I’m getting married in June, and my father has offered me and my bride-to-be some air-miles so we can go somewhere nice on honeymoon.
At the moment, air-miles flights to Hawaii are a relative bargain so we thought we’d head off there, with a stop in San Francisco on the way home to the UK.
But as I’ve never been to Hawaii before I was hoping some dopers might be able to give us some tips!
What we’d like is:
about 6-7 nights
near the beach
nice and quiet (no frat boys or screaming kids)
rainforests to visit for a day
a nice, but not extravagent, hotel
Does anyone have any hidden gems they can recommend?
I’ll take “Titular typos betraying an OP’s real feelings about expensive honeymoons” for $50, please.
This is one of the rare occasions when a travel agent is a necessity. A friend in the business is even better, and most people have one. Good luck and I hope you and your finance have a wonderful time.
Anyway, for 6-7 nights, I’d recommend the Big Island. There’s much more to do there. You’d want to stay at what most of us would call a “resort”, not a “hotel”.
There are big, expensive ones with golf courses and giant lobbies, but those are pretty extravagant.
There are condominium/time share type places where you have your own kitchen.
There are bed & breakfast places.
The two big cities are Kona and Hilo. Stay near Kona. From Kona, with 6-7 days, you can go visit the volcanoes national park, the Waimea/Waipio valley, the lava trees, and a ton of beaches. That’s all within about 1.5 hours.
It’s rainier near Hilo, and there are rain-forest type places but that might be more for a day-trip from Kona. That’s how most people would do it.
I’ll recommend “The Big Island Revealed” as a book. The most valuable stuff I found in that book are directions to get to smaller, less accessible beaches. We found beaches in that book where it might be us, and 2-4 other people on the whole beach. The catch: you might need to walk 1 mile to get to the beach.
There are many other beaches you can park at. But, there’s a lot more people there.
Here is an old thread where I and others offered advice about Maui.
I’ve been told that Kauai is more isolated and less touristy than the other islands, which might be what you’re looking for.
By the way, it seems the typo has been fixed so I don’t understand the amusement. I’m guessing it intially read “finance” rather than “fiance” - am I right?
Thanks for the replies - I’ll check out other thread.
And yeah, the original title read *“So I promised my finance a honeymoon in Hawaii - any recommendations?” * - obviously some issues to work through before I set up the ol’ joint bank account :o
If you are wanting a beach vacation I would stay away from the Big Island. We stayed in a resort on the Kona Coast and it is all naturally lava. The resorts hauled in enough top soil for their grounds and golf courses. There are very few if any natural beaches on the Kona coast. It seemed to be more of a golf mecca than a beach resort.
In Oahu, I was only in Honolulu. It seemed to be any other large American city except it has a beach. If you like the urban nightlife, that could be your choice.
Maui was what I had always imagined Hawaii to be. Long stretches of natural beaches and more of a beach resort feel.
All three were wonderful to visit and we found interesting things to do on each island, but if I were planning a honeymoon, I would choose Maui. We stayed at the Westin on the Kaanapali coast.
If you’re going to Maui, try to stay on the south beach area, near Wailea, instead of the west beach area, near Lahaina. The deals are better in LaHaina, but the beaches are very rocky and not really swimmable, just nice to look at.
I disagree (in part) with Moe. He’s correct that some of the Kona-side resorts don’t have great beaches (Hilton Waikaloa Village, for one), but others
are on one of the best beaches in the world (Hapuna Beach).
I enjoyed the Hapuna Beach Prince Resort.
The Big Island has the most variety. Among other attractions, it’s the only place to see flowing lava.
Maui–Rent a car and take the Drive To Hana. Get some pineapply at roadside stands…when y ou get sticky enough, pull over near a waterfall and go there & wash it off. Spend some time along the way in Huelo, Keanae or Wailua. If Hasegawa’s General Store has been rebuilt, stop in and get some picnic eats and a souvenir T-shirt, then head for the 7 Pools. Visit Haleakala…maybe bike down…visit the Protea nursery if you go…prehistoric-looking beautiful flowers. Check out the whaling museum & buy some ivory (yes, there IS ivory & scrimshaw that is legal).
Oahu–Tour the island on TheBus. Try a meal at the Shorebird Beach Broiler (cook your own type of place). If you can, attend services at one of the historic churches…we did, and they were having dinner on the grounds afterwards! May not be your cup of tea, the the Punchbowl Crater tour was interesting. Get some Kona coffee at the ABC stores. Tour the Dole factory & eat up on pineapple.
Just a very few suggestions…there’s lots to do there on all the islands.
Oahu - North Shore, Turtle Bay Resort, do not go to Waikiki and stay there for 7 days, the north shore is peaceful and beautiful
Maui - Lahaina is OK, south coast is better, high price resorts in Wailea may have good prices when you go, Molikini Island for snorkeling
Kauai - Poipu Beach or Hanalei Bay(if you have the money), don’t miss the Grand Canyon of the Pacific (go to the very end of the road), helicopter tour was one of the greatest travel adventures of my life, very “old Hawaii” feel to the island, it is possible to rent a condo and have a kitchen/washer and dryer for the same amount as a hotel charges, but hey it’s your honeymoon - enjoy and relax!
I vote for Kaua’i. As pointed out, it’s less touristy and more rural. I found the jungly areas to be captivatingly beautiful, and we found some of the best beaches there. We stayed at the Lihue Marriott, which was a sort of upper-mid range hotel. Your package may well include the breakfast buffet, which is excellent and saves a lot on food.
However, Kaua’i is infested with feral chickens, whose crowing at all hours might not be your idea of a relaxing vacation.
And, because we haven’t had a centipede thread for a long while now, I thought this would be a good opportunity to revisit our little Hawaiian friend here.
Been to Oahu a bunch of time, Maui a couple times, the Big Island once, and Kauai once.
Based on what you’re looking for, I would also vote for Kauai with Maui as a second choice. And Oahu absolutely last !
Kauai is the most relaxing, with nice beaches. The weather is probably the least favorable, but the trick is that since it is a small island, just drive to the other side (I’m not kidding). There are small clusters of big hotels, but nothing like the other islands. The Napali coast is awesome (best seen from a helicopter) as is Waimea Canyon. Hanalei is one of the prettiest valleys/bays that I’ve ever seen. And there are little surprizes all over the island. (One big tourist attraction I would NOT recommend, even though it will be your honeymoon, is the Fern Grotto. A throwback to Hawaii tourism from the 50’s and a big waste of time, IMO).
Maui is still nice, but all of the population centers have grown in the past years. You can still find some nice seclusion, but it is harder and harder to find. If you’re willing to put up with some crowds (especially in June), then Maui could work. Great snorkelling, nice beaches (check out Makena beach, if you go). And the drive to Hana is certainly worth it to see unspoiled island.
Agreed. Now it’s true the beaches aren’t premium by Hawai’i standards, but they’re adequate. But in every other respect the Big Island I think offers the best single island experience. You will need to rent a car though.
This is what I’d do. Screw the hotels and resorts. Rent a nice house overlooking the water with a wraparound lanai for the same or less money than a nice hotel and have someplace private to sprawl. You can eat in the morning, maybe eat lunch out, then either go out for dinner or have a nice leisurely meal at “home.” Both cheaper and more relaxing than a hotel/resort stay.
Hotels are for suckers :p.
Most, but not all :D. I prefer the rainy Hilo side with its mild weather and greater greenery. Kona is too damn sunny and dry for my tastes ( for residency that is - to visit its fine ) and the Hilo side has more amenities if you’re renting a vacation house.
I just had my own Hawaiian honeymoon this past June. We were on Oahu for 7 days and the Big Island for 3. It was fantastic, and I highly recommend it. Such a beautifully relaxing place.
I completely disagree about a travel agent, you don’t need one, you’ve got the internet. (disclaimer: aside from work I’ve never used a travel agent, so maybe they would knock my socks off, but we did fine without one.) Just grab a good book from Borders or B&N, and plan what you want to do ahead of time. We got Frommer’s Hawaii, and it was plenty helpful.
For the Big Island, our highlights were:
Flumin’ da ditch: www.flumindaditch.com
Mauna kea stargazing observatory tour: www.maunakea.com (parkas provided, but bring a sweater!)
Hiking out to the lava flow at Volcano national park (bring hiking boots, water, flashlights, and garden gloves (for sharp rocks)).
Akaka Falls
The Inn at Kulaniapia Falls (near Hilo) www.waterfall.net (perfect romantic hideaway, but hard to find in the dark, checkin in the daytime!)
(We only tried one beach on the Big Island (Anaehoomalu Bay) and were disappointed, due to the razor-sharp lava rocks and high waves.)
On Oahu, you can barely walk ten feet without finding a beautiful beach.
But I would definately point out Hanauma Bay, especially if you want to go snorkeling, which I heartily recommend.
Waikiki is a big city, but a big relaxing city with a beautiful (albeit man-made) beach. Despite not liking crowds, we found it a perfect base of operations, from which we could drive to almost anything on the island, and still get a good meal when we got back. It didn’t feel as sterile and touristy as we had heard.
We did a horseback ride on the beach at turtle bay, which was lovely.
Diamondhead crater is a beautiful hike, just make sure you get there early so you don’t have to rush before they close.
