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Hawaii Honeymoon Advice

zerostarzombiezerostarzombie member
First Anniversary Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Comment
in Honeymoon Discussions
Hello all! I'm getting married 6/3/16, and the FI and I are looking to Honeymoon sometime in late September or early October in Hawaii. We're looking to stay in Maui or the big island. We plan to do Air BNB, which is really not that hard to find one. The only issue that we are having is choosing which part of the island to stay in. We want to do more of an adventure honeymoon with a little relaxation, i.e. snorkeling, zip lines, restaurants, and also the beaches. Any suggestions would be great! We would be flying from Philadelphia airport in Pennsylvania to Maui or the Big Island. We know flying will be about $1k or so, and stay will be about $1k. We just need suggestions on what part of the island to visit and what to do. :)

Thanks for the advice in advance!
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Re: Hawaii Honeymoon Advice

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    OliveOilsMomOliveOilsMom member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its

    First, pad your flight budget up.  We have been to Hawaii twice while married and neither time were we able to get flights for $1k each.  We spent about $1800 pp when we flew in July 2012 and $1300 pp when we flew in January 2015.  We also fly out of Philly.  This past trip, we flew out to Seattle on a Friday night and then flew to Maui Saturday morning.  It was much cheaper than doing all the flying in the same day (and easier on the body!).  We took Alaskan air from Philly to Seattle and then Hawaiian from Seattle to Maui.  Our inter-island flights cost about $75 pp one way too.  Yes, you can get cheap flights, but they can be hard to schedule and can give you very long layovers (overnights sometimes).

    As for places to stay.  In Maui, I have previously stayed at Puamana, which is a gated community located near Lahaina.  They have many different units and the complex is right on the water.  So you may be able to get an ocean front or view unit.  They had 2 pools, one adults only there.  My H & I stayed at the Days Inn in Kihei this past January.  It was a decent hotel and right on the water.  Kihei is a centrally located area on Maui.

    For the Big Island, we stayed in Kailua-Kona.  We did day trips over to Hilo and to Volcano National Park.  What I might suggest is book in Kailua-Kona for a few nights, spend a night near Volcano National Park (they have their own hotel there), and then spend a few more nights in Hilo.  It takes about 2 hours min to get to each of those 3 different places I mentioned.  If you go to Volcano National Park and stay late to see the glowing caldera, you will have a pitched black drive home for 2 hours.  Not fun.

    If you can, try to go for a week and a half.  With the flights, it will seem like you are barely there after flying all that way and staying for a week.

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    JoanE2012JoanE2012 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    @OliveOilsMom  - I think it's a little cheaper to fly in the fall.  Currently, PHL - Hawaii is a tad over 1k.  Depending on location in PA, there is a direct flight from Newark to Honolulu that I see for late Sept for $950.  I'm pretty sure that was near the going price the two times we went in the fall (not exacty sure, we redeeed airline miles both times)  I prefer the non-stop - because it's one less chance of my baggage getting lost and I get to my destination faster.   hahaha. 

    OP - In Maui, we stayed in Kaanapali - really enjoyed that area and the nearby town of Lahaina.

    In the Big Island, we stayed in Waikaloa.  It was fine, though OliveOilsMom's suggestion of breaking it out is a good one.  We just wanted one home base (my DH dives and I like to sit pool side), so it wasn't too bad.  We did Volcano and it was a long drive home at night (not to mention all the restaurants were closing when we finally stopped in Kona for dinner)
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    WinstonsGirlWinstonsGirl member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    I haven't been to Maui, but we did 10 days in Kona this past Christmas.  We stayed right in Kona (Royal Kona Resort - clean, but really needs an update desperately).  We spent 2 days on full day excursions, and the rest were with beach/pool or a mix of pool and adventures.  

    Our first trip was up through up north through Waimea to the coast and then we followed the road to Hilo.  Came back in the middle of the island and went to the top of the mountain.  

    Our second trip was south to the southern most point, then following the road to the black sand beach and finally Volcano Natl. Park.  We stayed past dar for the glow.  Not a lot of restaurants there (in Volcano).  We ended up coming back through Hilo and the middle road between the mountains.  The road south of Kona is a smudge shorter, but very curvy and we didn't want to drive it at night.  We actually ended up following a tour bus back, which was going Kona, and they went this way too.  Drive at night was easy this way.  

    Other things we did:
    Manta Ray night scuba - you can snorkel too.  Amazing.  Best thing ever
    Lots of snorkelling, including with dolphins - really cool too
    Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park - Place of Refuge, wooden tiki statues
    White sands beach (really, it was a beach)
    Humpback whales off our pool balcony
    All the sights on the 2 day trips we did

    Honestly, most of what we saw was closer to Kona.  I'm not sure I'd stay in Hilo as we hit things over there on the 2 day trips we did


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