Those of you that went to Hawaii....

We are definitely going to Maui for most of our honeymoon and FH really wants to go to Oahu to see Pearl Harbor, but we wanted to visit one more island.
From what I hear, there is not much to do in Kauai, but sit on the beach...but I don't hear many people visiting The Big Island. We kind of wanted to go there to see active volcanoes. So, which would you recommend...Kauai or The Big Island?

I've been to Kauai and it is stunning. I went to Hawaii last year with my fiance to visit his sister. We stayed with her in Oahu and went for a few days to Kauai. It was absolutely stunning. We stayed at the Kauai Marriott Resort and Beach Club. You can take a tour of Waimea Canyon which is the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

I heard that the Big Island has beautiful National Parks. If my fiance and I do Hawaii again we would definitely do the Big Island.

FH and I are doing The Big Island (2 nights), Maui (6 nights) and Kauai (3 nights).

The Big Island has the volcanoes. Basically all we are doing is spending 1 day there to take a helicopter tour over the volcanoes and drive the island a bit.

Then we're doing 6 nights in Maui and 3 in Kauai. Kauai is very similar to Maui, just not as built up yet. They are both 'flower islands' so beach and beauty. There's more of a night life in Maui.

We figured while we're flying all the way there, we might as well see as much as we could.

I haven't been to the big island so I can't comment on that BUT we did go to kaua'i and everyone told us we'd be bored there and the only thing to do is to sit on the beach. It is all lies! We wish we spent more time in kaua'i, we missed out on the helicopter ride because we just didn't have the time but I heard the best place to do a helicopter ride is kaua'i because it's so beautiful. We also did ziplining there and had an awesome time. There really is a lot to do. We liked Kaua'i better than Maui, which was the 2nd island we went to.

If this helps, we met a couple on the plane that wanted to see pearl harbor so they took a flight from kaua'i or maui, I can't remember which one, in the morning and flew back to the other island at night because they didn't want to be bothered moving all their luggage. From what I remember the flights are pretty inexpensive and I wish Dh and I would have thought of that before!

we managed to squeeze in a quick pearl harbor visit between our flights....from what i saw of Honolulu...we didn't miss much.
Kaui has the most amazing scenery....and on the north shore in Hanalei, more authentic Hawaiian buildings. It is more of an exotic paradise.
Maui has much much better food and shopping, and more of a fun upbeat vibe. It has a Volcano you can go to the top of, which Kauai does not. It also has Hana, with the Hotel Hana-Maui, my favorite place I have ever stayed.
I have never been to the big Island.
I think Kauai and Maui are both worth a visit.....and pretty different.

I used to live on the West Coast so I've been to Hawaii quite a bit.

I would definitely go to Kauai! It's gorgeous and there's beauty and relaxation in everything even in the long drives to go to see sights.

Pearl Harbor and the Honolulu Zoo are really the only two things that Oahu has to offer and honestly while it's nice to see Pearl Harbor, it's really not a reason to go there in my opinion. Cause after a little while, what do you do really? Except maybe shop...

I went to Oahu, The Big Island and Maui and loved all of them.

We went to Oahu for 2 days, mainly to see Pearl Harbor. There was a lot going on in Oahu, and I liked starting our trip there.

Then we went to the Big Island, which felt more countryish. We had stayed in Waikoloa Village, which was maybe 30-45 mins from Kona. Apparently the volcanoes were on the other side of the island, and it would've been quite a drive from our hotel. The days I wanted to go, the forecast for that part of the island wasn't looking good, and the bartender at our hotel was telling us how if we did a bus tour of it, we wouldn't really be getting close to the volcano like we wanted. He said the best thing was a helicopter ride, or doing a hike - which would definitely be a long one. Plus, because of the bad weather on that side of the island, he said it wouldn't be the best time to see the volcanoes. So we ended up not checking out the volcanoes. But I always say if I ever go back there, I'll stay on the other side of the island near the volcanoes so I can go see them next time!

And then we finished the trip in Maui which was awesome!!!!

I had also heard that there wasn't much to do in Kauai. My husband's brother told us how he went there cause everyone said how pretty it was, and he said it was definitely pretty, but then it was like ok now what do we do? He had said that all of Hawaii is really pretty, so not to bother going to Kauai and to spend more time in Maui.

I recommend getting the Frommer's Hawaii book cause it has info on all the islands about where to stay, eat, things to do, etc. It was really helpful in planning our trip. It'd prob give you a better idea of how each island is so you can decide which one is best for you guys.

FH and I went to Hawaii in Oct 07 and did Oahu, Kauai and Maui. We loved them all. Kauai is beautiful and we did so many things....we drove up to and did a little hiking at Waimea Canyon, we hiked the Kapalua trail on the north end of the island, we snorkeled, we took a sunset boatride along the Napali coast, we went on 'trike' flights (basically hangliders that have engines), it was a amazing island.

Many years ago I went to the Big Island with an ex. We loved seeing the volcanoes, but I didn't 'love' the Big Island as much as Kauai.

For our HM, FH and I are going back to Oahu, Kauai and Maui. He's never seen the volcanoes, so we are taking a day trip (via helicopter) from Oahu over to the Big Island to fly over the volcanoes.