Deciding which island to go in Hawaii…
A friend of mine is asking for my advise on which island to go for a vacation as she knows I enjoy doing the trip research. June 17 2008 will be the day that Chinese tourists can land in US with a legitimated “leisure travel” visas, although the visa type is not going to change. (see my previous post here.) Hawaii is the first travel destination in US coming to our minds when thinking a vacation which in Chinese means “spending the holiday/non working day”.
Oahu (瓦胡岛): Oahu is where Honolulu is on. If you are not taking a cruise to Hawaii, fly to Honolulu is probably one of the best options. It is the capital city of State of Hawaii and the hub of Hawaii. I can imagine everything is more convenient in a more developed city, and there are more man-made attractions/landmarks/museums here: Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona Memorial and USS Bowfin Submarine – all are about “not-to-be-missed” military history – a family friendly island. Oahu is good at containing resorts in a single area – Waikiki. Outside, there are only 4 resorts. which is a good news for people have headache in planning where to stay.
Kauai (考艾岛): Kauai is the shell-shape island on the northwest corner of Hawaii. Its interior is mountainous with depply eroded valleys and large plains around most of the coastal areas. Travel guidebooks say it rains a lot. Looking at the map, there are freeways around almost the whole island. Kauai airport is in Lihue. You can find places for hiking, scuba diving, swimming and snorkeling on this island. My favorite dream activity is to swim in the Queen’s Bath and treat myself as a Queen.
Big Island: Big Island of Hawaii is the biggest island of the state, it lies on the southeast and it is the most far away island from Kauai. If Hawaii is famous of its volcano, then Big Island is where you should go to see how the islands are born. Hawaii is the name of this island as well as the state. Hawaii Volcano National Park offers more to see and you will be very lucky if you see the flow of lava. See my previous post about Hilo beaches.
(thanks Sang for the image)
Maui (毛伊岛): Maui is the second largest island in Hawaii. It has the reputation of being pricey. Most activities cost more $$ here than on other island. Be prepared for the fact that “spending time on the island is spending money”. Most of the resorts are on the west and the south, look for names like Lahaina, Kapalua, or Kihei-Wailea when planning where to stay. Beaches and waterfalls are what you can enjoy the most (to avoid spending a lot of money).
So the first thing to plan a trip to Hawaii is either pick a city (e.g. which you can get a discounted air ticket or resort stay) or pick an island. Generally, you can do most of the water activities on any of these islands. One other non-typical things to do is to hunt a vacation home on the islands as investment. Oahu real estate is a local agent help people buy and sell homes, they have branches in Kauai and Big Island as well. Its website provides a searchable database to allow buyers to look for homes before making contact.
Tags: Hawaii Dream Vacations, hawaii travel
Grigo
I found your site while looking for stuff to do while in Hawaii. Cool stuff, glad I stumbled across you.