please tell me if this is crazy, or if this is a good itinerary and good way to see what we want...

we are going to Hawaii for 16 nights
Sept 1 - 17th
before I buy our interisland flights, I want to make sure this isnt nuts:

4 nights Oahu - staying at Hiton Village (go to pearl harbour, dole plantation, and a day trip to the Big Island to see volcano)

3 nights Kauai - Princeville resort, mostly relax, take a helicopter tour, want to see the beauty of the "gardden isle"

fly to Maui, drive to Hana from Kahului airport and spend
3 nights at the Hana Maui ranch
to go to the seven pools, Blue pool and mainly do more relaxing very romantic part of trip I am guessing

then drive to Wailea
spend 6 nights at the Grand Wailea
plan on snorkeling in Moloking, Laihana Luau, maybe a sunset dinner cruise...hang out on beach

we want to see a lot of the different islands, but also have a lot of relaxation time, so being that we are seasoned and experienced travelers and are good at the packing / unpacking thing... I am thinking it will be okay to stay in 4 different hotels...
or just too exhausting?

the only thing I would be even slightly willing to cut out is Kauai, but I think I might regret it if we dont go there, I think it would be romantic....and absolutley gorgeous?
what do you think????

thank you

Sounds fine to me, however my own preference would be swap 4 days on Oahu for 4 days on the Big Island, and make Oahu a day trip on your last day by flying first AM flight to HNL, do Pearl Harbor early, then drive along coast, visit Dole stand, catch return flight to mainland in the evening.

First, lucky you! sigh........... Sixteen nights on Hawaii is time to really savor everything.

Will have to disagree with JohnD here, and say do stick with Oahu for four days. It is a wonderful island, so much of historical significance there, and both Waikiki and the North Shore (and the rest of the island) have charms that are all their own!

Now, since you ask, I would give Kauai four nights, and Hana two. Three nights in Hana would be one too many for me, lovely as it is. I definitely wouldn't cut out Kauai.

Your stay at the Grand Wailea sounds great...... I love Wailea; it's a beautiful, fun area.

When you do that day trip to Big Island, you'll start to plan your second trip to Hawaii because you'll realize that you need to come back and spend a week THERE!

Aloha and happy planning!

Hi

Your trip sounds very similar ro our Sept. trip. We will just miss on dates. We are going for 13 nights Sept. 25- Oct. 8th. We just had to have that full moon in Hawaii. We are going to Maui for 6 nights. All 6 nights at the same resort but at the same time without checking out we will do the road to Hana spendng one night at the Hotel Hana Maui YUM!

Then we fly ot Kauai for 5 ngihts and then ending up in Honalulu for 2 nights.

We only wanted to seeing Pearl Harbor, Arizona memorial in Honalulu.

We did not have itme to do the Big Island on this trip.

I would probably just spen 2 nights up in Hana.

My personal opinon wouod be to spend most of your time on the other three islands and do a day trip or just overnight on Oahu.

I think it's a good plan. It's a long flight to Hawaii and this way you see a lot and get an idea of where you want to come back to (or not).
I did 3 nights in Oahu, a week at the Hilton on the BI (with an overnight to a B&B at Volcanoes NP without checking out of the Hilton), a short trip to Kauai and then back to the BI for the Four Seasons. I am so glad we got to see so many different things and experience very different lodging accomodations. Enjoy your trip - it sounds like a great one!

I would add one more day in Kauai and drop to two at Hana.

Sixteen days -- what bliss! I would agree w/the other posters about adding more time to Kauai, dropping a day or two from Oahu, and dropping one of the nights in Hana. I would also question whether to do a snorkel trip to Molokini. From everything I've heard and read recently, the snorkeling from the shore is just as good if not better. As for the Old Lahaina Luau, you might want to reserve it now 'cause it's filling up for September as we speak. Aloha!

I agree with bonniebroad - keep Oahu as it is and drop one day from Hana and add it to Kauai. Hana is beautiful but two days should be more than enough time to explore over there. An extra day on Kauai would be better.

Oahu has so much to offer and to do - it warrants the days you've planned to spend there (and many more ...)

On our last four trips over we also stayed in at least 3 different places and sometimes 4. We were so tired of packing and un-packing. We never felt settled. We just spent 21 nights on Maui and Oahu last March. We spent time on Oahu, then we went to Kapalua, Kaanapali and Wailea on Maui. It was very tiring.

We are returning in 6 weeks, but decided to stay put at one resort this time. We found that we would lose most of the day each time we moved to another part of the island, not to mention that our clothes would be a mess by the time we went to un-pack again.

We started to feel frazzled and were not enjoying the real reason for being there in paradise. Your itinerary sounds a bit overloaded to be able to see and really remember the essence of the islands.

Some of our friends from the islands cannot understand why people come all that way, then proceed to run around like rats on a wheel just to be able to say they have seen this or that and never see the real beauty that is all around them. IMHO, we need to just hang loose as the Hawaiians say and not just look at things, but we need to feel the aloha.

Each time we have come home we question why we always need to stay at all these different places, but now we are finally going to just chill out and feel the beauty that surrounds us while there. Our best trip ever was 9/18/01. The islands were barron because people were so afraid to fly. We relaxed and never felt so refreshed.

Fivestar, are you saying that you changed hotels three times on Maui on your last trip? As in Kapalua, Kaanapali and Wailea? I don't think very many people move that much. I can understand changing hotels to see different islands, but it would be way too much for me to change hotels three times on an island as small as Maui, unless one of the changes might be to spend a night or two in Hana. But, hey, different strokes and all that!

I can certainly understand, lasjas, why you'd want to visit three different islands on your first trip. Sixteen nights gives you enough time in each place to appreciate the surroundings and to chill out part of the time, too.

I'm with you and your island friends, fivestar. And I'd be willing to bet a maitai that your upcoming trip will be your best ever.

We are counting on it. Maui is a zoo in March. September is much quieter. It's our favorite time of the year there. We did due three different hotels on Maui for a couple of reasons. We had tons of points which = free nights and we had a freebie at the Ritz. We were married in Kapalua, which made the freebie at the Ritz all that much nicer. We also wanted to try the Wailea area. We figured 21 nights will be plenty, but it was really too much moving around.

We have finally learned our lesson and have limited any future trips to 2 hotels at the most. We have been there so many times that we have been there and done that as far as activites, so now we will visit with our friends and we are staying at a hotel that we call our home away from home and were we are treated like ohana. (family)