Hawaii: Two Day Trips Worth an Overnight

Visitors to Maui are bombarded with exhortations to head to Hana – and lots do. They stumble out of bed at the crack of dawn, fold themselves into the rental car, and barrel off to the little town at the end of the road, stopping here and there to admire the view, snap photos of the falls, and let oncoming traffic pass. Visitors to the Big Island use this same tactic to go to the volcano, flying through the little towns on the south side, missing the coffee stands and the wonders of South Point to get in and out of the National Park before dark. Hey, it works. If it didn’t work, fewer people would do these excursions as day trips. The West Hawaii to Volcano drive isn’t so bad, though the Hana drive takes forever and doing it in the dark is a trial.

There’s no need for any of that harried rushing about. Both Hana and Volcano are great places to stay the night. We were lucky enough to do so and because we did, we not only have a better sense of what’s there, but we’re psyched to spend more time in the places that are typically revolving door spots for visitors.


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Discounted Activities in Hawaii

You’re walking down Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki or through Kona Village or Lahaina on a balmy evening. It’s your first or second day in the islands and you’re thinking, yeah, okay, I would like to see a luau. Or yeah, I would like to go on one of those obnoxious polluting ATV tours. (A-hem.) Or …


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Lost Perspective in Waikiki

Around 8pm on our last night in Waikiki, we tried to return our rental car, but the place we needed to go was on fire. The streets were packed with diverted traffic, impatient police officers, fire trucks, and slews of slack-jawed tourists. There were lights and water and sirens everywhere as fire trucks attempted to …


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Nerd’s Eye View’s Hawaii Favorites

Best products: Luana Spa in Hana. That lemon grass body scrub? Oh my. Best meal: Chef Mavro in Honolulu. Fireworks for the mouth. Wow. Best smoothie: A tie! The hippies on the road to Hana or the Vietnamese guy in the Honolulu Chinatown market. Best bathrooms: Molokai Ranch. Deep claw foot tubs and big showers, …


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For Travel Writers: Seven Successes from the Road

Given the overwhelming nature of the task – find out everything about traveling in Hawaii in three and a half weeks – some things were bound to go wrong. But things went right, too, from time to time. At reader L’s request, here’s the list of things that went as they should have. 1. Took …


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For Travel Writers: Seven Lessons from the Road

I’d do it differently if I had the chance to do it again. I’m sure you’ve said that before, and certainly, it’s not the last time I’ll say it. But frequency makes it no less true. I made more than a handful of rookie mistakes, though the trip, planned with a mere four weeks notice, …


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