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My preferred circuit is Oahu (Ko Olina)for a week, Kauai (Waiohai) for a week and the last week on Maui (hopefully one of the Westins with Hono Koa as a back up). This is an every other year Nov. trip from the east coast and works out real well!
For someone flying all the way from the East Coast and who may not return to the Islands anytime soon, I highly suggest not missing Oahu's main sites (e.g. Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, North Shore, Waikiki Beach, etc.) - this can easily be done in an easy 3 days days - then fly to another island(s) to relax. This is similar to someone say coming from Asia for the first time and flying into one of Washington DC's airports, on the way to Williamsburg, VA for two weeks to relax... but not taking two days or so to visit the famous DC monuments.
I can appreciate the Oahu suggestions. For every one of those I have 3 that have said, too crowded, too touristy, too crowded. I don't disagree about seeing those sites but they will still be there should we decide to return years from now.
I can appreciate the Oahu suggestions. For every one of those I have 3 that have said, too crowded, too touristy, too crowded. I don't disagree about seeing those sites but they will still be there should we decide to return years from now.
Seriously, you know what is touristy? Kaanapali at Maui where most of the resorts reside (Hyatt, Marriott, Westin). Obviously you will enjoy everyone of the islands... We hate crowds and touristy places and I would not consider Ko Olina one (which is what many of us have suggested) - to use as the base.
Seriously, you know what is touristy? Kaanapali at Maui where most of the resorts reside (Hyatt, Marriott, Westin). Obviously you will enjoy everyone of the islands... We hate crowds and touristy places and I would not consider Ko Olina one (which is what many of us have suggested) - to use as the base.
I wouldn't call Kaanapali "touristy." Maybe "tourist-oriented" is a correct description since it is made up primarily of large resorts and hotels, a couple golf courses, and a small shopping/restaurant complex. When I think of touristy, I thing of bright signs, clutter, somewhat tacky, and congestion. Kaanapali is anything but. The resorts are almost all high end; the landscaping is perfect; it has never seemed crowded; and the beach walk from the Hyatt to the Sheraton is a great place to stroll in the evening. It just has a feel and a vibe we like - upscale and manicured with great facilities and amenities, but not too congested and urban. The quaint old whaling village of Lahaina is a short drive away. While Lahaina has a lot of "touristy" shops, it has more of a village/small town feel than the urban city, hustle bustle of Waikiki. And getting anywhere else on Maui is a relatively easy drive, with no freeways anywhere to be found.
Admittedly, I've never been to Ko Olina myself, and I might like it a lot whenever we get to go someday. (Although the fact that its lagoon and beach is man-made rather than natural is something of a turn-off for me, personally.) It sounds like great resort, but I don't judge my opinions of the Hawaiian islands based on the resort, since we tend to spend more time away from the resort and don't really hang out at the pool, or even the beach that much. I tend to agree with the OP's decision that Kauai and Maui represent more of what Hawaii is really about than Oahu - lots of scenic beauty and outdoor-oriented activities. (But I do agree with the others that if the OP can find any way to squeeze even a couple days on Oahu just for Pearl Harbor and a half-day or so to see famous Waikiki, that would be time well spent.)
Admittedly, I've never been to Ko Olina myself, and I might like it a lot whenever we get to go someday. (Although the fact that its lagoon and beach is man-made rather than natural is something of a turn-off for me, personally.) It sounds like great resort, but I don't judge my opinions of the Hawaiian islands based on the resort, since we tend to spend more time away from the resort and don't really hang out at the pool, or even the beach that much. I tend to agree with the OP's decision that Kauai and Maui represent more of what Hawaii is really about than Oahu - lots of scenic beauty and outdoor-oriented activities. (But I do agree with the others that if the OP can find any way to squeeze even a couple days on Oahu just for Pearl Harbor and a half-day or so to see famous Waikiki, that would be time well spent.)
Oahu has lots of very scenic areas as well, we drove a long way to the other side of the island (East) for one of our golf rounds (at Royal Hawaiian) and also on an island tour on a tour bus, and I swear the landscape looked like Napali Coast.
Oahu has lots of very scenic areas as well, we drove a long way to the other side of the island (East) for one of our golf rounds (at Royal Hawaiian) and also on an island tour on a tour bus, and I swear the landscape looked like Napali Coast.
That's what great about Hawaii. There is something for every taste. We've been all around Oahu and never found its landscape all that appealing for us. I agree there are some scenic vistas on the northeastern coast between Turtle Bay and Koko Head, but we find much more of Maui and Kauai to be natural, uncongested, and unspoiled. And to get to the more Kauai or Maui-like areas of Oahu, you have to deal with the urban city traffic on H1 or H3 either going or coming.
And no one is really mentioning the Big Island. That is my wife's favorite as she loves the contrast between the green, irrigated man-made landscaping at the Waikoloa Resort area and the pitch-black lava fields. Hawaii has something for almost every taste.
I'll also add that what VacationForever and I have been discussing shows perfectly why the question "Which island in Hawaii should I visit?" is so hard to answer. Everyone has different tastes. As you see from the plethora of opinions in this thread, some love Kauai, some swear by Maui, others adore Oahu, and still others think the Big Island is Paradise Found. There really is no right or wrong answer. What is the best answer for me may be not as good of a choice for you. I think the best approach is to read as much as you can about each island, collect as many opinions as you can, synthesize them all, and then decide based on what you like to do and what each island has to offer. You really can't make a bad decision. Whichever approach you take, a trip to Hawaii will likely become one of your best vacations ever, and that plane flight suddenly won't seem so long any more!
My sister-inlaw felt the same way until she saw an active volcano and the rainforest too on the Hilo side. Our family and friends loved star gazing too.
I highly recommend keeping your swimsuit and snorkeling gear in your rental car always.
The OP said in the first post that they would be going over the summer due to school and college-age children, so whale season wasn't an issue for their trip.
Great choice! And you have two backup plans in case you can't find what you need in the Lahaina/Napili towers - you can either decide to go without a full kitchen and laundry and book in the Maui Ocean Club Original towers, or switch islands and do KoOlina instead. Either way, I'm sure you'll have a great trip.
Absolutely. Starting to look at do I fly Hawaiian air to HNL then to LIH for the first leg and then Hawaiian from LIH to HNL stay the 7 in Maui and then American Air on the way back. I have like 400k MRP that I am going to try to get upgrades for the 5 of us for the flight home.
Absolutely. Starting to look at do I fly Hawaiian air to HNL then to LIH for the first leg and then Hawaiian from LIH to HNL stay the 7 in Maui and then American Air on the way back. I have like 400k MRP that I am going to try to get upgrades for the 5 of us for the flight home.
On your flights, I would recommend comparing routing everything through HNL or taking advantage of the direct flights between LIH and OGG and the mainland. If you fly direct from the east coast and route everything through HNL, then you'll have an inter-island segment from HNL to LIH, another segment from LIH to OGG, and a third inter-island segment from OGG to HNL, before your flight back to the east coast. Alternatively, you could fly nonstop from the east coast to one of the west coast cities that has direct service to LIH (SFO, LAX, PHX, SEA, and maybe others) and then nonstop from that west coast city to LIH. After your stay on Kauai, you take one inter-island segment from LIH to OGG. After your stay on Maui, you then fly from OGG direct to the west coast, change planes and fly back east. You'll probably find a cost difference between the options, and it also gives you a chance to evaluate whether you prefer a 10+ hour flight from the east coast to HNL, followed by a short-hop inter-island leg, or break the journey up into two roughly 5-6 hour legs. We've done both approaches, and each has advantages and disadvantages. Most often we've done the change planes out west and then fly direct into Maui or Kauai or Kona, but that's mainly a function of living in Charlotte which has many direct flights to the west coast from our formerly USAirways now American hub, but no direct flights to HNL. The one time we flew all the way to HNL from the east, we flew CLT to ATL on Delta and then nonstop of Delta from ATL to HNL.
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