Anyone been to Maui or Kauai?

W

White_07_G6_GT

New member
I'm heading out in 46 days on a my two week honeymoon. 6 nights on Maui and 7 nights on Kauai. I've got the books that list all the popular places but can anyone tell me places not to miss? We are staying at the Hyatt on both islands, got an amazing deal from a broker in Hawaii.



Thanks in Advance!!
 
Only been to Kauai once but I loved it. Great for outdoorsy stuff, sightseeing, snorkeling, surfing, sailing, kayaking, mountain biking, hiking, etc. It’s got a small-town, local atmosphere so don’t expect much in the way of night life.



Stop by the Oki Diner on Kuhio Hwy in Lihue to eat like (and with) the locals.





PC.
 
the other pc said:
Only been to Kauai once but I loved it. Great for outdoorsy stuff, sightseeing, snorkeling, surfing, sailing, kayaking, mountain biking, hiking, etc. It’s got a small-town, local atmosphere so don’t expect much in the way of night life.



Stop by the Oki Diner on Kuhio Hwy in Lihue to eat like (and with) the locals.





PC.
Click to expand...



Ditto - unless you are writing a book or looking for seriously deep relaxation, Kauai can be done in 3 days. Its the greenest (in color) place I have even been to.
 
Oki Diner eh.. great! Thats the sort of info I'm looking for thanks!!



Jsatek: We were planning on going to Kauai only for 3 days and then spending 3 in Honolulu but decided that just relaxing was more important than going to one more island.
 
I been to Kauai when I was 12, This Island don't have to much you can do, but drive along the coast. There is caves you can check out. Now remember if you go swimming or surfing there is Jellyfishes so be careful out there!



and then to Maui, 2 years ago on my Honeymoon.

Now that's a Great Island, So much you can do there. There is a road call the Hana road it takes you on the south or north (I forgot) of the island its a five hour drive its Worth it. On this road there's water falls you can check out. Now I didn't stop to see everyone, There are tour Vans that can take you on this road. At the end of the island there is a place called the 7 secret pools that you can jump in, Its very nice to check out!! If you can do the drive.



If you like the water, you can rent jet ski and have fun. Where the NICE hotels are, they have very nice shopping there and the walks on the beach at night are great!



Lahaina is a great place to eat, shop and walk. they have hard rock cafe and other great places to eat. You should try Bubba Gump Shrimp its great food!!!



You are going to love Maui! its one nice place to see!!
 
Parasailing is a really fun one, snorkeling and scuba diving are fun too. Some advice on snorkeling or scuba, find a smaller operation where you'll only be on a boat with say 12-15 other paying customers. You'll see better wildlife if there aren't 50-60 people pouring off the boat and disturbing everything, and you'll probably get better service from the crew. We went on a family vacation to maui and did two snorkeling trips, the first one was on a very large boat with a lot of people. That was still fun, but it was 10x better and we saw much better sights on the smaller boat with the small crew. The food was better too!
 
The wife and I make a trip to Hawaii every year for a couple of weeks.



The way to look at the islands -



Oahu is the most urbanized, touristy of the group



Kauai is the complete opposite, very rural for the most part, not crowded



Maui falls in the middle with a balance of the 2.



My favorite island after seeing them all is Kauai... specifically the North Shore/Hanalei Bay/Princeville area. It takes about an hour drive to get there from Lahui airport (b/c the road only circles one side of the island, the napali cliffs make a highway going the other way impossible) but very much worth the drive.



Do yourself a favor, make the trip to Princeville, get to the Hanalei Bay Resort, and have dinner at the Bali Hai Restaurant at sunset... follow up with cocktails in the Happy Talk lounge or drive into town and hit up the local bar (Tahiti Nui's)



I'm a scuba diver so Kauai was top notch for diving if you decide to go. I'd also recommend taking a helicopter tour... less than 20% of the island is reachable by road... and being that its the oldest island in the chain it has some amazing sights to see that only a copter is gonna get you to... specifically the Napali Coast at dusk... it'll take your breath away.
 
It only takes one time to Oahu for you to appreciate Kauai. As mentioned above Maui is a good in between but Kauai was my favorite. If LAID BACK suits you then you will enjoy it.
 
I live on Maui. First pick up a few coupon books their all over the place. Lots of 2 for one dinners in them. As far as a drive to Hana well if you like traveling 30 miles in 3 hours than it's for you. Travel at least to Hookipa beach park number one windsurfing beach in the world. It's on the way to Hana. From there you could go back to Paia and turn upcountry traveling to Makawao small cowboy town, this is where I live. Want some fresh Oranges, Tangerines, Avocados and lemons than stop by my place.
 
I spend a year on Oahu in the late 80's (interned at the Shipyard) and got to visit 6 of 7 islands. My fav - the Big Island - most laid back, widely varying terrain (even had snow on the top when I was there), black sand beaches, and I got to see the lava flowing into the ocean.



One thing the tourist books rarely discuss is the hiking. Every island has great hiking from the coast up to the base of the interior mountain where spectacular waterfalls are created from the rain constantly falling around the peak. I got maps from the local government centers. They will warn you to be careful as the weather in the higher areas is cold and can change rapidly leading to exposure. I don't know if it is still true but the locals warned me about wandering into someone's 'crop' as well since the rain and rich soil are good for growing legal and illegal plants.



Another big draw for me is the food - get as much variety as you can since almost any pacific rim food can be found in Hawaii. I didn't find any local (hawaiian) food on either Maui or Kauai but if you can find it, Kailua pig, pork lau lau, lomi lomi salmon and, of course, poi are great. Other local favs are malasadas, chorizo, manapua, spam (the stuff from ham) and sno cones (taste great at the beach). The hotel restaurants had macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup. The sushi was really fresh too.



Finally, the outdoor sports, especially those involving wind (windsurfing the trade winds) and water (snorkeling and boogie boarding) are highly recommended. I never did the helicopter thing but the glider ride I did on Oahu was great.



Maui was mostly for windsurfers (great winds) and tourists (shopping). The road to Hana was a great drive and people who've done it speak highly of the sunrise bike ride down the mountain (Haleakala).



Kauai's had the quietest beaches and some of the fanciest resorts. I don't know if they are still there but the resorts were outrageous - lagoons, zoos etc. I never made it to the mini Grand Canyon there but it is supposed to be quite scenic.



My info maybe a little dated but . . . :) Pau Hana!! - RG
 
What are your interests? Sightseeing, hiking, watersports, shopping, eateries? If you golf, Kauai and Maui have some of the best courses in the world. I agree with YoMike, Hana is a nice drive if you have the time. If you go there, be sure to book a night at a hotel out there, Hotel Hana Maui, because you're not making it back in a day :chuckle:



Someone mentioned IamHawaii.com in another forum. You can check that out for local stories and attractions.
 
WOW you guys rock!!!! All this information is just amazing!!!!



These are the only things we have booked to do so far.

Maui:

Golf ( not sure yet the package hasn't been finalized.)

Bike down Haleakala

Road to Hana.



Kauai

Na Pali Coast.

Helicopter ride.

Golf (Poipu Bay Resort) A gift from one of my customers.

Waimea Canyon



As for what we like to do pretty much anything watersports, hiking, I love photography so I'll be looking for all those great picture spots. Relaxing on different beaches will be high on our list of things to do, this wedding is like a 3rd career at the moment.
 
I went to Kauai a few years ago. There is a ton of things to do from sitting on the beach to riding ATVs.



Poipu Bay is an EXCELLENT golf course. They play the Grand Slam of Golf tournament there. All the winners of the major PGA tour events play together in one tournament there. So, you can imagine there's only 4 players maximum in the tournament. It's a beautiful course and fairly challenging IIRC. The other GREAT course on the island is Princeville. You probably recognize the name if you've ever played the Tiger Woods video game. It's always one of the courses. It's unbelievably beautiful and equally as challenging. The starter told me to expect to lose one ball per stroke of my handicap. I didn't quite lose that many but I lost a lot.



My other suggestion is you MUST eat at a restaurant called "The Beach House." The back of the restaurant faces west and overlooks a beach. The whole back of the restaurant is all sliding glass doors that they leave open weather permitting. Make sure you make a reservation for sunset because the restaurant faces west you'll get a beautiful view of it. If you don't make a reservation you'll probably have to wait and will miss the sunset. It's one of the most romantic restaurants I've ever been to and the food is great. Plus, order a top shelf Mai Tai. It's just a Mai Tai made with all top shelf liquor instead of well bottles. It tastes SO much better.
 
I was there a few years ago. My wife and I got engaged there. We went all over the place, snorkeled a few small hidden beaches. We went and saw a cave thats on the beach. It's awesome, I can't explain it. Tons and tons of things to do. We found a small pizzeria and ate lunch. We then asked some locals there what kind of small local things there are to do, not the big commercial things. They told us about a small waterfall that only the locals know about. We found it after driving down some abandoned roads, and then walking a half mile through some woods. It was awesome! there were some other people there, and we just enjoyed the cool water and took lots of pics.
 
We just retuned from our Maui Kauai Honeymoon.



We spent 5 nights at the Sheraton Maui which is loacated on the best part of the beach, but the Hyatt is nicer and a little closer to town. We rented snorkle gear in town for $5 a day. Drove the road to Hana a full day trip and stay away from Blue Pool!!!! The land owner is nuts and if I was not on my honeymoon I would have laid him out for calling my new wife a c_nt. We filed a report at the police station. There is a long story as to why he is such a jerk. I recommend eating at Kimo's, very good service and food. We drove as far as the blowhole in west Maui as we hear the road was pretty bad after that. We did not get to see the sunrise at the crater :mad: We did the Old Lahaina Luau, which was the best, the food was top notch. Make reservations in advance.



We spent 4 Nights in Kauai at the Hyatt:drool: We have stayed in a lot of hotels and resorts and this was one of my favorites. It seem to have everything just right, not stuffy fancy and not too plain. The rooms are nice, we were upgraded to a partial ocean view facing the pool. The pool and grounds are fantastic, it is hard to leave the hotel. Use the valet parking and buy beer in town for the pool, $6 for a poolside beer. We went on a helicopter tour (Blue Hawaii) which was the highlight of our honeymoon IMHO. We drove the North shore, but did not spend enough time checking everything out. Drove the south Shore and the Waimea Canyon roads. Also took an off road trail with our jeep wich was nice since we got to see the napali coast, but we got covered in red dirt, it ruins everthing. There is not much nightlife except hotel bars in Kauai. Eat Tidepools at the hotel and the hotel buffet is pricey $27 PP, but the egg sandwich on the menu was killer(literally)!



Bring good sunblock and a wide angle lens.



If you have any questions, give me a shout.



Road to Hana

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Maui Coast

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Steve
 
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