Best Way to do 2 Islands? Aulani and ?

[3kidz4dis]

We are hoping to come in July for 10 days from the east coast. For those who traveled to another island (we are thinking of Kauai), what is the best way logistically to do this? Go to the other island for 3-4 days first..this would require trying to take an inter island flight directly after our east coast flight and then travel to Oahu and finish at Aulani for 6 days. It seems the logistics with car rental/airfare/luggage that we would have with us, could prove to be quite a hassle without proper planning. Any suggestions on what you have done? Thanks!

 

[Girimama33]

Having done this both ways before...I prefer the stop on Oahu first. I am on the west coast and am ready to depart after the initial 5 hour flight, and I prefer to do the extra leg on my last day than the first. The only downside is that Aulani is a great way to end the trip...especially if you have young kids that may be bugging you to go back while at the other island.

 

[DenLo]

We are only flying 8 hours from Houston, so for our upcoming trip in 2016 we chose to add Hawaii, the Big Island to the beginning of our trip. And do more relaxing at Aulani. Once I get to Aulani, I know I won't want to switch islands.

 

[3kidz4dis]

Are you getting an immediate inter island flight from Honolulu airport to the Big island?

 

[quinnc19]

I am wrestling with this also. For those who have done it, how much time do you leave between flights? I am either going to Oahu immediately after my California to Maui flight, or will be catching my Maui-Cali flight right after returning from Oahu. That is what I would prefer (having Aulani last) but it depends on my ability to get the nights I want at 7 months.

 

[Savagekids]

I was just wondering about this yesterday. Day trip to other island(s) or stay over night? If over-nights, where do you stay?

 

[Amw1064]

We are trying to figure this out as well. Tickets are almost $300 more each ticket than last year so approx. $1300 from Florida to Hawaii in June. I was almost thinking just day trips from Aulani might work out or We will do 10 at Aulani and then 2 or 3 at another island but I have no idea where to look to stay. We want to go to Aulani first.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

There are direct flights between the big island and west coast cities.

 

[njmeisje]

We flew United from east coast to Honolulu. Stayed for 5 days, then flew Island Air to Kauai. We jumped from Kauai to Maui on Hawaiian Air, then back to Oahu for the flight home. Island hopping is pretty easy. Have fun!

 

[alohamom]

You could break it up with a one night stop over in Waikiki and then head to your out island, stay however long you want to and then come back to end at Aulani.

 

[jekjones1558]

I am not familiar with flights from the east coast. We live in the midwest and always do 2 islands. If we are doing Oahu as one of our islands, outbound we like to find a flight that goes to our "other island" first. Usually that means a stop in Seattle, or LA, then directly to the neighbor island. This seems to break up the flight well and avoids the hassle of going from the big Honolulu airport to the smaller one for an inter-island flight. Mid-vacation we take Hawaiian to Oahu. Homebound we usually can choose between a non-stop or one stop flight home but they are always red-eyes. That is why we like to end at Oahu because it allows us to have a long, relaxing last day instead of spending the whole day on flights. Also, if you plan to do any amount of shopping for gifts and souvenirs, Oahu has the Flea Market and Costco. Ending on Oahu means you don't have to haul the stuff on the inter-island leg of the trip.

 

[southerngirl528]

We live in central FL and what we did this Jan/Feb was to fly first to Oahu from Orlando through Dallas on AA, then direct to HNL. Spent our week at Aulani and then flew Hawaiian Airlines to Maui for our stay there. THEN after our Maui time, (drumroll please) we just flew from Maui/OGG direct to DFW then home to Orlando. The drumroll is because I am suggesting that if you are doing 2 islands in one trip, book an "open-jaw" flight Itinerary, meaning you will fly into one island and out of another. Then I just watched for sales well in advance (as in about 9 or 10 months out) for our one-way flight I booked separately on Hawaiian Air. It cost us about $70/pp for those one-way flights.

I would have to save a truckload, maybe TWO truckloads of $$$ before I would fly back to Oahu for a flight home when I can just fly back from a neighbor island. There should be good flights available from the mainland to any of the main neighbor islands. Although I have to say that for our upcoming Maui trip in a few months, DH wanted to use some of his big bank of miles with Delta for our Orlando to Maui flight. I still can't hardly believe it, but for May there are no Delta flights to Maui with only one connection! We would have to do 2 connections and we decided that was just not going to happen. It is a LONG flight from the east coast and the thought of 2 connections with the extra time, hassle, increased chance of losing luggage, missing or delayed flights, etc., we bit the bullet and booked AA for cash to get a one connection flight on a schedule we really like.

Our trip in 2013 we just "hopped" from Maui to Oahu on Island Air for 3 days at Aulani and then flew back to Maui. At that time Island Air was flying out of Kapalua, Maui which was super close to our condo. They stopped flying out of Kapalua I believe. At the end of our stay we flew home from Maui.