Where to go for 3-4 days in Hawaii from Kauai

Teddie2 · Sep 3, 2008

We are in the middle of planning an end of May early June 09 Hawaii trip. Got air from American via frequent flyer miles but had to go and return odd days. We are currently arriving on Weds and leaving on a Sunday spending a total of 18 nights. The only units I could see with our points was for Kauai which was fine as we love all it has to offer but would like to see another island while we are there. We have only booked one week (the second) for Lawaii as I am waiting for my weeks timeshare to bank my week before I can do another trade... that said.. I have some options -- I can book right into a bali Hai for a week starting on the Weds we arrive and then we will have 3 nights in between our check in at Lawaii. My thought was perhaps to check out one day early and then do 4 days on another island but where is the question. I have read that Oahu is very touristy and busy and not sure we will love that.. but is Maui too far and is it worth it to go there for only 4 days? We love to hike, snorkel and play tennis which is why Kauai is great--we also like to sightsee (not big museum people except for an hour or so at a time). Pearl Harbor would be interesting but I don't want to waste 4 days someplace we might not be happy just to see that.. well any advice on this plan would be helpful. Right now the only thing solid are the tickets which put us right into Kauai and the last week we are there. Thanks all

Teddie2 · Sep 3, 2008

OK I have done more research and think we really would prefer to go to Maui but again wonder if it is too much to skip over for 4 nights since we would only have two half an two whole days because of air travel back and forth.

T_R_Oglodyte · Sep 3, 2008

For similar reasons, we often wind up with a few odd days that we need to fill during out trips to Hawai1i. We usually book local accommodations on whatever island we happen to be on to fill that time; usually we try for a B&B but sometimes settle for hotel room.

I would not recommend doing a short trip to another island, if only because you lose so much time on the travel days.

DeniseM · Sep 3, 2008

Ditto what Steve said - I would just stay in a different part of the island. If you are staying at Lawaii Beach, then cooler and more tropical Princeville would be the other end of the island and a nice contrast.

T_R_Oglodyte · Sep 3, 2008

Some added thoughts.

You say that your inbound flights deliver you to Kaua'i, so I'm guessing that your return is through Honolulu and the extra days you are trying to fill are the ones ahead of your return flight. If that's the situation I think you should seriously consider spending those nights on O'ahu.

The USS Arizona is one of those visits that is simply worth doing if you can work it into your schedule. And since your return is through HNL making O'ahu your extra island will be an efficient use of your time in Hawai'i.

Re the concern about O'ahu being crowded - that's true of the south shore, but there's a lot more to O'ahu than just Honolulu, Wa'ikiki, and Peal Harbor. Once you get away from the south shore O'ahu is not urban and crowded at all.

So, if that's your situation I would spend those extra nights on O'ahu, and look for a place to stay that is outside of Honolulu. I would specifically look for a nice inn or B&B on the windward (north and east) sides of the island.

Teddie2 · Sep 3, 2008

Well we are already going to be spending one week in princeville as the second timeshare week. What we will have are 4 days inbetween the two weeks on Kauai.. thus the reason for hoping to see another island. We are not traveling through Honolulu we are going NY to LA then LA to Kauai and doing the same on the return. So if I am flying out of Kauai for four days and then back again it really does not matter... Maui or Oahu --- I guess I should do a bit of research about oahu to see what there is on the other side -- away from Waikiki -- we are so not major city people (funny hearing that from NYorkers)

jlr10 · Sep 3, 2008

We spent a week on Oahu last year. Not our favorite island, as we love the slower pace of Kauai, but it is my son's. Although getting through Honolulu was not pleasant we spent some time hiking up in and near Monaloa. The hiking was great and it was someowhat surreal to be standing in the middle of a down pour in a rain forest and see Waikiki in the distance. This was definately one of my favorite things I have done on Ohau and well worth going through traffic to get there. There is the Dole Plantation, Halewai, Wiamea Valley and Falls, Diamond Head and depending on the days you are there they sometimes show movies on a very large screen on the beach at Waikiki. If you like history you can do the "Home of the Brave" tour which will give you a day of following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Everyone should visit Pearl Harbor and the Arizona meomorial at least once IMHO.

I would probably pick other islands over Oahu, since we have been there, but it does have redeaming qualities. Since a large part of island hopping is spent in travel you will lose less time going to Oahu as most of the flight go through Honolulu to get to the other island. So unless you get the nonstop to Maui you will lose time in plane transfers alone.

Teddie2 · Sep 5, 2008

Well as it turns out we can get a flight to Maui non stop on tuesday leaving at 9:25 and getting there at 10 which gives us most of the first day then we have Weds and Thursday and a flight out on Friday at 2:03 would get us back to Kauai at 4:30 to check in for our second week in Kauai
If we did Oahau the 9:25 flight would get us there at 10:05 non stop (about the same) and the return would give us about 2 more hours in the afternoon.
All in all not a significant difference in time -- price there is one airport in Maui that is significantly cheaper than the other which for us may make no difference and in that case the price is not significantly different. So I guess here I go again sort of asking the same question..would it be worth it to hop to another island for what looks like 3 1/2 days of time there. We don;t know if we will ever come back again and have never been before so...
still looking for advice on this. It would mean renting and returning a car three times -- when we arrive, when we would hop and when we woudl return again.. all in all I guess I did not plan this as well as I thougth as I figured better to do the hop between the two weeks since we are flying in and out of Kauai.. but maybe not.. well this is what we have to work with so any other suggestions would be appreciated.

T_R_Oglodyte · Sep 5, 2008

Teddie2 said:
Well we are already going to be spending one week in princeville as the second timeshare week. What we will have are 4 days inbetween the two weeks on Kauai.. thus the reason for hoping to see another island. We are not traveling through Honolulu we are going NY to LA then LA to Kauai and doing the same on the return. So if I am flying out of Kauai for four days and then back again it really does not matter... Maui or Oahu --- I guess I should do a bit of research about oahu to see what there is on the other side -- away from Waikiki -- we are so not major city people (funny hearing that from NYorkers)

jlr10 said:
… Everyone should visit Pearl Harbor and the Arizona meomorial at least once IMHO.

…Since a large part of island hopping is spent in travel you will lose less time going to Oahu as most of the flight go through Honolulu to get to the other island. So unless you get the nonstop to Maui you will lose time in plane transfers alone.

Given that itinerary I agree with jlr10's comments and recommendations for O'ahu. You won't burn time waiting for connecting flights. And I absolutely support the notion of visiting the Arizona memorial

If you don't mind the extra time doing a transfer and don't want to do O'ahu, then I would do the Big Island instead of Maui. I would arrange accommodations either at the Lodge in the Park, or in one of the many fine B&Bs that are located anywhere from Hilo through Volcano Village.

My rationale is that there isn't anything on Maui that can't be found on another island. But the USS Arizona and an erupting volcano - you can only do those on O'ahu and the Big Island, respectively. Use that extra time to do something that is unique and that you can't do any place else on earth.

hibbeln · Sep 5, 2008

Absolutely go ahead and go. The flights look reasonable. I figure "what the heck!"

The first time we went to Maui we either went for 4 or 5 days (also coming from Kauai). We have kids, so you know our travelling was more involved than yours. BUT IT WAS JUST FINE!

You'll have a nice time on Maui. I would suggest considering staying down in the Waimea, Makena, South Kihei area if you're the outdoorsy sort. This will give you access to excellent snorkelling & interesting hiking, and while much of Maui is built-up, in this area you can quickly leave the "resorts" behind and be out in the countryside and feel like you're all on your own.

This area also has quite quickish access to the airport in Kahului, and if you want to go up Haleakala or visit Paia you can get there in a reasonable amount of time.

The road up to Lanai/Kaanapali/etc (in the northwest corner of the island) is one lane going in each direction for part of the way and there is a huge glut of people taking this road. This is going to slow you down and increase your commute time and take time from vacation. The road can be closed down completely if there are wild fires or a bad accident (we've seen both happen many times). If you're on a tight schedule, this might not work well for you.
Go pick up the Maui Revealed book and look at the different areas of the island. I believe they call Kihei/Waimea/Makena "South" Maui and Lahaina etc. "West Maui". See if one area grabs you more than the other for things to do. Only if 90% of what you want to see and do is in West Maui would I suggest you stay there for such a short trip.

And hey, you can always go back!