Honeymoon Discussions

Hawaii Honeymoon Tips

Hello!

I am trying to book my honeymoon to Hawaii. We are getting married in September and plan to go on a mini-moon to Nantucket following the wedding. We are planning to take our honeymoon to Hawaii in January and am looking fr some advice.

Our plan is to go for 2 weeks. Fly into Maui stay for 4/5 nights, then fly to Kauai for 6 nights, then to Oahu for 2 nights. 

Maui
Any suggestions on Hotels that have ambiance but can still satisfy the kid in us?
Which part of the Island is bigger to stay I was looking into Lahaina but have heard Hana is nice as well. We are also trying to stay within our budget.

Kauai
We are planning on staying at the Marriott Beach Resort, is there a better option at the same price point? We are big foodies what are some good spots to eat?

Oahu
I have been told to stay away from Honolulu, but we really want to visit Pearl Harbor. Should we stay on Waikiki or another part of the island?

I appreciate any and all tips!!!
Thank you!
Abby


Re: Hawaii Honeymoon Tips

  • I think you will be bored stiff staying in Hana. Plus, the only resort in Hana is pricey. Your best value will be in the. Kaanapali or Lahaina areas, plus that area is the most developed.

    If you really want to only go to Pearl Harbor on Oahu, you can also consider a day trip from Kauai. It really is an all-day type thing, though. Otherwise, staying in and around Waikiki makes the most sense from a distance standpoint. Traffic can be a pain on Oahu. 

    Not sure what type of budget you are working with, so people won't be able to help much with resort recommendations.

     







  • Ditto Jells on Hana, it is a very long drive to get there but not much to do once there.  The Road to Hana is one of the big things to do in Maui though, so make sure you go on that!  Grab a picnic lunch at one of the small shops in Paia, its one of the last "big towns" and there won't be many food options after. There are many stops along the way and I recommend driving fully around and not going back the way you came.  It can be easy for any passengers in the car to get car sick.  Also, see a sunrise or sunset at the top of Haleakala crater.  If you do the sunrise and Road to Hana within a few days of each other, you can get free park entry at the other side of Haleakala National Park.  You use one entrance to see the sunrise and the other entrance to see the 7 Sacred Pools on the road to Hana.

    We went to Maui, Kauai, and BI last January.  We stayed in Kihei which is sort of centrally located on the island of Maui.  We stayed at the Days Inn there, which was on the water.  We were also able to get an ocean front room.  The accommodations were nice, nothing fancy, but we did have a small fridge and microwave so we could eat breakfast in most morning.  But there were many larger hotels along this stretch of town too.  Many restaurants in walkable distance too.  If you go with this, book a 2nd floor ocean front room, they had a balcony overlooking the ocean!

    I have also stayed right near Lahaina at Puamana, which is a gated community of townhouses and condos.  It is about a 10 minute walk to downtown Lahaina.  I really enjoy the burgers at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Lahaina.  There is also an amazing shave ice place just off the main street.  I think its Ulani or something like that. 

    If you want a splurge dinner, Mama's Fish House on Maui was rated one of the best restaurants in the US by Trip Advisor.  You must make reservations (they were on Open Table).  Its also a great place to see the sunset, so plan your reservations accordingly!

    For Kauai, we have stayed in Princeville the two times we have gone.  I recommend Captain Andy's sunset dinner cruise to see the Na'Pali coast.  It is breathtaking!  I also recommend the tubing adventure with Kauai Outback Adventures.  We ate at Beach House Restaurant for lunch one day in Poipu, it overlooks the ocean and was really tasty!  We also ate at Bouchons in Hanalei, a really great dinner!  There is a small chain called Bubba Burgers, they use local Kauai beef, so the burgers are fresh!  We also ate at Scotty's BBQ in Kapaa, which overlooked the ocean and had great food. 

    When in Hawaii try the POG juice, its amazing!

    Lastly,  for Oahu, if you are only going to see Pearl Harbor, I would also consider a day trip from another island.  Or fly into Oahu, stay one night, see Pearl Harbor the next morning and leave for your next island later in the day.  I do recommend seeing the Battleship Missouri, which you have to pay for (PH is free), which you will catch the bus to see the Missouri from PH.  But if you want to stay in Oahu a few nights, looks into Kailua, it is nicer and less congested place.  Drive around the north shore, see Hanauma Bay (you need to pay to reach the beach area), and drive through Waikiki Beach area.

    Somewhere on your trip take in a luau.  I have heard good things about Old Lahaina luau on Maui.  I have gone on Kilohana luau in Kauai and it was amazing!  I also did the Chief's Luau on Oahu at Sea Life Park, it was also really great and I think they interacted with the crowd a lot more than some of the larger luaus.  It was a great setting with the high mountain peaks behind up and the ocean in front of us.

  • I did Oahu - Kauai - Maui, and stayed at the Hyatts at all.

    If you are looking for a hotel on Maui, there are 2 Hyatts. I stayed at the regency which is nice and has an AWESOME luau, and there is the brand new Andaz which is their boutique/fancy one. The hyatt regency also has African penguins which I loved. Do not stay in Hana. Not only is it a pain to get to and from (though I DO rec the road!) there is not much to do, and you'll be driving far to do anything.

    The road to hana is a must IMO (at least once). We had a rental car and accidentally went the WRONG way on the road (it's a giant loop, but you aren't supposed to go down one half). So we ended up doing the entire loop, and were lucky because if it were raining we'd have been in trouble! We did the hike at o'heo gulch, stopped at the black sand beach, the red sand beach (very dangerous) and a couple of the other spots. We stopped briefly in hana and got some powerades.

    Kauai was my favourite. Here is my pimp out (I rec to everyone going to Kauai): https://kauaiairtour.com/air-boat-combo-tour/ You can only see the napali coast by either hiking in (its like a 2 day hike or something crazy), or from the coast itself - air or sea. This tour was awesome. For hotels, we stayed at the grand hyatt Kauai - one of my favourite hotels ever! The pool is a multi-level monstrosity. It has so many little coves and inlets and you can always find a spot somewhere not surrounded by 1900 people. There are also water slides and a salt water lagoon where you can rent little canoes/paddle boats.

    Favourite place to eat here: Joe's on the green. We saw the most amazing rainbow EVER here.

    Also liked the Kauai brewery and Kalypso.

    Things to do: mostly sight seeing. If you do the trip above that is 2 days. We also went to the glass beach and the north shore. We ended up finding a total dead beach (Lumaha’i beach) and just chilled there for a while.


    Honolulu itself reminded me of LA. It's easy to find a nice hotel, however parking sucks (and is $$$). I would not rent a car here, but you can do trips to Pearl harbor and explore the beach/area/shopping/etc.


    Have so much fun!!

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  • In Hawaii right now and vote for staying in the Puamana condos in Lahaina. Can save a ton of money as they are a full kitchen place and you can make most of your meals. Lots to do in Lahaina including SUPing, surfing, biking, hiking, whale watching, Atlantis submarine, glass bottle boat, fishing. West Maui loop is a fun drive. I wouldn't stay in Hana. Great places to eat include Sale Pepe's, Honu, Ono gelato, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Star Noodle, Lahaina Grill. 

    I agree with PP that a day trip to Oahu might be all you need. Cheap flights will leave early in the morning and come back late at night. I just did that yesterday and we managed to do ALL of Pearl Harbour and eat dinner at one of the fancy Waikiki hotels. I would spend the extra time that is not devoted to Oahu in doing helicopter and fixed wing flights leaving from Maui and touring the island and checking out the volcanos on the Big island. 

    Hawaii is gorgeous and I hope you have a lot of fun while you are there. You have definitely picked a fantastic time as you will be right in whale watching prime!
  • We went to Kauai for our honeymoon.  We stayed in Princeville (gifted a timeshare) and while it was super nice accomodations, looking back we would have liked to stay closer to Lihue part of the time since the majority of things we did each day were on that side of the island.  We absolutely loved the Grand Hyatt Kauai (we went to a Luau there, so spent the day at the pool, etc prior to that).   So we loved the quietness of Princeville, but would have enjoyed a night or two where there was more "night life."

    We loved Hanalei and I remember liking Kalypso-- they had a great happy hour and fun drinks. 

    Closer to Lihue area, there was a mexican restaurant called Mariachi's that we liked.  Good view of the ocean if you sit outside upstairs. 

    We had a really nice dinner at Tidepools.

    and we had a nice happy hour at Roy's one day. 

    We typically made breakfast at our condo, and did a late lunch/happy hour type meal in the afternoon where we were exploring for the day; and did a nice dinner out 2 nights + the luau.  Other nights we made dinner at the condo as well.  Food is expensive so we stocked up at the grocery store and took advantage of the kitchen. 

    If you are in to Rum, visit the Koala Rum Plantation!  They do free rum tasting and it was a fun experience.

    Our favorite activity was the ziplining at Princeville Adventures.

    We regret not doing the dinner cruise of the Napali' coast, so definitely do that if you can!    

      
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