Hawaii in August
 

I am hoping to travel to Hawaii for the first time for 12 nights in August (with my husband and 11 year old son.). I would really welcome suggestions on iteneraries and places to stay. What are the "must sees"?

Thanks

Let me suggest that the first thing you do is to get a Frommers or Fodors book that covers all the main tourist islands. Give it a going over and pick out the things that sound appealing regardless of island. That will help to start narrow things down a bit.

With 12 nights you might want to think about visiting two islands.

How much do you want to spend?

What sorts of things do you want to do?

Volcano? Beaches? Pearl Harbor? Surfing?

Tourist activities or do it yourself?

Lots of info including sites with free brochures for all islands:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...trip-to-hi.cfm

I would recommend one week in Maui and one week in Kauai. Less than a week on any island is too short to see all the sights, relax, and swim. The two islands I mentioned are the most beautiful. To get real objective reviews on where to stay, what to do , and where to eat I recommend: "Maui Revealed" and "The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook" both by Doughty.

I live on Oahu and therefore, I like almost every OTHER ISLAND than mine!! :)

But if this is your first time in Hawaii, I guess you should visit Oahu.

If you have time for another island, I'd pick the Big Island or Kauai, just for a complete change of pace.

Lot's of books and websites to help you out.

Once you get it narrowed down a bit and can give us a bit more detail as to your budget, tastes, etc., it might be easier to give you some advice.

One word of caution about using guide books that tell you they're giving you "inside information," or "info rarely found in other books," things like that, JUST BE VERY CAREFUL....especially when taking tips to get to certain areas that may be hard to access.

Numerous tourists have been injured or killed because they thought they had found a hidden gem or some secluded piece of paradise hardly anyone sees or visits. Well, there's a reason for that! Just be careful.

Bob, how can you recommend Maui and Kauai when you don't even know what they want to do or what they want to see? We really don't know enough about the OP to know what to recommend. Maybe they want to see Pearl Harbor or the Volcano. Those aren't on Maui and Kauai.