We would like to go on a 1 week vacation, our son is graduating high school and he suggested Hawaii. Can anyone recommend tours to take or even an agent to use? Any feed-back is much appreciated.
You have to take the road to Hana
http://www.mauiinformationguide.com/road-to-hana.php
OMG was this phenominal.
You will have an awesome time no matter what you do but this was incredible
Have Fun
depends on how independent your family is. If you guys are good at going and doing on your own, I would say go to Oahu first, rent a time share and a car and drive up to North Shore and rent snorkeling stuff, Diamond Head (even more fun if you rent a moped), and Pearl Harbor. You can spend a day at the beach and then find a travel agent there on the island (they are everywhere and your time share unit will have places they use) and go for a day or 2 to the big island on a island hopper! The big island has the active volcano park, the black sand beaches etc.
We are very active travelers and want to see everything while we are there so we just go-go-go. I hear that the volcano-bike tour on Maui (?-the super famous one that you do at sunrise) is REALLY cool, but Maui can be more expensive because it is extremely resort like. Check travelzoo for flights and craigslist or a time share website for places to stay. Rent a car, moped and snorkeling stuff as you go. Island hopping is also cheaper once you are there- spend the first day getting everything in order and then just enjoy!
If you aren't so independent, I would say- find a good resort that is recommended by others and just do tours that they suggest and have there.
I guess it depends what you as a family like to do. For us we did not want it is be so touristy so we went to Kauai instead of the main island. It is a small island that you can drive around in a day through a desert, rain forest, mountains and beach. If you go at the right time whale watching is fun, if you love hiking this is the island to go to, great places to eat, hotels are nice, great beaches & waterfalls! We just ordered plane ticket, hotel and car rental ourselves... then got a good travel book on Kauai that had the great spots to see, we picked what we liked and planned out our relaxed days.
Here is a great website: http://www.gohawaii.com/kauai
Here is the book we used: The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook
It has great maps, food places, beach info, attractions and so on.
We've have visited the Hawaiian Islands several times....Maui, Hawaii and Kauai.
With only 1 week, you should think about what your family enjoys doing the most....do you prefer touristy, shopping, crowded beaches and restaurants? Or do you want to hike, relax on quiet beaches, drive back roads?
On Maui - the 'must' do's would be snorkeling on Molokini... the tour boats are expensive, crowded and you get about 20-30 minutes of real snorkeling at each location due to the sheer number of people on the boat who have to get in and out of the water. The volcano is awesome, gorgeous drive, amazing interpretive center, and very affordable. The Road to Hana - well, it's very beautiful but only go if you can handle 5-6 hours of twisting, turning, roads. Otherwise, just drive out to Keaana, it's a gorgeous jetty about 1/2 way out with black lava rocks and waves crashing everywhere. Truly stunning! If you go to Maui, I highly recommend the show called U'la Lena (sp?) in Lahaina....it incorporate Cirque Soleil elements, and depicts the Hawaiian history.
Ditto the Kauai recommendations below.
You might want to consider renting a time share from Ebay or Craigslist or a reputable on-line vacation condo, rather than hoteling it. You can even camp if you were so inclined. AAA has camping books for the islands.
What does your son envision?
We usually always stay in Maui, and take day trips to other islands you want to see. Honolulu has Pearl Harbor which was great. Maui has the Road to Hana, all sorts of Hikes thru rain forests, and an active volacano you can drive or bike to(can't remember the name). I am sure whereever you stay can give you information on other things to do. Love, Love, Love Hawaii.
We went a few years ago and LOVED it!!! We took our 15 month old and I was 3 months pregnant too. We stayed at Waikiki and there is SO much to do: shopping, beach, zoo, sea life park, Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, luau and lots of great restaurants. We rented a car and drove around the island, had lunch on the North Shore and watched the surfers. It was fantastic.
I can't recommend tours or agents, but I did want to tell you that my husband and I went to the big Island and stayed near Kona at the Hilton Wiakola. While the hotel was nice, there wasn't much to do on the island and we got bored after 2 days. I haven't been to the other islands, but my family and friends that have been to Hawaii love Oahu and Maui.
Try travelzoo.com they are always emailing me about cheap trips to Hawaii.
