What's your favorite other island?

[iloveeeyore]

After having 2 celebratory cruises canceled,
DH and I are seriously considering 9-10 nights in Hawaii. We will spend 5-6 nights at Aulani to take advantage of the 35% discount. We will rent a car and see some sites in the mornings. The only absolute must do is Pearl Harbor, and we would really like to do a north shore drive.

We are overwhelmed and torn about what other island(s) to visit. We could pick one and stay 3-4 nights and really delve in pretty deep on that one, or maybe do a split, 2 and 2, so we can get a broader taste. Either way its so hard to choose.. I don't think we have enough time to visit Kuai, Maui AND Hawaii without feeling too rushed or busy.. We want this time to relax and enjoy being together.. I feel kind of at sea here and lacking the resources to help in deciding.

One specific thing I have always wanted to see is the Napali coast. Can I see this through an excursion from a different island say Maui, or must we stay in Kuai to do it?

Any advice or suggestion for resources would be greatly appreciated!

 

[nkereina]

One specific thing I have always wanted to see is the Napali coast. Can I see this through an excursion from a different island say Maui, or must we stay in Kuai to do it?

You can only get to it from Kauai. Its not unheard of for people to do one day excursions, where they fly into the island in the early morning and fly back in the evening. Inter-island flights are fairly inexpensive and quick. But I would rather spend a few days than go through the cost and hassle for 12ish hours.

We spent 9 nights on Oahu, 3 nights on Maui, and 3 nights on Kauai. Some will say three nights is too few, but we were happy with it. We saw and did the main things we wanted to do on each island. I would say Kauai was the most remote and exotic feeling of the three. It was noticeably warmer and humid there. Maui was a mix of Kauai and Oahu for us with some commercialization/touristy areas, but still a good mix of nature and beauty. Very windy there in our experience. Oahu has it all, but is the busiest and most commercialized of the three.

If the Na Pali Coast is on your bucket list, I would say Kauai should be your other island of choice. We did a sunset dinner cruise of the coast and a helicopter tour of it, which also stopped at the waterfalls from Jurassic Park and went over Waimea Canyon. That was two of our favorite excursions we did. We also saw dolphins while on the dinner cruise which was cool. We stayed in Lihue near the airport since our stay was brief and because we had an early helicopter tour time. The Marriott we stayed at is next to where the cruise ships docks. The sunset dinner cruise was about a 30 minute drive for us, but we found driving there to be very easy. Next time, I might stay in the Princeville area which the opposite side of the island, closer to the Na Pali Coast.

 

[OKW Lover]

Good advice from @nkereina above. Our resident Hawaii expert.

I'd just add my personal opinion that I wouldn't do more than two islands in that amount of time. The whole process of checking out of one place, flying to a different island and then checking in there takes more time than you realize.

 

[cgattis]

And I ditto both what @nkereina and @OKW Lover said. With 10 nights, 2 islands. We did 4 in 14 days, but 7 of that was a cruise, so we didn’t waste daylight hours traveling. I think Kauai is the most different and exotic, and the only way to actually see the coast is a boat or helo tour (or a VERY strenuous hike, and you still wouldn’t get the full view). But there’s so much to do on Maui, you can easily fill 5-6 days. (Or if you just want to chill, there are some really swanky hotels, too.)

There’s great snorkeling on both Kauai and Maui. Lots more golf on Maui. Hiking both places. Of course, there’s Haleakala on Maui, but there’s Waimea Canyon on Kauai. If you want to do any shopping or fine dining, Maui is far ahead (remember Kauai is tiny). I did have the best butterfish AND the best haupia of all four islands on Kauai!

I had intended to do a return trip (2022) to both Maui AND Kauai because I couldn’t decide, but now we may just do Maui because I expect flights to go way up after all this. But bottom line—you can’t go wrong either way!

 

[JM23457]

I've only been to Maui so far but I loved it. We stayed at a remote resort on the beach, just gorgeous. The road to Hana was a highlight of the trip (Charles Lindbergh's grave is at the top btw), as was visiting a black sand beach, horseback riding in a remote area, visiting a beautiful botanical garden, and hiking through a lush state park. We skipped Haleakala due to poor weather but I didn't mind- it's basically a rocky landscape (as a Texan we have that kind of thing at home) & I wanted to explore the lush or beachy parts of Hawaii I'd always imagined. Maui didn't disappoint. This was 10 years ago so I can't give names for much, but I'm sure a lot is still there. Our resort, the Maui Prince, is gone, though. We stopped at Lahaina for a dinner cruise, then quickly left as we weren't seeking an urban or touristy vibe.

 

[jayb5]

We did Maui and the Big Island during our trip last year. Like others have mentioned, it really depends on what you are looking for. If you want to enjoy nature and hang out at the beach all day, I heard Kauai is great for that. If you love the islands but also like a big city feel for shopping and touristy stuff, Oahu is great for that. We really like Maui as it's a mix of both. While we didn't do the road to Hana, we did visit Haleakala (I just posted a review of our visit on my youtube channel - see links in signature). With littler ones, we didn't want to do the all day trip to Hana, plus we were somewhat limited on time and wanted to make the most of our stay at the Grand Wailea (also a video review of that on YT). We've been to the big island twice now and while there are the volcano, waterfalls, etc, we like Maui the best.