Hawaii in August....where, which island, which resort?
 

Need to do some research....

Need recommendations....

Help.

Nice...thanks.

the big island of hawaii ...wikiloa hilton...check it out...very very nice...very kid friendly if you are bringing them

I'm going to Turtle bay on North Shore Oahu tomorrow for an extended weekend, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Depends on what you want.

I have gone with kids and without, on Maui, Big Island, Honolulu and Kauai. Slept in 5 star resorts and in a Condo. Flew first class and coach.

This is what I would do next time...2 kids that swim like fish and wife that loves the sun.
-All the Islands I visited were cool and will visit again, indifferent althoug diving in Kauai is not that great.
-Coach going there, First Class back (return is a red eye for me)
-Stay in a Condo with a beach within walking distance, more space and no need to get dressed for breakfast and sometimes I just want to eat a pack of ramen in the middle of the day :)
-Hang out, do a lot of nothing and Chill.
-Rent a car, cause you will need it to get places. Do not get a Jeep, they suck.

Added: I'd avoid Honolulu, that place has traffic jams. I do not want traffic jams on vacation.

Actually, next trip will likely be the Big Island.

-I want to dive with Mantas in the night again
-The volcano is super cool
-There is this dive of a resturant in Kona that really I miss, bad service and all.

REALLY depends on budget.

Went with our daughter to the Grand Wailea for a week 2 years ago. It was fantastic, but I think the total bill was north of $6k, and that does not include all food and travel.

There are some fantastic condo options that are way cheaper.

Big Island - Fairmont Orchid if you want luxury. Rent a condo in Puako if you want solitude.

KONA NIGHT DIVE W/MANTAS! #1 big island. volcanoes cool also. blue hawaiian helos safest helo on all islands. check their flight record. spendy but a view thats unreal of lava forming new island.

maui what can i say.........unreal diving. hana

oahu........well crowded as hell but main hotel beaches are awesome at 5am when noone around. by 11am good luck finding spot to sit.

august is prime time summer heat wave........yeah coming from phx where its 118 with 60 degree dewpoint we were cracking up at the locals inability to handle heat.

lanai......unreal diving, nothing to do but hike really.

shore fishing ist verboten due to nasty organism that is in food chain and makes one very very very sick if not dead.

DO NOT become shark(mano) statistic and swim at sunrise or sunset! if you dont believe me.......go just north of kanapali resort (whalers village) on maui and stand under trees at shoreline and watch the bastards feeding on turtles. will put hair up on your neck! TIGER SHARKS are numero uno #1 PITA to swimmers/snorklers and surfers. note i didnt say divers.....we are not stupid!

shark numbers have increased dramatically over recent years due to moratorium on hunting them. also turtle numbers have decreased..........wonder why??? mr. manos(shark) favorite munchie! fellow under water photographer got some action shots off of lanai, of turtle basking on surface as he was getting on to dive boat. grabbed camera and snapped 12 ft tiger come from under and nail turtle in a cool 4 pic sequence! yum yum munch munch!

if you are a seasoned diver and are hell bent on going hunting underwater, please contact blue water hunters.com. they will for $400 bucks go out to blue water w/boat and (4) of them will jump in w/you with BANG STICKS (12-gauge) and be your BODY GUARDS! nail yer fave blue water fish and beat feet back to boat w/body guards following you to assure that you dont become part of the food chain! unreal pics on their site of 12 ft tiger following (2) divers that had just banged some fish! blue water fish safe to eat. reef fish are a no-no.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1178192654.jpg

Good suggestions guys. I want to advoid crowds....and more than anything just want to chill on the beach and eat a package of raman in the middle of the day if I feel like it. (Nice Alfred)

I have been to all the major islands multiple times and every island has it's pluses but my family keeps going back to Hanalei bay on Kauai. Quiet little residential neighborhood on a crescent bay with a beautiful beach for sunning and swimming. You can rent a house there... good snorkeling/diving a few miles down the road.... golf, horse back riding, helicopter rides, boat rides a few miles away. Small village with three or four restaurants, small grocery store, assorted shops a few blocks away.

Pretty much the polar opposite of a resort vacation but if you are looking for more of a kick back Hawaii vacation it's hard to beat.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1178204898.jpg

I meant to stich these four pic's together (upper pic of pier and these of the bay all go together)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1178205018.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1178205042.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1178205079.jpg

From one engineer to another, I think that you'll like the big island best. (Unless big sandy beaches are the top priority -then pick one of the older islands; Kauai, Maui)

My wife & I are seasonal regulars to the islands. pm me if you want some tips.

Like alf said, depends on what you want. You could lie on the beach, avoid crowds, and eat all the ramen you want on any island, but there are certainly islands that will be more conducive to that than others.

I took my wife to Hawaii for her first time a couple years ago. I made the slight mistake of misjudging her interests, and took her to the Big Island. I loved it: lots of places to explore; less crowded than Oahu, and even Maui (the two other islands I've been to in the past); beachfront hotel; hiking; volcanos; etc. However, she wanted the white sandy beach experience, and Hawaii is known as the Hawaiian island with no beaches. Maybe not entirely true, but certainly it wasn't as "beachy" as Maui or Waikiki.

Haven't been in several years so info is a little dated.
Went to Maui and stayed at the Elua Village condos down in Wailea. Well appointed with a nice beach. Also in between two hotels, so gives you the flexibility to eat at the hotels if you don't feel like cooking.
Check out destinationhotels.com - no affiliation, just satisfied client

What Al said, all of it except I don't dive and I love the Na Pali Coast - its something youll never forget if you've never seen it (like a lot of Hawaii frankly). Plus I own a timeshare on Kauai. I like it for his recommended, "Hang out, do a lot of nothing and Chill" - I HIGHLY second that approach. To me, doing nothing includes hiking the NaPali Coast and/or taking a Zodiac boat tor up there - awesome. Hanging at BOTH the Princeville end and the Poipu end. Walking and lunching in the touristy little ex-sugar town of Koloa town.

'Ya know, other than Honolulu's traffic, its not like you can go all that wrong going anywhere in Hawaii. At least not anywhere I've been in a half dozen trips....so far. I'm doing Cozumel, Mexico the end of this month.:D

I should add it was raining when I took those pictures.

Here is a link to some rental properties, I haven't used this service just stumbled upon it.

Hawaii house rentals

Also check out www.vrbo.com for condo or house rentals. My wife got us an ocean front condo spitting distance from Poipu beach in Kauai for $1000 a week.

Chilling in Kauai is my fav. You need to be there at least a week, because it takes a day or three to adjust to island time (at least coming from LA it does). H-Bay is great as Scott said.

Waikoloa Hilton on the Big Island scares me...too theme-park-esque for my tastes. But your kid can swim with dolphins and there are trams running between the main buildings, etc. Kinds of like dropping part of disneyland in HI and dropping acid.

I would sooner spend the night with Britney Spears than spend it in Waikiki. Oahu blows with the excpetion of the North Shore. Out there find a bed and breakfast and visit some of the most famous surf breaks in the world, although in August they will be flat. Have some shaved ices with sticky sweet beans.

My qualifier is that I grew up in San Diego so going to the beach is no big deal to me...part of life. Waikiki struck me as LA but I didnn't know where the decent restaurants were. Yes, it is that crowded and noisy.

Now that I have names of some locations, I'll start searching the internet for more info. I wish my budget was unlimited, but it ain't so I'm just looking for a nice place to chill out, but with options for dinning or local culture within walking or short drive distances.

I'm researching for two people, but if it were just me, I'd be happy with a small village on the beach so I can disappear into the local scene....but you guys know when the lady of the house comes along...compromise...compromise.

Funny... alf and I linked to the same site.

Waikoloa Hilton on the Big Island was very weird... is that the one that had small boats running in canals between the towers along with the trams? Wherever that was I remember seeing baby barracuda swimming in the canal with the tangs.


If you go to Hanalei, Kauai be sure to go to the botanical gardens at the end of the road, call ahead and make reservation to take the guided walking tour... it's worth it.

Well, guys, thanks for the tips and suggestions. We're going to Kauai. I'm not a diver, and I wanted a quiet setting where I could forget about the rat race here at home.

It'll be our honeymoon trip, so we didn't want to deal with the crowd of the bigger island/places. Kauai looked like a good size place with enough to do/find, but quiet enough that we could just blend into the scenery. We're getting a house for a week, with no specific plan other than a helicopter tour that one of the relatives is gifting us. We'll use the heli tour as a recon trip, then we'll go back to places that interest us from the air.

One more thing, renting a car. Alfred said it was a good idea, but what about a scooter or motorcycle? A co-worker suggested renting mountain bikes for the week. I'm not sure it'll be fun to go out to dinner on mountain bikes and getting all sweaty. But I could deal with a motorcycle or scooter...bad idea? Anyone recall a motorcycle rental place on Kauai?

There is a wierd mix of drivers and traffic there. I wouldn't do it.

That said, there is a place that rents Harleys --if you really want to look like a dweeb. --Note, my wife & I go for the rented new convertable tourist dweeb look. ;)

Maui, Napili Kai. Need I say more?

Opps, almost forgot. Trip to Hanah is super. More turns than you'll ever see anywhere. Period!

SHeesh, typical Lib :cool: ... .he said he's going to Kauai, not Maui.

Souk, where abouts is the renal house?

What Island said risky to bike there with a bunch of drunk tourist, high locals and questionable roads...and it is hard to haul a boogie board on a bike.

Kauai is my fav. Hiking the Napali(sp) coast trail in to the high falls. Waimaia(sp) canyon hiking is also nice. Old Koloa town has a nice little cigar shop. And plenty of nuthin' else to do.

OK..so maybe a convertible dweeb look will do. I'm not a Harley...and the convertible dweeb look is probably better for me than the Harley dweeb look :) Thanks for the warning guys.

Glenn we have everything booked but the house. We're waiting on one or two of them to send us a contract and tell us where send the check. Lady H is handling that, and I don't need to stress both of us out. We targeted the Hanalei Bay, but some of the rentals that we liked were booked, so we expanded our options.

Kona Village. Big Island. Stay away from the other islands unless you're going to visit someone.

Yer killin me, don't remind me.

Imagine a 40 mile stretch of the most fantastic tight curves, just bangin 1st/2nd gear sports car joy, and its all along one of the most beautiful coastlines on earth, with dramatic views and deep jungles.

And what car was I driving along this route you ask? A chevy malibu. :(

I was on the Big Island last week and it was a blast. An expensive blast, but whatever.

+1 on what nostatic said about the Waikaloa Hilton. We stayed at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, which is a few miles up the road. Good free breakfast buffet.

+1 also on what Chuck Kieffner said about the nighttime manta ray dive. If you're a diver at all that's a once in a lifetime deal.

Anyway, good weather, good pool, good beach, and a rental car worked out great for me.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1180595546.jpg

And good company helped too.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1180595580.jpg

Good luck in Kauai!

A few Kauai picts I took last month:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1180598440.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1180598462.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1180598486.jpg

Use priceline to get your convertible. I did that last year and saved over $100 with no hassle.

Nice pictures guys.

She's a hottie, Jeremy. :)

Glenn, wow. I keep kidding with Lady H that I might just buy a house and not return...I don't think she realizes that I am not entirely kidding :D

I'll check out Priceline, Neil.

It's about time.

Congrats!

Actually all of Oahu rocks, except Honolulu.

I did that, did not make it all the way up cause the kids got sick in the boaty Malibu daddy was driving like the 911.

Souk, you are going to have a blast. Cook a pack of Ramen for me will ya.

CC - Thanks :)

Alfred - I'll be sure to make a bowl of noodles in your name. :D I plan to do most of my own cooking while we're there. I'm easily disappointed at restaurants, so I prefer to make my own meals when time allows. Plus I hear eating out on the islands can be expensive.....for the food you get.