Hawaii Trip Suggestions

Where are you flying from?

First time to Hawaii with only 7 nights, then stick to one island. To do the big island justice I recommend about 10 nights. It's really a big island and requires a lot of driving time and even better would be to stay on one side for a few nights (Volcano) and then the other side for your remaining time.

I would choose either Oahu or Maui. Maui is my absolute favorite island. It has the right amount of stuff for me to do at night along with not being overly populated (like Waikiki). There are a variety of lodging options to fit all budgets on Maui.

I enjoyed Kauai and it is certainly beautiful but I found my self becoming a bit bored after 8 nights.


Be sure to visit the trip advisor forums for Hawaii. I hang out there often.

Kauai would be my choice for natural beauty as I have been to all of them except Molikai. We loved the Smith's luau on Kauai off the Wailea river if you go and hiking there. We also did a timeshare presentation our first trip and did 2/1 flight of the island and it was unreal! I don't have experience with hostels though.

I would recommend the Hawaii revealed books-there are ones on each island, I just picked them up for our upcoming trip as we plan to look for more hiking and such now that the kids are older. 7 days till we go for 2 weeks =). Aloha

Quote from jaydeep1 : Planning to 7 nights vacation to Hawaii in the last week of Feb 2013. Any suggestions as to which Islands to visit, we are more interested in natural beauty (Volcanoes, Waterfalls, Beaches etc) and few activities like Snorkeling. So far this is the plan HNL - Arrival and stay one night Maui - Stay 2 nights Big Island - Stay 1 night Kauai - Stay 3 nights Please suggest best route - Honolulu > Maui > Big Island > Kaui > Honolulu? Any other suggestions. I am looking for saving on accomodations by choosing to stay in hostels with good ratings. Anyone can share their experience living in Hawaiian Hostels?

Thanks everyone!

Changed the plan to below:

4 Nights - Kauai
3 Nights - Maui

Planning to choose Pleasant Holidays as they provide custom packages. Anyone has any experience with them?

Quote from jaydeep1 : Thanks everyone! Changed the plan to below: 4 Nights - Kauai 3 Nights - Maui Planning to choose Pleasant Holidays as they provide custom packages. Anyone has any experience with them?

They are legit. But i encourage you to rethink your plan and stick to one island. Believe me there is plenty to do on one island.

I agree you really should stick to one island. If you had 10 days or more then it would make sense but with only a week you could easily spend that on kauai or maui

Does anybody know which is the cheaper air line fly to Hawai? or any recommendation for air port

Quote from Class08820 : Does anybody know which is the cheaper air line fly to Hawai? or any recommendation for air port

Alaska Air is usually hard to beat on price. Flying from California can be pretty affordable.

Quote from Class08820 : Does anybody know which is the cheaper air line fly to Hawai? or any recommendation for air port

Hawaiian airlines has decent deals. I actually prefer flying with them to Hawaii (free meal)

Wife and I went to Hawaii last year the first week of February. We started our journey in Maui for 3 days 2 nights then went on the Oahu for the another 7 days 6 nights. I highly recommend not doing more than 1 island if you have only 1 week. Also... in the spirit of slickdeals let me help you out on how to save a ton of money.

1) VRBO

You can rent a place close to the beach with a kitchen and eat breakfast and lunch at the condo/flat/apartment then eat out for dinner. Will save you some major cash!

2) Kailua Beach

My wife and I talk about this place at least once a week and believe me... we are going back!!! We stayed in a one bed room apartment (purchased through VRBO) less than 1/2 a block from the beach and could hear and see the waves crash on the beach. It was wonderful. All the locals go there over Wiakiki and let me tell you.... it's no suprise why as there were less than 100 people on the entire beach during the afternoon that we could see.. and its a 7 mile creasant shaped beach. Stay there and you wont regret it.

There is a deal running right now for flghts from Vegas to Honolulu. You might be able to get a price match of some sort from where you are. Good luck.

I'm going in November and doing 4 nights in Maui,4 in Kauai. I got some good hotel deals through the USAA deal going on, so I would suggest you check that out.

For our honeymoon (8 years ago), we were set on going to Hawaii, figuring that it would be our only chance to do so. researching it a bit and hitting up a few travel agencies, we decided to go on the 7 day NCL cruise that hopped between the islands. We liked the idea of being able to visit all the islands and not being stuck on any one of them (I say being stuck, but how back can being stuck on one of the islands be!!?) anyway, we arranged it through Norwegian.. airfare was included and there was no need for hotel stays or a car rental. All in all, it was a completely awesome trip. went on a handful of excursions including visiting the botanical gardens, haleakala volcano on maui, rain forest trek, a plantation.... and we managed to take in a couple of local cultural shows and cruised along side a couple of humpback(?) whales. beautiful place!

all said and done, came out cheaper than staying in hotels and flying between the islands. cant argue with that.

Thanks everyone for your responses!

Bookings are done! Heading to Hawaii on 2/23 and it was a difficult decision whether to stick to just one island or go for two (knowing this would probably be the one and only trip to Hawaii).

Decided for two! Maui and Kauai.

Could anyone suggest good activities on these two islands with our 4 our old son? Thanks!

Quote from jaydeep1 : Thanks everyone for your responses! Bookings are done! Heading to Hawaii on 2/23 and it was a difficult decision whether to stick to just one island or go for two (knowing this would probably be the one and only trip to Hawaii). Decided for two! Maui and Kauai. Could anyone suggest good activities on these two islands with our 4 our old son? Thanks!

Where are you staying on both islands? My daughter was older on all of our trips but I'd be glad to throw out a few suggestions close to where you're staying.

been to hawaii twice. the best way to see it for the first time is on a cruise. you unpack once and they take u from island to island. you get a "taste" of the different islands and decide which ones you want to go back to in the future.

doing it the normal way is a lot of packing, unpacking, airport security (for 30 minute flights) or taking a long "water taxi / ferry".

for a week, 4 islands is too many. pick 2 and stay 4 days each. honolulu is nothing great. waikiki is not bad but very touristy. i like hananuma bay for snorkeling. my favorite place is maui (fairmont kealani). i like the waterfall helicopter rides. they are expensive but well worth it.

i will warn you now everything there is very expensive with the exception of macadamia nuts,but you can't eat them for an entire week.