Best time to visit Hawaii?

[Martinjmpr]

So I'm resurrecting this old thread as I get closer to the booking window for the places I'm looking at.

I guess my biggest one would be: About the only thing we are interested in seeing on Oahu is the USS Arizona and the USS Missouri. I've been to Oahu with the Army back in 2003 and except for the historic sites, there's not really a lot I'm interested in.

I'd rather spend more time on one island than spend a lot of time sitting in airports waiting to fly from island-to-island. From what I can see, The Big Island is where we likely want to spend our time.

So my question would be: How inexpensive is it to fly between islands on Hawaii? From what I've seen it's easier to get a flight to Honolulu vs flying directly to Hilo on the Big Island. If we wanted to spend most of our time on Hawaii, would it make sense to fly into Honolulu and then catch a "commuter" flight to the Big Island? Or is it more sensible to just bite the bullet and fly directly into Hilo?

Also, can anyone tell me anything about the Kiluea Military Camp on the Big Island? It seems to offer an attractive alternative to the bigger, pricier hotels, but I'm wondering what it's actually like, whether it's a dump or nice, etc. Price for the KMC for a 1 bedroom cottage is better than a hotel in Hilo but not spectacularly better - for a good vacation I'll spend what I need to spend to keep the Mrs. Happy (happy wife/happy life, etc.) My guess is that she will want to spend a lot of time just relaxing by the pool and I don't know if that's an option on the KMC, so it might make more sense to just book a traditional hotel.

I'm thinking a sample itinerary would look like this: Day 1, fly Denver to Honolulu. I know it's a long flight so plan the first two nights in Honolulu. That will give us an overnight to rest and then at least a full day seeing Pearl Harbor, the Arizona, etc.

Day 3 fly to the Big Island. Spend at least 5 - 7 days there. Will likely rent a car unless that is prohibitively expensive (if it is, what other options are there for getting around?)

From there, it's a question mark - does it make more sense to fly back to Honolulu and then catch a connecting flight back to the Mainland? Or fly directly back from Hilo? From what I can see on the various flight planning web pages, the only airline that regularly flies between Denver and Hilo is United, and every experience I've had with them has sucked balls. That being the case, my inclination is to fly back to Honolulu and possibly have one more overnight there before flying back.

So does this seem like a reasonable itinerary? Anything I should consider?

[Aloha_Shooter]

So I'm resurrecting this old thread as I get closer to the booking window for the places I'm looking at.

I guess my biggest one would be: About the only thing we are interested in seeing on Oahu is the USS Arizona and the USS Missouri. I've been to Oahu with the Army back in 2003 and except for the historic sites, there's not really a lot I'm interested in.

My general advice is for people to spend their first time or first week in Hawai`i doing the usual tourist items on O`ahu but since you were there before, I highly recommend the Neighbor Islands.

I'd rather spend more time on one island than spend a lot of time sitting in airports waiting to fly from island-to-island. From what I can see, The Big Island is where we likely want to spend our time.

That's a good choice. What do you want to do there? There's a lot but it's all spread out.

So my question would be: How inexpensive is it to fly between islands on Hawaii? From what I've seen it's easier to get a flight to Honolulu vs flying directly to Hilo on the Big Island. If we wanted to spend most of our time on Hawaii, would it make sense to fly into Honolulu and then catch a "commuter" flight to the Big Island? Or is it more sensible to just bite the bullet and fly directly into Hilo?

It's usually fairly easy to fly between islands (the pandemic made that more difficult with tests required. The Hawaii forum over on FlyerTalk has a lot of good discussion and recent information on what's going on, including updates on inter-island travel: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hawaii-435/.
Having said that, if you already know you want to spend most of your time on the Big Island, I would book the flights to go directly into Hilo. You may get an itinerary that goes into Honolulu and then transfers to an interisland flight. If you do, you can try to break it up to do at least one overnight in HNL.

Also, can anyone tell me anything about the Kiluea Military Camp on the Big Island? It seems to offer an attractive alternative to the bigger, pricier hotels, but I'm wondering what it's actually like, whether it's a dump or nice, etc. Price for the KMC for a 1 bedroom cottage is better than a hotel in Hilo but not spectacularly better - for a good vacation I'll spend what I need to spend to keep the Mrs. Happy (happy wife/happy life, etc.) My guess is that she will want to spend a lot of time just relaxing by the pool and I don't know if that's an option on the KMC, so it might make more sense to just book a traditional hotel.

I love KMC and it is more attractive but it is just that: a military camp. It is not luxurious but it is convenient. What you can rent (and only if you have military privileges) are bungalows with kitchenettes. There's a small shop on the camp where you can buy groceries or you can get them in town. Otherwise, they used to run a cafeteria operation for guests who didn't want to cook. Relaxing by the pool is not an option at KMC -- I don't even know if they have one but temperatures there are generally pretty cool -- often in the 60s and 70s. Remember, it's generally at or above the cloud layer. If that's what she wants, I recommend getting a hotel in Hilo and then driving to other attractions. Hiking through the crater, visiting the art gallery, going through the museum, etc. are options at KMC. KMC is often booked out 6 months in advance -- so are the bungalows at Bellows AFS on O`ahu. The bright side with Bellows is that you have great beaches and easy access to Waimanalo, one of the more laidback neighborhoods on O`ahu.

I'm thinking a sample itinerary would look like this: Day 1, fly Denver to Honolulu. I know it's a long flight so plan the first two nights in Honolulu. That will give us an overnight to rest and then at least a full day seeing Pearl Harbor, the Arizona, etc.

Day 3 fly to the Big Island. Spend at least 5 - 7 days there. Will likely rent a car unless that is prohibitively expensive (if it is, what other options are there for getting around?)

The flight from DEN to HNL isn't bad -- about 7 hours long depending on time of year. The 1205 flight from DEN gets into HNL around 1511. It's a 777-200 with Premium Plus and even Polaris seating available (for a price). The 1345 flight is a 767-300 --- nice, but no Premium Plus. Premium Plus is United's intermediate class between Economy and Domestic First/International Business (aka Polaris). It's sort of what business class used to be 20 years ago with more leg room and better meals but not the level of first class.

In-flight meals have returned to the front of the plane but from what I understand, snack boxes are all that's available in the back. I would recommend bringing your own food for the flight.

Flights to Hilo (ITO) may go through LAX, SFO, OGG (Kahalui), or HNL. You can see the flight times and itineraries if you go to United or Google Flights.

Car rentals appear to be an issue on all islands. Some chains show no availability at all depending on when you book. It's gotten so bad that some visitors to Maui and Kona actually ship their cars (obviously it takes time and is only worth it financially if you're going to spend a couple weeks or more there). A friend of my mother's was going to get charged $2000 for 8 days back in June -- and honestly, he was lucky he was getting a vehicle at all. Public transportation on the Big Island is nothing like in Honolulu -- think of the Big Island like being in western Colorado, everything is spread out. It's easier if your company has a business relationship that lets you get in with one of the major chains.

From there, it's a question mark - does it make more sense to fly back to Honolulu and then catch a connecting flight back to the Mainland? Or fly directly back from Hilo? From what I can see on the various flight planning web pages, the only airline that regularly flies between Denver and Hilo is United, and every experience I've had with them has sucked balls. That being the case, my inclination is to fly back to Honolulu and possibly have one more overnight there before flying back.

So does this seem like a reasonable itinerary? Anything I should consider?

I wouldn't bother with overnighting in Honolulu unless you were doing it specifically to drive down the cost of the airfare, catch up with friends, or see something like the Arizona or Missouri and even then, I'd probably get a morning flight from Hilo to Honolulu with my bags checked through, leave the airport by grabbing a cab or shuttle bus to the Arizona Memorial, and then return in time to catch the 2030 or 2130 flights to DEN. The one exception to this would be if you want to catch the 0700 flight from HNL to DEN (avoiding the redeyes). I've never done it because I don't want to make my family take me to the airport at oh-dark-thirty but it would make sense for you -- in that case, fly from Hilo to Honolulu in the morning, use the afternoon to see what you want, RON in Honolulu, and catch a cab for the early morning flight back to DEN. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I would recommend you fly into Hilo directly and go directly to your hotel, do what you want on the Big Island, then fly from Hilo to Honolulu, RON one or two nights (depending on what you want to do in Honolulu) and then catch the morning flight back to DEN so you can avoid the redeyes.

I almost always flight United but I always return on the redeye so I suck it up and pay for First on the way back. Sleeping in coach is just ... painful ... now. In First, dinner this summer (yes, they serve dinner even for the 2130 flight!) has been a choice of pineapple fried rice or chicken katsu. The chicken katsu was actually very tasty and well-portioned -- my only complaint is that they heat it up with the foil cover so the katsu is moist instead of crisp.

Booking the flights is actually easier than the rental cars so I would first check on rental car availability then book around that for your flights. Decide on what you want to do -- if the Mrs. wants to lay around the pool or beach, you might be better off at one of the resorts near Kona or just consign yourself to Honolulu. If you are going to Volcanoes National Park, I recommend checking out Volcano Lodge. It's outside the park but has easy access. They have fine dining and great guest rooms. You don't have to stay there to get reservations at the restaurant but it helps.