Hawaii - advice/tips/etc

[mjs64]

Check out the Ultimate Guidebooks for the best info on what to do, where to stay etc.
http://www.wizardpub.com

And

[HannaAddict]

January and February are great times to visit Hawaii. The whales are off Maui, breeching and amazing. It is 82 and sunny in Maui today. If you want warm and more sun, I would probably save Kauai for another trip and stick to Maui (love it) or the Big Island (love it too but more driving, it is BIG.) I second or third the rec for the wizard pub books, Maui Revealed, Big Island Revealed, etc. The actual resort reviews for Maui at least are online, since there are sooo many places to review. Great guide books. We are going later this spring, back to Maui. With kids Maui is my go to island. Without kids (pre-kids) we like the Big Island since we went on longer drives to remote beaches with snorkeling etc. With little ones, Maui is perfect and fun for us too. Love it there, a west coaster though so very convenient with non-stops. Hawaiian Air does a great job, if you fly them on any leg.

[Tondi G]

I would go with Maui rather than Kauai ... when we were looking into Hawaii when DS1 was a toddler the travel agent suggested Maui. More to see and do and more swimmable beaches!

this is a great site to get info

http://Family-Vacations-Hawaii.com/m...formation.html

[mjs64]

I would go with Maui rather than Kauai ... when we were looking into Hawaii when DS1 was a toddler the travel agent suggested Maui. More to see and do and more swimmable beaches!

this is a great site to get info

http://Family-Vacations-Hawaii.com/m...formation.html

:yeah that:

I had somehow forgotten about the "swimmable beach" issue. Tondi G is right: it's hard to find a place to stay in Kauai located off of a swimmable beach, so if it's important to you to wake up in the morning and basically walk into the ocean, as it is to me, you'll prefer Maui. So again, Maui, Maui, Maui. Now I want to plan a trip.

[bubbaray]

We weren't impressed with the beaches on Maui AT ALL. We just love Kauai beaches, where you can look for miles in either direction and see no other people except lifeguards. Maui beaches are crowded (not as crowded as Oahu though).

There are lots of places on Kauai where you can stay and walk onto a swimable beach.

Kauai has a rep as the rainy island, but the nice thing is, when it is raining at one beach, you can pack up and drive to another beach that is nice and sunny. Our experience on Maui was that if it was raining on one beach, it was raining on all of them.

Different strokes, I guess.

[AnnieW625]

I will say that the southern end of Maui is not like the northern part at all, it's very quiet and while we were mainlanders, and there are lots of larger hotels in the area I still never felt the whole tourist vibe that I felt the one day we drove up to Kanaapali, and Lahaina. Highly recommend staying in the Kihei/Wailea/Mackenna area.

We found a nice beach right off the highway with very few people on it and it was nice, but it beat any beach in California.

I totally forgot about jet lag, but yeah from the east coast the 6 hr. time distance might take some time to get used to.

[HannaAddict]

We have never experienced crowded beaches on Maui, people, yes, but crowds, no. But we don't stay at Kaanapali where there are crowds, but slightly up the coast or down in Wailea where the beaches were wonderful. For the empty, lovely beaches, the Big Island is nice but many can be rocky. We loved isolated beaches when no kids and our cute baby beach with no crowds but other little kids when our first child was a tot. Now he's six and wants to have some action, other kids, stuff to watch going on so our beach needs have changed. From about age 18 months and up, the kids loved having other kids around.

I do want to go to Kauai sometime, but in the dryer season. It is supposed to be gorgeous.

[weech]

Wow, SO much information! Thanks everyone! I'm getting really excited about planning our trip. I'll definitely have to look into the swim-able beaches thing on Kauai. The kiddo is still pretty young, so we don't need much action. I'll talk to DH and see what he prefers. I'm sure it will be great no matter what!

[lizzywednesday]

I love Hawaii too and would go at any chance. Go to Maui. I honeymooned in Kauai, and it's special too, as are the Big Island and Oahu, but Maui is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD. I swear. On Maui there is a Hawaiian saying to that effect. Go, go, go.

In Hawaiian it's Maui no ka oi <- Maui is the best.

DH and I honeymooned in Maui; we stayed in Ka'anapali and enjoyed our little trips to Lahaina-town. We did the drive to Hana and recommend going when it's sunny and definitely go early in the day if you don't have a reservation for dinner/overnight in Hana!! (Also, bring lunch, snacks and lots of water.) We went to Haleakala during the midday just to say we'd been there; one of our favorite photos from the trip was taken at one of the observation towers. (And the silversword plants are really cool; they look like something out of a sci-fi movie!)

We attended our hotel's luau but, when we go back, we want to go to the Old Lahaina Luau, which is located behind the Lahaina Cannery Mall and next to Aloha Mix Plate (which we loved - service is friendly, if slow, and food is good at good prices ... and they make a great mai tai cocktail!!)

We flew direct out of Newark on Continental. I slept most of the flight and DH played with his computer; it worked for us. There was a couple in the row ahead of us with a young kid who may have been even younger than your DS would be at your trip ... and the kid conked out the whole trip, too.

I don't remember any problems with jet lag (and I am VERY prone to jet lag) myself and none with DH. We went in May, so it was warmer but not blistering hot ... and the whales had departed. I hope to go again when they are still there!

I will recommend the Aquarium, though admission is kind of steep for what felt like a very small place, because of all the touch-pools and different displays through the area. They have some neat outdoor pools with rescued sea turtles (honu) and sharks & rays, which I could sit and watch for hours.

In addition to all that, there are plenty of kid-friendly things to see and do, though (of course) we weren't on the lookout for them then.

[HannaAddict]

I just realized how little your baby is and I guess you won't need beach action! Any place will be great. One thing we did that worked great when we went with our four month old along, rented a pack n play and FP aquarium swing, the closest thing to her beloved Papasan swing. The company was great, the rate reasonable (and this was before the rip off fee for luggage to bring a pack n play) and it was assembled and in our condo when we got there and removed after we left. Found them online, it was on Maui but I wouldn't be surprised if they had a service like that on Kauai. We also rented a high chair the next year. You will have so much fun!