Maui Good for Vacation with Families?

question
We are planning our first vacation to Hawaii with an extended family group. They all want to go to Maui. My questions are:
1. where are best sandy beaches? They mentioned Kaanapali, but the pictures look rocky - is it rocky?
2. We have 3-4 families with lots of kids, mostly teenagers. Would you do Maui or another island and why?


answer
Hi. On Maui, most beaches are not rocky. Most are long and sandy with easy ocean access. Kaanapali is an especially popular and nice beach. I have several pictures of it here. Just the most popular part is well over a mile long. A sidewalk runs along it the entire way and there are nice restaurants and stores in the area.

I think I would definitely recommend Maui and Kaanapali in your situation. Kihei and Wailea also have very nice beaches - but Wailea is a bit ritzy and isolated - the kids might get bored. Kihei is right in the middle of a fairly busy city and the kids would have more of an opportunity to get into trouble. At Kaanapali beach, they can focus on water activities anywhere on the beach and at the hotel pool, and they can shop or eat at Whaler's Village, plus there is a golf course across the street, so there will be plenty for everyone to do - but the location is not in the middle of a town - it's mostly a resort area.

handicap parking

question
My husband and I will be visiting five of the islands in April and May. We are bringing his handicapped placcard for parking, it hangs on the rear view mirror. We will be renting cars on each of the islands. Will our Florida handicapped parkingplacard be legal in Hawaii and is parking free for the handicapped as it is in Florida? Thank You so much, Janet

answer
Yes, the handicapped placard will be legal in Hawaii or any other state. I do not know if parking is free in all handicapped stalls, but I think it will be, at least on the streets. You'll find that all parking is free in most areas of Hawaii, outside of Honolulu and a few other very busy places. Have a great trip!

Charter Flights in Hawaii

question
We are a group of 4 adults coming to Hawaii for a combination business and pleasure trip. We are looking for the best way to travel between the islands. We arrive at OGG at 3:30pm on 2/4/6 and need a flight that evening to Kona. We would then need to go from Kona to LIH on 2/10/6 and finally from LIH back to OGG on 2/14/6. I have attempted to contact a couple of charter companies directly but have not received any response. Can you recommend and arrange these flights? We will probably have 1 large and 1 small bag per person since we are in Hawaii for 2 weeks. We would also like to rent a car, a Jeep or other SUV, at LIH for the stay there and also at OGG from 2/14/6 until 2/18/6 when we leave. We already have accommodations at all the stops.

answer
I am not a travel agent and so cannot make any arrangements for you. I can try to make suggestions however.

After arriving in Maui are you wanting to fly straight into Kona? If so, a Hawaiian or Aloha flight would be easiest - you wouldn't even have to leave the airport. If not, be advised that you will not be able to fly very late. There aren't any later evening flights in and out of most of the neighbor islands - the airports tend to shut down.

Have you contacted Mokulele airlines? If you just want to charter a small plane they seem likely to be able to help you.

For car rental, I usually book online with my preferred company, or you could try here:

If you prefer to go with a travel agent to arrange everything for you, try Tanega Travel - they say right on the front page they will respond to email requests.

Feel free to email me again if I can help more. Lisa

oahu hostel location question

question
Found your helpful website through googling. Was wondering if you could do my homework for me. Just kidding! Anyway, I was wondering if you know if there's a hostel near Aloha Stadium? Perhaps the closest one to the stadium? Also, I heard that it's not an area where people can't walk around easily, so relying on public transportation is more appropriate? Can one bike around?

answer
As far as I know, there are no hostels near the stadium. I even did some checks of some nearby areas to the stadium (Pearl Harbor, Aiea, Pearl City areas) and came up with nothing. There are tons of choices in Waikiki and Honolulu, and they are probably your only choices. You can walk or bike around Honolulu and Waikiki fine, but if you want to get around the island, a car or a bus is definitely better. Roads that go anywhere are either narrow with no shoulder or big highways. But, TheBus (island bus system) is really great, and they do have bike racks on the front of some of the buses. Good luck - let me know if I can help more!