J.

We are planning a 15 day trip to Hawaii in May and I send some help deciding how many Islands to see. We will be landing at oahu but intend to spend only our 1st and last night there. Will it be too much to do Maui, the Big Island and Kaui. If it is which one should we skip ? We love snorkeling, beaches, scenery and my husband is interested in volcanoes. We hate shopping and fine dining is not important to us. We do not like crowds. Thanks for any input you can give us.
J.

tc

Molikini-for snorkeling on Maui.
Skip bike trip down Haleaakela.
Honolulu you probably won't like. North Shore or West Shore better for you.
Kauai-we took the Na Pali Zodiac boats- that was nice. Helicopter ride over Maui has great views of places you'd never see otherwise. Road to Hana. Very curvy. Not recommended if you're the car sick type. But there are some way out beaches that way. Maybe stay @ Hana Hotel?? My friend says Roy's (restaurant) was EXCELLENT. I found alot of places just crusin' around. Definetely try a hawaiian plate lunch while you're in Hawaii. Hanauma Bay is too touristy to go snorkeling & too crowded. Sandy Beach-Great for watching boogie boarders. North Shore- We'll just awesome sunsets from along that coast...
Skip anything that looks too touristy. If you're not into crowds you probably can skip Honolulu all together... Kauai & Big Island probably more you. I hope to get to Hawaii this year too. Definetely have to get a hawaii flower lei with plumerias. Love those!! Use your sunscreen and have a great time.

scigirl

J - The Big Island is the only island with an active volcano. (It is a national park - you can go to the national park website - nps.gov, I think, and learn more). The BI is also BIG and should be given 7 days or so to do it justice.

I would suggest either Maui or Kauai as a second island, and not to try to squeeze in both. A night or so in Oahu isn't bad - this island has a lot to offer aside from Waikiki. Waikiki is about a 1 mile stretch of beach with a ton of highrise hotels and expensive shops. I live on Oahu and avoid it like the plauge. Yeecchh. However, Honolulu is a decent city, with an interesting downtown. Oahu also offers Pearl Harbor, the Arizona Memorial (well worth seeing), the lovely North Shore, many hikes and beautiful things to see. The Bishop Museum on Oahu is excellent.

You can snorkel and go to great beaches on every island - so that shouldn't sway your choice between Maui and Kauai. Kauai is a little more remote - although Maui offers plenty of opportunity to get away from it all. The reason I suggest choosing only one is that 7 days on either allows for a leisurely pace, and a lot of time can get eaten up messing with the interisland flights (of which you already have at least 4 if you do Oahu, BI, and one other island - at a 1/2 day each that is 2 days out of your vacation!)

I would also encourage you to do a seach on this forum and read past posts on Hawaii. You can get loads on information regarding which island people perfer and why, snorkeling, areas on each island to stay, etc. etc.

I hope this is helpful. Enjoy your trip.

annemarie

Three islands in 15 days is doable if you know that you will not return. We have been to 4 of the islands on 2 trips. What we have done is spend the first 2 nights in Waikiki(Pearl Harbour, Hanauma Bay, drive around the island), flight out to Maui late afternoon the 3rd day, and spend the remaining time divided up between the Maui and Kauai. If you do not go to Honolulu than you could take in 3 islands. I think 7 nights on the Big Island would be too long. Apart from the volcano and our fantastic property(Hilton Waikoloa Village) I found it my least favourite. Unless your flight dictates, I would not do a night in Oahu on the way back..Waikiki is nice for a first time visitor at the beginning of a trip but not as a grand finale.

lisa

Normally I would say that 3 islands in 15 days is doable, but you don't really have 15 days, you only have 13, since you say you're spending your first and last nights on Oahu (any particular reason why you're splitting up your nights on Oahu this way? Seems inefficient to me...). Since you only have 13 days left, I really think you should only do 2 other islands. We loved Maui and Kauai (spent 5 days on each) but did not go to the Big Island so can't help you there, although if your husband is interested in volcanoes then Maui and the Big Island would seem to make the most sense. Kauai was more scenic than Maui though, in my opinion -- more mountainous and lush. Both were gorgeous though. Kauai is less crowded than Maui.

Karen

Hi "J"

I agree with Lisa as to her efficiency point in spending your first and last day in Oahu. Why? If you feel you must stay on Oahu, do it at the beginning and you won't be so disappointed after seeing the other islands. I feel that you're attempting to do too much in a relatively short period of time. Keep in mind that every time you "island hop," you almost lose a day. You have to pack, check out of your accommodation, drive to the airport, return your rental car, get your flight and do the same thing all over again at the next island you chose. Believe me, we have done it in the over dozen times we have traveled to HI and do no more than two islands in two weeks. Again, this is just my opinion.

If I were doing two islands, I would chose Kauai and Hawaii (the Big Island). Maui has gotten too commercial for us, but again, we have been there so many times, and if you do Maui, I would recommend staying either in the Wailea area or Kapalua. Avoid Kaanapali, which is just too touristy. We think Kauai is the very best (again, not for everyone). It is by far the most beautiful of all the Sandwich Isles and we have stayed on all of them (other than Niihau, of course). Kauai has incredible hiking and many of the trails are rated from easy to extremely difficult. Take your pick. The kayaking on Kauai is wonderful and many of the beaches are pristine and the snorkeling can be exceptional. You can often find beaches with no one except yourselves. The Big Island also offers wonderful beaches and many areas can be remote or congested depending on where you choose. I would not eliminate Mauai. We just saw it developing much too much for our liking over the years and have eliminated it from our agenda for the time being. I think if what you want is quiet, beauty, lack of crowds, hiking, snorkeling and lovely beaches, my choice would be to spend your initial day or two on Oahu (since most people feel compelled to spend some time there; we get off the island on the first interisland flight availaible), and then choose Kauai and Hawaii or Maui.

Good luck!

J.

Thanks for all the advice. We do not have any choice about Oahu because our arrival and departure flights are in and out of there. Other than Volcano viewing (which hubby is willing to forgo rather than be on a death march) - can some one tell me more about Big Island - since if any island gets bumped it will probably be it or Maui. Kaui is pretty much a definite pick because of short flight back to oahu. Keep the input coming it helps - believe me!

Jill

Havingbeen to Hawaii many times I wonder why you need to spend the 1st & last nights on Oahu - you can jump right on a interisland flight immediately and be somewhere nicer in a very short time going over and coming back you surely can make a connecting flight in Honolulu to the mainland. I would not waste 2 nights in Oahu unless you have a real reason to be there, or want to do some sightseeing or something specific.

J.

1st night - no choice arriving late - we intend to leave oahu next AM early. Last night - it is a LONG plane flight home and hubby does not want 2 flights in 1 day. Therefore actually only spending 1 full day in Oahu.

dick

Regarding the volcano. I'm not sure where in the park the lava is flowing, but it is really impressive if you are able to get up close to it.

We did the volcano on a day trip out of Maui...flew to the big island, rented a car, and drove to the volcano..and jsut returned to Maui the same day.

The official site for volcan info is
http://www.nps.gov/havo/home.htm

xxx

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Rachel

Spent about 8 days on Big Island in 91--it is awesome. Has incredible diversity in terms of climate/flora/fauna. Western part of isl. has lots of cactus and desert type plants--we drove the highway that circles the island in a day. It is amazing--after the desert-y area we climbed into the mountains on the north (well, actually the car did the climbing) and had a picnic lunch in a park in a tropical foresty setting: trees dripping with moisture. Then the next thing was large fields of sugar cane as we rounded the ne area of the isl.--we didn't spend much time in the town on the eastern side of the island because we were in a hurry to get to the Volcano National Park--I highly recommend you plan to have a meal there; the view out the 'lodge' is awesome (don't remember if the food was any good). This stop was really interesting for our kids--steam vents and lava tubes were finally real. Back around to the sw part of the island were a lot of coffee 'orchards'?? farms and we went to a macadamia nut processing plant that gave out goodies--that was fun too. I loved the Big Island and hope to talk my husband into going again this year.

becca

Have been to HI 4 times , but just went to BI for first time this past summer. Fantastic!! Circle the entire island, so much beauty and diversity! I wished I'd had longer than a week..Very rural and quiet thru much of the island. Coffee country, Place of Reguge, Kealakokua Bay, The Hamakoa Coast (SP??) all STUNNING!! The scenery heading west out of Hilo, up to the Waipio Valley--wow! And i didn't even see much of the NW corner of the island, also supposed to be fantastic. (Note--they don't use N,S, E or W there much to describe direction) Just to show you how different we Fodorites all are--Personally, I also LOVE Oahu--it's not just Waikiki. Honolulu is a terrific city IMHO, and circling the entire island you find amazing scenery. With 2 weeks, I'd limit the trip though to BI and Kauai, Just my opinion, of course. You can't go wrong in Hawaii no matter where you go. Oh--when we were there, it was an EIGHT MILE round trip hike to see the lava, from the end of Chain of Craters Road. If you stay nr Volcano, consider Tutu's Cottage, part of Kilauea Lodge--you'll love it! Aloha

donna

Have been to Hawaii twice..crowds and shopping are not my thing either, but Honolulu definitely has it's own charm..we climbed Diomond Head to the top ! Rented outrigger canoes, fun !Saw outdoor concerts.And Pearl Harbor is a must !!! We rented snorkel gear and it was always ready in the trunk of our car for a quick off the road snorkel trip.Also did Mauii--Molikini was spectaclular.Loved Kuaii - this is the island to do the helicoptor ride and Zodiac boats !!!!!!! ENJOY !