Audrey

My fiance and I are going to Hawaii in July for our honeymoon, and wanted to spend about a week on Kauai and a week on Maui. Below are the hotels we plan to stay at. Please give us any input you have on hotels, prices (especially if you know where to score lower rates, particularly on the Kea Lani), amount of time spent and so forth. (We haven't decided whether to spend an extra day in Kauai or Maui, so input on that is also appreciated.) We're on a budget, not a big but not a super small budget, and figured we'd start out and end luxuriously and in the middle stay at nice, but not out-of-control places.

1st 3 nights -- Secret Beach Hideaway ($395)
next 3/4 nights -- Radisson Kauai ($134/ocean view)
next 4/3 nights-- Renaissance Wailea ($225/ocean view)
last 3 nights-- Fairmont Kea Lani ($325 mountain view).

Thanks for any advice/input!

gyppielou

Good luck! I have only visited the Kea lani which is wonderful. Your idea of booking the cheapest room at a great resort and making that your finale is the best plan...always start low and work up..

I don't know the places you mentioned in Kauai. If they're in the same visinity I'd just say get to the north shore. Many will say the Hyatt in Poipu, but the true magic is in the north shore, and unless you're hanging at a pool all day this can be important.
If you're planning on being tourists, well your days are numbered and for me, I haven't returned to sunrise on the volcano in Maui, I haven't done another Luau, and the canyons in Kauai, unless you're hiking, which is wonderful, and Barrking Sands is great but can eat up an afternoon and evening to visit an unswimmable beach. Do visit the Napali Coast and do relax and enjoy ... time passes quickly...fill each day with a short adventure and then sit back and relax and feel the true Hawaii
Goodluck

gyppielou

Also, you may want to consider staying on the other end of the island while in Maui or in Hana---very secluded, but one of our favorite places. If you choose Hana, do a websearch of lodging and you'll find some wonderful places, including treehouses--a step above camping! otherwise, I would consider replacing Renn Wal with something in the napali, kaanapali area, you can find some good deals, ,,,this way you get to see a good part of the island...go for short money and save your dollars for Kea lani as the grand finale....gl

joan

Audrey, isn't Secret Beach Hideaway fabulous?? It was on my short list for a long time (we're going in Sept)! Unfortunately it's beyond our budget. One thought: did you inquire as to the trek to the beach? We did that on another Kialuea property (Plumeria Moon) and discovered the "path to the beach" has 240 stair steps! We haven't decided yet, but it's definitely something to consider! (Probably not a problem for you young'uns, but hey we're celebrating our 25th anniv.!) Congratulations on your marriage!

CF

I think you have picked the two best islands, but it seems like you are going to spend a lot of your vacation time moving from hotel to hotel. Why not pick one and work out of it? The islands aren't that big that you need to move around. We picked a centrally located place on each island, one day we went out and turned left and saw what there was, next day we went out and turned right. Simple. That also left a couple days to beach it too.