Which beach has better swimming (for adults) in early november? i'm trying to decide whether to book the grand hyatt in poipu or the hyatt in kaanapali. Would prefer to be near a swimming beach.

Hyatt in Poipu is on Shipwreck Beach, which most folks consider too dangerous to swim. I suspect Poipu Beach is calmer than Kaanapali in the winter, and a whole lot quieter.

Enjoy your trip.

Poipu State Beach is a fairly short distance from the Hyatt on Kauai and usually very safe that time of year. There is also Salt Pond Beach over on the west side, Baby Beach and Lawai Beach for good snorkeling.

Is the surf at Kaanapali Beach too rough for swimming during early November?

We were there is January last year and the water was fine for swimming. We did not swim at Kaanapali, but up at the Kapalua beaches which were great. I would choose Poipu over Kaanapali - in general, we like Kauai better than Maui, but you can't really go wrong with Maui eiter - it is Hawaii afterall!

There is a pathway through Poipu Kai from the Hyatt to Poipu Beach. It is a 10 to 15 minute walk.

Thanks all. One last question.

I'm just about ready to book my trip to Maui (and possibly Kauai). After crunching numbers it will cost me about $1000 additional to also include Kauai. Worth it? It would give me 3 days, 4 nights at the Grand Hyatt in Poipu, plus meals, plus car rental.

Or I could bag that and just go to the Hyatt in Kaanapali for those 3 days, 4 nights. Save myself $1000.

(We're treating ourselves to the Four Seasons in Wailea at the end of our trip).

How many days will you have on Maui before going to Kauai (or changing hotels on Maui)? Most people suggest staying on one island if you have a week, okay to change islands if you have 10 or 11 days.

Plan A is: Kaanapali for 3 days (beach, whale watch, etc) + Wailea for 4 or 5 days (quiet time, beach, probably spend a day doing road to Hana).

Plan B is: Poipu for 3 or 4 days (beach, drive up to Hanalei) + 3 or 4 days in Wailea.

I was leaning toward doing one island. Is that what you think?

maui mo bettah

Last time we were there, we stayed 5 nights in Poipu followed by 4 nights in Kaanapali. That's really the minimum I'd want in each place -- I wouldn't want to be packing up and traveling after 3-4 days.

That sounds fine to me; it really depends (as previous post stated) how often you wish to move. Last year, we went to Hawaii for 2 weeks, the second & third week of November with 3 nights on Oahu & 11 on Maui. We also divided up our time on Maui as we wanted to stay in different areas around the island & this suited us. We had 2 nights in Paia (wish it had been 3) where we visited Haleakala & upcountry & left from there to Hana for 3 nights (good amount of time for us) where we hiked, lounged, had a couples massage, & went on a powered hang-gliding trip from Hana airport. I can also see the value of staying in 1 place, but I'm glad we were able to sample staying in various areas. Actually, our last 6 nights in 1 place in West Maui seemed a very long visit after our comparatively short stays elsewhere! During the time we were there, the beaches in W. Maui (like DT Flemming in Kapalua) were extremely windy (think sand pelting you!) vs much calmer conditions in S. Maui (we enjoyed the beach in Makena by the former Prince Hotel (now the Makena Beach & Golf resort). Don't know if this is the norm, but I thought I'd mention our experience.