Which is your favorite Hawaiian island?

[hoorray]

We''ve been to all of the islands. Good swimming beaches are harder to come by in Hawaii than anyone every expects due to the rocky coastline in many places. My take is the following:

kauai: the most tropical and lush. More laid back. There are places to stay besides the Hyatt that are very nice. (The Hyatt is very nice, the the ocean is not very swimable. The lagoon is very nice, but not the same as the ocean IMO.) Kauai is my favorite part of Hawaii -- especially the Princeville/Napali end, but it can be very rainy. I thnk there are lots of spots where you can escape the tourist crush on kauai.

Maui: has a little of everything. Great golf. Lots of tourists and mostly resort based. Hana is beautiful but very remote and isolated. I, personally wuldn''t want a whole vacation there.

Big Island: Beautiful, interesting island. (volcanos, lave, horse country, beaches, rain forest, etc.) The Kona side is very much about the resorts as the rest is arid and volcanic. The Mauna Lani and Mauna kea have great beaches and great golf. Some of the others don''t have great beaches (lots of lava around there), but I don''t know about the Kona Resort. Kona is a nice town. It has grown tremendously in the part 5-10 years. the other side is the tropical side, but it isn''t really set up for tourists and vacationing, from what I have seen. You can visit the other side if you have a car, but the drives are pretty long.

All in all, from what you said, I would look at kauai, and look beyond just eh Hyatt. The Hyatt is very nice, but just one of many different options.

 

[Ann]

Date: 9/23/2006 9:42:37 PM
Author: lop
We''ve been to all of the islands. Good swimming beaches are harder to come by in Hawaii than anyone every expects due to the rocky coastline in many places. My take is the following:

kauai: the most tropical and lush. More laid back. There are places to stay besides the Hyatt that are very nice. (The Hyatt is very nice, the the ocean is not very swimable. The lagoon is very nice, but not the same as the ocean IMO.) Kauai is my favorite part of Hawaii -- especially the Princeville/Napali end, but it can be very rainy. I thnk there are lots of spots where you can escape the tourist crush on kauai.

Maui: has a little of everything. Great golf. Lots of tourists and mostly resort based. Hana is beautiful but very remote and isolated. I, personally wuldn''t want a whole vacation there.

Big Island: Beautiful, interesting island. (volcanos, lave, horse country, beaches, rain forest, etc.) The Kona side is very much about the resorts as the rest is arid and volcanic. The Mauna Lani and Mauna kea have great beaches and great golf. Some of the others don''t have great beaches (lots of lava around there), but I don''t know about the Kona Resort. Kona is a nice town. It has grown tremendously in the part 5-10 years. the other side is the tropical side, but it isn''t really set up for tourists and vacationing, from what I have seen. You can visit the other side if you have a car, but the drives are pretty long.

All in all, from what you said, I would look at kauai, and look beyond just eh Hyatt. The Hyatt is very nice, but just one of many different options.

Good points, here. I loved Kauai, Maui was too touristy for me.
If you end up on Kauai, there is a little pearl shop on the highway to the Princeville Resort, ohh, so nice. I bought a nice South Sea pearl necklace there. But beware the pearl outlet closer to the Hyatt.

 

[firebirdgold]

I think we may be leaning towards Kauai

and more specifically to either the Sheraton Kauai resort or Princeville Resort for the wedding. I''ve been looking at the trip advisor reviews and I''m just horribly confused, particularly with Princeville.

I''m really worried about the possibility of the rooms being mildew-y and uncomfortable due to age. The scenery is prettier and lusher, but the Sheraton is more likely to be sunny in March and just finished spiffy renovations.

Hotel Hana Maui sounds relaxed and private, but would be a bit of a pain to drive to after a long flight. And maui in general sounds like it might be too touristy for us. While Kona Village has the perfect relaxed feel and is all inclusive, quite frankly we already live somewhere that looks like a dry moonscape and want something different.

 

[diamondfan]

the part of Maui that is the dry side, Wailea, is not as bad as some of the other areas in terms of being touristy, but I have not been in a while. I stayed at the Four Seasons for years and loved it.

I have heard that Lanai, which has two resorts I think, is very lovely, but quiet, not a lot going on.

The road to Hana is quite curvy. There is a stunning resort up there, and the Seven Sacred Pools are supposed to be amazing, but it you stay up in Hana I am not sure what there is up there other than the resort, which is the Hana Ranch I think. (I live in the East now and have not been to Hawaii for a long time, so I am certain that some things have changed).

The big island can be cool, I stayed at the Mauna Kea and the Mana Lani, and I know there are some other great hotels, including a Four Seasons and these huts that have no phones and are supposed to be so cool. I would avoid huge hotels on any island...too many people and the service is not usually as good.

 

[hoorray]

I''ve stayed at Princeville, and was lucky to have a great room. The hotel was full of honeymooning couples and weddings. I''ve heard that you can get stuck with some non-views etc, unless you pay more. Also, the weather on that side of the island is variable, so Poipu is safer weatherwise. I like the little town of Hanalei, and love the Napili coast, but you can easily day trip it up there if you choose to stay on the other side. If you plan to go to Napili coast, take good walking shoes and maybe a backpack.

I''ve heard good things about the Sheraton, and have dived off the beach there from a boat. (It''s one of their main dive spots -- spoted by the Sheraton.) I think they have a good beach, but I am not 100% sure. I think Mara got married in Kauai at a more out of the way place up the coast from Poipu (if I remember correctly). Maybe she will chime in .

 

[Sundial]

Indie if you do choose Kaui be sure to have dinner at The Beach House. It is an incredibly romantic place to watch the sunset and enjoy gentle ocean breezes while having a fantastic meal.

 

[Leila]

Date: 9/25/2006 8:09:03 PM
Author: Sundial
Indie if you do choose Kaui be sure to have dinner at The Beach House. It is an incredibly romantic place to watch the sunset and enjoy gentle ocean breezes while having a fantastic meal.

Great suggestion! If you do go, make reservations well in advance, they get very busy.

 

[rainwood]

If you do Kauai, I agree about the Beach House recommendation. Great restaurant. As is Tidepools in the Hyatt Regency. And try Brennecke''s Beach Broiler for a more casual, great fish place. And if you want a fun restaurant that both kids and adults can enjoy, Keoki''s Paradise in the Plantation Village shopping center is a fun, tropical place that doesn''t pretend to be gourmet but could be good for a crowd.

I can''t help you with Princeville because we haven''t stayed on the north side of the island, but I''ll tell you what I know about the Sheraton Kauai. We haven''t stayed there, but have walked through the property a number of times (as part of the oceanfront walk), eaten there and had drinks there. A beautiful restaurant location out on the point and has a nice sandy beach that borders the Kiahuna where we have stayed several times. Our impression of the Sheraton seems to mesh with what the Trip Advisor reviews say. Spring for the oceanfront rooms or go elsewhere. The Sheraton has had to rebuild all the oceanside buildings twice in the last 25 years because of hurricanes - Ewa in 1982 (we got caught in the middle of that one which is a whole other story) and then the even worse one around 1992 so they''re relatively new. The buildings further back from the water are much, much older. If the Sept. 2006 renovations are for the whole resort, maybe choices will be better for some of the older buildings but there were certainly some dog locations a few years ago. That would explain some of the nasty room reviews. And the service can be spotty, but that''s true in a lot of places.

Nice sandy beach, looks like the pictures (the sandy part isn''t very wide but it''s a fairly long beach that continues on past the Kiahuna) and it isn''t a great swimming or snorkeling beach because it gets too much wave action, particularly in the winter and March qualifies as winter. You can splash around but kids would probably be better at the state park beach which is a little more protected although not as pretty. There was better snorkeling at the state park too which is further east although walkable from the Sheraton if you don''t bring too much gear. There is great diving off the Sheraton (sea turtles!). And even though Poipu is the dry side, March is still winter and it could rain. I believe this is going to be an El Nino winter so you may want to do some research on what that means for Hawaii weather. Some places get more rain in El Nino years, some places like where we live (Pacific NW) tend to be warmer and drier in El Nino years. I don''t know what El Nino means for Kauai.

Hope this helps.

 

[firebirdgold]

Hmm. I''m still stuck.

All the islands sound so beautiful. I wish we had time to visit all the islands but we just don''t have enough vacation time to do more than one. All the resorts seem to have a fatal flaw

and I just can''t decided between them.

So I was hoping that picking an island would solve the picking a resort problem.


Princeville == Moldy rooms (Dad''s allergic), and lots of marble.
Sheraton Kauai == no swimming/snorkeling to make up for not being the perfect lushly tropical beach. (and it''s a sheraton)
Kona Village (the huts place) == A little too small children friendly and on the least attractive island (Big Island) even if the property is pretty.
Hotel Hana Maui (the ranch)== Food''s very expensive yet apparently iffy in quality, and there''s really no other dining options in Hana.

Oh woe is me, I can''t decide between 3 gorgeous islands and four gorgeous resorts.

btw.. just how much credence do you guys put into things like the tripadvisor user reviews??