Which Island and Areas for Romantic Hawaii Vacation?



My husband and I would like to take a trip to Hawaii next summer. We’ve never been and there’s a good chance we might not go again. We are looking for a romantic trip (it’s our last vacation before we start having kids ;) ) with a nice mix of beaches, being pampered at a resort, and activities like scuba diving (a must), hiking to waterfalls, and just getting out and enjoying the beauty of Hawaii.

We’ll most likely have 10 days and are flying from New York. Do you think we should do two islands? Which two would you recommend and which areas (not necessarily hotels) of those islands would you recommend we stay?

Well, congrats! on getting one more trip in before you have kids. I have a 3.5 year old and the trips are even better now because he is so incredibly enthusiastic and loving of everything - much more than we old people are anymore. It’s just magical to watch him on a waterslide or playing in the waves - it sometimes seems my heart will just burst from too much love but, of course there is that long period where it is hard to go anywhere and then when you do go somewhere YOU don’t get to do what YOU want to do - everything becomes for the child(ren). So, you have the right idea getting in a fabulous vacation for you while you still can!

Ok, in 10 days, lots of people do squeeze in two islands. Personally, I would be against this, but then I am more of a lover of getting settled in, relaxing, hanging out, reading, sitting still, etc. I find travel time to be a big drag. We live on the Big Island and last December we spent 7 days in Waikiki. We’ve been there dozens of times - my husband even lived there for several years, and we still found that we only had ONE day of relax on the beach and don’t do much of anything time. We had a bunch of things we wanted to do, and we found that 7 days just was not enough time — that’s another reason I wouldn’t want to do two islands. However, if you two are more like my husband - move, move, move, and move faster type of people, and you really want to see two islands, well, you’ll have to make that decision. :)

Ok, now onto WHICH island(s). The Big Island is probably out because there are only a few real waterfalls and they are all on the Hilo side (and you’d probably want to stay on the Kona side) and most of them aren’t really “hike to” types of waterfalls. We do have really fantastic scuba diving, but you can find that other islands too. Plus, the big drag about the Big Island is it’s just so BIG. You do a lot of driving here.

Well, there really is no one BEST island .. so this is pretty hard to tell someone. I’m getting an idea that you would like Maui best. If you decide on Maui I like the Wailea area for the best pamper-you resorts. Kaanapali and north of Kaanapali is also nice (napili, kahana). Maui has this fantastic “drive to Hana” where you can literally hike to a different fantastic waterfall every 20 miles or so. If you did Hana, staying overnight is good - then you can do the waterfalls in Hana too. For really good waterfall information, get the maui revealed book.

Oahu is nice too. A lot of people are really down on Oahu because Waikiki is soooo commercialized and the traffic sucks and there are literally a million people crammed onto this one little island. However, I like Waikiki, I like Waikiki beach, I like the North shore (which is NOT commercialized - very old Hawaii) and I like that Oahu is very big-city party all night kinda place. Not that I party all night, but Waikiki is literally the only place in Hawaii that is like this, so if that is what you want, there is your only option. Most of the rest of the state shuts down at 10pm and never even starts up on Sundays.

Kauai is also very nice. Much quieter than Oahu and Maui. Great hiking. The island is practically one humongous beach that just wraps around it with very sculpted and green mountains in the middle. Dry and hot in the south, wet and lush in the north. Windy and a bit more rainy on the east side, West side is uninhabitable - but the boat rides and hiking are great.

So, I don’t know how helpful this will really be for you. I don’t think you can go wrong with Maui, so maybe start thinking about it first unless something I said about Oahu and Kauai grabs you.

12 October 2006 | More like this: Hawaii - general, Maui, Big Island, Kauai