12 days in Hawaii: where to go?

[kozachka]

If you were to spend 12 days in Hawaii with a 4+ year old active DC who loves fish (and snorkels in shallow water) where would you go? We want to stay in a 4-5 star hotel by a shallow child-friendly beach. Would love easy access to restaurants and entertainment. At the end of vacation DH turns 45 so could use restaurant recommendations for a WOW experience. Neither I nor DH have ever been to Hawaii, if you can't tell. Any additional tips would be greatly appreciated.

[GeekLady]

If you have spare time on the island of Oahu, hit the Dole Pineapple plantation. Your kid will love it. This is an especially nice thing to do on the morning through early afternoon of the day you're leaving if you have an evening flight, you can really wear a kid out there.

If you're on the big island, the Volcano National Park visitor's center is worth a visit. Don't go on a hike unless you're prepared, though. You'll need more water than usual for a hike, at least a liter and a half per person for a long one, and it's very hot and bright down in the cauldera so I'd wear long light colored clothes for hiking. And take the safety advice from the visitor's center seriously.

Oh, and take a bottle of liquid bandage with you. Volcanic rock gets used for paving walking paths, and that stuff will shred your knees faster than a cheese grater if you trip and fall. Nothing is worse than scraping your knees early in the trip and having all that salt water, sand, and pounding surf to look forward to.

I don't know of any really kid friendly beaches in Hawaii though, the geography of the island means beaches tend to be steep with heavy surf and undertow. I'm a decent swimmer, and I wouldn't go in past where I could touch bottom, but the surf was heavy every time we were at the beach.

[Edit: Oahu, not Maui. What was I thinking?]

[bubbaray]

Kauai! Seriously it is soooo beautiful there. Lydgate Park and the coral reef pond in the south (sorry, can't remember the name -- salt lick or something) are perfect for kids!

[KrystalS]

It really depends on the island you want to go to. If you plan to go to Oahu I would suggest staying at the KoOlina resorts, they have man made lagoons and the waves are really small and kid friendly. We lived on Oahu for 3 years and KoOlina was the only beach where my DD would get in the water. The waves in Waikiki will knock little ones over. I don't know much about the other islands but I know Maui is supposed to be nice. If you do go to Oahu, try snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, its a great beach, huge reef, lots of different kinds of fish.

[luvmypeanut]

On the Big Island, my first choice would be the Four Seasons Hualalai followed by the Mauna Lani and Hilton Waikoloa. On Maui, I like the hotels in Wailea - Four Seasons, Fairmont Kea Lani and the Grand Wailea. The Marriott Wailea just did a huge renovation which looks good but the rooms inside still seem so-so to me and the resort is so spread out we kept getting lost. Nice kiddie pool area though with slide and playstructure and beach sand. On Oahu, I like the Halekulani, the Kahala and the Marriott Ihilani (Ko'Olina). My dd has always been comfortable in the water in Waikiki. Her favorite lately is the beach that is protected by a rock wall (forgot the name) so there are barely any waves. Hanauma Bay is great for snorkeling. The Kahala has dolphins. Of the three, only the Halekulani is in Waikiki, but it's a fabulous hotel and a stone's throw from lots of food and entertainment.

Gotta run but will write more later.

Big Island
My first choice would be the Four Seasons Hualalai on the Big Island. DD doesn't like waves either and loved the King's Pond which is a snorkeling pool filled with fish. The resort is very pricey but is up to Four Seasons standards. The chain has definitely become a lot more child-friendly in the past 5 years, or maybe I never noticed before I had kids, and we love the little touches like cookies and bathroom products for the kids. Try to avoid the busy times if you can. The Hilton Waikoloa and Mauna Lani are nearby and both have lots of shopping and dining options.

The Mauna Lani is an old hotel but the beach it sits on is nice. The first time we stayed there (before the earthquake) they upgraded us to one of the 2 bedroom villas which was great because we had small kids and really used the kitchen. Hopefully they have given the place a face lift since then because the rooms really needed it. We went to the island recently on a whim and a lot of the resorts were booked so we ended up renting a condo on the Mauna Lani Resort. It was great because we could use the hotel facilities and had access to their private beach club. Many condo and single-family home communities have sprouted up around these resorts and are just as nice/nicer than the resorts themselves. They have just opened up a shopping/dining village with a grocery store and Starbucks there.

I haven't stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Village but have been there many times for dinner. It's a HUGE resort and has a tram and canal boats to take you from one end to the other. My kids loved that. Parts of the resort are spectacular and some are cheesy. When dd is ready we'll sign her up for the DolphinQuest, but right now she's content to just stand on the bridge and watch them swim by. She is also in awe of the pools with their waterfalls and slides.

- car rental is expensive on the Big Island. I rented an SUV for a week for $650
- we haven't been to the volcano yet because the kids prefer to stay by the beach/pool. It's a long drive from the Kohala Coast so we're saving it for when then kids are older
- stock up on groceries (a good tip for any hotel). I like the Foodland at the Mauna Lani Shops because there are a lot of organic products as well as gourmet items. The alcohol is reasonably priced (bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne was $45 compared to $60 at Whalers General Store in the King's Shops Waikoloa) and there is a food counter that offers prepared food, sandwiches and made to order salads. There is also a bakery and coffee counter.

[egoldber]

We stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa on Hawaii when Sarah was 4. It was a big resort and the food is outrageously expensive. I think we only ate one meal there, the night we arrived and that was it. Also, they didn't have a lot of kid friendly meal options for dinner, or at least none that were OK by my picky eater LOL! So we ate off property almost every meal except breakfast. (DH was Hilton Diamond at the time so we got a free breakfast on the Hilton Honors floor. It was light, but it tided us over to lunch.)

We ate in Kona several nights and also at the King's Shops a couple times.

We bought a ton of food and beverages at the Costco outside Kona. I would really recommend that. We were not the only people hauling around our own drinks and snacks in a cooler. It was super handy for beach days. We went to several beaches up and down the Kohala coast. I think Sarah's fav was one just slightly south of Kona where you could walk right up to sea turtles. It was so cool.

We did drive over the volcano side. We made a day of it and made several stops around the island. We did not hike out to the caldera, because that would have been too far for Sarah. But I would have liked to have spent more time there. I wish in retrosect we had spent one night near the volcano (perhaps in Hilo) and spent a whole day at the volcano. Even without hiking out to the eruption there was plenty to see and do to fill a whole day, even with a 4 year old.

[kozachka]

Thank you for your replies, ladies. Lots of information to digest . I am so looking forward to it .

[Joolsplus2]

On Oahu, I love Ko'Olina and Turtle Bay. (Parents live on Oahu, so we only need to find places with good beaches...LOVE Ko'Olina for the beaches...)

[kozachka]

We decided to fly to Maui (direct flight from San Diego), spend 5 nights there and 5 more nights in Oahu from where we'll fly to San Francisco as it offers us a better connection on our preferred airline back to Europe. We'll be staying 2 nights instead of 1 in both San Diego and San Francisco so now we only have 10 nights in Hawaii but it seems like an easier trip overall.

Now I am driving myself crazy choosing hotels. I actually enjoy it. In Maui I am trying to choose between Kaanapali Beach Hotel, which is the cheapest option, most Hawaiian and has children activities for kids under 5, Sheraton (great location), Westin (like water park setting), Hyatt and Marriott. In Oahu Kahala sounds awesome but pricy (but what the heck, right?), Marriott Ihilani is slightly ($270) cheaper and even cheaper (by another $250) Turtle Bay resort, which seems too far from it all.

I am also trying to figure out whether we'd need a car for all 10 days or only part of the trip. If anybody has any input I would greatly appreciate it.

[KrystalS]

I wouldn't do Turtle Bay on Oahu, its so far from everything and the waves on that side of the island are a lot bigger than in Waikiki. It takes forever to get to that side of the island, especially if theres traffic, which is just about all the time!