Anonymous wrote:Neither. Go to Kauai! That's the real deal. It has everything.

Everything, including chickens roaming everywhere. Our hotel had a rooster proudly singing around 6 a.m. every day.

Anonymous wrote:We did 1 week big island and 1 week maui a few years ago. All 4 of us (including 2 teens at the time) loved Maui more. You can do the beach in Maui (we are not big spending all day at beach people at all), but there is plenty of big drives and hikes, including across lava fields that you can do in Maui.

+1. We just did this last year. 1 week Big Island and 1 week Maui. Big Island was nice and best part was the night manta ray, not to be missed.

But we loved, loved Maui. Beaches and scenery are much more gorgeous. Not fan of lava rock beaches. The golf courses were incredible, even more breathtaking than Ireland per DH. Just breathtakingly beautiful everywhere.

But it’s not just the beaches. We like to be active and the drives and hikes were great. The snorkeling and kayaking was amazing. Haleakala was amazing and loved it more than Volcanoes National Park.

We felt like we needed more time to soak up all Maui had to offer where I week at Big Island was enough. We are going back for another 5 days to explore more of Maui and adding 6 days for Kauai which we have nit been.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure which to do, afraid that the Big Island would be more of an adventure vacation vs a relaxing, easy one. However, I have fomo about not doing things like the volcano viewing and manta dive on the Big Island.

Older teens have never been to Hawaii.

You should have fomo for these, they are amazing experiences.

But with 7 days and staying at the right place (I'm partial to the Mauna Lani, but there are multiple great options), you can have a very relaxing time even while doing these things (and a few more -- drive up to the observatory for a night sky program if you can).

This. Also, do not leave at sunset. Hang out at the Mauna Kea visitor's center for about an hour and then go outside. You will see more stars than you have ever seen before.

Do not leave at sunset? Goodness, that should be obvious.

You would think so but last time I went up.I think about 90% of the people who watched the sunset left before it got dark.

They do make people clear the summit area after sunset but the visitor's center is open until 9. But it empties out well before then.

Maui is so crowded. Some hotel pools fee like Vegas, and even the beaches can be packed. Much prefer the big island. Kauai is nice too.

Anonymous wrote:Maui has scrambling for loungers, more frenzied bucket listers. Plus the fire vibes are still a downer.

Posted who was just in Maui and would not have known there was a fire.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prefer the Big Island. It is easy to sit by the pool or beach and relax.

why? i thought maui was more the chill at the pool vibe place

Compared to Kauai & Oahu, Maui is arguably more chill. This is not saying much though.

Maui has scrambling for loungers, more frenzied bucket listers. Plus the fire vibes are still a downer.

Anonymous wrote:I prefer the Big Island. It is easy to sit by the pool or beach and relax.

why? i thought maui was more the chill at the pool vibe place

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure which to do, afraid that the Big Island would be more of an adventure vacation vs a relaxing, easy one. However, I have fomo about not doing things like the volcano viewing and manta dive on the Big Island.

Older teens have never been to Hawaii.

You should have fomo for these, they are amazing experiences.

But with 7 days and staying at the right place (I'm partial to the Mauna Lani, but there are multiple great options), you can have a very relaxing time even while doing these things (and a few more -- drive up to the observatory for a night sky program if you can).

This. Also, do not leave at sunset. Hang out at the Mauna Kea visitor's center for about an hour and then go outside. You will see more stars than you have ever seen before.

Do not leave at sunset? Goodness, that should be obvious.

I prefer the Big Island. It is easy to sit by the pool or beach and relax.