Hawaii? About This Page:

[Teresa]

DH and I are celebrating our 25th this August. He'd like to go to Hawaii, it's always been his dream (well, Alaska was too, but we did that last summer).
Couple of questions:
1. I'm not really a beach girl. What else is there to do?
2. Other than the Arizona, I have little interest in things on the "big island". What else is there to do?
3. We're debating whether to stay for a week or 2. If we do 2, we'll probably go to another island for one of the weeks. Any recommendations? Would it be better to go for one or 2 weeks?
4. How much would it be reasonable to budget for meals? (housing will be taken care of).
5. Rent a car?

[Lumieregirl]

1) I probably spent less than an hour on the beach in Hawaii. There are lots of things to see and do - seeing the mountains, waterfalls, scenery in general is priceless.

2) The Arizona is actually on the island of Oahu. "The Big Island" is the island of Hawaii. Oahu has Pearl Harbor, the North Shore, Waikiki Beach, and Disney's Aulani Resort. It may help to begin looking over the tourism website Hawaii's Official Tourism Site -- Travel Info for Your Hawaii Vacation or get book from the library just to begin to get the lay of the land. Like WDW, its a lot to take in for a newbie. it took me a while, and it doesn't help that all the names of things sounded similar.

3) If you can swing 2 weeks, it'll be worth it as it is a long and expensive flight just to get to HI. Each island has its own personality & you'll get plenty of opinions. The highlight of my trip was traveling the Hana Highway and watching the sunrise on Halakala on Maui.

4) Food is more expensive in HI. I'm not sure about an actual budget, but just expect to pay a little more than you would at home. Actually restaurant prices didn't seem crazy to me, but the grocery prices were outrageous. '

5) You'll definitely want a car.

[Teresa]

Originally Posted by Lumieregirl

1) I probably spent less than an hour on the beach in Hawaii. There are lots of things to see and do - seeing the mountains, waterfalls, scenery in general is priceless.

2) The Arizona is actually on the island of Oahu. "The Big Island" is the island of Hawaii. Oahu has Pearl Harbor, the North Shore, Waikiki Beach, and Disney's Aulani Resort. It may help to begin looking over the tourism website Hawaii's Official Tourism Site -- Travel Info for Your Hawaii Vacation or get book from the library just to begin to get the lay of the land. Like WDW, its a lot to take in for a newbie. it took me a while, and it doesn't help that all the names of things sounded similar.

3) If you can swing 2 weeks, it'll be worth it as it is a long and expensive flight just to get to HI. Each island has its own personality & you'll get plenty of opinions. The highlight of my trip was traveling the Hana Highway and watching the sunrise on Halakala on Maui.

4) Food is more expensive in HI. I'm not sure about an actual budget, but just expect to pay a little more than you would at home. Actually restaurant prices didn't seem crazy to me, but the grocery prices were outrageous. '

5) You'll definitely want a car.

Thanks! Well, that shows how naive I am about Hawaii. I really thought the Arizona was on Hawaii. Guess we'll be going to Oahu.

[chezp]

We took our first trip to Hawaii in November and absolutely loved it and hope to get back there one day, which is saying something, as we went there, saying this would really be a once-in-a-lifetime thing for us, given how far away it is from us.

1. I'm not really a beach girl. What else is there to do?

Beaches? What beaches? We stopped to take some photos at a couple of beaches and strolled through the private beach at Aulani - we're DVC Members, so that's where we stayed, but that was it for beaches as far as we were concerned.

2. Other than the Arizona, I have little interest in things on the "big island". What else is there to do?

On O'ahu, there's a lot else to do - and we didn't have time to do a lot of it. The Byodo-In Temple was amazing to see, it's a Japanese temple. We drove all around the south eastern coast of the island, which was beautiful. I'd definitely see the area around the 'Iolani Palace - there's the state capital building, which is very unusual and the building used in the credits for Hawaii Five-O, so we had to see that.

As well as the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, there's a lot else to do. We went on the Bowfin, a submarine and wandered around the site. We didn't do the Missouri or the Pacific Aviation Museum, as we were exhausted by the time we'd done everything else. Just doing what we did took around four or five hours.

We didn't get time to go to the Dole Plantation, which I really wanted to do or see the north eastern coast of the island or the Polynesian Cultural Centre, so now you see why we need to go back.

I'd also be sure to visit Aulani, as it's an amazing resort. I'd recommend a meal there - Makahiki does a character breakfast, although priority booking for that goes to resort guests, but their dinner buffet is also very good. We had a mixed experience with their signature restaurant 'Ama Ama, with one amazing dinner and one that wasn't so good, but we found breakfast there wonderful, as you can gaze out over the beach and the ocean from your table.

Just in case you were interested in Big Island, the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was amazing. We took a helicopter flight over it, then drove through it, and then we headed for the Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park, which was also well worth seeing. We packed all of that into a day, as we did day trips there and to Kaua'i and Maui.

3. We're debating whether to stay for a week or 2. If we do 2, we'll probably go to another island for one of the weeks. Any recommendations? Would it be better to go for one or 2 weeks?

I'd definitely go for two weeks. It will cost a fair bit to get there and it's also a long flight (minimum of five hours from LA), plus you'll have to deal with jetlag. I can't help with staying on another island, as we only did day trips, but the one we did fall in love with was Maui. We plan on hopefully going back and spending the night there, as we adored the place.

4. How much would it be reasonable to budget for meals? (housing will be taken care of).

Hmmm, I'm not going to be much use with this one, as most of our meals were at Aulani, and I assume that's pricier than other places.

5. Rent a car?

Definitely - we rented a car everywhere we went, even our day trips, and without it, we would've struggled to get around. I will warn you that traffic on O'ahu is not fun and the traffic jams are horrendous in the rush hours. The rush hour in the morning, by the way, starts ay 5:30am in the morning. Honestly, I was warned about it, but until you see it, you won't believe how bad it can be - I'd say it's about as bad as traffic in LA....

Hope that all helps.

[ChukkerB]

There is a TON of things to do on Oahu. I was stationed there,for a few years and there were so many other things to do other than the beach.
About the Arizona Memorial. It's a very somber,surreal experience. There is a funny feeling you get when you are actually on the Memorial and realize the Sailors are entombed beneath you.

[Belle320]

Have you considered an inter-island cruise (I believe NCL). This way you can see the different islands.

[Teresa]

Originally Posted by Belle320

Have you considered an inter-island cruise (I believe NCL). This way you can see the different islands.

That's an idea. I'll check those out.

[jelzie]

Oahu, beyond Honolulu, is a wonderful place to get started with Hawaii. Hawaii is the most amazing place with a slow, relaxed pace, a focus on family and the outdoors. It is my favorite place on Earth!

You can do a week on Oahu and a week on another island - definitely take 2 weeks if you can, it is a 5 1/2 hour flight from the Mainland. Spend a few days in Honolulu, hike Diamond Head, visit Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona, do a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, watch the surfers on the North Shore and hang out at Turtle Bay, spend a day at the Aquarium. Do take a day or two to just relax and enjoy.

If you like active adventures and an even slower pace, try Kauai. It is a rainforest with tons of outdoor active stuff and is just so mellow, much more quiet than any other island. If you like golf and more nightlife, more activity, try Maui. I love Kihei and Wailea on the southwest coast because it has the best white-sand beaches, a mellow surfer/country club vibe (sounds odd, but true!). There is hiking, aquarium, surfing, shopping, world-class restaurants, fish joints, a drive to Hana on the Hana Highway, a day in the lavender fields with lavender wine.

I recommend eating lunch out because restaurants serve the same food as dinner, but at lower prices. We love to go to the grocery store and buy fresh tropical fruit (pineapples! mango! bananas!) and Foodland is our favorite - fresh juice, dairy products, local bakeries and it is all so fresh, and affordable. We also love the food trucks...follow the locals for cheap, good eats!

Aloha!

[bcuinohio]

We went to Maui last summer. We spent four days in Kihei and four days in Kaanapali. There is so much to do when you are there. We went zip lining. We drove to the top of Haleaukula. Drove to Hana and hiked to some cool waterfalls. There are lots of shopping opportunities there also. We went to the Maui Flea Market and it was great. It is one of the best little known attractions there.

No matter what island you go to, it pays to be a member of Costco. Gas was about $0.50 cheaper than anywhere else on the island. They had Hawaiian made Aloha shirts, Kona coffee, macadamia nuts as well as many other Hawaiian treats. It is also the only place in Maui that you can get lunch for $1.50. I even got a great deal on Maui Jim sunglasses.

[CynBeth]

Originally Posted by Belle320

Have you considered an inter-island cruise (I believe NCL). This way you can see the different islands.

I was going to suggest that as well. We did it a few years ago and it was great. You can always spend some time touring Oahu before or after the cruise.