Going to Hawaii for our anniversary in Oct, help please

[DisneyAndRedSox]

In Maui we have stayed at The Ritz Carlton, Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas North (Studio unit) and the Grand Wailea. My favorite location was the Westin in the Lahina/Ka'anapali area. The Grand Wailea is beautiful but overrated, and from what I have heard about to undergo a lot of new construction.

Our favorites were:
Breakfast at the Gazebo- get there early.
Shaved ice at Ulu Lanis's Shaved Ice, we went almost every night! Get it with the ice cream on the bottom! We still crave it all the time... http://ululanisshaveice.com/
Parasailing from UFO http://www.ufoparasail.net/

Personally I hate the road to Hana. Many love it, but I hated it on my honeymoon 10 years ago... then this last trip my DD got major car sick around mile marker 6 and we turned around and went back to Ka'anapali. We stopped at a Fruit Smoothie & Crepe stand around mile marker 4 to get some water for DD, we ended up getting lunch and it was one of our favorite places to eat. http://huelolookout.coconutprotectors.com/index.html

 

[Earstou]

I've done the road to Hana once-it was pretty, but don't feel a need to repeat until we can afford to stay in Hana for a night. .

When we did the road to Hana, we stayed in a little cottage in Hana. Made the road so much easier to handle doing it in 2 days rather than one.
Plus it was interesting to be in peaceful Hana after all the tourists left!

 

[mward73]

Oahu - The bus system is easy and cheap. DH was there for work (and had the car), so I just used the bus to get wherever I wanted to go. He and his co-worker dropped me off at the stadium for the flea market one day (great fun to wander around and cheap-ish place for macadamia nuts). Took the bus back to the hotel. Same with Pearl Harbor - he dropped me there and I bussed back. Take a drive up to the North Shore if you can. There's some good places to eat (the one we ate at went to looked like a dive, but was fantastic). Fun to watch the waves up there. Wander to the various hotels at night if you like happy hour - they all have different things and we had fun at most of them. First time I went, we stayed at the Hali Koa (military). Was fantastic. Next time wasn't nearly as nice and I can't remember the hotel. Hilton Hawaiian Village is super nice, too.

Big Island - Get a map and hike out on the volcano (if they still let you). Neat place to wander around. can't remember what else we did here - we were only there a night.

Have fun!

 

[robinb]

Is it going to be just you and your DH, or are you going to bring the kids? Are you "night owls" or would you prefer to snuggle in early? I have been to Hawaii a number of times and the last time we spent the entire 9 days on Waikiki Beach (at the Hilton & Royal Hawaiian). I'm a "city girl" so I enjoyed having the opportunity to do things after sunset. The rest of Hawaii "rolls up the sidewalks" at dinnertime. My DD and DH drove up to the Northshore to learn to scuba dive in the calm waters, but I think the big waves will be coming in by October.

Here are the highlights off the top of my head:

Oahu: City life in Honolulu, real Hawaii on the Northshore. TV show "Lost" filming locations. Safe surfing on Waikiki Beach. Nice snorkeling nearby Waikiki. Pearl Harbor (we went on our first trip) and the Doris Duke house (Islamic art to DIE for!). HATED the Paradise Cove Luau, but loved the show at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We have stayed at the Hilton, the Royal Hawaiian and the Monana Surfrider x 3. The Mai Tai bar at the Royal Hawaiian is one of my favorite places in the world.

Maui: Laid back but I felt like I was driving the same stretch of road constantly. We stayed at the Westin Ocean Resorts Villas at Kaanapali. Excellent place! We ate at the Gazebo and did the Old Lahina Luau which we enjoyed. The dancers take pictures after the show and the boys and girls are HOT. We Boogie Boarded on a beach north of our hotel.

Kauai: Lilo and Stitch's island. More laid back that Maui. Don't expect to do much other that lay on the beach and relax. Helicopter trips are popular, but our DD was quite young when we went. We stayed at the Poipu Sheraton and liked it a lot.

Big Island: Probably our favorite of all the islands. The volcano is really interesting. We were able to walk right up to the lava flow years ago! The two different climates are interesting too and the waterfalls on the rainy side are spectacular. Snorkeling is really good on the Big Island too. We snorkeled with the manta rays on our last trip and it was unbelievable! We always stay at the Hilton Waikoloa Village (known as 'Disneyland Hawaii' for many years ) which is so big it needs a tram to get from one part of the resort to the other.

I think that the Big Island is our favorite island but I also really enjoy Oahu. If I were going for a total relaying stay I would go back to Kauai. Maui is my least favorite of the four I have been to.

 

[azlaura]

I have done a 3 night stay on the north shore and then a week in Maui. I have also done 5 days on Maui, 5 on Kauai, we also did big island and Maui each for 5 days......we love Maui but we also loved the north shore of Oahu. I was only 21 on Kauai and was bored.... Our next trip is 4 nights on north shore and 6 on Maui ....no matter what you choose you will have a great time. Our Oahu trip we decided not to stay in Honolulu because it was a big city and loved the North Shore, we still did Pearl Harbor, 30-45 minute drive there but worth it!
I agree with others about renting a condo, we do that on Maui ( kaanapali) and a house right in the beach in Oahu.

 

[christygobar]

We actually enjoyed our trip on the Road to Hana. We stopped almost everywhere we saw a waterfall or a scenic spot and took pictures. I kept telling DH to "slow down" constantly though I would highly recommend stopping at some of the homemade snack shops at the beginning. We got some awesome banana bread and some fruits and juices that we ate our entire trip.

We stayed at the Marriott Wailea and really loved it. Great area of the island.

We also did the drive up to the crater - I can't think of the name right now. We did it our first morning in HI (on Maui), and we were awake at 4am. I think we were on the road by 5am and missed the sunrise but it was still beautiful. Take a jacket - it will be cold!

The only other island we went to was the Big Island, which I was fairly bored with (sorry if you love it!). One day we plan on taking the kiddo to Oahu and Kauai.

Maui was great for just pulling over and visiting beaches. It felt really tropical

 

[Lisa71]

Agree with PP about limited Oahu time. Not that great other than Pearl Harbor. I would stay in the Lahaina, Kaanapali area and pick what your budget can afford. We have stayed at a few places there and had a nice time every visit. Snorkle, you must...it is awesome. I love the water. Also, we did a road to Hana tour with a helicopter back with a few friends years ago and that was fun. Lots to do, but snorkle is a must for me each time.

 

[jazz0007]

I was married on Maui 12 yrs ago.....so it's been awhile but.... I couldn't agree more with all the others. Go to Oahu to see Pearl Harbor and then leave!! We did Maui first for many days, then the Big Island for many days and then hit Oahu for the last 3 days. It was 2 days too many and we tried to leave early. It's like packing Chicago onto an island....crowded, stressful and obnoxious! (Can you tell I didn't like it. LOL) However, Pearl Harbor is worth seeing!!

Maui was my favorite. We stayed near Lahaina and were married on Makena Beach. We did the road to Hana....on our own and only made it half way because we spent so much time on the black beaches. It is a bit scary but very cool to see! We did a catamaran trip out for snorkeling...beautiful!!

The Big Island is also worth seeing. It is SO vastly different from the other islands!! It is also cool how different it is as you drive around that one island! We hiked the dormant volcanoes and took a helicopter trip over the live one. We also drove completely around the island. Weird!!

Happy Anniversary! Hope your trip is wonderful!!

 

[tinytinkmom]

I can only speak to the Oahu portion....
I would recommend staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village - beautiful hotel... great location! For an activity, Haunama (sp?) Bay has amazing snorkeling!
Have fun!!!

 

[bear_mom]

Is it going to be just you and your DH, or are you going to bring the kids? Are you "night owls" or would you prefer to snuggle in early? I have been to Hawaii a number of times and the last time we spent the entire 9 days on Waikiki Beach (at the Hilton & Royal Hawaiian). I'm a "city girl" so I enjoyed having the opportunity to do things after sunset. The rest of Hawaii "rolls up the sidewalks" at dinnertime. My DD and DH drove up to the Northshore to learn to scuba dive in the calm waters, but I think the big waves will be coming in by October.

Big Island: Probably our favorite of all the islands. The volcano is really interesting. We were able to walk right up to the lava flow years ago! The two different climates are interesting too and the waterfalls on the rainy side are spectacular. Snorkeling is really good on the Big Island too. We snorkeled with the manta rays on our last trip and it was unbelievable! We always stay at the Hilton Waikoloa Village (known as 'Disneyland Hawaii' for many years ) which is so big it needs a tram to get from one part of the resort to the other.

I think that the Big Island is our favorite island but I also really enjoy Oahu. If I were going for a total relaying stay I would go back to Kauai. Maui is my least favorite of the four I have been to.

I was married on Maui 12 yrs ago.....so it's been awhile but.... I couldn't agree more with all the others. Go to Oahu to see Pearl Harbor and then leave!! We did Maui first for many days, then the Big Island for many days and then hit Oahu for the last 3 days. It was 2 days too many and we tried to leave early. It's like packing Chicago onto an island....crowded, stressful and obnoxious! (Can you tell I didn't like it. LOL) However, Pearl Harbor is worth seeing!!

Maui was my favorite. We stayed near Lahaina and were married on Makena Beach. We did the road to Hana....on our own and only made it half way because we spent so much time on the black beaches. It is a bit scary but very cool to see! We did a catamaran trip out for snorkeling...beautiful!!

The Big Island is also worth seeing. It is SO vastly different from the other islands!! It is also cool how different it is as you drive around that one island! We hiked the dormant volcanoes and took a helicopter trip over the live one. We also drove completely around the island. Weird!!

Happy Anniversary! Hope your trip is wonderful!!

It will just be dh and I, my in-laws will be staying with our dds.

We were going to do the big island, but the Iron Man in there on 10/13 and from other suggestions about that we decided to switch islands to avoid the crowds from that.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, lots of planning to do still.....

Emily

 

[beansmom]

i am one of those rest and relax vacationers. We are going to Maui in October as well (26-nov 3)..we will spend a couple days in Lahaina - going up to Haleakala the first morning while we are still on mainland time-doing the sugar train, touristy stuff...shopping. DH will go scuba diving at some point those days.

On Tuesday we will go down to Hana and stay the remaining days of our trip exploring the beaches and the quiet side of Maui. I don't care about resorts or nightclubs or such--if I want that, I'll go to Vegas. We intend to get away from it all and rest in Hana.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

i am one of those rest and relax vacationers. We are going to Maui in October as well (26-nov 3)..we will spend a couple days in Lahaina - going up to Haleakala the first morning while we are still on mainland time-doing the sugar train, touristy stuff...shopping. DH will go scuba diving at some point those days.

On Tuesday we will go down to Hana and stay the remaining days of our trip exploring the beaches and the quiet side of Maui. I don't care about resorts or nightclubs or such--if I want that, I'll go to Vegas. We intend to get away from it all and rest in Hana.

Just wanted to make sure you were aware that you are likely to have rain while in Hana. We stayed 2 nights in October at the Hotel Hana Maui on our first visit years ago and felt pretty isolated in our Sea Ranch Cottage when we had nonstop rain for more than 24 hours. All the rain made the drive back to the airport interesting as well, as in " oh look honey, waterfalls falling directly on the 2 lane highway!"

Our favorite spot to stay is Wailea or South Kihei. We think those areas have the best weather on Maui. But we are not the kind of people who need a pool bar. If we were, we would probably stay in Kaanapali.

We much prefer a condo so we can eat in for breakfast and often dinner. - Suzanne