For sure if locating ourselves somewhere for a week or longer we prefer self catering with option to prep our own foods. Of course to each their own, but with us being keep us busy and very active types, that's what works for us.


----------



## janus10 (Nov 7, 2013)

Just got back from 10 days on Oahu. It's my 4th time to Hawaii. We didn't venture into Waikiki once but, for the first time, we drove to the North Shore and it is very picturesque.

For lushness and beautiful scenery (but you may need to pack an umbrella), you must see Kauai.

One of the reasons we chose Oahu this time is that finally from Toronto you can get direct flights. I'd have to say that Maui is probably my favourite (I can't really remember much about the Big Island and I've never been to the other 2 main islands, Molokai and Lanai), Kauai second and Oahu 3rd. But, they are all paradise. We've always rented through VRBO (except for my first time which was a sales achievement reward which was in an expensive hotel - at least, expensive by my standards!)


----------



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Did you stop off at any of the shrimp/prawn places for lunch (ex. Romy's)? I enjoyed that.


As for the Toronto to Honolulu flight ... I thought I'd like it but for another trip, I think I'd look for a stop in Vancouver or LA to break up the flight. Being tall, I was finding ten hours long. LA for a couple of days would be perfect as I have relatives to stay with.


Cheers


----------



## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

The flight is certainly long. As with here to Europe or England. What seems to work best for us is to power through some movies non-stop. Seems to make the time more bearable. And of course get up every 2hrs or so and do a walk and stretch, visit the washroom even if you don't need to.


----------



## Hawkdog (Oct 26, 2012)

We went in February to the Big Island, had a really good time

we used Airbnb for the first time. Worked great the first week we stayed on the Hilo side in cabin
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1673927

it was great - the stocked the fridge with eggs, english muffins, lox, cream cheese, fruit, cream - had all the condiments. And cause we were coming in on the 9pm flight and it was a 45 minute drive with the rental car they gave us the first night free.

Hit costco for wine! very reasonable


----------



## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

Thinking of going on a cruise there next year, however will probably try to get a stopover in LA or San Diego or something, that breaks the flight up halfway or so.....10 hours from Toronto is too long to sit on a plane.


----------



## Sandra (May 14, 2015)

try this site out, it can help
http://www.hawaii-guide.com/content/posts/best-hawaii-island-to-visit


----------

