Two adults flying from the mainland, currently three nights Oahu, three Maui, four on the Big Island, with a rental car booked on each. We want one volcano, decent snorkelling and at least a couple of days where we do nothing. Everyone I mention it to makes a face and then says nothing useful, so tell me specifically what this costs me in real hours.
If you keep the Big Island, understand its scale before you book accommodation. Kona and Hilo are on opposite sides and it is a serious drive between them, and the volcano park is a long way from the resort side. Four nights split two and two, or four nights on one side with one long day out, are very different trips. We stayed only in Kona and spent two days almost entirely in the car, which was the actual mistake.
Same lesson here. Splitting the stay costs one afternoon and saves two full driving days.
Book the timed entries before you book anything else, because several of the best things now need a reservation released a fixed number of days ahead and they go quickly. That has applied to sunrise at the Maui crater, the popular snorkel bay on Oahu, and the state park on the Hana road in recent years, but the rules have been tweaked more than once so check each park's own site rather than a blog. Put the release dates in your calendar with an alarm; that single habit has saved every Hawaii trip I have planned.
Budget note that surprised us: parking and resort fees at hotels were a meaningful daily cost on top of the room, and the rental car sat unused on the days we stayed at the beach. On a two-island version you can drop the car for part of the stay and it is not painful.
@lowtech_lior · 2mo ago · 3 replies
Each island change is not a one hour flight, it is most of a day: return the car, get to the airport with time for bag drop, the flight, then the queue at the rental counter on the other end and the drive to wherever you are staying. Two changes eats close to two of your ten days, plus two extra check-ins and two lots of unpacking. Cut Oahu, do Maui and the Big Island, and you get the volcano, the snorkelling and the doing-nothing days without ever setting an alarm for a flight.
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@curious_wren · 2mo ago
Two of ten is a much starker way of putting it than 'island hopping is tiring'. That basically settles it.
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@clinicfloor_amy · 2mo ago
Add that the days either side of a hop are half-days too, since you are packing in the morning and arriving in the late afternoon. It compounds.
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