PLEASE HELP WITH OUR MAUI/BI ITINERARY
 

After reading many posts on this site, purchasing a "Maui Revealed" and "Hawaii the Big Island Revealed", I think I have come up with a proposed itinerary and I would appreciate whatever feedback you can give me.

In July we have two weeks to spend in Hawaii and originally planned on spending it all in Maui (with the exception of a day trip to Oahu to see Pearl Harbor). My husband and I previously visited Maui and Kauai two years ago for our 25th anniversary. This time we wanted to share the experience with our grown children who will be 24, 22 and 16 next summer.

After reading many of your posts, I am amazed at how many people love the BI and all that it has to offer. Without a doubt this will be quite an expensive vacation and one we may not be able to do again. Knowing that, I honestly think we would be missing out on something great if we don't experience the BI.

I have come up with an itinerary which, I think, will work and will give us enough time to see Maui and also the highlights of the BI. Let me know what you think, as well as any suggestions for the "must sees" on the BI.

Day 1 - Fly into Maui and stay for 7 nights (should we split this between South Maui and West Maui or would that be too choppy?)
Day 8 - Early AM flight to Hilo to spend 2-3 nights in Hilo area
Day 10 or 11 - Drive to Kona to spend three nights exploring the Kona coast
Day 14 - Early flight to Oahu, spend the day visiting Pearl Harbor and Diamond Head/Waikiki, then catch an 8 PM flight back to Maui
Day 15 - Fly home in early afternoon

This itinerary allows us six full days to see Maui and almost six full days to see the BI. We only wanted a daytrip to Oahu anyway, so we might as well do that on the way back to Maui where we will fly out on the 15th day.

I realize we could spend much more time on the BI and still not see "everything", but does this itinerary allow us enough time to see the best parts of the island? Do we need to spend three nights in the Hilo/Volcano area, or are two nights sufficient, giving us four nights on the Kona coast?

Because our children are pretty much grown, we really need to rent a condo or house while we're there. Does it matter much if we stay in the Hilo area, as opposed to the Puna area? Is the travel time too much between Hilo area and the Volcano Park?

Also, my children are interested in a swim with dolphins and I understand that experience is available on the BI. Has anyone done this there and what did you think??

Again I thank you all for taking the time to answer my posts. Mahalo!

Travel time from Hilo to VNP is a relaxed 45 minutes, or less if you tend to ignore speed limit signs. ;)

Splitting a 1-wk stay on Maui between south and west is a bit much IMO. West and east might be a different story, e.g. Kaanapali and Hana. But if by south Maui you're referring to Kihei, Makena etc those areas aren't much different than (or distant from) Kaanapali.

You didn't outline which activities and attractions you're interested in on the BI, so it's hard to advise either Kona or Kohala for a stay on the west side. The north side has many attractions (Waipio Valley, Akaka Falls, the Botanical Gardens etc) so you might be better off in a Waikoloa condo.

As for the dolphin swim you have two options: the encounter at Hilton Waikoloa, which frankly is an absolute snorer for kids over 8 or 9 years old, or hopefully seeing them in the wild during a snorkel or scuba at Kealakekua Bay. If you go early, even if you don't run into a pod of wild dolphins you'll still get some of the best fish viewing in all of Hawaii.

No reason to split between areas in Maui. Surely you'll be renting a car (right?) and can drive to wherever you want to be. I strongly suggest staying in Wailea, as IMO it is by far the more beautiful, park-like, relaxing part of Maui. KI find the beaches and hotels in Kanapaali to be crowded with a Disneyland-type atmosphere. Since your kids are grown I definitely recommend staying in Wailea over Kanapaali. I have never been to BI.

Hi dmpalena: I wouldn't split up my time on Maui if I was already scheduled to change islands. Too much packing and travel time wasted in my opinion. We've stayed at Kaanapali Alii on Maui. Beautiful condos on great beach. Of course, the Whaler condos are just down the beach and is a good option too. On the BI, I haven't stayed in a condo, but here's a link to some pretty nice looking condos. http://www.konaoceanfronts.com/ Might be an option for your family. We stayed at a B&B in Volcano for two nights, and had a three bedroom house. Rented through My Island B&B. I think they have since sold all their houses, concentrating on their main property, but they could give you info on how to rent houses if you were interested. Anyway, I think your itinerary looks good. My only other comment would be to consider changing your return, so that you could spend the night on Ohau on day 14, returning home from Ohau on day 15. This would give the kids some time to explore the "happening nightlife" of Ohau. Good luck and best wishes for a great trip.

is your flight on day 14 out of Kona or do you need to drive back to Hilo. I think 2 nights in Hilo including visiting volcano national park is more than enough. I personally did not find a place i wanted to stay in Hilo and stayed in volcano instead.

As far as Maui, stay in one place. Kaanapali or Wailea. Where ever you stay, you do have to visit the other area. With your kids ages, I would recommend Kaanapali area since it is closer to Lahaina with more "night life" for them. Kaanapali has a great walkway in front of many resorts. Great way to see them all with a leisurely stroll. A lot of restaurants within a short walk as well.
Good luck!

Thanks to all of you for your helpful hints and suggestions. We finally made a definite decision on our Maui end of the trip and chose a beautiful condo in the Kaanapali Royal complex. We are renting directly from the owner and have seen numerous pictures of the unit and it is exceptionally lovely. I could only find one comment on TripAdvisor about this particular complex, but it was a very positive one. If anyone else has had any experience there, I would really appreciate some feedback!!

Anyway, that is where we will be spending our first week. After that we plan to either: fly over to Oahu and spend the day visiting Pearl Harbor, etc. then take a late evening flight into Kona for the remainder of the vacation OR fly directly to Kona and spend the second week there, with a daytrip over to Oahu and thus eliminate the need to drag our luggage with us! Obviously the second option would be more practical, but it is also more expensive (a difference of almost $400), so we haven't decided for sure about that.

I've done some research into places to stay on the BI and am most impressed with the Kanaloa at Kona resort. It seems to get rave reviews from just about everyone (at least the units rented directly from owners where you get to see what you're renting first hand). Robsmom: I agree with you about places to stay in Hilo. Nothing is anywhere near as nice as the Kanaloa resort. Even looking in the Volcano area, there isn't anything comparable and we definitely need room and beds for five adults, which is not often found. My husband is strongly against changing locations from Kona to Hilo/Volcano for the sake of one night and prefers to stay in one place and visit all from there. Even with the comments from others about the drive time and driving conditions from Volcano to Kanaloa in the dark, he prefers to return daily to the condo at Kanaloa. We are not hikers and from what I've read, I understand that to see active lava you need to hike quite a distance and do it in the dark. Is this correct? If so, then I don't think we would be doing that anyway so I don't see a problem with leaving before dark to return to the Kona side. (Not that the dark would stop my husband, he's quite fearless when it comes to driving!). What really are the chances of seeing active lava flows? I understand that no matter what, there still is no guarantee that you will view it. Is that so??

It certainly sounds as if there is enough to see on the BI to spend the week, but I guess I want to be sure that we're not cutting the Maui side too short. Does this itinerary sound reasonable or should it be divided differently? I know some of you have recommended staying a night in Oahu, but again, my husband is strongly opposed to packing and unpacking for the sake of a single night and with five people travelling I can see his point---it's a lot to lug around!! Plus you have the whole issue of renting a car, picking it up, dropping it off, checking in early at the airport, all for the sake of a night.

All ideas and suggestions are most welcome and I thank you again for your helpful suggestions. Mahalo!

Aloha!

Please be cautious when opening the link listed in a post above:

http://www.konaoceanfronts.com/

This site has viruses on certain page links that my McAfee program removed as I was browsing.

Caution... just in case you don't have an anti-virus program.

Have a great trip!!! ((R))