Aulani/Oahu and island hopping

[myers2170]

Would staying at Aulani on Oahu for 4-5 days, then hopping to another island, say Kuaui for another 4-5 days be a good way to visit Hawaii for a first trip?? Would we have time to do the main attractions at each island and still enjoy some time at the resorts??
Would be our family of 4. HS aged kids.

 

[M<3'sMickey]

It depends how many "main attractions" you plan on doing. My fiance and I are honeymooning in Hawaii for almost 2 weeks. The first part is a week on Maui and doing absolutely nothing but hanging out by the pool and the beach because it'll be right after the wedding. The second week will be spent on Oahu and staying at Aulani. I'm a little crazy with the planning and came up with a whole itinerary to do on Oahu, with every other day spent at the pool. We're going to do an all day tour of Oahu, go to Pearl Harbor, the Kualoa Ranch, the Dole Plantation, and a luau. Some of the things we doubled up on, going to more than one site in a day. It was also a little easier for me to plan since I did this exact trip back in 2012 after I had won a trip to Maui when I was on Wheel of Fortune.

It really is up to you how much you want to do or not do. Either way, Hawaii is beautiful and you'll want to go back again so anything you don't do, you can hopefully do on another trip.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have been to all the islands and are going back to aulani for the 4th time in may. We rarely leave the resort. But on Oahu you could rent a car for a day to drive the north shore which is beautiful. Watch the surfers. Eat from a shrimp truck. Hike to Waulea falls and the kids would probably enjoy swimming there. Itherwise just enjoy Aulani.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Sorry I pushed send to early.

As for another island Kuai is our absolute favorite. It's called the garden isle for a reason. It's lush and green. Drive up to their mini Grand Canyon for which I forget the name. Lots of hiking trails. Kayaking is great there. And if you can handle the price consider a helicopter ride over some of the most incredible scenery you will ever see.

Maui is another great place. You can drive the road to Hana for views and stop at the local trucks for banana bread. Ride bikes down the mountain. Watch the surfers.

 

[ktlm]

I'm glad you asked that question. We are looking at the same type thing- 5 nights at Aulani, and then 5 nights on Maui. My DH is not a hang out all day at the pool and the beach multiple days in a row kind of guy. We are going to Oahu mainly for Aulani- otherwise we probably would have picked a different island. DH has been to Oahu before. DD (10) and I have never been to Hawaii.

 

[myers2170]

I'm glad you asked that question. We are looking at the same type thing- 5 nights at Aulani, and then 5 nights on Maui. My DH is not a hang out all day at the pool and the beach multiple days in a row kind of guy. We are going to Oahu mainly for Aulani- otherwise we probably would have picked a different island. DH has been to Oahu before. DD (10) and I have never been to Hawaii.

I hope you have a super trip and would love to hear details upon your return!!! Aloha!!

 

[skylynx]

We've booked a really split stay...Aulani with a Big Island hop sandwiched in the middle! We are easy travelers and don't mind the several airport/rental car pick up drop off transitions and the time they may take since it affords us the opportunity to not have to choose whether to visit Aulani first or last (we'll do both!) and still get to see Volcano National Park, take in a luau, and visit the Kona Brewery. We are staying for four nights at Aulani in an oceanview studio (DVC members), then flying to Kona for three nights including one just outside Volcano national park, then back to Aulani for the final three nights splurging in a one-bedroom oceanview. We are much more the explorer type than the sit by the pool type, so we plan to hit some of the major sights like the north shore and Pearl Harbor over the first couple days with one day at least hanging mostly around Aulani. We'll do a luau our first night in Kona as there's supposed to be pretty good oceanfront one right at our resort (Royal Kona) then one night at a B&B in Volcano Village, then back to the Royal Kona. The last three nights back at Aulani will be to mostly just relax and enjoy the resort. This itinerary isn't for everybody, but this is the way we like to travel. Our hope is to return to Hawaii in two years and do a couple more days at Aulani and then visit Maui as our "hop."

 

[nkereina]

It depends how many "main attractions" you plan on doing. My fiance and I are honeymooning in Hawaii for almost 2 weeks. The first part is a week on Maui and doing absolutely nothing but hanging out by the pool and the beach because it'll be right after the wedding. The second week will be spent on Oahu and staying at Aulani. I'm a little crazy with the planning and came up with a whole itinerary to do on Oahu, with every other day spent at the pool. We're going to do an all day tour of Oahu, go to Pearl Harbor, the Kualoa Ranch, the Dole Plantation, and a luau. Some of the things we doubled up on, going to more than one site in a day. It was also a little easier for me to plan since I did this exact trip back in 2012 after I had won a trip to Maui when I was on Wheel of Fortune.

It really is up to you how much you want to do or not do. Either way, Hawaii is beautiful and you'll want to go back again so anything you don't do, you can hopefully do on another trip.

Congrats on your upcoming wedding! Your plans sound just like ours - we are also honeymooning for two weeks in Hawaii! When are you going? We'll be there 9/15!

For us, we're doing it slightly differently, staying in Waikiki for a few days first to do Pearl Harbor and Diamond Head. We're coming from the East coast and I've heard that these early rising activities are best when adjusting to the time change. After Waikiki, we're flying to Maui for a few days where we will do nothing and Kauai for a few days where I have a dinner cruise and helicopter tour planned. We then fly back to Oahu and will stay at Aulani for our last 6 days. I also have it planned that we'll do something every other day at Aulani such as Kualoa Ranch, North Shore, Dole Plantation. Hawaii is likely a once in a lifetime trip for us so we wanted to see more than Oahu, which is why we've decided to island hop.

 

[Silver Queen]

We just returned from our first trip to Hawaii. Since we were coming from the east coast we wanted to visit at least one other island besides Oahu since we thought that this might be a once in a lifetime trip. We decided on Maui and intentionally did that first before Aulani because we didn't want the next resort to be a letdown after Maui. We're glad that we did it in that order, because Aulani was definitely the nicer resort. We enjoyed our sightseeing on Maui (didn't do the road to Hana) and received a room with a terrific ocean view. At Aulani we enjoyed a mixture of relaxing resort days and sightseeing (Pearl Harbor, Waimea Valley, north shore, Dole Plantation, Waikiki, Aloha swap meet). The bottom line is we definitely want to go back again and when we do we would do at least one other island first and then enjoy Aulani.

 

[ktlm]

We just returned from our first trip to Hawaii. Since we were coming from the east coast we wanted to visit at least one other island besides Oahu since we thought that this might be a once in a lifetime trip. We decided on Maui and intentionally did that first before Aulani because we didn't want the next resort to be a letdown after Maui. We're glad that we did it in that order, because Aulani was definitely the nicer resort. We enjoyed our sightseeing on Maui (didn't do the road to Hana) and received a room with a terrific ocean view. At Aulani we enjoyed a mixture of relaxing resort days and sightseeing (Pearl Harbor, Waimea Valley, north shore, Dole Plantation, Waikiki, Aloha swap meet). The bottom line is we definitely want to go back again and when we do we would do at least one other island first and then enjoy Aulani.

Where did you stay on Maui?

 

[85glht]

Would staying at Aulani on Oahu for 4-5 days, then hopping to another island, say Kuaui for another 4-5 days be a good way to visit Hawaii for a first trip?? Would we have time to do the main attractions at each island and still enjoy some time at the resorts??
Would be our family of 4. HS aged kids.

I think it would be perfect. Do research so you can hit the attractions that you want to do given the time frame. With tour kids being older, being on the run should not be a problem.

When my wife and I visited Hawaii, we did not island hop but did stay at Aulani twice. Both times we rented a car. We did the tourist thing in the am, and then headed back to the resort to use the lazy river, pool and other amenities at the resort. Sometimes we stayed on property for diner and other times we ventured out to the local restaurants.

Any questions, please ask.

 

[Silver Queen]

Where did you stay on Maui?

We did an RCI exchange with our Orange Lake timeshare and stayed at the Kahana Beach Resort. It was a three star facility in a great location. By no means deluxe, but it was directly on the beach and we had an outstanding upclose ocean view of Molokai and Lanai. We would stay there again.