Hawaii Wedding Anniversary trip ideas

October 2008 will be our 10th year anniversary, we would like to go somewhere tropical. Husband has never been to Hawaii, I have twice. Thought of Maui. We went to Vegas the last 2 years and did all that we wanted to, and got tired of all the hype and crowds. We are ready for sun and surf. We are on a moderate budget, anyone with some ideas of what to do, where to stay, eat, etc? Thanks.

Hawaii Wedding Anniversary trip ideas

Hi

Like your nickname :-) Anyway we went to both Maui and Kauai this past January for our 30th anniversary. We absolutely loved them both. Maui is more touristy. More shopping and restaurants and such. We stayed in kaanapali at the Mahana which was a very short drive to the town of Lahana which is where a lot of the tourists love to go. There%26#39;s plenty of shops and restaurants and it%26#39;s just a lot of fun there. Anyway we loved the Mahana. All the condos are oceanfront. I do mean oceanfront. It%26#39;s literally just a few steps from the ocean. We stayed on the 7th floor which was above the palm trees. All the condos have floor to ceiling windows. We were in a one bedroom which had a floor to ceiling window in the bedroom and the living room. You had the most gorgeous view of the islands of Lanai and Molokai. Being above the palm trees it had the feel of being on an oceanliner in the middle of the ocean. Anyway Maui is gorgeous, but Kauai is breathtaking. It%26#39;s much more laid back and not exactly full of shopping etc. Plenty of outdoor activities like hiking or snorkeling etc though. We went on a helicopter ride on both islands. The one on Maui was fun and beautiful, but just didn%26#39;t begin to compare with the one on Kauai to us anyway. We went on a doors off ride in kauai. It was just gorgeous. No glare in our pictures was a huge bonus too. The one on Maui was a doors on ride. I don%26#39;t believe they offer a doors off ride, but I%26#39;am not sure. Because it was our 30th anniversary we stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Poipu. It%26#39;s an extremely gorgeous property. We stayed there because the island itself was rather laid back and we knew the Hyatt would have some nice restaurants. The pools are unbelievable. They even have a salt water lagoon. So basically it would depend on what you%26#39;re looking for. If you want to get away from the crowds and just enjoy the scenery then I would suggest kauai. If you want a little more activity and still some beautiful scenery then Maui might fit the bill. Hopefully my answer will bump you up and you%26#39;ll get some other suggestions that will help. Well good luck!

Hawaii Wedding Anniversary trip ideas

I agree totally with the other poster. There are, however, some places on Maui that are not quite as touristy and crowded feeling as where he/she described. Basically Oahu and Maui have a more touristy, crowded, big-city feel and Kauai and the Big Island have a more rural, natural feel but there are areas on each that feel more crowded and touristy. You might want to read a good guidebook on all the major islands and decide which one seems to have more of what you are looking for. Also go to each island%26#39;s forum and type in ';trip reports'; and you can read what other%26#39;s impressions of each island is and what they did and saw on each island.

For a moderate budget, you might find a nice hotel for accommdations, but not the expensive mega resorts or you could stay in a really nice, oceanfront condo. We stay in condos and eat breakfast in, make a picnic lunch to take with us, and come back to make something for dinner on the condo grill, but lots of people eat their evening meal out. For budget dinners, go to the island%26#39;s forum you decide to vacation on and type ';budget meals%26#39; or ';cheap eats'; and you%26#39;ll get tons of information.

For a moderate budget, you might want to do a couple of paid excursions like a helicopter ride, snorkel tour, etc., then spend the rest of your time on free stuff like shore snorkeling, hiking, driving around sightseeing, etc. Again, you%26#39;ll get ideas by reading the trip reports.

My experience is, you can spend as much or as little money as you choose to on any of the islands and still have a fabulous vacation so why not go the budget route and bank the rest so you can go back many times: )

Thank you, both so far, for the replies. I am keeping the tropical destination in mind, but am exploring the option of a cruise. So I will be ';cruising'; the cruise forums as well. Thanks a million.