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Mrs. Slidebite and I have a couple weeks booked for holidays in Mid-September and we are leaning towards going to Hawaii for the first time. We have never been and I am actively soliciting advice on which island(s) to go to, where on the island to stay and things to do. Goals for our trip: #1 - Relax #2 - A little bit of sightseeing/short hikes (<2 mile) and maybe some minor touristy stuff. Check out a volcano? Maybe snorkeling? #3 - A couple decent restaurants somewhat nearby if we do want to eat out (probably prep our own meals generally). #4 - Relax We are not fans of big crowds and hectic city life and associated noise. Ideally, I'd like a place near (or even on?) a nice beach so we can sleep in, wake up, grab a coffee and veg out on the sand and splash around in the water. A couple of our friends have been there a few times and they say out of the islands they've been to Maui would probably fit the bill the best. We're thinking of renting a condo or something as opposed to hoteling it. Seems a bit cheaper but also will have a kitchen so we can do our own meals if we want. We plan on staying around 12-ish days. I am not against going to multiple islands, but there is also an appeal to finding the "ideal" place and just staying there for the trip. Does Maui sound like where we should go? If so, which part of the island should we focus on for staying? Should we line up a car rental too? Budget is relatively open-ended, but to throw a number out there let's say I'd like to keep it under an average of approx $350-$400 per day total excluding airfare (lodging/food/car rental). It's just the two of us (I am 40 & she is mid 30s). Advice? Resources to look at? slidebite fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Jul 29, 2014 |
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Jul 29, 2014 16:18
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Check out AirBnB for places to stay. We went to Hawaii this summer and liked both of the places we stayed at. It was way cheaper than a hotel and it was nice to have someone who knew the area hooking us up with restaurants, hidden beaches, etc. We just stayed on the Big Island, so I can't comment about Maui, but I don't think you need to island hop unless you want. You'll want to rent a car, though.
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Jul 30, 2014 01:24
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Basically any of the four tourist islands except Oahu should meet your needs. I've never been to the Big Island but loved Kauai and Maui. Maui is a bit more developed, Kauai is almost like a third world banana republic (though I haven't been there in 15 years now... also been about 10 years last time I was in Maui). It's fairly hard to go wrong, and I'd also recommend Maui; there are awesome hikes/drives around the Haleakala NP, and there's also the Road to Hana (difficulty/danger massively overstated; it's fine, just don't drive it in a storm). Hana is so remote it felt like a third world country / Kauai-esque, but again haven't been there in a long time. Lahaina was my favorite place on Maui as far as relaxing/beach goes. IIRC we rented a duplex at/near Kaanapali Beach both times we went, and it's memorably stunning. In any case, you definitely need a rental car. There's some public transit on Oahu but nothing on the other islands that should be considered unless you're on a shoestring budget (and even so, hitchhiking is a better idea). If you have more money I personally thing VRBO is a better bet than AirBNB. AirBNB usually rents you a room, i.e. like a BNB, and VRBO is always full vacation homes/apartments for yourself. There are full independent apartments on AirBNB too though. Make sure you do snorkeling or diving. Diving's not totally necessary like it is some other places, since you can see some pretty amazing stuff from the surface and there are plenty of coves where diving is basically pointless anyway. I can't remember the name of any of the better snorkeling areas, but they shouldn't be too hard to find on TripAdvisor or LonelyPlanet or whatever.
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Jul 30, 2014 12:05
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I'm thinking we'll spend the bulk of our time in Maui but it sounds like we should stop by the big island for a couple days too. Mrs. Slidebite really wants to see Kilauea as do I. We're probably going to spend a week-ish in Maui followed by a few days on the big island. Mrs. Slidebite really wants to go to Mt. Kilauea as do I. I'd love to check and see if they allow visitors or tours of the Keck/CFH telescope area. Tentatively looking at the Kaanapali area of Maui but not 100% yet, not sure at all about the area of big island nor how much time. Maybe the Hilo area for Hawaii?
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Jul 30, 2014 19:33
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You can do tours of the Keck Observatory, but nothing at night, so you're not going to get to actually look through their telescope. If you want to go see volcanoes, actually stay near Volcanoes National Park, you don't want to do that hour long drive daily. You should also plan on staying on the Kona side of the Big Island if you're going to go up Mauna Kea to look at stars, and plan on a day to drive across it. The Big Island is way bigger than most people think, it actually takes a while to drive from point A to point B. However, it's my favourite island, and the one with the most to do IMO. Hawaii is awesome.
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Jul 30, 2014 21:16
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slidebite posted:I'm thinking we'll spend the bulk of our time in Maui but it sounds like we should stop by the big island for a couple days too. Mrs. Slidebite really wants to see Kilauea as do I. We stayed in both and I much preferred Kona. The best beaches are on that side too. Kilauea was a huge bust for us--lots of the lava field area was closed due to high volcanic gas emissions and there was no visible flowing lava. All you could see was a giant area of nothingness with the rim of the crater and a little smoke wisp. I was so disappointed. I found driving around the Big Island to be really pleasant though. Very beautiful and surprisingly varied terrain.
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Jul 30, 2014 23:29
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When I was on Big Island I based myself out of Hilo and it was pretty good access to Mauna Kea and Volcanoes. The Hilo farmers' market is good, too. It's definitely a bit of driving but you aren't going to avoid that. I didn't find being based out of Hilo to be much of a drag, the only big driving day was going to some stuff on Kona side, but we just spent a day there so it wasn't worth switching accomodations. If you're looking for beaches, though, I think Kona side is the clear winner. Mauna Kea is a must. I think the visitors area is open every night, if you check on their events calendar every so often some local nerds bring out their telescopes and point them at cool stuff and let anyone look through them. Just the sky is amazing enough if you are coming from a city. We also drove to the very top where the big telescopes are to look around but there is not much to do there (you can't tour those) so we were at the visitor area for most of the time.
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Jul 30, 2014 23:44
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Brennanite posted:We stayed in both and I much preferred Kona. The best beaches are on that side too. Kilauea was a huge bust for us--lots of the lava field area was closed due to high volcanic gas emissions and there was no visible flowing lava. All you could see was a giant area of nothingness with the rim of the crater and a little smoke wisp. I was so disappointed. I found driving around the Big Island to be really pleasant though. Very beautiful and surprisingly varied terrain. What if we flipped it? Kona for a week and then a few days on Maui? Are the beaches nice and laid back with some decent restaurants in the area if we don't want to cook? Most people I know haven't really been to the big island so my personal intel for there is pretty limited.
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Jul 31, 2014 01:32
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On the big island don't miss hapuna beach, snorkeling at captain cook and two step, visiting the place of refuge. Also my husband and I had a great time on an atv ride with atv outfitters hawaii. Edit: also friends recommended renting a condo at Hale Kona Kai in Kona. We did this, and it was perfect, right on the ocean, walk to town, and had a kitchen so we saved on meals. Also right across from the farmers market so we went at the beginning of the week and stocked up on fruit and an awesome tropical flower bouquet for the condo. APOLLO OHNO-UDIDNT fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 02:09
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I would actually recommend staying at Waikoloa instead of Kona itself - we found the climate up at Waikoloa was a bit nicer, it seemed less humid and hot than Kona. Stock up on groceries in Kona though on your way out from the airport, since everything at Waikoloa is pretty expensive. I totally agree with Captain Cook, though we didn't have the time to do Two Step, sadly. Beach 69 was even better than Captain Cook, too, I found. Waikoloa definitely had a bunch of nice restaurants, and also some food court type options or deli food from the grocery store if you're so inclined to eat but not cook. If you're doing a week on the Big Island I would do 4 days in Kona and 3 days in Hilo/Volcanoes National Park. Include the driving over to Hilo/Volcanoes in the three days, not the four on Kona side.
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Jul 31, 2014 05:01
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HookShot posted:I would actually recommend staying at Waikoloa instead of Kona itself - we found the climate up at Waikoloa was a bit nicer, it seemed less humid and hot than Kona. Stock up on groceries in Kona though on your way out from the airport, since everything at Waikoloa is pretty expensive. I totally agree with Captain Cook, though we didn't have the time to do Two Step, sadly. Beach 69 was even better than Captain Cook, too, I found. Waikoloa definitely had a bunch of nice restaurants, and also some food court type options or deli food from the grocery store if you're so inclined to eat but not cook. ^^^This is good advice. I stayed in a little village outside Kona because it was cheap and I really liked it. Honestly, I don't think where you stay around Kona is particularly important, so pick some place that seems nice and has a good price. Is Beach 69 the one across from the Veteran's cemetery turn-off? If so, that beach is amazing and shockingly uncrowded. There were also a lot of sea turtles at White Sands when we were there.
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Aug 4, 2014 03:30
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I really enjoyed Maui. Stayed at Four Seasons but I hear the Andaz is really nice. Drove the road to Hana on the first day, basically got off the plane picked up a Jeep and hit the road. Hiked up through the bamboo forest and then drove back and hit Mama's Fish House for an early dinner then to the hotel. Pro-tip: Everyone says to check out the sunrise at the volcano but skip it and do sunset. Way less tourists and you don't have to get up at 4am. Maui has great food, Lahaina is a cool little town. You can take a day boat trip pretty much anywhere and I'd definitely spring for a helicopter tour. Tough to go wrong at any of the islands though.
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Aug 6, 2014 05:51
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My girlfriend and I are going to Hawaii in October, but haven't yet decided on an island. She has always wanted to stay at a cute bed and breakfast, and this would be a nice time for it, I think. Any recommendations, on any island? Something near a quiet beach, away from hella crowded areas would be ideal.
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Aug 6, 2014 23:17
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Shine posted:My girlfriend and I are going to Hawaii in October, but haven't yet decided on an island. She has always wanted to stay at a cute bed and breakfast, and this would be a nice time for it, I think. Any recommendations, on any island? Something near a quiet beach, away from hella crowded areas would be ideal. It's not near a beach but we stayed here a few years ago and it was really nice. All the bed and breakfasts we stayed at near Volcano have been owned by creepy people. If you really want away from people maybe nearer to Captian Cook on the big island would be ideal but really any part of the big island or Kauai is calmer than Maui or Oahu.
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Aug 7, 2014 06:39
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I just got back from a week in Maui, I'll do a little trip report in a few days. We had a great time, and our daughter who is just 18 months had a great time, too.
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Aug 14, 2014 17:15
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Bip Roberts posted:It's not near a beach but we stayed here a few years ago and it was really nice. We settled on a cozy little B&B on the Big Island. Gonna be 7 nice nights. 
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Aug 14, 2014 17:28
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Hope you have an awesome time. We used the "big island revealed" guidebook which was really helpful for exploring the best beaches and selecting what activities to do. We had the most fun doing active stuff - snorkeling, boogie boarding, hiking, etc. The revealed book has an app for your phone too, which was great.
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Aug 14, 2014 23:07
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My favourite part of the Big Island was roasting marshmallows over lava, definitely go do that!
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Aug 15, 2014 10:09
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Thanks
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Aug 16, 2014 08:04
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HookShot posted:My favourite part of the Big Island was roasting marshmallows over lava, definitely go do that! An FYI on this I think getting to actual flowing lava is simply not possible at this moment without an illegal all day hike over still hot lava. Also I read there are a ton of scam boat tours who will "take you to lava flowing into the ocean" when they know perfectly well it isn't actually flowing into the ocean at the moment. These conditions change but it's something to check carefully before you embark.
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Aug 16, 2014 17:06
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Bip Roberts posted:An FYI on this I think getting to actual flowing lava is simply not possible at this moment without an illegal all day hike over still hot lava. Also I read there are a ton of scam boat tours who will "take you to lava flowing into the ocean" when they know perfectly well it isn't actually flowing into the ocean at the moment. These conditions change but it's something to check carefully before you embark. Yeah, definitely. Also the boats are pretty dangerous in the first place, I would never, ever take one. The hike is pretty strenuous even when the flows are in the legal area, like 2+ hours each way, but it's definitely worth it.
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Aug 17, 2014 05:32
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I used to live on Oahu and just came back to the islands for a few weeks after several years away. Airbnb wasn't really a thing then I think VRBO might have been but I never used it at the time. We used two Airbnb places on Oahu and three on Maui and had a great experience with all of them. I also just wanted to second the ** revealed books. Used the book/app for Maui and it was spot on.
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Aug 27, 2014 14:20
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How's the weather at the end of the season, Oct-Dec? I just found some ridiculously cheap flights during this period (like $500 from continental Europe) to either Oahu, Maui or Kona. But it seems to get pretty rainy during this period - how bad is it in real terms? Also any tips for keeping thins as cheap as possible?
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Aug 28, 2014 11:21
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For most parts of the islands, it only rains sporadically. Where it does rain often is on the slopes of the north and northeast mountain faces. On Maui, that would be from Haiku to Hana and from Waihee to Kapalua.
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Sep 4, 2014 00:39
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Bip Roberts posted:An FYI on this I think getting to actual flowing lava is simply not possible at this moment without an illegal all day hike over still hot lava. Also I read there are a ton of scam boat tours who will "take you to lava flowing into the ocean" when they know perfectly well it isn't actually flowing into the ocean at the moment. These conditions change but it's something to check carefully before you embark. This is mostly correct, for now at least. Right now the lava is actually starting to threaten some subdivisions on the east side of the island, so it's just a somewhat-short, illegal hike through VERY thick rainforest and across private land to view flowing lava. Depending on how far it goes, it might even cut off the major road to access the east side of the Big Island. You might think that would make for great viewing (if you ignore the tragic side of thousands of people getting trapped), but the county controls that area, not the National Park Service. The county cares more about liability than the NPS. They'll probably shut down everything around the flow. Of course, this is a change from a month ago, and things were different a month before that, and things were a different a few months before that, etc. Lava is unpredictable. Currently, your best, legal, way to see a volcano in action is to go to the national park and check out the big smoking pit in Kileaua. Go at night to see it glow. It's not flowing lava, but it's the best you can do for now.
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Sep 16, 2014 18:59
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Funny that lavaflow comes up when I find this thread as I am about to move very near active lavaflow on the big island. I have a huge list of things to do while there, but mostly will be focusing on my 2 day a week botany job. So far on the list is two-step, place of refuge, fresh water lava tubes, cliff jumping, spearfishing with my friend of a friend who tour guides there, volcano hiking, constant snorkeling, and soooo much gardening. Any suggestions would be great, especially concerning seasonal jobs! I will have lots of time off, so any part of the big island is fair game. I will be sure to post photos of the lavaflow once I get there.
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Nov 26, 2014 10:25
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So I'm heading to Hawaii for my Honeymoon in February/March, what's the best way to get setup with mobile internet? The places I'm staying have Wifi, but I'm more concerned about having mobile phone internet coverage for stuff like google maps when I'm out and about. Am I able to purchase a pre paid internet only SIM card for my mobile? I've never travelled to the US before.
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Jan 14, 2015 01:17
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No great solutions. Xcom mobile charges $15 per day. Virgin Mobile USA charges $5/day or $25/mo but you'll need to buy a compatible device. I'll say though in Hawaii I can't imagine needing a ton of google maps or non-wifi internet. I'd probably just grab a map and be done with it, but most of my time in Hawaii is spent at the beach and you don't need a map for that.
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Jan 14, 2015 07:37
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Tmobile prepaid 3 dollars a day or 30 a month, great solution. I used it for months. Worked in Hawaii when I was there. I would advise getting a client based GPS app for your phone like Navigon, although Google Maps started preloading far more map data when offline recently. When I was driving on some backroads in the rainforest with a bunch of people in Maui my Navigon thing really came in handy for when I was out of cell phone reception, I had downloaded the Hawaii portion before I left http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-monthly-plans 30 per month quote:
3 per day, unlimited talk text data quote:*First 200MB at up to 4G speeds the worst thing is fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Jan 15, 2015 |
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Jan 15, 2015 06:29
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Righto, thanks for the replies.
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Jan 15, 2015 10:09
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TheBuilder posted:I just got back from a week in Maui, I'll do a little trip report in a few days. We had a great time, and our daughter who is just 18 months had a great time, too. Please do! We are heading there with our (at the time) 13 MO daughter in May. I spent 2 weeks in Kauai 10 years ago and I'm just starting my trip prep now.
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Feb 9, 2015 22:49
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I just booked a 9-night trip to Kauai for July. We are staying on the east side of the island in one of the resorts. Anything we absolutely have to check out or see? I've found some typical vacation activities such as ATV rentals, zip lines, etc. We plan to do a bunch of hiking, as well as hang out on the beach.
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Feb 9, 2015 23:21
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:I just booked a 9-night trip to Kauai for July. We are staying on the east side of the island in one of the resorts. The two I suggest: 1. Hike the Na Pali coast- it's a 22 mile round trip hike, so don't expect to see it all in one day unless you camp. Be prepared to throw away whatever shoes you bring; the famous volcanic red soil doesn't come off easily. 2. Go to Waimea Canyon. There's one 2.5 mile hike that's very steep, but the views are pretty amazing. For the beach, I like either Ke'e beach which is adjacent to the Na Pali trail on the north side. Very calm, warm water and not crowded on weekdays. Alternatively, Kapaa State Beach on the east side is also good- go buy some cheap snorkeling stuff from Walmart and check out all the cool tropical fish in the reef that's next to the beach.
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Feb 10, 2015 21:55
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For years I've thought about taking my first real vacation as an adult. I was ten the last time I went somewhere just for fun instead of a family obligation like a medical emergency. I'm considering Hawaii and my goal is to go to a nice hotel that is close to a beach but away from hustle and bustle. I mostly want to relax, walk on the beach and just explore. If there's a small town nearby that would be great. I'm a walker but understand if some places are too spread out to enjoy without a car. This is not an adventure vacation. I really want some peace and quiet. My hotel stays always feel too much like being home: cardboard walls and neighbors raising hell all night.
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Mar 27, 2015 22:48
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If you want real peace and quiet, like wind and waves and the entire Milky Way spread out for you, I can't recommend Lanai enough. If I was to spend my last day on Earth anywhere, it would be at the Lodge at Koele, one of the two resorts on Lanai. Manele Bay is on the beach, Koele is in the mountains. If your wallet is on the skinny side, Hotel Lanai is a nice little plantation inn, though I've never been there. It's not a walking experience, but it's difficult to get lost by car. Go now, because the owner of most of the island is looking to
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Apr 1, 2015 18:24
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The mountain one is closed for use by the team renovating the beach one. And the beach one is $950 a night.  It does sound lovely though.I'm overwhelmed by all the options and am experiencing brainlock. I know so little about the islands and the reviews are all such a strange mix of people who love a place and people who think that same place is a hellhole. The thought of spending all this money to find out the place I picked is lousy makes me not want to bother.
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Apr 1, 2015 19:32
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kinmik posted:Go now, because the owner of most of the island is looking to It's not just any owner, it's Larry "Makes a Russian oligarch look humble and restrained by comparison" Ellison, CEO of oracle. That island is lost to us. Attempt no landings there.
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Apr 2, 2015 00:04
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Going big on the big island next month. Whats with all the abos protesting, are they going to ruin our trip? Any goons on the big island wanna hang out for a day?
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Apr 9, 2015 23:37
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