Hawaii honeymooners...

DH and I are finally leaving for our honeymoon to Hawaii on Friday (4 months after the fact!)

If you went to Hawaii on your hm or any other time...what was something you loved and will always remember? What should we definitely not miss?

We will be in Oahu, Maui and Kauai.

Thanks for the help!!

zip lining in either kauai (book as soon as you get there) or maui (a great back up if kauai is booked which it was in our case). also, horseback riding on the beach in kauai. definitely check out the poipu beach broiler for dinner (on the island of kauai-- if you are staying at the grand hyatt it is right down the road. ask at the front desk).

maui is beautiful - they have so much to do and also have nice horseback riding. avoid riding the bike down the mountain -- a woman got killed while we were there and a guide told me it happens ALL the time - so scary!

definitely take a hiking trip in maui to see waterfalls -- wow!!!!

hope that helps... if you can eat in wailea for dinner. there are tons of places: nick's at the fairmont kea lani (amazing), humu humu at the grand wailea (soooo good!!!), or bistro molokini at the grand wailea. oooh and definitely eat at DONDERO'S (which is in the grand hyatt in kauai). it was so good!!!!!!

hope that helps.

it does help...thank you.

Riding a bike down a mountain is out. lol. I'm not sure it was ever in (i don't bike!) but if i did..it's out now!!

Go to Mama's FIsh house in Maui and have the macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi (their specialty) it was to die for. We also enjoyed driving the road to hana but I only recommend it if you like driving.
In Kauai I recommend going to the Waimea canyon.

(This is a repost from my honeymoon review. We were in Kauai for 10 days)

I stayed mostly in the South and the East, so that's where most of the locations are. If you want a really great guidebook, we used 'The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook' by Andrew Doughty, which was recommended by EVERYONE. Has a lot of the local secret hot spots etc.

One of my favorite beaches...Maha'ulepu Beaches. there are tons of lithified cliffs there and a really easy walk along the coastline. It's really empty there compared to other beaches. by the time we made it to the end..the last beach had only 2 people there.

if you want to do some swimming Poipu Beach is the best. the waters are relatively calm...and it's really close to you guys

The Sprouting Horn is this natural geyser..and that's near you too. it's more of a drive by and look kind of thing. you don't need much time there

And the National Tropical Botanical Gardens are down there... REALLY gorgeous. They also have one up north.

If you want to drive a little, you can visit the East shore. I really recommend the Secret Falls kayak/hike. A lot of the outdoorsy companies do it (it's not really that big of a secret anymore hahaha). The drive up to Wailua Falls is really nice too.

If you have time, do the drive up Waimea canyon...it's about 3 hours but the views are AMAZING. when you go all the way to the time (about 21 miles uphill), you're at over 4000 feet and you have a magnificent view of the Kalalau valley in the Na Pali coast.

If you have time to drive all the way to the North, I really recommend Ke'e Beach. It's right by the Na Pali Coast and it's beautiful

And if you were thinking about doing a helicopter ride, i LOVED ours. Our pilot lived all over Hawaii and said Kauai is the best island to do it because so much of the island is still in it's natural state.

oh, if you want really great views of the Na Pali coast, you can take a boat out there to see it. Some of the companies have romantic sunset dinner trips. We didn't do it because i get sea sick and didn't want to feel like crap the whole time.

There is ziplining and tons of adventure type activities. I didn't do most of them because of the baby...but Kauai Outfitters is one of the more reputable companies there.

Kauai is a GREAT hiking island because of all the mountains. We didn't end up doing as much hiking as we liked because i was getting eaten up by bugs every time we tried to enter a forest/jungle....even with insect repellant. There are hiking guides out there specific to Kauai.

TO EAT:
Beach House Restaurant - really great for a romantic dinner...right on the beach. fantastic views. best during sunset...if you can get a reservation for that time (we couldn't )

Keoki's Paradise - good burgers

Puka Dogs - you HAVE to try this..it's a hawaiian style hot dog. they put this garlic cream sauce...then you add tropical flavored sauces - like pineapple, mango, etc. instead of ketchup and mustard. sounds weird but SOOO good

jo-jo's clubhouse - really good shave ice...you have to get it with macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom.

Hamura's Saimin Stand - if you're willing to try some local food. this is a noodle soup place. It's really similar to asian food, so we were okay with it.

Kountry Kitchen - for breakfast. HUGE portions

Duke's Canoe Club. probably one of the best deals for dinner . all their dinner entrees come with this big salad bar. and if you go early enough, they serve his huge prime rib for like $26.

Kalaheo Cafe and Coffee - good for lunch..good sandwiches and YUMMY garlic - parsley fries

My pics from Kauai

In Maui make sure you go to Mama's Fish House. Great restaurant! Try diving if you never have. We first took a 15 minute lesson at the pool at the Hyatt in Kauai. Then we did a beach dive. Then the most amazing dive was in Maui off Molokini. We did Mt Haliakala and the Road to Hana all the way to the 7 pools. Some people say it's not worth the ride, but I disagree. It really is an experience and DH and I had a blast. We were crazy and did both in one day, but it was fun and we took turns driving. Another good place to eat is Buzz's Warft, laid back and great clam chowder. You have to see the Napali coast in Kauai. We didn't get a chance to do the helecopter ride because I actually have friends that live in Kauai and we spent a lot of time with them. Oahu you have to do pearl harbor and the famous Dukes. We had amazing lemon drop shots there! We couldn't do Ziplines because they were booked until mid Aug, so try to call before. Most of all have fun and be adventurous! You are on Islands, how lost could you get?

here's info on Maui, I pulled this from a reply I posted a while ago to another Hawaii honeymooner!! you can see why I wouldn't want to re-type it....since it's looooooong hope you have fun!!!

ok, here's some of my suggestions, we went to Oahu & Maui.

We stayed right on Kaanapali Beach, so these will be most helpful if you're also staying within that area.

Food-
Leilani's in Whalers Village- good prices, great food and amazing sunsets right on the beach.....I was addicted to their tuna melt (and still daydream about it....never knew a tuna melt could be so good! DH was loving their fish taco's, yum!

Right next door is the Hula Grill- also yummy, but a little more expensive

Kimo's on Front St. in Lahaina- love love love this place, the best dinner we had while in Maui!!! I had some steak & chicken combo it was sooooo good!!

Lapperts: if you go there, I recommend the Kuaui Pie ice cream

Cool Cat Cafe- towards the end of Front St. in Lahaina- the burgers are amazing!! very relaxed atmosphere (50's diner sort of feel) and good prices

Mama's Fish House- the food was excellent, but it is definitely expensive!!! each of our seafood dishes was around $40-$50, it's worth it, but its a bit of a drive if you're staying in Kaanapali (like we did). I'd recommond making a day out of it, go to the Haleakala Crater, or check out the waterfalls on the Road to Hana, and then stop by Mama's fish house for dinner and sunset watching....make reservations early!! we called the morning we wanted to go and they only had 4PM or 8PM available, so we didn't get the full sunset.


as for activities:

luau's- we went to two while we were there: Old Lahaina Luau and they Hyatt Drums of the Pacific. The Old Lahaina luau sells out ahead of time, so buy tickets now if you want to go.....it was definitely great b/c it had such an authentic feel and the sunset there is just uncomparable to any other I had seen on the island......BUT both DH & I enjoyed the food more at the Hyatt Drums of the Pacific luau, and they also include a fireshow, which the Old Lahaina one doesn't (b/c it's not considered traditional at luau's). since I love history so much I still thoroughly enjoyed the Old Lahaina luau, b/c I appreciated the background they were giving leading into the dances, it really felt like a story you were watching, and the footwork definitely seemed more precise then the one at the Hyatt. but my husband didn't care about any of that, so in his opinion he would've skipped Old Lahaina all together, and just went to the Hyatt. they're about the same price, so if you only go to one, I'd say go to the Hyatt.



we did a dune buggy ATV ride:

we went with the Kahoma Ranch tour right out of Kaanapali- it was over $100 pp, but it's roughly 3 hours you're riding so it wasn't bad, and you get some gorgeous views of Kaanapali from up above in the mountains. I also liked that DH & I were able to ride together in one dune buggy (since I'm a chicken).....the other one we considered was ATV quad's near the Haleakala Crater, but that one was I think more rough terrain and we would've been riding separately......plus when we got there it was already sold out for the day, so that was definitely the deciding factor on not doing that excursion!! lol I have some pics in my album of the dune buggy ride we did. they even rent out clothes for $5 b/c you get THAT dirty!

as for other activities, I would've loved to do snorkeling at Lanai, but for some reason DH didn't want to. I also wanted to do a dinner cruise, but it was too late to book it and it was our last day there.

Oahu

Dukes for sunset cocktails
snorkling in turtle bay
Resteraunt in Halekulani Hotel called Orchids They make the best Martinis!!!
Dolphins @ The Kahala Hotel
Shopping downtown
(skip all the polynesian luaus- they stink - overratted)
The only one that is decent but is all DAY w/no cocktails is Polynesian Cultural Center Luau.

Kauai

The helicopter tour - brings you through waimea canyon and where they flimed Jerasic Park.
Horsebackriding on secret beach
Driving through the famous eucalyptus Tree Tunnel - on the road to Koloa and Poipu.
Fern Grotto jungle -very romantic.- sometimes u can weddings that are being held

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Posted by MrsDaniRella

zip lining in either kauai (book as soon as you get there) or maui (a great back up if kauai is booked which it was in our case). also, horseback riding on the beach in kauai. definitely check out the poipu beach broiler for dinner (on the island of kauai-- if you are staying at the grand hyatt it is right down the road. ask at the front desk).

maui is beautiful - they have so much to do and also have nice horseback riding. avoid riding the bike down the mountain -- a woman got killed while we were there and a guide told me it happens ALL the time - so scary!

definitely take a hiking trip in maui to see waterfalls -- wow!!!!

hope that helps... if you can eat in wailea for dinner. there are tons of places: nick's at the fairmont kea lani (amazing), humu humu at the grand wailea (soooo good!!!), or bistro molokini at the grand wailea. oooh and definitely eat at DONDERO'S (which is in the grand hyatt in kauai). it was so good!!!!!!

hope that helps.

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Do you know which zip line company? We are leaving on Aug 30 and I want to do this too!

OMG we LOVEEEDDD hawaii!! Maui was unbelievable....definitely do the road to hana! it was soo worth it. We met another couple and did the drive with them, it was lots of fuN! Also we loved the sunrise on Mt. Haleakala, so amazing we went twice lol....we did the bike ride down and it was soo beautiful! def. try it if ur feeling adventurous. we also enjoyed going into old lahaina town, good food and cute little shops...youre going to love it there, have fun!

We loved Hawaii!
In Maui we took surfing lessons -- so much fun!
We did the bike ride down the the volcano, and I was scared, but it was fun.
The old Lahaina Luau was sold out, so we went to the Hyatt's Luau, it was OK.
We spent a lot of time just relaxing on the beach.
In Kauai, we went ziplining, which was amazing. I loved the company we went with -- Just Live. Definitely look it up.We were able to book just a few days in advance, while Maui was booked up months in advance. We also went horseback riding, and the thing I loved more than anything was driving from the South Shore to the North shore of the island. It was absolutely beautiful.
Stop at all the lookouts and beaches along the way. So amazing.
In Maui, to save $, this is going to sound insane, but the sushi at safeway is amazing! If you are staying in Kaanapali, its a 10 minute drive away, and its a great lunch, or even dinner on the lanai with a bottle of wine if you get tired of spending $$$$$ for dinner, and want a quiet night in with your hubby!
No matter what you do you will have an amazing time. Enjoy!