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12 days to honeymoon in Hawaii - where should we go?

Neither my fiance nor I have ever been to Hawaii and we decided to go for our honeymoon since its probably the last time we will be able to take 2 weeks off for decades! Please help us decide which 2 islands to visit end of May 2006.

We understand that rates should be a little bit lower then and we know we want to spend half our time relaxing and the other half having hiking/biking adventures and seeing the sites.

I want to book air now so we can use frequent flier miles but we need to know where we are flying into first.

Thanks.

I would split my time either in Maui and the North Shore of Oahu, or Maui and Kaui.

That is such a difficult question because all of the four major islands deserve a week apiece. It's great that you have two weeks and can easily enjoy two of them! Get a good overview of Hawaii guidebook and see if you can get an idea which things appeal to you most this trip - hiking? beaches? historical sights? And keep in mind that you will probably make it back to see the other two and more if you get hooked on Hawaii as so many others have. If I had to pick two for my very first time, I would say Maui and Big Island but you're going to get plenty of replies from the Kauai and Oahu folks as well. I'm going to the Big Island again in May (and I've had my FF tickets for awhile!) but plan to get back to see Oahu and Kauai (and OF COURSE, Maui) again someday.

I would include beautiful Maui for a first trip and honeymoon for sure. Second choice between Big Island, Kauai and Oahu depends on what all you want to see and do.

Wow, thanks for all the great advice! It looks like Maui is a must and we will have to do some homework to figure out what the 2nd island should be. Who knows how we will actually feel once its time to honeymoon but our initial thoughts were that we would want to relax and enjoy a beautiful beach for the first few days and then feel ready to venture out and "do" stuff later in the honeymoon.

We both love to explore (will probably try to do some geocaching) and hike/bike, we love the sun and water, snorkeling but not scuba. I love to get some sense of history with new places so we might see a few historical sites but we aren't neces. art museum types. I can't imagine either of us will want to spend more than a half day here and there to go shopping and we prefer to buy special things that are native to the place we are in rather than tee-shirts, etc. As for food, I love seafood and he won't eat it so we will probably do at least a handful of fine dining excursions to satisfy us both.

Are there some beaches that are better for swimming, which is to say, does the side of an island you are on influence if the waters are calmer? We don't surf so we don't need big waves. I see so many beautiful photos of the Grand Hyatt and places like that but they focus on the pools and not neces. the ocean.

If anyone has any additional input for us to help us pick island #2, please do so, same goes for restaurant and shopping recommendations.

The Big Island has SO much to do, hiking, volcano, wonderful snorkeling. Check out some of the various trip reports here.
For good aerial photos of the various resorts that will give you a good idea of what their beaches look like, look at www.wizardpub.com. This is the company that publishes the Revealed guidebooks. The Hapuna Prince and Mauna Kea on the BI are on incredible beaches, they are fantastic hotels.

On all the islands, the drier weather and calmer water is on the south or west shores, the north and east sides are wetter/junglier.

If you hadn't specifically asked about 2 islands... I think two weeks on Maui would be a great honeymoon! I can't imagine you'd get bored.

Hy hubby and I recently spent 15 days in Hawaii on our honeymoon in June. We chose to stay 2 days on Oahu to see Pearl Harbor, etc. then we spent three nights in Hilo on the Big Island and 4 nights in Kona on the Big Island. From there we went on to Maui for the rest of our trip.
Each island was so unique and I can't even pick a favorite, because I love them all for different reasons. Maui is gorgeous, with beautiful beaches and snorkeling. The Big Island is big and has so much to see and do, from the volcanoes to the snorkeling to the pure history and remoteness there, there's a lot to see and do. And even Oahu has a laid back feel on parts of it. Do your research carefully and choose the islands based on what you like to do.
Hawaii is beautiful and it won't dissapoint no matter what you choose to do!