Hi everyone,

I am planning an upcoming honeymoon in Kauia, Maui and the Big Island. Can you recommend the most romantic places to stay in those places? Or any particular restaurants or activities that are exceptional? Thank you!

On the Big Island, the Mauna Kea, Hapuna Prince and Mauna Lani resorts are all lovely and romanatic if you are looking for a resort. Highlights of the BI would be Hapuna Beach, Snorkling at Kahalu'u beach, kayak or snorkle trip to Kealakekua Bay (Cpt. Cook), Honaunau (Place of Refuge) National Historic Park, Volcanos National Park, Punalu'u Black Sand Beach (lots of turtles), Akaka Falls (400 ft into a gorge), Hilo Botanical Garden, stargazing tour to the top of Mauna Kea, Ahalanui volcanically heated warm pond. The island is BIG and there are many things to do, all of them wonderful. Have a great time!

Hi hawaiimoon. Congrats on your upcoming wedding. Since you seem to be a relatively new poster, some friendly advice.

1. There's a search function here. Type into the box above & click find. You'll see...hundreds of previous threads on the kind of info you want. (eg. Hawaii AND honeymoon- or - romantic restaurants in Kauai etc.)

2. Your questions are also much too broad & you're asking people to plan your trip w/o apparently having done any "homework" yourself. Read some previous posts, check out your destinations under Fodor's "destination" at the top of the page or spend some time at a book store.

3. If you want recos, give budget & type of accomodation. What point is it my telling you about the Princeville if you're looking for a small b & b?

4. Finally, time of year you're traveling matters in terms of weather. "Upcoming" could be any time. Tell us when.

Happy reading!

Aloha hawaii05,

Kauai:
1. Kee Beach snorkeling, on a calm day.
2. NaPali coast trail (for rugged hikers, or do helicopter or boat/snorkeling tour) entrance at Kee Beach, where the road ends, north shore.
3. Waimea canyon (Hawaii's Grand Canyon)
4. Sunset Dinner at Beach House Restaurant,& or Princeville Hotel
Note: snorkeling conditions vary from day to day, always good to have a back up plan.

Maui:
1. Road to Hana (dinner at Mama's Fish House)
2. Sunrise at Haleakala
3. Whalewatch or Snorkel trip from Lahaina or Maalaea

Big Island
1. Volcanoes Nat'l Park (maybe red hot lava at end of chain of craters road, Thurston Lava Tube)
2. Snorkeling Boat Trip to Captain Cook Memorial, on Fairwind II or Sea Quest Raft from Keauhou
3. Snorkeling at Honaunau, visit ancient Hawaiian park next door: "Place of Refuge"
4. Waipio Valley Overlook/Tour
5. Visit Hilton Waikoloa village (Hawaii's Disneyworld), for dinner for example.

We also honeymooned there in 2002, feel free to ask more questions!! It is hard to give recommendations about where to stay without knowing how much you can spend.$) If money no object: Princeville Resort on Kauai, Grand Wailea on Maui, 4S on Big Island.

Mclaurie made excellent points, Hawaiimoon05. My first thought when I read your post was, what do you find romantic? We'd need to know, know your budget, schedule, etc. Some people find a beachfront cottage romantic, others prefer a luxurious resort, sipping tropical drinks in the hot tub. We need to know more about you!

I agree that the Hapuna Prince was amazing on the Big Island. My wife and I renewed our vows there for our ten year anniversary. The grounds are beautiful, pool is terrific, rooms are nice, and the views are georgeous. You can also swim/snorkel with the turtles right off the beach.

Unless you're there for a REALLY long time, I would limit your trip to Maui and The Big Island. I'd go with the 4S on both islands. We honeymooned in Maui last year and had a very packed agenda. We ended up bagging everything to snorkel behind the hotel, lay on the beach and play a few rounds of golf. I'd skip the road to Hana, it can be pretty stressful. Mama's is a MUST.

Thanks so much everyone for your recommendations. They were so helpful and I'm printing the thread to take with me! Sorry I was so vague in my first post - I am obviously new to the board, and have come back more educated in all things Hawaii related. We are planning on spending 2 weeks split between the three islands, departing at the end of May in 05. While I think I am definitely a resort type, and for this we can splurge on places like 4S and Princeville since it's a special trip, I would also be interested to know if there are any great off the beaten track places to stay that are more intimate. We are 25, and love a mix of beach and action as well as nightlife. We are big travellers and like to take exotic trips. My basic thoughts regarding our itinerary are as follows - please let me know your thoughts!!:

May 23, 2005 - depart NYC

Begin trip in Kauia:
4 nights at Princeville (unwind from wedding in quiet place)
- hit the beach
- snorkel
- check out the canyon?

Next:
4 nights at 4S in Hawaii (get into action part of trip?) I've heard that I simply "must" stay at this hotel from previous visitors!

- I believe that this would be the best place to take the helicopter tour? Or would one of the other islands be better?
- Snorkeling Boat Trip to Captain Cook
- Volcanoes Nat'l Park
- Alaska Falls sounds great

Finally:
4 nights at Farimont Kea Lani in Maui (to end off our trip with a kick of nightlife and excitement!)
- Go to a luau
- Take a sunrise bikeride down the mountain? (I don't know much about this - a coworker insisted that it is a must)
- If we're up for the drive, road to Hana (can we go and come back in 1 day?
- Hit the bars!

June 4, 2005 - Return to NYC

I so appreciate any comments you may have in terms of timing, activities, lodging, etc.!

I don't know how much "nightlife and excitment" you will find at the Kea Lani. They do have jazz nightly in the lounge, but the pinnacle of nightlife in Wailea would be maybe Mulligan's on the Blue. There are clubs in Kihei, but you will have to drive. The same with the bars in Lahaina, but that is an even longer drive from Wailea. Either way, this would mean one of you should be the designated driver. There is the "Party Buzz," a kind of bar-hopping bus tour.

As for Haleakala biking, there are two ways to do it. One is go with a company that keeps you all in a group. You go at the pace of the group and cannot make stops on your own.

The other way, which I prefer, is unescorted. With an unescorted trip you are free to go at your own pace and stop whenever you feel the urge. It is a more leisurely pace and you are able to have breakfast where you want and take time to explore Haleakala and Makawao. I have ridden with the Haleakala Bike Company 3 times and would do it again in a heartbeat. My husband is a mountain biker and he insists their equipment is better. They provide actual mountain bikes, where as the companies who do the escorted tours use cruisers.

That sounds great - we'd definitely go on our own if we could. Thanks for the info! As for the nightlife scene, is there an upscale resort that is better suited to the bar scene? Or is the Party Buzz easy enough to take?

I will pick ip on the Part Buzz brochures while I am out today and post the info here for you. Wailea is pretty quiet at night, other than Mulligan's. Mulligan's is an Irish pub and can be fun. They have live music most nights, but it ranges from jazz to Celtic. All of the hotels have lounges, but not really much of a party scene there. The Grand Wailea says they have a nightclub called Tsunami, but I have never heard of anyone who actually went there, I know of no bands or DJs who have actually worked there, and it is never included in any of the nightlife calendars, so I am not what kind of nightclub it really is.

If you can get up to Kihei you have many more choices, with lots of live entertainment and party bars. Kihei Kalama Village has as martini bar, three bars with live music every night, karoke, and a tiki lounge. This is where we go for those special party nights. If one place is dead, you can stroll over to the next one. Hapa's is also in Kihei and they have Willie K on Monday nights and dance or live music the rest of the week.

As someone who HM'd in Hawaii last fall from the east coast, please reconsider your itinerary! 3 islands, and only 4 nights on each will be exhausting, even after giving yourself some downtime in Kauai. I'd suggest picking 2 and staying 6 nights on each. The time change alone will play havoc with you and will impact your first few days.

As for your desire for nightlife in Maui, do not expect to find anything resembling bar hopping or clubbing. The Wailea area (we were at the 4S, which I'd also recommend) is gorgeous, but quiet. As others mentioned, drinks at a hotel bar with some music will probably be as action-packed as wailea will get. Lahaina and Kaanapali on the other side of Maui have a few more offerings (and a 40 min. drive back to wailea -- I didn't see any cabs in the 7 days we were there), but this is not the place to be if you're looking for a hopping nightlife as you'd find in NYC, NOLA, Vegas, or even less party-oriented cities. If this is a must for you, consider a stop in Oahu for the wider variety of nightlife in Honolulu.

Also, if you do plan to do the Road to Hana, it's a long day (7:30 am -7pm for us without dinner) so keep that night pretty low key. YOu can certainly do it in a day; it's just a long day.

For activities, we did a fantastic sea kayak tour in maui that included lunch and several snorkel stops. It was a highlight of the trip.

Dining in Maui: Spago at the 4S, Mama's Fish House in Paia, Nick's Fishmarket at the Kea Lani. I've also heard very good reviews about Pacific'O and Io, but we didn't make it there ourselves.

Thanks so much to both of you. I would be so appreciative of the Party Buzz info.!! I had heard that Maui was the place to go for nightlife, other than Oahu (which isn't that appealing since we're really not planning on going out THAT much). I suppose they are referring to Kihei then? In the end, that's not really what's important to us anyway, but I do think I'd prefer not to be completely isolated the whole time. In that case perhaps I should reconsider the Kea Lani? I guess another question would be if a lot of honeymooners stay there and go to the hotel bar? I thought it would be fun to meet other couples as well.

In terms of 3 islands in 2 weeks - I was afraid that it would be too much hassle, but at the same time I can't think of a single island that I would want to give up! They all seem to offer such different things that we want. Does an interisland hop kill a whole day? Thanks so much again. You guys are so helpful.

My fiance and I are from the Boston area, and we are honeymooning in Hawaii for 2 weeks, and seeing 3 islands in August. We are doing 2 nights Oahu, 4 nights Big Island, and 7 nights Maui. Some people suggested only 2 islands while others said 3 was fine. I figured we have a week on Maui to just relax after a busy first 6 days, and I don't know when we'll be back, so I wanted to see as much as possible! Good luck with your planning!

I don't enjoy checking in and out of hotels but I DO enjoy my interisland flights! The scenery is utterly beautiful, so I just consider it "flight-seeing." If you schedule your flights as early as possible, you will not "lose" a whole day........ If I were very excited about seeing all three islands, I wouldn't give one up!