Hawaii with the family
 

Planning on taking the family for the first time to Hawaii in june. Is it worth doing 2 weeks one in honolulu and one in Maui? Any suggestions on hotels and places to stay?
Thanks

How about seeing several of the islands with a cruise? Check Perx.com by Interline Vacations ? Discount cruises, resorts, and tours for interliners or Dargal Interline Worldwide ? Discount Vacations for Airline Employees for good deals.

Honestly, 3 days on Oahu are plenty for Honolulu - get "reservations" for tours at Pearl Harbor in advance, and if you can, make a trip all the way around (Turtle Bay area on North Side is awesome).

Then, spend perhaps half of the remaining time on either Kuaui or Maui, and the balance on the Big Island. All are quite different, and both Kuaui and Big Island are less commercial / less expensive than Maui, but all three are worth seeing, but 10 days are probably only enough to see two (and not completely by any stretch).

I agree with Andrea, you don't need a lot of time o Oahu unless there is something specific you want to see. (I live on Oahu) Kauai is lush and green-lots of outdoor activities. The Big Island has a lot to offer also. Waikoloa is the big resort area, Kona is nice, Hilo is close to the Volcano area.
It all depends on what you are looking for.
Rule #1 is don't leave anything you want to keep in a car, if even just a couple of minutes (Oahu in particular.)
PM me if you have any specific questions.

Oahu's north shore is worth a visit. You can make it a day trip. The volcano national park on the Big Island is also very much worth it. Give yourself a day to do it.

Get the Lonely Planet Guide to Hawaii, either from your local library or bookstore. Lots of great insight to various areas on each island. It really helped our vacation there a while back.

Hawaii - Lonely Planet

Enjoy!

Thanks for the replies!

We just did six days on Kona, on the dry (west) side of the Big Island. If you're into diving, Kona is great -- the manta ray night dive is not to be missed. Kona is also much less commercialized and developed than Honolulu, which has 8-lane freeways and feels more like L.A. than anywhere else.

The Big Island also has the active volcano, plus you can take a trip up to about 13,000 feet (Mauna Kea). Some great beaches all along the west side of the Big Island, especially north of the Kona airport up towards the northern tip of the island.

Haven't been to Maui or Kauai, but Kona was a great trip for us.

Hawaii Revealed | The Ultimate Travel and Vacation Guidebooks

These are also excellent travel books, one for each island. We live on Oahu and I agree 2-3 days max here. Pearl Harbor / Waikiki one day, North Shore / Haleiwa one day, Kailua / Lanikai one day. Check out the Tropical Farms - The Macadamia Nut Farm Outlet - Oahu Hawaii for a good little tour bus trip on your North Shore day, especially if the kids are on the younger side.

We tried to cram the Big Island into 4 days last year and we're headed back to explore the volcano and Hilo a little more this year. I've heard Maui is just a scaled down Oahu. Lanai has a couple of really nice 5 star resorts if you're just wanting to get pampered, but not much else. Kauai is awesome as long as the kids are old enough for some hiking. For a family trip I would vote 3 days on Oahu, then a week on the Big Island. There is a ton of stuff to do there and soooo much variety between Kona, Hilo, ranches up north, black sand beaches down south, driving up the mountain, the volcano, etc. Driving around the island almost feels like going through 4 different states back home.

I agree with what everyone else is saying about Oahu.

As for Maui being a scaled down Oahu, I don't think that could be any further from the truth. I live on Maui and have a few friends from Kauai who say Maui is just a busier Kauai. I work in Oahu so I spend quite a bit of time there and when I come home to Maui I am so thankful that I don't live on Oahu.

To the OP, if you are considering a visit to Maui the two areas you want to stay are either South Maui or West Maui. The only downside to South Maui is when the trades are blowing it doesn't make for a good beach day. West Maui is pretty protected from the trades unless they are blowing directly from the north.

I'm sure you've heard of the Road to Hana, worth the drive, leave early in the morning to avoid all the other tourist traffic. The Road to Hana takes a solid day to do.

Catch a sunrise or sunset up at Haleakala, bring warm clothes for that though because it gets freezing!