8 nights Aulani at end of August or change to split stay?

[roopster]

Hi everyone,
I have 8 nights booked in a two bed suite from the 24th August to 1st Sep. It’s our first trip to Hawaii, and as we are travelling from Europe it may be a once in a lifetime holiday!
I am now wondering if I should perhaps change it to 6 nights at Aulani and maybe do the last two nights at a vacation rental on North Shore for a different experience (rather than do a day trip up there - we will rent a car for the whole stay).
It’s such an expensive trip that saving a few hundred dollars doing this won’t be an important factor! It’s more about planning the best vacation!
It would be great to have your thoughts and suggestions!

 

[olafLover]

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[five_mouseketeers]

Aulani isn't in the most convenient spot for sight seeing Oahu, we spent 3 nights in Waikiki to overcome the jetleg (12 hour time difference and 24 hour flight is rough!) and see Pearl Harbor. We did the north shore and Kualoa ranch from Aulani. We also spent time on the 3 other islands. But be warned, I planned this trip to be a one and done because it's so far, but we loved the islands so much, we're planning to go back in 5 years

Can I ask how many nights you spent on each island during your trip? I think we have a similar game plan (visiting the largest 4 islands). Are there any island you felt you cut short, etc.

 

[five_mouseketeers]

To OP, we have a split stay for Oahu. Spending 3 nights Waikiki and 3 nights Aulani. We plan to sightsee from Waikiki and plan to spend our time at Aulani just soaking up the resort and not leaving. If I were you and this was our whole trip, I would definitely do a split instead of all 8 nights at Aulani. North Shore looks beautiful and we are only not staying there because we also have other islands planned and the topography/ambiance seems similar to those. If you plan to sightsee a lot on Oahu I wouldn’t do all 8 at Aulani. It’ll be a lot of driving through Honolulu (possibly rush hour) and waste of time sitting in traffic.

 

[olafLover]

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[five_mouseketeers]

We had 3 nights Waikiki, 3 nights Aulani, 5 nights on the 3 other isles. There was more to see and do in each spot, but we felt like we could do what we really wanted to (only a little disappointed in Big Island, but that was mainly because we were there during the new eruptions so the national park was closed)

Awesome, thanks so much! Our trip is close to the same it sounds. I also have a list of must do’s for each island and anything else we get done will be a bonus . I know we are cutting our time short on Kauai (only about 3.5 days there) but I think I’ve maxed out the time hubby is willing to take off for the summer so we’ll do with what we have for there.

 

[tink too]

We're also visiting from the UK this summer, but are breaking our trip up with 5 nights in New York first, 3 nights in Waikiki to do most of our sightseeing on Oahu, then 7 nights at Aulani to just relax and enjoy the resort followed by 2 nights in Los Angeles and 3 nights at Disneyland.

This may be a one and done for us so I am a little disappointed that we won't be visiting some of the other islands, but am just really glad to finally be able to visit Hawaii.

 

[d0naldduck123]

Planning a trip in September and like all the other PPs, I would definitely do a split stay. We're doing 2 nights Waikiki then 3 nights Aulani. A lot of the Oahu sightseeing things seem to be closer/more convenient from Waikiki. I'm planning on a morning trip out to Kualoa ranch during my Aulani stay, but other than that we'll be at the resort.

 

[five_mouseketeers]

Just for reference as you are planning... ..from my research I have found that Pearl Harbor is about the same distance from Aulani as from Waikiki (although traffic could always impact travel time with either location). Kualoa Ranch is also about the same distance from each.....north shore as well. If you are staying north shore Kualoa Ranch would be a great destination from there rather than the others. Sights like Diamond Head, Manoa Falls, Haunama Bay and the southeast coast beaches are much more convenient to travel to from Waikiki than from Aulani. I think a lot of the museum type stuff is also closer to Waikiki but I’m not positive on that because I’ve overlooked it in my research (we aren’t really a museum crowd). As I said before we plan to park at Aulani and not leave until we checkout 3 days later. During our time at Waikiki we have dinner plans at Hale’iwa Joe’s (the location along the southeast side), a sunrise Diamond Head hike, surf lessons and a canoe ride both on Waikiki Beach and possibly kayak rental out of Kailua Beach—-these would all be a good drive from Aulani but not very far from our location in Waikiki. We do plan to do Pearl Harbor as well as a day at Kualoa Ranch returning via North Shore while staying at Waikiki but these would be the same travel from Aulani I think. We are staying on points at Aulani and I kind of hate to use them if we are gone the entire day sightseeing so I’ve scheduled that sightseeing for Waikiki when I could care less how much we use our hotel there. I hope this is helpful for you in your planning. I am not an expert at all but I have studied the distance between places, etc.

 

[olafLover]

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[nkereina]

We did 3 nights in Waikiki, 3 nights on Maui, 3 nights on Kauai, and 6 nights at Aulani. In that order. We book-ended our trip with Oahu because it was cheapest to book round trip flights to and from Oahu. We also didn't want a car in Waikiki.

I was very pleased with the itinerary. It worked perfectly for us. Our first 3 nights in Waikiki allowed us to get that whole area out of the way without a car, which saved on parking costs and hassles and allowed us to avoid the traffic congestion in that area. We also did organized bus tours to Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor during this time, because those tours typically pick up from Waikiki area hotels and we knew parking was an issue in both places so it made more sense to do it on a bus tour. Coming from the east coast, we were up early the first few days adjusting to the time, so having early tours like Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor worked out perfectly. After our tours, we had time to shop, eat, have drinks, and enjoy the people watching along Waikiki.

During our 6 nights at Aulani, we dedicated every other day as a resort day which we felt was ample time to enjoy both the beach and the pools. We ate at each restaurant as well as Monkeypod and Pizza Corner across the street. With our car, we also stopped at Target for some groceries for easy drinks and snacks. We spent a day at the North Shore and another day in Kailua and Kualoa Ranch. As much as we loved the North Shore area, I'm not sure I'd stay there save for maybe Turtle Bay Resort. At the time we were there, the beaches weren't that great and the waves were very high. We didn't find there was enough in the area to explore for more than a day. If staying at Turtle Bay, you'd at least have the amenities of the resort to use as well.

I would likely do it the same way again next time, with a couple nights in Waikiki at the start of our trip. The area has such a different vibe than any place else we experienced in Hawaii, and it was a nice change of pace. Lots around in walking distance as well.

 

[chainkid]

I did a Trip in 2010 that was 3 days North shore at Turtle bay resort, three nights in Waikiki ,3 DAYS Maui and then 7 night Norwegian Cruise to all the islands. Aulani was just being built and I swore it was so far away from anything that I would never want to stay there. Fast forward to 2015, when I spend several nights in Kauai and then a week at Aulani . I enjoyed every minute at Aulani and with a rental car found getting around Oahu pretty easy if planned to avoid traffic patterns. While I enjoyed the North Shore and turtle bay I wouldn't care if I never went back. Not much to do after a few tourist spots like Dole . If you go the VRBO route than I would pick the area on East side near China Men's Hat as that is a truly beautiful area. It's Hawaii so you really can't go wrong but The area around Aulani has seen a boon in luxury development so its not that isolated anymore. I personally wouldn't stay North Shore over an extended stay at Aulani or Waikiki

 

[cgattis]

Awesome, thanks so much! Our trip is close to the same it sounds. I also have a list of must do’s for each island and anything else we get done will be a bonus . I know we are cutting our time short on Kauai (only about 3.5 days there) but I think I’ve maxed out the time hubby is willing to take off for the summer so we’ll do with what we have for there.

You can do lots on tiny Kauai in 3.5 days! Don’t sweat it. Although it’s amazingly beautiful, so if you stayed there a month, you’d probably be fine with that too! Can’t wait to go back....

 

[cgattis]

surf lessons and a canoe ride both on Waikiki Beach and possibly kayak rental out of Kailua Beach

We used Hawaiian Oceans (right behind the Duke statue) for lessons and had a great instructor AND great pics. But if you want to do a canoe ride, I’d highly recommend a reservation. The companies I checked with talked me out of ressies (“no worries, just walk up)....and then NONE of them had captains available the day we were there! Then, we were going to do a canoe tour on Kona...and the beach was closed that day due to a sewage spill (yuk). We finally got a short canoe ride at Paradise Cove luau—and I got a fabulous pic of me in my dress giving a parade wave like I’m Miss Hawaii LOL—so it all worked out!

 

[five_mouseketeers]

We used Hawaiian Oceans (right behind the Duke statue) for lessons and had a great instructor AND great pics. But if you want to do a canoe ride, I’d highly recommend a reservation. The companies I checked with talked me out of ressies (“no worries, just walk up)....and then NONE of them had captains available the day we were there! Then, we were going to do a canoe tour on Kona...and the beach was closed that day due to a sewage spill (yuk). We finally got a short canoe ride at Paradise Cove luau—and I got a fabulous pic of me in my dress giving a parade wave like I’m Miss Hawaii LOL—so it all worked out!

Thank you so much for the advice! I’ll be sure to book in advance!

 

[five_mouseketeers]

You can do lots on tiny Kauai in 3.5 days! Don’t sweat it. Although it’s amazingly beautiful, so if you stayed there a month, you’d probably be fine with that too! Can’t wait to go back....

Great, thanks for the encouragement! I do wish we had more time there since we’ve never been there and I suspect we’ll really like that island. If you don’t mind sharing your itinerary from there, I’d love to see it!

 

[Jperiod]

My husband's family is from Waikiki and we love oahu. But we spent a whole week on the north shore last summer for the first time and it was our favorite of all. The vibe is more laid back and it isn't all built up with big resorts. During the summer, beaches are very calm up there and it was some of the best snorkeling we've done (big island is probably best). I'd highly recommend a split stay to reduce drive time. It's also pretty to drive around the east side sometimes, as opposed to always having aulani as the same starting point. We rented a condo at the turtle bay estates thru vrbo. Edited to add: Lanikai beach and Kailua town area would be a great area to stay on the other side of the island.

 

[kyton]

The only thing to keep in mind is there are many many illegal rentals. So should you choose to stay somewhere other then Waikiki, Ko Olina (and by this I mean Aulani, Four Seasons, Marriott Beach Club or the Beach Villas - all other rentals in Ko Olina have a 30 day minimum stay) or Turtle Bay Resort then you need to do due diligence and ensure your rental is legally permitted.

VRBO, HomeAway, Airbnb etc DO NOT vet for legality.

This is the sole list for legal rentals - http://www.honoluludpp.org/Portals/0/pdfs/HotIssues/NUC2018.pdf, if it’s not on this list it’s not legally permitted.

 

[roopster]

Thanks for all the replies!
We originally had a couple of nights booked in the Hilton at Waikiki because there was no availability for DVC rooms at Aulani at the end of our trip (Labor day weekend). Then a room for the full stay became available so we thought the hassle of moving and parking etc wasn’t worth it.

Our kids are 5 & 10 and we are also travelling with my parents in their 70’s. From what I read Waikiki might be better geared to adults and older kids. Is that fair? We wouldn’t really care about shopping for example, and living in London, it’s nice to get away from the city!

However we do want to experience as much of the beautiful scenery and beaches as possible. And we all love food!

I was starting to lean towards just staying at Aulani because of the uncertainty of quality of vacation rentals (plus whether they are legal or not).

Would any of that info change your opinion of whether Waikiki suits us? Or is another area better?

The poor DVC renter has been very patient with us so I’m a little bit loath to go back and change but it is a once in a lifetime trip I want to get right!

 

[roopster]

I’ve just been reading a few other threads and am now almost certainly thinking of splitting our stay. I was Ok with the construction at Aulani but am now getting a bit nervous after seeing the following podcast posted on another thread!

Splitting the stay would hedge against the risk of how bad the construction might be!