Too much hotel hopping?

[princessluna14]

My husband and I are tentatively planning a trip to Oahu (from Pennsylvania) for September 2017 and I wanted to get some opinions on our travel itinerary. Right now, I have us spending 8 nights on the island. I want to spend the first 3 nights in Waikiki, the next 3 nights at Turtle Bay on the North Shore, and the last 2 nights at Aulani. My thought process was that it would be less time consuming to stay in different areas of the island for a few days each instead of staying in one location and having to drive all over to do whatever we want to do. Also, there's no way we can afford a full 8 nights at Turtle Bay or Aulani, so this way we get to experience them while keeping the cost down (a little). Does this seem like too much hotel hopping?

 

[OKW Lover]

For us that would be too much hotel hopping. Needing to pack/unpack three times during an eight day trip can be annoying.

 

[Fuhnuh]

Depending on how much you like to pack/unpack or live out of your suitcase, I think it's doable. We generally go to Waikiki before and after Aulani on our trips (8-11 days). We have found travel around the island pretty easy from Waikiki because we are generally traveling when the traffic is mainly coming into Honolulu. I love driving around the island, and I'm not usually a scenic drive sort of guy. The drive from Waikiki to Aulani might be a bit shorter, so I might consider Turtle Bay, Waikiki, then Aulani. Maybe, somebody whose made the morning drive from the North Shore might have better info on the traffic patterns.

 

[hilarys]

I think it is too much for an 8 night trip. On our first trip staying at Aulani we spent the first 3 nights at Turtle Bay, 3 nights in a Grand Villa at Aulani with extended family, and then 2 nights in a one bedroom. On the day that we switched from Turtle Bay to Aulani, it really felt like we lost a day with packing and leaving the first resort, and then waiting for our villa to be ready at Aulani. We did stop at Dole Plantation and a shrimp truck driving between the two, but it still really felt like a wasted day. Our most recent trip was 7 nights only at Aulani. It really isn't that big of an island and day trips to any of the various parts are easy unless you don't do a ton of driving in your regular life or hate car rides. Maybe cut it down to two hotels so you aren't moving as much.

 

[vikequeen]

That would be too much hotel hopping for me too. I didn't think it was that bad to get from Aulani to Waikiki or the north shore, so I agree with others that day trips are very doable. I would try to cut it to two hotels if possible too. but your tolerance for moving around may be higher than mine

 

[nkereina]

Have you looked at renting DVC points for Aulani? We considered splitting our time between Aulani and Turtle Bay. Our original Aulani reservation for 6 nights was about $3000 for a standard hotel room. I was able to rent DVC points for this September in a studio, which was about $1500. Literally half the price. Because of this, we are staying the whole time at Aulani and have scheduled a day mid-week to drive up to the North Shore and have dinner at Turtle Bay. We're spending our first 3 nights in Waikiki and will do everything in that area when we arrive.

 

[sleepymouse]

I think it would be totally doable, expecially since you are only 2 adults. We are doing something similar but with 2 kids, 10 and 5. We are spending our first 2 nights at Turtle Bay then on to the Aulani for 6 nights, but we are also changing rooms while at the Aulani due to DVC studio availability when booking. I think it makes sense to stay near the location where you plan to do things and then move on to next location, rinse and repeat. I also love checking out different resorts. It's like several vacations in one.

 

[karatstravels]

We did a similar thing but we did 11 nights - Waikiki for 4 nights, Turtle Bay 4 nights and Aulani for 3. While we enjoyed the North Shore - we did not find the resort anything spectacular, and we enjoyed Aulani but the beach is meh. I would maybe do a couple of nights at Turtle bay to experience the North Shore - so 3-2-3 - or if you don't mind driving, skip Turtle Bay spend the time at Aulaini and do day trips to the beaches since the beach at Aulani is not great.

 

[princessluna14]

I've been looking it over more, and as it seems, we could spend the whole 8 nights on DVC rental points at Aulani for significantly cheaper than my hotel-hopping plan. So that idea is seriously being considered right now. Thanks for your opinions everyone!

 

[happymommy]

We generally spend two weeks next door at the Marriott Ko Olina, and even last trip summer 2015 that felt like not enough time! We fly from BWI (usually, as it's closest but wherever we can get free flights with miles we'll go, a couple times we used Dulles or National instead). Next summer I have four weeks booked - two weeks in the studio for just me and my DD then all four of us in a one bedroom for 2 weeks. It's nice to settle in!

I would do the whole 8 nights in one place personally, although a night or two in Waikiki is nice to see it (but some trips now we don't even go over there).