Maui or Kauai

jemali_2003

I am looking into booking our honeymoon and don't know if we should go to Maui or Kauai.  I have talked to a lot of people and have heard many good things about both islands.  We definitely don't want to island hop because we just want to relax all week.  Do you have a preference?  Is one island cheaper?  Is another easier to get around?  Thoughts please!

ladynred19

We just got back from our honeymoon.  We spent 4 days in Oahu and 6 days in Maui.  We LOVED Maui!  We've also heard that Kauai is beautiful.  We did a day trip to the Big Island, but we wished we had spent it in Kauai instead.

If you decide on Maui, definitely do the Road to Hana.  We took a tour with Valley Isle Excursions because we wanted to enjoy the trip and not have to worry about driving it.  Our tour guide, Kekoa, is 14th generation Hawaiian and was incredible! The scenery was beautiful and the commentary was great too!  Lots of places to stop off and take pictures!  We had a minicoach (8 people total on our tour) with leather seats and water and sodas all day.  And it was the only tour that included breakfast and lunch.  The tour took us to all the way to Hana, and then we had time so we went past Hana and visited the Winery. A+++++!

We rented a car, but only used it minimally to get to other areas and beaches.  We stayed that the Ritz Carlton in Kapalua, Maui and had great service!  Kapalua was really really windy and spinkled daily.  We used the car to go to Lahaina for a little shopping, whale watching excursion, and dinner cruise.  It's a nice little area.  The beaches at Kaanapali were the nicest and less windy.  We visited the Hyatt on Kaanapali and were really impressed with the lobby area and pool.  They have waterfalls in the pools, there were penguins and birds in the atrium area.  One bird kept saying "Aloha", it was the cutest thing!  The Kaanapali area has a boardwalk that connects the hotels and shopping area.  We thought that was good because we didn't have to drive.  

The only thing we wished we would have had more time was to visit the Haleakala Crater and eat at Sansei's.  Sansei's is a sushi place that supposedly is wonderful.  It's only open for dinner.  And we passed by it a couple of times and it always had a line out the door.  We had reservations one night, but had to cancel because we were stuck on that day trip to the Big Island and couldn't get back in time.    We also didn't have time to visit Kihei area of Maui.  But I guess that's for next time!  Hope this helps a little!

jemali_2003

Oh wow!  That helps a lot.  Good to know there are still a lot of things to do in Maui even though it's not a busy island like Oahu.  I have been to the Big Island before and don't really want to go back there.  

chicagobride_07

I prefer Kauai to Maui, but it is a personal preference.  The Na Pali coast on the North Shore of Kauai is one of the most beautiful places on earth, IMO.

fallbride1109

We chose Maui because we thought for us it would be the perfect balance of beautiful and romantic but still with lots to do and see.  I have a review in my married bio. We also stayed at the Ritz (and ate at Sansei's twice!  )

heramber

We went to both and each island had it's definite pros and I would not have wanted to miss out on either one.