Hawaii vacation favorites

[AnnieW625]

Another potential vacation destination for either winter break (February, 2023) or summer 2023. Dh and I celebrate our 20th anniversary in February and we went to Maui for our honeymoon. I loved being there in February tbh, but I don’t know if that will work for us again. My kids have been bugging us to go for years and it would be awesome to go back. Not sure if we want to go to Maui or see another island. I need condo complex recs., rental company recs., and or hotel recs. . We stayed at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea then and would love to consider it again, but I have no clue if it will be in budget again. I did find a package for the hotel on Hawaiian Airlines site.


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[PunkyBoo]

We had also gone to Maui pre-kids and then wanted to turn to the islands for our 20th. I have a coworker friend who lived in Hawaii for many years so I asked him where we should go. He said Maui is more "fancy touristy" now and he recommended Kauai for us to be out enjoying nature. We all absolutely LOVED Kauai. We booked an air+condo +car package through Costco which was very affordable (for Hawaii). We stayed in Poipu. Let me know if you want more info/details, we loved everything we did and built in some down time too.

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[AnnieW625]

We had also gone to Maui pre-kids and then wanted to turn to the islands for our 20th. I have a coworker friend who lived in Hawaii for many years so I asked him where we should go. He said Maui is more "fancy touristy" now and he recommended Kauai for us to be out enjoying nature. We all absolutely LOVED Kauai. We booked an air+condo +car package through Costco which was very affordable (for Hawaii). We stayed in Poipu. Let me know if you want more info/details, we loved everything we did and built in some down time too.

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Yes send me message with the info. I thought Maui was on the slightly fancy side when we went too, but we still found some great hidden gems on our trip like a top rated sushi bar that all these later is a Yelp favorite. Yes I have looked at Costco and Hawaiian Airlines packages so far and they do seem to be reasonable.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

Our 20th anniversary was in 2020 so never made it to HI or really finalized it. I did know I was going with no kids and we were doing a split stay between Maui and Kauai. I wanted to experience both.

[georgiegirl]

We went to Maui in June and had an amazing time (with kids). We stayed in a condo in Wailea (not on the beach…out of our budget). Grand Champions through Airbnb. There are several condo complexes in that area that are popular and way cheaper than on the beach.


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[Mommy_Mea]

We stayed near Poipu Beach on Kauai with the kids and loved it. Lots to do and explore, but really laid back.

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[Tenasparkl]

We also stayed at the Kea Lani for our honeymoon. I loved it!

We did the Aulani for our last trip and it was great. Parts of Oahu were too crowded for my taste, but I loved that little beach and all the pools there so much.

[marinkitty]

I haven't been to Hawaii in many, many years so take this with a grain of salt, but we used to stop there annually when I was a kid because we lived in Hong Kong and it was a good half way point back and forth from visiting family at home in the summer and Kauai was my favorite island (we spent time on Hawaii, Molokai, Oahu, Maui and Kauai). I'm hoping to go back and take the kids with me in the next few years. I think Kauai offers a great mix of beach/adventure/more geographic diversity/authenticity vs Maui but of course my personal experiences are dated. I think if you are a resort person who primarily wants to enjoy a relaxing beach vacation, Maui is fantastic (and there are truly plenty of adventures to be had between volcanos/road to Hana/trips to surrounding islands), but I never enjoyed it as much because it felt more packaged family holiday to me. I'd also like to revisit the big island and Oahu's north shore but if I had to pick one I think I'd head for Kauai and split your time between the north shore (Princeville or Hanalei) and the south shore (Poipu). North for more adventure, south for more relaxing beach R&R.

[urquie]

Consider Koloa Landing in Poipu, Kauai! We loved it, our kids loved it, amazing pool and full kitchens. Great location, great food and shops nearby. Try to go early, to the nearby Wednesday farmer’s market, to get the outstanding sugar loaf pineapple. 😋.

You may be able to book through Costco (we weren’t able to at the time so just booked a car through them) and try and stop at Costco when you land in Lihue. :-)

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...ai_Hawaii.html

The Best Pool in America
The resort boasts 3 lagoon pools, including the ‘Best Pool in America’ 2 years in a row, and was voted top 10% of hotels & resorts in the world for service.

[AnnieW625]

Consider Koloa Landing in Poipu, Kauai! We loved it, our kids loved it, amazing pool and full kitchens. Great location, great food and shops nearby. Try to go early, to the nearby Wednesday farmer’s market, to get the outstanding sugar loaf pineapple. .

You may be able to book through Costco (we weren’t able to at the time so just booked a car through them) and try and stop at Costco when you land in Lihue. :-)

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...ai_Hawaii.html

The Best Pool in America
The resort boasts 3 lagoon pools, including the ‘Best Pool in America’ 2 years in a row, and was voted top 10% of hotels & resorts in the world for service.

That looks amazing! There is currently a Costco package for this place with the 1 bedroom villa. It is at the very top of our budget though.


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