Hawaii with 3 + 5 year old?

[Anonymous]

DH and I are desperate to take a real vacation after many years of "trips" with very small children. Our youngest is now 3 and relatively well behaved.

Is Hawaii doable? We were thinking of a combination of sightseeing (volcanos, tropical forests, ocean) and maybe a couple of days at the beach although we are not beach people.

I assume the flight is long, but any suggestions once we arrive? Before kids we were pretty adventurous travelers, and while we will obviously tone it down we weren't thinking about just staying at a resort the whole time, we really want the chance to be on our own and a little unscripted. Appreciate feedback if this is unrealistic at this age, too, though.

[Anonymous]

Totally realistic. It's a ten hour flight with a six hour time difference, so you'll want to have a decent amount of time when you get there. Allow a couple of days to get over jetlag just chilling in a hotel by the beach.

I personally love Waikiki (some folks like the other islands) -- I'd do two days in Waikiki, then a couple of days on the Big Island to see the volcano, then a few more days in Waikiki. Hike up to Manoa Falls, go see Diamond Head, eat plate lunch, take the bus trip to the North Shore and stop for shave ice.

I'm coming with.

[Anonymous]

I think the flight and time difference will kill too much of the trip and they will be miserable until they catch up. Why not just do an island in the Caribbean or Belize, Costa Rica....anything that is on the same time zone with a shorter flight.

[Anonymous]

Yep, totally doable if you can be there longer than a week? Waikiki would be nice or Maui. I would pick one island and stick with it, though. No reason to add an extra flight or two in the middle of the trip, with the kids and all the stuff.

[Anonymous]

I think it would be lovely, but at the same time - do your kids deal with time changes well? We went to California with preschoolers and we were up at 3am each morning for several days. There are things to do at 3am, but not a ton....I can't even imagine what time they would have woken up in Hawaii.

[Anonymous]

Hilton Hawaiian Village on Oahu is a wonderful hotel for kids. Mine who were that age just loved swimmingnin the lagoon and all the pools.

[Anonymous]

Doable but as non beach people looking for something unscripted as you say, I would opt for a different place and forego the long travel.

[Anonymous]

It totally depends on how well your kids adjust to time differences. We just went to CA (3 hour time difference) and our 3 year old was fine after the first morning when he woke up at 4 and we coaxed him back to sleep. Trip Advisor, I believe, has a "sleep quality" rating metric, and we're really careful to pick quiet hotels and bring a small white noise machine that DS uses at home. I remember when DW and I went to Hawaii pre-kids, we had trouble adjusting and couldn't sleep past 4-5 a.m. Our connecting flight from LA to Honolulu ended up delayed and delayed and then canceled, we got to a hotel at LA at midnight and had to be back at the airport by 6 a.m., which would have sucked even more with an exhausted 3 year old. As it was, he was tired on the flight home and demanded repeatedly to get off the plane while we were 30,000 feet up when he was not spitting on the plane window/screaming about being made to stop spitting.

[Anonymous]

I'd do Puerto Rico instead.

[Anonymous]

We're doing hawaii this summer with an 8 and two 6 yr old boys. We're staying on the north shore of Oahu (the island with Honolulu) for 5 days and then Maui for 7 days. We wanted to do the Big Island and Maui but the number of connections seemed exhausting. There is plenty of activity off the beach but I have found that travel with kids is better somewhat scripted (not iron clad but to have some idea for what you might be doing day to day). I'd recommend d the Hidden Hawaii books. I'd also recommend, though that you consider southern CA with kids that age. Less travel time and still lots to do.

[Anonymous]

Who goes all that way to Hawaii (and drags their 3&5yr old with them) if they are not beach people? strange

[Anonymous]

Although we live on the West Coast, we've taken our 3 kids to Hawaii every year since they were born many years ago. Best family vacation there is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Although we live on the West Coast, we've taken our 3 kids to Hawaii every year since they were born many years ago. Best family vacation there is.

NP here. Tell me more about what you have done in Hawaii as a family.

[Anonymous]

We went recently with a baby and a three year-old. Stayed at Aulani in Oahu. It was perfect and our older one still talks about it all the time. Traveling with kids is not without it's challenges but it was worth it. Also look into Aulani - the free and fun kids club might give you and DH a vacation of your own.

[Anonymous]

I went to Waikiki twice with my two year old (work trips and family came with). The time zone difference wasn't a problem. It's really easy to have children on Oahu. They want to spend most of the time at the beach and the pool. Honolulu has nice shops and stroller friendly sidewalks. The Dole Plantation is very fun...so is an enormous shave ice.

Definitely do it.