1st trip - Late May - Where to Stay?
 

Hey guys, I'm hoping someone can sway me on which island to stay for our first trip in late May for a week. Originally, while doing research, we had decided on Oahu as I read that was a good place to go for your first time. Here are things we really would like to do, in no particular order:
* Visit Pearl Harbor
* Visit Volcano National Park
* See the natural beauty of Hawaii
* Nothing at all (relax on a beach)

Oahu seemed like the perfect island for these (except VNP of course) and that is why we were leaning towards it. However, after reading more about Maui it seems like that would be a wonderful place too, especially for the natural beauty aspect. Obviously if we stayed on Maui it would mean that we would probably not get to see either VNP or Pearl Harbor as we could take a trip to one but not both since we will only be there a week and that would be a lot of moving around for a limited time period.

Like I mentioned, we are planning on staying for a week in late May. We would like to stay in a condo or vacation rental in order to have some meals in the rooms and not have to go out to eat all the time although I am looking forward to the food. We've also thought about staying in a B&B if we found one that looked like something we'd enjoy.

I have the books Oahu Revealed and just picked up Maui Revealed yesterday to try and help me decide which to stay on. I know this has been discussed many times and I've read a lot of those threads as well but I'm still looking for any opinions or comments that may help us decide which island to stay on.

If you need any other info just let me konw. Thanks in advance.

All of the islands are different and have a lot to offer.

I prefer Oahu because of the many things to do.

Lots of info:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34696831

www.mauihawaii.org

www.visitmaui.com

www.bigisland.org

www.kauaidiscovery.com

www.kauai-hawaii.com

Thanks for the reply and links.

Any other suggestions?

In regards to lodging, we are looking at renting a condo and found the Kihei Surfside in Maui to look very pleasant with great views. Anyone had experiences here that they would like to share?

Believe me, Tsi2quick, Oahu has just as much natural beauty as Maui. I love all four major islands, but you will never go wrong with Oahu, as long as you explore the whole island. I would do a day trip from Oahu, with Roberts Hawaii, to see VNP, and just enjoy as much of Oahu as I could. Then next time .... Maui! :-) (If you do go to Maui, Kihei is a good location, if you don't want to break the bank, but want nice accommodations near great beaches!)

Can you tell us more about Roberts Hawaii and the day trip to Big Island/Volcano we could do from Oahu? Where can I find more information? This sounds perfect for an upcoming family trip. I wouldn't have though it possible to combine the two.

Tsi2quick/Suze, when I checked the Roberts Site, they don't have their version of this tour listed anymore. But I googled and found this other site, and this is exactly what my DH & BIL did on our first trip to Oahu years ago. This tour may be handled by Roberts for this company ... I don't know, but you can read all about what you'd be doing and possibly work through these people:

http://www.2sitechawaii.com/rhaovvolspec.html

One correction here .... my guys actually picked up a rental car through Roberts, rather than traveling on a mini-bus, but the suggested itinerary was the same ... which they followed.

If we do decide to stay on Oahu, does anyone have suggestions for an oceanfront condo? I would prefer not to stay in Waikiki as I'm more of a laid back kind of person and being too crowded with a lot of traffic is not my idea of vacationing.

The tour by Roberts does sound interesting except that we would hopefully not be staying in Waikiki and it sounds like that is where they will pick you up from although I'm sure you could probably just meet them at the airport. I wonder if there are tour companies that start from the Hilo airport for the VNP? We could arrange our own island transport if Roberts had a problem with us not being in Waikiki.

For a first trip, I would stay on Maui, particularly if as you say you want to avoid traffic and crowds. Not that Maui doesn't have traffic or crowds, just less so than Oahu. You could easily (though a bit spendy) day trip to VNP by flying to Hilo early morning and back the same evening. You can get a fair taste of Oahu by going the morning of your last day, and taking a mainland red eye the same evening. You can see Pearl Harbor, do a little shopping, punch bowl crater and have a nice dinner and still easily make a 9:00 PM mainland departure.

We've been to the Islands a number of times and prefer a combination of Maui and BI with out last day on Oahu to make certain we spend all of our money before returning.

Interesting that you mention that Spokane. I was just looking at flights out of HNL on 5/27 and it looks like most are evening flights so I would be stuck there for a while anyways.

Man, what a quandry, but a good one to have I suppose! :)

Does anyone have recommendations for ocean front condo's or vacation rentals on Oahu? I've looked over vrbo but its always nice to have people give their recommendations.

Oh, if you have other recommendations for condos or vacation rentals and they aren't ocean front please feel free to pass those along as well as it's not something that is definitely required although it would be nice. And just to remind, we are going to stay on Oahu I believe.

Kihei Surfside is a dump! I would sleep on the beach first, no kidding. When we stayed there, my DH spent a lot of time fixing things. Mgmt. could not be bothered and refused to do anything at all.NEVER AGAIN!

I just got back from a week in Kailua.
It is wonderful. Do not stay in Waikiki!! It is the Vegas of Oahu. WAYYYYYYY too crowded and super touristy.
I stayed in a vacation rental and would definitely recommend that route!

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately we are no closer to deciding which island we want much less which place! :(

Each one of them have so many unique things to see that it makes it really hard. The BI seemed like it would be a good spot but it doesn't have the beaches like Maui or Oahu, although it does have a few very nice ones.

I'm actually leaning towards Maui now as it does have the volcano and plenty of waterfalls and other things to see. And of course the beaches....

Who know's, maybe before we leave in late May we will have figured out where to go and stay! haha Anyone stayed at the Wai Ola Vacation Paradise in Maui? Excellent reviews and the 2005 Hidden Gen award from TripAdvisor. Great price as well.