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Once upon a time, my parents and I were going to take a relaxing trip to Hawaii, in March 2020.
Yeah.
It turns out that my ticket is still valid so long as I make my reservation by the end of this year and it's for a date in 2023. (Or 2022, but I'm not going in the next two months.)
You can click on the link and see me asking some of the same questions, but obviously a lot has changed, and also probably new people are reading. So I'm asking again.
I like: hiking, natural wonders, and great food (not fancy food, just tasty and cool).
I do not like: giant crowds of tourists, doing nothing but lying on a beach all day.
I prefer: Pleasant weather. (Warm but not very hot, not raining all day.)
I require: Being able to eat outdoors, due to covid. This is part of the issue with rain. But if a place has an awning, that's fine.
I intend to stay in an AirBnB and rent a car.
1) I can go for about a week. I will be traveling alone. I'd prefer to go in late March or early April, if possible; are those good times? Late February and mid-April are also possible. Wild card: What's the ideal month to go?
2) Which island should I go to?
3) Any general recs, tips, etc.
Yeah.
It turns out that my ticket is still valid so long as I make my reservation by the end of this year and it's for a date in 2023. (Or 2022, but I'm not going in the next two months.)
You can click on the link and see me asking some of the same questions, but obviously a lot has changed, and also probably new people are reading. So I'm asking again.
I like: hiking, natural wonders, and great food (not fancy food, just tasty and cool).
I do not like: giant crowds of tourists, doing nothing but lying on a beach all day.
I prefer: Pleasant weather. (Warm but not very hot, not raining all day.)
I require: Being able to eat outdoors, due to covid. This is part of the issue with rain. But if a place has an awning, that's fine.
I intend to stay in an AirBnB and rent a car.
1) I can go for about a week. I will be traveling alone. I'd prefer to go in late March or early April, if possible; are those good times? Late February and mid-April are also possible. Wild card: What's the ideal month to go?
2) Which island should I go to?
3) Any general recs, tips, etc.
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This is my one (1) piece of Hawaii knowledge, as I've never been there. (Although Orion has, and he says walking around on/in volcanoes is hella cool.)
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Next favorite is Kauai - the north shore is just really nice and not overdeveloped. Plenty of great food, art galleries, parks. Beaches to yourself - I'm not a 'sit on the beach' person, but I love walking on beaches finding shells and chasing crabs. Those aren't at all swimming beaches, either, those are on the south of the island. If you want to go to the nat'l park at the end of the north road, you have to schedule a reservation like a month in advance - it is not a drop-in sort of visit.
For things to do, Oahu or The Big Island - Volcano Nat'l park is AMAZING and the Polynesian Cultural Center is worth a full day at least.
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A couple of outdoor places I remember visiting and enjoying were Waimea Falls and the Botanical Gardens. I also used to really like going to the North Shore Marketplace, which is just a sort of funky little plaza with some shops -- there's a bakery/cafe that should have outdoor seating, probably some other food places, a glass shop with live glass-blowing demonstrations throughout the day, and I think an art gallery. (I googled just now and it looks like all of that is still there, and... honestly doesn't look much different from how I remember it looking twenty years ago, amazingly.)
I only visited some of the other islands briefly and didn't get to see much, but I did love the black-sand beaches on the big island, and also enjoyed seeing the volcano. If I were going back and visiting an island other than Oahu, I'd probably pick the big island.
As for the weather, I only remember it being really hot in summer, but a lot of houses there don't have A/C, so even if it's just warm, the humidity can be kind of unpleasant. (Though I should note that I'm from Arizona, so my tolerance for humidity is... low. XD) I also don't remember seeing a ton of rain, but then, we lived on the "dry side" of the island, so how much rain you'll get might also depend on where you go. I remember it often being sort of rainy/misty when we visited people in Kailua, which is on the Windward/wet side of the island.
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https://hawaiistateparks.org/parks/kauai/waimea-canyon-state-park/
We like Oahu as well.
Global weather trends have changed since then, but we went once in October and once late December, and it was comfortable both times. Ages ago, New Year's Eve in Honolulu was great, with outdoor performances and fireworks. We're non-drinkers and had a second grader, so if there was clubbing or whatever, we missed it.
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- It is now apparently very possible (and more affordable than any other islands, at least in high season) to book an AirBnB on Molokai, which I don't remember being the case when we looked last time a couple of years ago. I've not been, and it sounded a little too much like it would require interacting with other people when what we wanted was to spend time as a family, but it definitely sounded not-at-all-touristy in a nice way.
- I also saw that about Mauna Loa rumblings, which made us chicken out of staying on Big Island, but not out of a Hawaii trip as a whole. (I found the perfect place on Big Island which advertised itself as being "on an old lava flow" and was like, OK, maybe not this visit...)
- I remember outdoor dining being an option in Hawaii in a lot of places even before Covid, because the weather is so nice (but I think this is also generally in covered patios or with awnings because you do get bursts of rain). I know there are outdoor dining options now, because my friend also still avoids eating indoors, but I don't know how much they limit one's access to the really good places. It looks like on Maui, at least one location of Cafe O'Lei that I had recommended last post has outdoor dining with awning options (not the location I've been to, but I believe they're owned by the same family), and Coconut's fish tacos shack does also (although might be hard to snag -- not sure how many of those they have).
- In general my friend reports that up through last year Hawaii was taking Covid precautions seriously. Not sure if that's still happening, though.
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As an adult, I've only been to Maui, and I really liked it. There is good snorkeling in Wailea - there is a long strip of beach with a bunch of hotels on it, but just south of that strip there are small beaches that are less crowded and have lots of sea turtles, fish, and coral. IIRC we went to Chang's Beach or Five Graves most mornings.
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Enjoy it, whichever one you go to! :)
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We went in October and in January. I'd guess April would be better as there'd be fewer spring breakers and also decreased winter oceans--the snorkeling was bad in January (and we couldn't snorkle off the boat during the boat tour) because of the winter ocean waves and such. Otoh, the whales were off the chain.
Personally speaking I'd like to go to some of the other islands on a future trip, but I have zero regrets about only having gone to Kauai twice.
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Swimming with dolphins was really touristy and the one we used had everyone strike poses for pictures, but it was still great fun.
Trying to learn to surf was fun, but I was too wimpy and out of shape to really take advantage.
Waimea Valley was an amazing botanical "garden". The blog posts I saw said to allocate maybe 3-5 hours, and we felt we could happily spend multiple days there. I think roughly in that area is also where at one beach we saw shadows in the waves of green turtles feeding, and at another beach, one turtle had actually crawled out onto the sand.
Probably colder months are a good time to go, to avoid weather that is too hot, and to have smaller crowds. Might need to check when the rainy season is.
We never made it to the aquarium. I never got around to playing on a tennis court.
Shrimp trucks serve tasty food: garlic shrimp, fried oysters.
I think you can do takeout from Helena's Hawaiian Food, if you don't want to eat in.
Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay was fun. We liked seeing the colorful fish.
I think you can do takeout from the sushi place in Prince Waikiki. Pretty good quality at a surprisingly-to-us cheap price.
There are farmer's markets, and maybe a weekend, outdoor flea market.
(Maybe older entries are locked, or too old? Clicking on each of the two tags brings up only this post.)
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Covid wasn't a thing yet at that point, but the architecture there is REALLY open-air, in that very tropical way. I think we mostly ate outdoors or effectively outdoors (like, inside a roofed structure that was more window than wall on all sides) basically every meal, and we had no reason to be trying to do that beyond the general scenic beauty.
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One of the best days we had was taking a boat out to Molokini Crater and going snuba diving (no training/qualifications needed) - we went on the Four Winds II, which a quick google indicates is still on the go! The crater is a designated wildlife sanctuary, and it's a phenomenal place to visit. We also did an evening whale-watching cruise - didn't actually see any whales that particular time, but plenty of dolphins and sea turtles.
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1) March & April are typically fairly busy due to spring break for schools overlapping with whale watching season. Late Feb isn't much better due to people wanting to use the President's Day weekend. That's not to say these aren't good times to go -- just that you won't be alone. It also means that a lot of places will be booked already -- your choices might be narrowed as to where you can book at this relatively late date.
2) Hiking, natural wonders, great food, eating outdoors, pleasant weather, etc -- you can find these on pretty much every island -- that's why Hawaii is so popular, of course. Here are what I would say are the main pros and cons of the major islands (I saw someone mention Molokai, but I think you'd be bored out of your skull by the third day.)
Big Island: Great snorkeling, hiking, lots to explore (incl the volcano), generally feels less touristy than the other three. But as it's bigger, everything is more spread out and so you'll need to drive an hour or two most days if you want to go anywhere other than where you're staying.
Maui: Great snorkeling, whales, hiking, beaches, easy to get around. Very touristy, though some locations are more mellow. Also usually the most expensive on average.
Kauai: Great hiking, more mellow than Maui or Oahu but way less driving than Big Island. Not so great for snorkeling. Because it's smaller, there's fewer places to stay which may limit your options.
Oahu: Lots to do on both on the nature side (hiking, beaches) and cultural side (fantastic museums). Waikiki has by far the most places to stay, so that keeps prices somewhat in check. Easy to stay there and drive to quieter side of island when you want, but it is still a city, so if you don't want that, the options on the quieter side tend to be more expensive.
3) You haven't mentioned budget and that, along with what's still available, might settle a lot of this. If you're planning to spend less than $300/night on lodging, you won't have a lot of options on Maui, for ex. If you're trying to keep things much cheaper than that, I'd look at Waikiki and maybe only booking a car for one or two days (Honolulu has good transit).
Speaking of cars, you should absolutely expect to pay way more than you think -- but the good news is that prices usually go down as you get closer, so make a reservation now but don't prepay. Then check closer to the time and rebook at a cheaper rate.
Some of the more popular attractions (sunrise at volcano, Pearl Harbor, certain natural areas) now require reservations. The TripAdvisor forums for the different islands are a good resource for up-to-date advice.
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Avoid the freeways during rush hour-- it gets massively backed up.
Marugame Udon has really good Japanese food. I haven't been since covid so I don't know the seating situation.
Hanauma Bay has good beginner snorkeling.