Help Please with Hawaii

[Leeman4Gilmour]

I've only ever been to Moloka'i. I absolutely loved it, but would hesitate to recommend it. Very quiet, and not much for restaurants which I think would deter a lot of people. I loved it for the quietness though. We VRBO'd a house on the beach and had the entire beach to ourselves the whole week. Whales slapping all night. Really geographical diverse. Tiny golf course in pines to a guided rain forest tour. This was many years ago. The locals actually don't promote tourism. It's not that they hate on you, but they just want to keep it quiet so options are limited. Not sure if they've become even more successful on keeping the island to themselves or not.

[DoubleF]

I was in Honolulu last year and there 7 years ago. Last year, to me Honolulu and Pearl City it felt a little bit like a space that was both a time capsule from 1990 (matte concrete and glass) and smaller more renovated to look modern areas. Going to the resorts on the edge of the island like Aulani and the resorts there looked a lot newer. Honolulu has more access to varieties of food, but is quite busy. I'd also say that Honolulu shuts down later than my experience with Maui. Overall, you'll want a car and in the centra areas, you'll want to figure out the cheapest/convenient parking (I seem to recall Ala Moana Centre the most central, time and cost effective option finding a space to meet up with friends). Their convenience chain store has some of the most interesting souvenirs there. I hear you can get extra discounts and swag if you spend enough, but I didn't (I think it's over $100 USD within a week or something). Waikiki is crazy busy. Consider buying/bringing water shoes. There's huge rocks in the sand that hurt and the waves are strong enough to occasionally knock those off and then you're stepping on the rocks chasing the sandal. Driving out to the different locations is fun. You'll want and need a rental car for that for sure. Look up a guide on where to go and which areas to do at the same time. IMO, I personally prefer the scenery in Maui but this island is no slouch. What's also weird is that there was a lot of places you had to book a reservation to go to weeks or days in advance or you'd risk not getting a chance to go if you didn't show up before it opened and got a standby ticket (ie: Hanauma Bay). Double check which locations you want to go and if you need to pre-book.

I haven't been to Maui for about 5 years now, but I recall that all of the resorts were a lot more modern and nice looking (glossy stone and reflective windows/water). Going there now is contributing part of the rebuild I guess. From what I was told by someone there a few months ago, the resorts and most of the attractions are all all fine, but Laihaina is done with some inexplicable reasons blocking rapid rebuild of that area. IIRC, most things there shut down around 6-8PM when it got dark. I know OP said he's not into nightlife but even shutting down around 8PM seemed a bit early at times. I think you can always call the resort for room service and perhaps some of their restaurants, but my wife and I would just grab stuff around 6-7 PM and go to bed by 10 ish and start the day early. Road to Hana was really nice. Almost got into a head on collision twice because some (probably tourist) asshat decided to pass in a no pass zone, so I'd recommend going a little slower or floating your foot above the brake on blind corners. But overall, that drive isn't hard. Plenty of points of interest to stop and explore. We put 900+ miles on the rental car in a week when I was there. It was just that amazing to go out and explore. Oh, and the volcano is cold AF for the sunrise and sunset. Bring a thick spring/fall jacket (the one you'd wear in Calgary at around 0C weather before hopping onto the plane) because it's really cold. TBH, it's just as entertaining to see all the tourists wrapped in hotel towels and robes and freezing their ass off. The thing about going there at sunrise though is that you suddenly have a super early day to explore all of the beautiful stuff around the area. That's how I accidentally did the road the Hana twice. But IMO it was still worth doing it twice.

[GioforPM]

Friends got back from Maui. Lahaina is completely out of bounds - no one allowed in. But right now the whale watching is good.

[pylon]

I've been to Maui 6 or 7 times over the years. It's my favorite place in the world. I have stayed in a few different areas, but I found the best place/way for doing it all, and kinda being smack dab in the middle is renting a condo in Kihei. Kinda close to all the good stuff. If you Golf, Wailea has some of the most amazing courses you've ever seen. And if you go to Maui Golf Shop early in the morning, they will have super discounted tee-times for that day. Like you play $300-400/round courses, for $100-150.

I'll echo doing the road to Hana, however, rent a Jeep and keep going. Most people turn around at Hana, but if you have a Wrangler, you can wrap right around the Island. It's frikking amazing. The rental/insurance company will tell you you aren't covered past Hana, but you only live once. I've done it 3 times now without incident, just take your time in a few areas. Next time we go to Maui, we are renting a Jeep, and we're gonna camp on that side of the Island.

Hit the Costco near the airport on your way to whatever place your staying at and enjoy.

Lastly, if you do Maui, DO NOT miss your opportunity to go to Mamas Fish House if you have enough time to make the reservation. Easily in the top 3 dining experiences in my life.

https://mamasfishhouse.com/

[Buff]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

It would have taken less time in 2004 to go across Kauai then it does now because the roads are the same but there's lots more people, so traffic is much worse.

That sucks to hear, actually. Part of it being such a relaxing place to go to was the lack of crowds.