almostnewlywed

Hi all, we're planning our 7 day honeymoon in Hawaii and friends have pointed us towards Maui. The two most important things to us are being able to see volcanoes and having some time to lounge on a beautiful beach. We're also interested in other nature-oriented excursions. First, is Maui the right island for us? If so, which areas do you suggest? If not, where? Overall, we're looking to keep it middle-of-the-road in terms of expense. Thanks in advance for your help!

taitai

Well, all the Hawaiian islands have volcanoes. The Island of Hawaii is the only one with an active volcano. There are beautiful beaches on all the islands as well. I know that isn't much help but maybe you could come up with more information in terms of activities you want to do.

logandog

Active volcanos or sleeping?

tenthumbs

Maui has beautiful beaches and Haleakala, a dormant volcano. The Big Island has beautiful beaches and Volcanoes National Park.

ChiSue

Maui is good, and it has semi-dormant Haleakala. It also has a 'taste' of Kauai along its' Road to Hana. But...maybe you'd prefer to stay low-key on the gorgeous northern shore of Kauai. You could see Waimea Canyon and take a boat or air trip over the Pali.

I wouldn't do Big Island with only a week -- or in Hawaii's hottest month. Beaches are NW along the Kohala Coast, and Volcanoes National Park is SE. You'd want to split the stay, flying into one side and out of the other.

What are your flight options to and from Hawaii? We come from Chicago and look for nonstops on wide-body aircraft for at least the longest leg.

You need flights, possibly interisland flights, a rental car and lodgings.

carolyn

I find the Big Island more activity oriented and less of what I think of as lush tropics. For a honeymoon, I'd choose another. Kauai is less busy but very lush (called the Garden Isle); Maui has more sights to see; Oahu is my favorite. Drop by a bookstore or your library and look at the pictures in some guidebooks. Everyone has an opinion on the best of the islands, but they are all gorgeous. You really can't go wrong.

almostnewlywed

Thanks for the help. The tip about looking at pix sounds like a good one, as picking between beautiful and gorgeous is proving difficult; at least we know we can't go wrong. I am leaning towards active volcanoes, but if dormant can offer similar beauty, I'm game. Other things we'd like to see are waterfalls, if that helps narrow it down.

ChiSue, do you have a preferred airline? We're pretty open at this point.

jamie99

Big Island has the active volcano but it has not been doing anything for months now, all you can see is a faint glow at night, so I wouldn't necessarily pick based on that. No flowing lava, nothing to hike to at the moment, etc.

wekewoody

"The two most important things to us are being able to see volcanoes and having some time to lounge on a beautiful beach."

Big Island and stay at the Mauna Kea.

ChiSue

We have miles on AA and use them to upgrade to first class. We buy coach with the AAdvantage card, thus earning more miles for both the purchase and the miles flown.

We are able to fly ORD-DFW on a small plane for a couple of hours, then DFW-OGG on a 767. I can actually sleep on those (almost) lie-flat I can actually sleep on those (nearly) lie-flat seats on the redeye coming home.

Hawaiian has some nice wide-body aircraft too. It's not so much the airline as the aircraft, and how a line has configured the seating. I do a lot to avoid any 757's.

Re: Waterfalls. Kauai is the wettest island. In September, falls will be less plentiful most places. (Don't plan to swim under any, please. It's dangerous due to blunt force damage from things coming over and from biologic diseases in the runoff.)

Each of the Hawaiian islands was/is a volcano. The only active volcano is at Volcanoes National Park near Hilo on Big Island of Hawaii. There hasn't been a lot of activity for months, but you never know! You can usually see some 'red glow' at night. It's an amazingly desolate sight, regardless, but maybe more thrilling for people who were geology majors. (I wasn't.) You'd stay a night or two in the town of Volcano, then cross to the Kohala Coast for vog-free sun and beaches. Consider flying into one side and out of the opposite side: ITO (Hilo) and KOA (Kona). Be aware that the west side is still largely bare lava on this, the newest island in the chain. It does have the best sea life. I've always wanted to do the manta ray night dive!

Haleakala on Maui is termed 'semi-dormant', but last erupted hundreds of years ago. Sunrise and sunset are striking up there, and you can walk into to the crater. (Wear hats and bring water. Wear warm clothing outside of daylight hours.)

suze

Well to see an active volcano you have to go to the Big Island. And that would not be my pick for a honeymoon.

I think Maui is perfect!!

If the volcano thing is truly that important, maybe you can do one of the organized day tours to Big Island?

cdafd

We are going for first time also

6 days I Oahu
And 8 in Maui

What I see is pick one island

If you want to see an active volcano

Maybe stay in Maui and either day trip or helicopter to big island for volcano


Check out Maui revealed book, they have for other islands also

Not doing the resort thing

Staying at outrigger royal kahana oceanfront good price, first visit

https://www.outrigger.com/hotels-res...n-islands/maui

Not a resort person