Help with Hawaii Itinerary

[love1999]

We're trying to decide how we are going to split our time between the Big Island and Maui. We have been to Maui before but no the Big Island. Here's what we have so far:

Day 1 Big Island--drive north to Hilo, spend time there and return to Kona via the south side--we'll stop along the way I'm sure--still researching

Day 2 Big Island--Volcanoes National Park

Day 3 Big Island--explore various beaches on the island and then do a Manta Ray snorkel at night

1/2 and 1/2 day where we take our interisland flight to Maui--we'll do a sunset whale cruise in Maui that night

Day 1 Maui--Road to Hana (we've done this before so are basically driving to the end of it to do the things we missed, like the bamboo forest)

Day 2 Maui--southern part of the island--Kihei, etc.--we never went to that area last time

Day 3 Maui--daytime whale watching cruise, maybe driving up towards Kapalua to check out the northern portion (we didn't do that last time either)

We have one other full day that we can either spend on the Big Island or Maui. We originally were building it in as our final day on Maui to just chill and relax. However, do you think we're missing something important on the Big Island and should use the extra day there instead? We need to make a decision today if possible so I can snag a great deal on a hotel for the Big Island.

[mdgirl]

I would spend the extra full day on the BI, but I'm pretty biased because I love it and I'm not so crazy about Maui. And after spending time on the BI the Road to Hana might not sound so appealing (not only because you'll be doing a lot of driving, but I just think the scenery is better on the BI), so that could end up being a relaxing day. Since you're doing a good job of seeing the island, I'd just leave the extra day on the BI open so you can go back and spend more time somewhere you liked. Or if you wanted to be more ambitious you could plan on hiking to South Point, and the snorkeling is good with lots of turtles, so that could be an option, too.

[aurora]

I also enjoy the Big Island more than Maui, but it does depend on what you like. My big thing is being able to get away from the crowds.

I'm confused about your days 1-2 itinerary, though. If you're driving north to Hilo on day 1, that implies that you're staying toward the east or southeast side of the island, which isn't that far from Volcanoes NP. Then you say you're going to return to Kona, which sounds like you're staying in Kona...but that's on the west side of the island. Maybe I'm missing something, but if you're staying in Kona then it would be a lot of driving to do Hilo one day and Volcanoes the next, I think. If you're staying south of Hilo then the amount of driving doesn't seem as bad.

[marytini]

I am also confused about Day 1 on BI. Sounds like you are doing the Circle tour, basically going all the way around the island. Yes? No? If so, that's one hell of a long day, and doesn't leave alot of time for stops.
As an example, we stayed in Kona. We got up early one AM, drove to the Black Sand Beach, spent about an hour there (we stopped at the Punulu'u Bakery along the way for malasadas). Drove to Volcano NP and did the Kilauea Iki hike, about 2 hours, plus a stop at the gift shop and the museum. Back on the road, stopped at Ahalanui Park, a sort of hot spring for maybe an hour or so. Back on the road, past Hilo, then across on the Saddle Road, up to Mauna Kea for the star show etc. Then back to Kona from there. It was a long day, we arrived back in Kona around 10 or 11pm.
If you want an example of how we spent our time (1 week) here are links to my blog posts:
www.lifeon19th.blogspot.com/2011/05/hawaii-trip-review-part-1.html
www.lifeon19th.blogspot.com/2011/05/hawaii-trip-review-part-2.html
www.lifeon19th.blogspot.com/2011/05/hawaii-trip-review-part-3.html
www.lifeon19th.blogspot.com/2011/05/hawaii-trip-review-part-4.html
www.lifeon19th.blogspot.com/2011/05/hawaii-trip-review-part-5.html

[joenali]

I second the bakery! YUMMM!! We went to the black sand beach and the green sand beach. We loved Southpointe. It's an interesting place. Be prepared to hike into the green sand beach unless you have 4wd and are willing to perhaps get stuck in the sand or deep hole!! We LOVED the Big Island. We did Volcanoes national park and it was OK, but we really wanted beach time. I heard the best way to see the volocanoes stuff is to get a private tour. The park will definitely take all day if you are coming from Kona.

[love1999]

We are staying in the Keauhou area near Kona. Yes, we were thinking of driving the circle the first day and then doing volcanoes the next. From what I had read, we'd need a full day just for volcanoes. I had googled and it said it was 2 hours to Hilo from Kona going north and about 3 hours coming back via the south route. We may change the plan as we do more research, but that is our current plan. Our parents live 2-2.5 hours away and we do ay trips there plenty so I wasn't too concerned when I saw the drive times.

[basilosaurus]

Your BI doesn't make sense. To race to see Hilo and then come back to Kona then go back to Volcano involves a lot of backtracking. Even if you don't mind driving, it's not how you'll want to spend your vacation. Spend a night in Volcano if you want to see that area.

[dutchgirl678]

I would skip on Maui on this trip. I've been to both on separate trips and prefer the BI. You could easily spend all your time there.

We stayed in Keahou as well when we were on the BI. We did drive to Hilo and back in one day but both times took the northern road. Then the next day we drove to Volcanoes and stopped at the Black Sand beach on the way. The bakery that was mentioned is definitely worth a stop.

Snorkeling is a must. Check out Kahaluu Beach Park at the South Side of Kona. It has a reef that protects the beach so it's super easy to snorkel and we saw lots of fish and even a sea turtle there. Honaunau Bay was another favorite snorkel spot.

We also flew around the island and saw the lava from the plane.

[love1999]

Our airfare to Hawaii and back is already booked so we are definitely going to Maui. We both loved it so much last time so we definitely wanted at least a few days there again to check out some of the places we missed last time. Based on everyone's comments we've decided to do the extra day on the Big Island and booked our hotel last night. Now I just need to book the interisland flight, a Maui hotel and our excursions!

[jchokie79]

We just got back from spending two weeks in Maui last month and we enjoyed every minute on the island. I had been to the BI when I was a child so I don't recall a lot. We probably should have broken up out stay and visited at least one other island but we were also getting married in Maui and just wanted to be relaxed and not worry about repacking and flying around so much. Anyway, we truly enjoyed our time in Maui and would go back in an instant.

We stayed in the Lahaina area at the Honua Kai Resort - highly recommend it. We did the sunrise which was awesome, RTH was fun too. I did wish we had a chance to do the whale watch cruise. Merriman's was the best meal we had there our wedding night.

Have a great time!

[ESquared423]

I agree with the others about driving all the way to Hilo and then going back to the volcano park the next day, that's a lot of driving you will not want to be doing. The BI is massive, and with just a single 2-lane road it's not like you'll be zipping right along. My husband and I stayed in Kona and did the Hilo side and the volcano park in one day, we got up early that day to do so. I would not want to have driven back that way 2 days in a row. And I guess it depends on what you want to do at the volcano park, but we were satisfied with the 2-3 hours we spent there, we just did the Crater Rim Drive (half of which was closed) and poked around some of the trails.

I highly, highly recommend stargazing on Mauna Kea and seeing the green sand beach, it's a bit of a hike..but nothing too strenuous, and the payoff is awesome! We also did a coffee tour at Mountain Thunder and my husband still raves about it, it was really very cool if you're coffee lovers.

If you have the time and if it's in your budget, a helicopter tour of Maui and Molokai was AMAZING. We used Air Maui and were very pleased. Did you go to the red sand beach on Maui? At the end of RTH, it's a little hike to get there, but it's pretty cool. We enjoyed the drive on Route 340 to 30 much more than RTH when we were there, it was a bit more intense but we thought the scenery was nicer. Maybe that's just because we had a rainy day for RTH and a gorgeous sunny day for the west side drive.

There isn't much to see in Kihei, we stayed nearby when we were there, it's a cute little town, but it's just little shops and restaurants, nothing spectacular.

Also, I hope you are booking your interisland flights with Hawaiian and not with Go! or Island Air, becuase you just might not make your whale watch cruise on your first night in Maui if you fly with Go...