Best Guidebooks for Hawai`i?
 

What are the best guidebooks for Honolulu and O`ahu?<BR><BR>I know that 'Driving and Discovering Hawaii' gets rave reviews but as the name implies,<BR>it's geared toward those w/ a car.<BR><BR>Which guidebooks are best for those w/out a car, walking and using public transportation?<BR><BR>Which is better: Fodor's or Frommer's?<BR><BR>Thank you for any replies.

and for Hawai`i in general

The "Driving and Discovering...." guidebooks are not just for travelers w/a car. Yes, it's geared that way, but we found our "Driving.....Oahu" book to be invaluable on our first trip to Oahu. It gives detailed bus routes, numbers and stops, and is full of information on out-of-the-way and lesser-known sights along w/detailed directions on the best way to see them (not to mention the beautiful photography to whet the appetite for your trip). I would unhesitantly recommend it to anyone visiting the islands, no matter how you plan to travel around your island. That said, I also used "Frommers Hawaii 2001" as a good overview guidebook - it gives a great overview of each island, if you're trying to decide which island(s) to visit. Hope this helps.....<BR><BR>PS - Can anyone tell me if R. Sullivan has published "Driving and Discovering Kauai" - I haven't checked, and if it's available I must have it to plan our NEXT trip to Hawaii.....

I've relied heavily on Frommer's Oahu for our trips there and have never been disappointed with their recommendations. They cover the gamut of budgets and I like the "if you only have 3 days," etc. recommendations.

In general, I've always preferred Frommer's to Fodors, as I think Frommer's is a little more sensitive to budget.<BR>For Hawaii, I strongly recommend the "Ultimate Kauai, and Maui, Hawaii Revealed guidebooks from Wizard Publications - check out their website, which is great resource by itself. This doesn't help for Oahu, however Oahu Revealed is their next book - maybe it will be out soon.

Bill has it right. The Wizard publication books are THE BEST travel books I've ever read. Informative, easy to understand, and very detailed about how to get to specific sites.<BR><BR>Frommer's is crap. I got their last Hawaii guide and their star rating system is a joke. You can get one star or three stars and both will be great because they're in a particular category.<BR><BR>In a restaurant section labeled "Expensive" a Frommer's review called a particular restaurant "inexpensive". <BR><BR>The only reason I'd ever get another Frommer's guide is if I'm going to visit an outhouse.

i read "maui revealed" and "the big island revealed" published by Wizard Pub. They are excellent resources and by far were the most useful travel books that i have ever read. wizard pub has a web site to glance at their books, it's weel worth the look