First and foremost, if you do not mind reading, I would highly suggest to get yourself a copy of both the
Oahu Revealed and the
Maui Revealed book off of Amazon or any book store you buy from. That series is by far the best written guide books I've ever layed my hands on. Besides giving you inside view of things to do on the islands, it also breaks down the reviews of food joints that most would overlook. The same for hotels. (Although my favorite hotel(s) are the ones overlooking Diamond head).
Now in terms of food, while the book gives you a basic overview of each, I would suggest to download Urbanspoon on to your phone and use it over there, besides Urbanspoon another good resource of food info is..
BestHonoluluFood.com
Honolulu Magazine online (may want to look also at their previous years list too, thats how I found my best
Pastele place on the planet. (Figures i had to go to Hawaii for some outstanding Puerto Rican food)
anyway, back on topic...
The same goes for hotels, the Revealed books gives you a basic down to earth info (also provided online by them for
Oahu,
Maui and the
other islands) which you can then use to further research to see if the hotel pick is good enough. They also have an iphone app
version but I like the book better. (The Android version is coming though).
As for sights.. lets see.
OAHU
From Waikiki towards the North shore...
While one can go up the Pali Hyway to the north side, I like taking the longer route along the shoreline cause it gives a much nicer view of both the ocean, beaches and mountains. and the Blowhole. Either way, when going to the north shore, we get up early and head to the town of Kailua, (nice little town) there is an awesome breakfast joint called Boots' & Kimo. Then we continue northwest and you come across the Byodo-In Temple, near Kaneohe. (seen temples like this in the movies but in real life its awesome). The drive is awesome.
Then you come across the Polynesian Cultural Village. Some say it is a rip-off, and yes, it takes to long to get there but to be honest i liked it. It gave me an inside view of the Polynesian culture of the islands in the Pacific and the luau while staged, was good. I took the personal tour and while more expensive, you get a personal guide and top notch treatment. Also note its an all day thing, you really can't do the PCC and the north shore in one day.
As you pass the PCC, on the right is the small area of Laie, there is the Laie Point State Wayside Park, gives you an awesome view of natures fury.
Further on the way to North Shore you past have the famous Kahuku Shrimp trucks, (Romys being the best). Once you get to the north Shore you hit the Pipeline (big waves), but everytime I go i don't see any lol i just go for the shrimp.
Never been to the Dole plantation (heard its way to expensive and nothing much to see) But I will hit it one day.
In Honolulu,
Chinatown for good bargains and food
Bishop Museum (nice and unique stuff)
Iolani Palace (feel like a king in this place lol)
Round Top Drive (awesome views)
Best luau (The PCC, then Germaine's then Paradise Cove) but the best one is in Maui.
MAUI
Best luau (Polynesian Village Luau in Kihei)
The Road to hana is nice, just take it slow and enjoy the sights and little stops along the way. I tend to go all the away around the island on the south road but since the state refuses to connect the south road to the west road, you end up back mid island. Still the ride is beautiful.
Haleakala Crater (trust me when i say go prepared, its freaking cold up there)
The ride up is not so bad but all dark, coming back huh, its like a roller coaster, scary since the passenger is usually on edge since basically you are on the edge of the cliffs lol But its nice seeing the sun come up over the clouds.
Dragons Teeth on the north side near Kapalua is awesome view of lava formations.
The Hana Lava Tube in Kaeleku Caverns is different and unique, I liked it.
If you are daring and have nerves of steal, take route 30 that turns into route 340 on the northern part of the island. Awesome views but the road is scary as crap. Its the devilish version of the Road to Hana. lol
This quote says it all..
My boyfriend and I took this route from east to west from Kahului this past Monday. It was super scary - especially the 8 mile or so stretch where it was basically one lane for two cars - we had to yield or back up for cars traveling in the opposite direction. We were basically hugging the cliffside the whole way. Luckily, my boyfriend is a very experienced driver who felt the drive was not a big deal (he is used to driving on crazy roads in South America) and was calm & collected throughout (he was laughing & making jokes which helped eased the tension). Mountain/Ocean views were spectacular and we stopped at a few spots to take pics. We encountered very few cars (mostly coming from the opposite direction) and they were tourists like ourselves who looked as anxious as I felt and were driving very carefully and slowly. In my opinion, this drive is superior to Hana Highway. After this drive, Hana Highway was a piece of cake. I would recommend this drive only for experienced drivers with little or no fear of heights and only in good weather! It was definitely the scariest yet the most memorable drive I ever experienced and now that I experienced it, not sure if I would do it again!
Oh and coffee plantations and ranches throughout.
