Maui is beautiful, Kauai is too! What about the others?

[chemteach Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chemteach]

Just wondering what people who have travelled all the islands think. Obviously, people willl like different islands for different reasons. I have always heard amazing things about Maui, so we wanted to visit there. We were lucky enough to get back to back weeks - one on Maui, one on Kauai, and after seeing the beauty of Kauai, I don't quite understand why more people don't visit here.

So, having seen only 2 islands, I would pick Kauai as my favorite island for its vast beauty, great snorkeling, and beautiful scenery to look at even if you are in a traffic jam near Kapaa.


Maui had great beaches, and I would certainly go back, but I'd come back to Kauai if I could only visit one island.

Also, for those of you who have visited all the islands, could you share your thoughts on what makes each one special? We are coming back for a week next year, and will most likely stay on the Big Island because we have never been there.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Kauai is my Favorite followed by both Kona and Maui.

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

Kauai is my Favorite followed by both Kona and Maui.

Hmmm, last time I heard Kona was just a city. Didn't realize it had been elevated to island status. But seriously.... our favorite is the Big Island of Hawaii (where Kona is ).

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Trying to choose among the islands is like trying to select among blondes, brunettes, and redheads.

There is no bad choice, and the biggest spoiler is stumbling across something phony or artificial. If you do proper preliminary research and checking, you should be able to avoid those problems.

****

Kaui'i is our favorite. Maui and the Big Island are probably tied for second, with Moloka'i third. O'ahu is our least favorite.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Hmmm, last time I heard Kona was just a city. Didn't realize it had been elevated to island status. But seriously.... our favorite is the Big Island of Hawaii (where Kona is ).

Well Kona and Walkiluia is the big Island, Other than the Volcano on the other side.

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

Well Kona and Walkiluia is the big Island, Other than the Volcano on the other side.

You haven't spent enough time on the Big Island.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Also, for those of you who have visited all the islands, could you share your thoughts on what makes each one special? We are coming back for a week next year, and will most likely stay on the Big Island because we have never been there.

You will love the big island as it has the variety of scenery. Where do you see a live volcano and the National Park looks like a moonscape?

Only a few miles away you drive through the rain forest and it rains often and very hard but the rain never lasts that long to spoil your day plus you may see double rainbows too. One day, when we were there, it rained 17 inches in 24 hours so the road was closed from Hilo to Kona. It rains a lot more in Hilo than in Kona but we prefer the area there as Kona is so touristy and we like to spend time in the park.

There is often snow on top of the Mauna Kea in the winter and star gazing is out of this world and when you drive the northern part of the island, you believe you are driving in England somewhere. It has rolling hills with a lot of cattle and it is so green.

All islands are beautiful but each one is different so it depends what you like to see and do. We love Molokai too but don't expect a choice of restaurants there or tours to take or fancy hotels. There is only one. We like it because it is the way Hawaii once used to be before the tourists came and it has beautiful scenery if you like to hike or take a Jeep and the beaches are deserted when we were there.

I like Lanai for a day tour but not much more unless you like to play golf. They have some nice hotels there but expensive, I believe. We went to Lanai on a fast catamaran and took a tour on the island and went snorkeling. I can highly recommend this tour to anyone.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

You haven't spent enough time on the Big Island.

Well I was there 1 week. We seemed to just stay from Walkiulia to just past the black sand beach on the other side of Kona. Went to The coffee company I believe was Greenwalls. We drove down the middle of the Island to get to Hilo and Golfed some where on that side.

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

Well I was there 1 week. We seemed to just stay from Walkiulia to just past the black sand beach on the other side of Kona. Went to The coffee company I believe was Greenwalls. We drove down the middle of the Island to get to Hilo and Golfed some where on that side.

Sounds like you missed the whole "northern" portion of the island. Did you get to Hawi, Waimea, Honoka'a? Or down into Puna when you were on the Hilo side? It's taken us quite a few trips to really "see" the island. If all you're doing is going between Waikoloa and Kona, you're missing a lot. I guess you can tell my prejudice.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Sounds like you missed the whole "northern" portion of the island. Did you get to Hawi, Waimea, Honoka'a? Or down into Puna when you were on the Hilo side? It's taken us quite a few trips to really "see" the island. If all you're doing is going between Waikoloa and Kona, you're missing a lot. I guess you can tell my prejudice.

We saw Waimea and I did drive around a lot on the Hilo side but had no idea where I was. I kinda got lost looking for the Municipal golf coarse. I don't play golf but my son wanted to try it for the first and last time in the heat. We spent most of the time in the Volcano Park before going to the lava flow.

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

We saw Waimea and I did drive around a lot on the Hilo side but had no idea where I was. I kinda got lost looking for the Municipal golf coarse. I don't play golf but my son wanted to try it for the first and last time in the heat. We spent most of the time in the Volcano Park before going to the lava flow.

Well, if you were only there for a week and got lost trying to find the golf course, you're forgiven for only seeing part of the island (it is big).

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I love them all for different reasons. My favorite is Maui, though. That's because it has the most number of things I personally like to do and the views are the best since are so many islands that you can see from the land.

My wife's favorite is Kauai. She loves the natural beauty of the island.

[bevvy5 Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close bevvy5]

We love the Big Island, but haven't been to Kauai yet. Maybe next time.

This will be our third trip to the Big Island and there are things that we simply MUST see that we've missed on our first two trips. This time we'll be there a full two weeks so should get the list accomplished.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

We love the Big Island, but haven't been to Kauai yet. Maybe next time.

This will be our third trip to the Big Island and there are things that we simply MUST see that we've missed on our first two trips. This time we'll be there a full two weeks so should get the list accomplished.

We're doing both... Big Island again (2d time), because we LOVED it and definitely didn't get to do everything the first time. Kauai after that, so we'll see... I wish we were doing it in reverse order, so I knew we were ending in a favorite place, but perhaps Kauai will surprise me!

[Faust Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Faust]

They don’t call Kauai the Garden Island just to be calling it the Garden Island.
It’s a natural Garden of paradise.