Never been to any of the islands, but looking at planning a vacation follow up for our 1 year anniversary. My wife got annoyed dealing with customs coming back from mexico last time and wants to stay within the USA this time. Just looking for good weather, nice beach, and most likely an all inclusive. Excursions may or may not be needed. Just somewhere to go and relax on the beach when winter moves into town. Thanks for any advice
I've been 3 times; 2009, 2011, and 2017 in December. Flights have been anywhere from $800-$1100 from DC.
My issue w/ going to Hawaii from the east coast is the flights. Long and painful, lots of families w/ kids on those flights. If I ever go again, I will fly 1st class (if it's reasonable).
I stayed several nights w/ a friends family (free lodging), so that helped. We also shopped at the Marine commissary on Oahu, which is a significant savings.
We hopped over to Kauai and stayed 3 nights at a Marriott Residence Inn. It was around $200/night. Much like anywhere, you can find cheap lodging....but you get what you pay for.
We rented a car in Oahu and Kauai. Reasonable, not cheap though.
I imagine if you flew from the east coast you'd pay:
- $800 for flights (approximately)
- $200/night lodging
- $40-60/day car rental
- typical food expenses
- typical excursions costs
I'm not sure about "all-inclusive" spots there, but I'm sure there's plenty.
We went to several secluded beaches, or lightly populated beaches....they're everywhere. Oahu is very over populated and Waikiki sucks (unless you're a 20-something Asian tourist). Maui is very nice and so is Kauai. I've never been to the big island.
I ran the Honolulu Marathon in 2009, I finished in the top 200 overall and I was one of the few "white" people in the race (it's the "Boston Marathon" for Japanese).
I went last year and I would do a VRBO or something like that (we rented a fantastic house a block from the beach). We looked into all-inclusive and didn't find hardly any. The food does get expensive but it's vacation so to be expected. We Maui for 5 nights and thought it was overall great. My wife loved the road to hana but I thought it was overrated but many people love it. That's "free" and you get to stop and see a lot of sites like waterfalls, etc and the coolest to me was the black beach but not worth the full day and a ton of driving. However it's one of the top things everyone says to do in Maui so probably worth it. Beaches are great, we did a traditional luau but spent most of the time at the beach.
We then flew to the big island for 4 nights I was a little shocked at how much poverty the big island has and underdeveloped areas there are compared to Maui. The big island was still cool just probably preferred Maui. That said I went to Maniniowali Beach and it was probably one of the best if not the best beaches I've been too. You have to get there early or it gets hard to park without walking a long ways but well worth it, we went 2 days. Crystal clear blue warm water. I've been to numerous spots in the Caribbean and this ranked up there with any of them. But besides that I didn't find many great beaches on the big island.
Good info the post above yours, enjoy!
We then flew to the big island for 4 nights I was a little shocked at how much poverty the big island has and underdeveloped areas there are compared to Maui. The big island was still cool just probably preferred Maui. That said I went to Maniniowali Beach and it was probably one of the best if not the best beaches I've been too. You have to get there early or it gets hard to park without walking a long ways but well worth it, we went 2 days. Crystal clear blue warm water. I've been to numerous spots in the Caribbean and this ranked up there with any of them. But besides that I didn't find many great beaches on the big island.
Good info the post above yours, enjoy!
A couple of months ago, I booked sick tickets from Dallas to Honolulu for $300 a piece with United, for a trip in November. From there, I pieced together an airbnb on the north shore...pretty much beach side and 2 nights in a condo around waikiki...all in accomodations and flight will be like $3K split between 2 couples. Will hit costco and cook alot...rental car gonna be like $250.
Here is my one piece of advice. Try to find tickets that split the flight up in like halves. When we went on the way there we flew Orlando to Dallas then Dallas to Oahu. Flight from Dallas to Oahu was like 8-9 hours. It fucking sucked. On the way back we flew to LAX which split the trip almost in half. It was way way better then sitting through that 9 hour flight on the way out
If you want to see all the islands do a cruise, it's way cheaper and it's basically your moving hotel, plus food, my wife and I had a blast, it leaves Honolulu for Maui and you're there for 2 days, we rented a Jeep for 24 hrs while we were in port, then it hits Hilo, then Kona, then to Kauai for 2 days, then back to Honolulu where we stayed in Waikiki for another few days before coming home
We did everything while we were there too, a real luau, climbed diamond Head, snorkeled Molokini Crater with huge sea turtles, rented scooters in Kauai, did our own Road to Hana in the jeep and stopped where we wanted to, did helicopter ride and saw the lava flowing into the ocean, walked thru a lava tube at Volcano National Park, went on a hike thru the jungle to waterfalls, went to Pearl Harbor, drove up to North shore and went to Waimea Bay and Waimea Falls (no way Waimea is bigger than Bells Beach brah!!!!), ate at Shrimp Trucks, we had an absolute blast
we're going again in 2-3 years but only going to Maui and Oahu, once you've seen the other 2 islands no use in going back IMO
I got hit with jet lag on day 2 or 3 and it kicked my ass, so be careful what you do on day 3 (I'm on east coast)
We did everything while we were there too, a real luau, climbed diamond Head, snorkeled Molokini Crater with huge sea turtles, rented scooters in Kauai, did our own Road to Hana in the jeep and stopped where we wanted to, did helicopter ride and saw the lava flowing into the ocean, walked thru a lava tube at Volcano National Park, went on a hike thru the jungle to waterfalls, went to Pearl Harbor, drove up to North shore and went to Waimea Bay and Waimea Falls (no way Waimea is bigger than Bells Beach brah!!!!), ate at Shrimp Trucks, we had an absolute blast
we're going again in 2-3 years but only going to Maui and Oahu, once you've seen the other 2 islands no use in going back IMO
I got hit with jet lag on day 2 or 3 and it kicked my ass, so be careful what you do on day 3 (I'm on east coast)
Now Hawaii and other fashionable tourism destinations are in terrible losses. The pandemic has hit the economy of such island states living at the expense of tourists very hard. On the other hand, people have finally discovered domestic tourism. I live in France, and now I go to a new place every weekend. I usually buy cheap tickets to dbauskunft.com and call my friends, and we are going to study the traditions and history of Europe. It turned out to be no less exciting than surfing in Hawaii.
Mine too, if only for the awesome restaurants
Funny thing
Last night my daughter-in-law asked us if we wanted to go the Hawaii with them on their 10th anniversary in 2023. That's where they went on their honeymoon, and they're a Four Seasons crowd
I can't say no to that, even if it's crazy expensive. Only live once
