My wife and I are planing a visit to Hawaii in late January for about 14 days (exact durarion not comletely settled). I have never been to the Islands, and my wife visited Oaho several years ago. We are both in our seventies, but are very fit physically.

My thoughts are to spend 3 days each on Oaho, Maui and Kuai and 4 days on the BI (2days on the Kona side and 2 days on the Hilo side).

Would this itinerary be reasonable or should we spend more on some Islands and less on others. (If and Island could be eliminated it probably would be Maui)

I appreciate and suggestions and/or comments.

Bill

For 14 days, you can comfortably do two or at most, three islands.

Otherwise, you spend about a third of your Hawaiian trip getting to or sitting in airports.

I would do a little more research about the different islands to find out what it is you might want to see when you visit. That would help narrow things down as far as which islands you'd visit. I don't think you'd want to do less than 4 days on any one island. It's really hard to work in the main things to do on each one. If you are elimating Maui you eliminiate Haleakala, Road to Hana, Iao Valley State Park, and so much more.

Too many islands.

I would spend a few days on Oahu, then choose 2 islands. Good luck.

We visited 3 islands in 15 days. It was a little too much time to waste in airports & packing/unpacking. We stayed in Maui for 1 week. We explored the whole island.It was the perfect amount of time to tour Maui & see the Road to Hana on Valley Isle Tours(one full day-great tour), Haleakala,snorkel at various locations,explore the North area & Iao Needle,visit Lahaina,shopping, go fishing on a charter boat, visit beaches & lots of restaurants.
We spent 4 days in Kauai=relaxing,hiking,exploring, & doing a helicopter tour.We wanted to visit the Big Island to see the live volcano. Unfortunately when we went, there had been some new volcanic activity & the roads were closed.We regret never seeing the hot lava & wished we had done a helicopter tour of that island.We did a 1 day tour of the island and also a private deepsea fishing charter.I believe that you need to decide what your priorities will be. We used the resouurce books-Maui Revealed, Kauai Revealed, etc. They were very helpful Note: the interisland flight(Aloha airlines) were like buses in the the sky.Many Hawaiians commute between islands & race to the planes(as there were no seating assignment)(even though we thought we had assigned seats-the airline didn't recognize them)They also did not care which flight time you took! And, there was no guarantee that your suitcase would arrive with you.Tough to take.Not sure if that is the only Interisland charter.But,please look into your options.

Moving hotels 5 times, and island 4 times would not be my idea of a good time for a 14 day trip.

WAY too much time packing & unpacking, checking in & out of hotel, going to & from airports, etc. instead of enjoying where you are.

With 14 days, do three islands max.

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

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34812564

I'd suggest getting Hawaii for Dummies and reading up on each island. They are very different and it depends on what you like to do as to which island would fit for you.

My recommendation would be to spend a few days on Oahu to do Pearl Harbor and such and then pick two other islands to visit. My favorites are Kauai and the Big Island.

My recommendation is to do only 2, otherwise you'll be spending too much vacation time in airports and checking in/out of hotels, etc. I would choose Oahu first then go to Maui or BI, then home. Hope this helps and whatever you decide you'll have a great time!

I agree with most that 3 islands would be the max to visit. In most two week trips I have taken to HI, we have only done 2 islands, never attempted three. I've done Oahu and Kauai on a trip and Maui and Big Island on others. This is usually my favorite combo.

There is an good variety to see in them all. .

I have only spent 1 night in Hilo on 4 visits to the big island. We have sucessfully gone to the Volcano on a day trips. When we did see Hilo, we did the drive around the entire island which also included the Waimea Canyon. Lunch at Cafe Pesto if you can, I see they have three locations now.

In Oahu, it is worth it to drive around the Island, which is easily done in a day. Just rent a car for the day, you won't want it in Waikiki. Make sure you stop for shave ice at Matsumoto's. Treat yourself to either Drinks at House without a Key or dinner at Orchids at the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki. A beautiful place to enjoy evening.

If you chose Kauai over Maui, it will be more low key. Just depends on what you are looking for.

Hope you enjoy the trip.

wow wp, that'll be a lot of time in security lines, agriculture lines, car rental lines and hotel reservations lines. cut it down to two, the Big Island and Kauai and i guarantee you'll be glad you did.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I understand that we would be moving a lot, but this will probably be our only trip to Hawaii and we would like to see as much as possible.

Out current itinerary is for 16 days in April. We will spend 3 days on oaho, 4days on the BI (Kona side), 5 days on Kauai, and 4 days on Maui. We will rent cars on all but Oaho.

We are not into snorkeling, swimming, lying on the beach,fishing, or shopping so our time will be taken up with sightseeing.

One of our concerns is whether we should stay one might at Hilo and the other 3 on the kona side.

Bill

We just returned from the Big Island. We spent an afternoon in Hilo and wished we'd had more time. I'd recommend spending a night on that side of the island.

Well at least you have devoted the most time to the best island.

Do yourself a huge favor & rent a car on Oahu. You can see the island much better with a car.

By the time you pay for shuttles, cabs, buses & tours you can do on your own, you won't save any $$ by not renting a car.