OK guys...those of you that live in Hawaii or have traveled there.
Next winter (18 months from now), we are tentatively planning on visiting HI for 4 weeks. With a family of 6, we always rent houses and according to cyberrentals.com, there is no shortage of places with enough bedrooms...
Absolutely. Keep an eye on the condotels and the time-share rentals, too.
You might want to check when (and how much) the prices go up this winter. I don't know exactly when high-season rates go into effect but it's no later than mid-December and it lasts until well into February. It might be worth seeing if you can arrange a month's rental at one place or lock in a lower rate on shorter rentals. A couple other posters on the board really did their price research (especially Trombone Al) and might share their secrets with you.
We are on the east coast USA, with 4 kids under 12, it makes sense to split the traveling up into two parts - east coast to west coast, maybe an overnight stay or two and then west coast to hawaii...which city has the "best" flights to HI...I would guess LAX, true? or is there a better route?
Believe it or not, the best flight I've ever had was a first-class seat out of... Newark NJ. Continental goes straight to Honolulu in a 10.5-hour marathon that eliminates a lot of weather & crowds hassles, to say nothing of lost luggage. I don't know how young your youngest is but the longer flights have given our kid a chance to settle in, watch a couple movies, eat a couple meals, and play with all the features of the entertainment system before crashing for a long nap. I never heard a single "I'm bored" and ours was much less frazzled when we finally arrived. I think it's way better than switching planes every four-five hours and keeping track of everyone in the departure lounges.
If you're seriously planning to travel during snow season then I'd stay far away from O'Hare. Go through Atlanta or LAX/SFO or even DFW... but not O'Hare.
As far as staying on HI, is it crazy to think about spending a week on 3 or 4 different islands?
Yes, it is crazy. There are no prizes for island-hopping, they're not different enough to make it worth your family's logistical effort, and you're gonna get punchy real fast with the "It's Tuesday so this must be #$%^ing Ka'anapali" attitude. If this is your first visit then you might want to do 10 days in Waikiki and three weeks elsewhere, but with four kids in tow I wouldn't go for more than one other island. To the kids, the beach is the beach no matter where it is or how hard you had to work to ditch them there.
I heard there is a car ferry service starting up soon, so renting a car for the month and then staying a week on each island seems plausible.
So far I'm not impressed with the ferry (
Hawaii Superferry A Whole New Way To Get Around The Islands). It's in the harbor, it looks great, the crew is making practice runs, the website is taking reservations, but it hasn't actually hauled anyone yet. The only service route is Honolulu - Kahului (Maui), it leaves Honolulu at 6:30 AM, and it takes three hours each way. No one knows if the rental-car companies will let their fleets go holoholo (I'm guessing it'll cost extra money for the option). But if you want to see Maui, if you're going as passengers (no car), and if you're able to handle the schedule then it's cheaper than the airfare. Rent a different car at the other port.
Last year our kid & I flew to Kahului Maui for a weekend. Our plane tix & rental car were under $300 for a 30-minute flight and will probably be about the same this fall. I worked a quote through the SuperFerry's website and after all the special fuel surcharges, taxes, and "fees", the price came to over $500 for three hours of sea duty. I'll pass. But it may be a good deal by the time you get here-- after these guys get some experience and the initial crush dies down I suspect the pricing will get better. They might even float a second ferry by the time you get here, but right now it's not quite ready for prime time.
As far as the various islands...anyone care to give me a quick run-down on the pros and cons of the various ones? i.e. most built up, best beaches, most private etc? most scenic, most expensive/exclusive etc?
Start with the "101 Things to Do" website (
Hawaii Vacations - Hawaii Travel - 101 Things To Do in Hawaii - Hawaiian Island Information -).
If this is your first Hawaii visit then you should do Waikiki. Very kid-safe beach and plenty of other things to keep everyone entertained. Hanauma Bay, the Diamond Head Lookout hike, & Makapu'u Point whale-watching are right around the corner. There's Sea Life Park, the Polynesian Cultural Center, and plenty of shopping/browsing. You can even visit a zoo and an aquarium, which are surprisingly good for their age & location. Your kids will forever remember their ride on the Atlantis submarine, although you'll probably forever remember the price.
If you can bear to haul everyone out of Waikiki for an hour's drive to Kalealoa (Kapolei/Ewa) then I'd be happy to meet you at White Plains Beach for a family surfing lesson. If they can swim then I'll have you all stand-up surfing in less than an hour, and I can rustle up enough boards to keep everyone busy at the same time. (I'll push 'em into the surf, you catch 'em at the beach turnaround for the paddle out.) Of course you can also get surfing lessons in Waikiki from the beach concessions by Duke Kahanamoku's statue-- but White Plains is much more open, much less crowded, a much shorter paddle out, and a lot cheaper. When they get tired of paddling, White Plains' shore break is awesome for grommet boogie boarding and sand castles. It's not dangerous but it's a real Disney-quality thrill ride.
IMO your best bet for a second island would be the Big Island. Your kids cannot return home to their friends if they haven't seen the lava. You can spend some time at the volcano, spend some time at Hilo, spend some time in a cheap rental home in Pahoa, and even drive to the other side for the big city lights of Kailua-Kona. But I think after Waikiki (and its bustle) you'll be ready for quieter family time on the Big Island. Hilo captures the most of the charm of Old Hawaii while retaining the convenience of a Wal-Mart and CostCo. Prices are a bit higher than Oahu but lower than the other islands.
Our best-ever family vacation was on the Big Island's Pahoa coast at a Kapoho Beach rental home. (Google that phrase and you'll find a couple dozen of them.) The gated community had great walking trails, an old lava field to explore, and unbelievable snorkeling. Turtles visited daily. The neighborhood was built with water channels and tidepools to nearly every backyard, so your kids can don their snorkel gear on the lanai and splash among the fish while you man the [-]frosty beverage & BBQ grill[/-] lifeguard station. The tidepools are very safe (only about 4-6 feet deep) and heated by subterranean lava flows to 85-90 degrees so it's great just to soak (the last eruption there was over 40 years ago). A petrified-forest state park is 15 minutes by car, the volcano is an hour's drive, and Hilo is about 30 minutes. You might need to bring video tapes or DVDs for the evenings after everyone collapses (check your rental house to see if they have a VCR/DVD player... and a TV).
Maui has its own imitation of Waikiki with the Lahaina/Ka'anapali area. We prefer Ma'alaea Bay (lots of rental condos) with the oceanarium, boat harbor, and beaches. If your kids are old enough then Oprah's Thompson Ranch land may be open for horseback trail rides. You'll also want to take a snorkel cruise. Don't bother with the road to Hana; your kids will go car crazy and you won't enjoy the driving.
Kauai is our favorite island for Kapaa & Poipu, but there are fewer kid-friendly activities. Lihue is a small airport and the island is more expensive than the Big Island or Maui. Waimea Canyon is breathtaking, as are the eco-tours and the beaches. Our kid was bored.
Molokai & Lanai are very small, very rustic, and (compared to the other islands) very lacking in visitor amenities. Prices are much higher than the other places. We've lived here 18 years and I have yet to haul my butt over to either of them, although I'm told that their surfing is like it was in the rest of the world during the 1940s. Some day I will spend a week at Molokai Ranch and another week on Lanai.
Niihau is private property and closed to visitors.
Last question, (for now), generally speaking, which island/airport is the one you fly into or are there several big ones to choose from?
You can fly from the Mainland into Honolulu or Kahului Maui, and perhaps also into the Big Island's Hilo or Kona (they keep changing their schedules and I don't remember). Honolulu has the most airlines & flight times. Lihue is generally only accessible from Honolulu.
One other idea: I'd repost your questions at the Hawaii Threads board (
HawaiiThreads.com - The Hawaii Forum). It has a very busy section of people asking questions about moving to or vacationing in Hawaii, and a lot of the board members live to [-]know it all[/-] share their experience. You'll get a lot of kama'aina recommendations and some posts from the neighbor islands. You might even find rental home bargains that you'd never see on a consolidator's website.
