I'm starting to plan a surprise 25th anniversary trip for my wife & I to Hawaii. I'd be interested to get feedback as to the best 2 islands to visit during our 10 day stay. I was thinking of the Big Island & Maui?

You might get better suggestions if you describe which activities are most important to you, e.g. hanging on the beach or seeking a secluded beach, snorkeling, hiking, kayaking, golf, shopping, etc ?
Nonetheless Maui and BI are great choices!!!

Those would be my first choices but I'd also try to fit in a stopover on Oahu to see the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

You can't go wrong with any of the islands I would imagine.

We visited Maui and Oahu for our honeymoon and absolutely loved Maui. If you want to relax and get away from everything stay in Maui. I would highly recommend The Four Seasons hotel in Wailea. We stayed there and it was the best!!!

Oahu is great for Pearl Harbor, hiking up Diamond Head, touring the Dole Pineapple plant, and other active activities.

The Big Island is great. The west side (Kona/Kohala Coast) is like a moonscape as a result of the volcanic activity and the east side (Hilo) resembles a tropical rain forest. I stayed on the Kohala Coast at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bugalows. It a beautiful resort with excellent beaches and goilfing. Kona is about a 25 minute drive south if you want a little more in the way of nightlife.

I highly recommend taking a guided tour of the Island. We did a Roberts Hawaii Grand Circle Island Tour. It was the entire day and covered both sides of the Island including the Kiluea Volcano.

http://www.maunalani.com/main.html


http://www.robertshawaii.com/roberts...0DLWDU9SSCB4M0

Went to Kauii last Oct.,stayed sat the marriotin Lihue, It was GREAT!! BEAUTIFUL ISLAND TO RELAX and sightsee. The pool area is something to beHold ( largest in HAWAII). tHE RESORT HAS BEAUTIFUL SCENERY THROUGH-OUT.

The Big Island is nice, but....it is a lot of driving. Everything is very far away. We did some things but spend a fair amoung of time at the hotel. Incidently we stayed at the Hapuna Beach Hotel and it was GREAT!!

We stayed in Lihue, Kauai at the Radisson. It was very nice, not fancy like the Hapuna, but they had some great incentives, $25 credit, upgrades. And, they have a wonderful happy hour every day from 5-6 that we NEVER missed!!

I guess my advice were to be if you are going to Kauai and BI, stay at a nicer hotel at the BI since you will be a little more committed to your hotel.

We scheduled our flight for a 12 hour layover in Honolulu. We rented a car and spent all day at Pearl Harbor. Really cool.