Depends on what you want to do on vacation.

If you love driving around, exploring new places and like an active vacation with a mixture of activities then I think Hawaii is worth it. We took our kids to Maui when they were 9 and 12 and had an incredible time. We saw sunrise at Haleakala, drove around west Maui, cliff jumped at black rocks, swam in tide pools and by waterfalls, did road to Hana with lots of fun stops, boat ride to snorkel at Molokini crater and another spot with a ton of turtles, did a luau, surfed (lessons and a few days of renting boards on our own). We didn't think the fights were all that bad, but we've also flown to Asia in economy so Hawaii seemed close. We also visited Kaui on our honeymoon and loved it.

If you just want a relaxing beach vacation where you sit by the pool or beach at an all inclusive all week, then no absolutely not worth it.

Anonymous wrote:Hawaii is nice but I'd probably go to Costa Rica instead.

I actually agree with this. If budget is a consideration at all you can go super luxury in Costa Rica and have a similar experience. We loved both but spent half what it cost to go to CR and stay at Andaz/Four Seasons.

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what it is you want out of a vacation. I know foodies who had an absolutely miserable time. Hikers will have the time of their lives, in contrast.

That’s shocking! I’ve only been to the Big Island but the food was outstanding from the poke, sushi, fresh seafood, fruits… really exceptional all around!

Ask me what keeps me from vacationing in Maui and my answer will be “sharks”.

Hawaii is nice but I'd probably go to Costa Rica instead.

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Anonymous wrote:We travel a lot - both domestically and internationally - and Hawaii is probably one of our favorite places in the world to visit. We just love Maui. Kids feel the same way. I don't think closer beaches are comparable at all so we make the trek.

OP here. What beaches/areas on Maui do you recommend?

NP: We love the Kaanapali area - but once you're there for a few days you get the itch to do something else as there really there isn't much to do in Maui besides go to the beach. Last time we were there we did a snorkeling excursion to one of the nearby coves which was magical.

We did not find this to be the case at all on Maui. The beach was awesome as was the snorkeling, but we also did hikes all over the island, Haleakala hiking and stargazing, did the bike trip down the volcano (which was our favorite activity), zip lining. Would have loved to try canoeing in the ocean, but ran out of time. We’ll have to go back!

Love Hawaii but will go to Bermuda when want something sorta similar and only a short flight away.

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Anonymous wrote:Eh - I didn’t love it. Especially given the distance. The hikes were nice but it wasn’t that special to me. Maybe it had been built up too much? I was just underwhelmed by it and overwhelmed by the tourism.

If you go again, you should get out of the main touristy areas.

Oh we did and they are everywhere. There are portions that are truly lovely but between the tourists, the traffic and frankly the lack of land mammals, it just wasn’t my thing. Oh and the freaking chickens everywhere. IMO there are some truly lovely things about it but it’s a mess overall and for me just not worth the trip. For a few more hours of travel I’d rather go to Australia or New Zealand.

Where did you go? If you do ever go back there are less touristy areas if you don’t like built-up areas or lots of tourists.

Thanks to Instagram it is hard to find places that are lovely and not overrun. I don't want to fly 16 hours and then have to do in depth research to find something tolerable. Even places that have signs telling the tourists to stay out are overrun. I'm sure the locals are super jazzed to find their secret places filled with outsiders as well. And no, I don't fly 16 hours to sit on a beach. That is foolish.

OMG I am so sick of thirsty 20-something girls taking selfies of duck lips and cleavage. But that's true literally everywhere. Some psycho was doing repeatedly it in the auditorium at my middle schooler's band concert. Its out of control.

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Anonymous wrote:Eh - I didn’t love it. Especially given the distance. The hikes were nice but it wasn’t that special to me. Maybe it had been built up too much? I was just underwhelmed by it and overwhelmed by the tourism.

If you go again, you should get out of the main touristy areas.

Oh we did and they are everywhere. There are portions that are truly lovely but between the tourists, the traffic and frankly the lack of land mammals, it just wasn’t my thing. Oh and the freaking chickens everywhere. IMO there are some truly lovely things about it but it’s a mess overall and for me just not worth the trip. For a few more hours of travel I’d rather go to Australia or New Zealand.

Where did you go? If you do ever go back there are less touristy areas if you don’t like built-up areas or lots of tourists.

Thanks to Instagram it is hard to find places that are lovely and not overrun. I don't want to fly 16 hours and then have to do in depth research to find something tolerable. Even places that have signs telling the tourists to stay out are overrun. I'm sure the locals are super jazzed to find their secret places filled with outsiders as well. And no, I don't fly 16 hours to sit on a beach. That is foolish.

Anonymous wrote:I have been almost everywhere in the world and have been to Hawaii 5 times.

Many places in the Caribbean are as nice or nicer such as Turks + Caicos, Nevis, St. Barts, St. Lucia, etc.

T&C has crippling poverty. And there isn’t much to do beyond beach and boating.

The water and beaches are lovely. And it has a handful of great restaurants.

I have been almost everywhere in the world and have been to Hawaii 5 times.

Many places in the Caribbean are as nice or nicer such as Turks + Caicos, Nevis, St. Barts, St. Lucia, etc.

I thought Hawaii was worth it, but I don't like sitting at the beach. One thing I liked about Hawaii is that it has nice, luxury hotels with pool complexes that are not all-inclusives. Also there is a ton of non-beach stuff to do (we went to Maui and Kauai). On the way there we left DC in the early morning, had a 1 hour layover in Chicago and got to Hawaii by mid-afternoon I think - not bad at all. Our kids can't sleep on planes so we stopped for one night in our layover city on the way back. that gave us a chance to nap and get a break (we picked a layover city where we have friends to visit). I personally would not break up the trip there - doesn't seem worth it, but breaking up the trip back was really helpful for us.

If you do go to Maui and you are hungry when you get off the plane (which is likely given that it will have been a long flight), I highly recommend the food trucks across from the Costco near the airport - lots of great options.

Anonymous wrote:We've never been. We keep thinking about going with our two teens because it seems like something people aspire to do, but it seems expensive and really far. Is it worth it? Did anyone go and feel like their time and money would have been better spent elsewhere?

When doing this, we plan for a long trip (at least 10 days in Hawaii). We also stopped in LA for a couple of days at Disney on the way just to break up the flight and jet lag. So, this would not be a frequent trip for us, but Hawaii is really nice.

Anonymous wrote:I am not a beach person so the attraction for me is the volcano, hiking, unique landscape. If you just want a beach vacation, Hawaii is too far.

If you go, fly to CA or WA and spend a couple nights before going on, do the same on return. It will help the jet lag and break up the long flight. Doing it nonstop is too much.

Okay this is a little over the top. So all those folks who fly from LAX to LHR (me, for example) should take a breather at JFK to break up the flight? Come on.

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Anonymous wrote:We travel a lot - both domestically and internationally - and Hawaii is probably one of our favorite places in the world to visit. We just love Maui. Kids feel the same way. I don't think closer beaches are comparable at all so we make the trek.

OP here. What beaches/areas on Maui do you recommend?

NP: We love the Kaanapali area - but once you're there for a few days you get the itch to do something else as there really there isn't much to do in Maui besides go to the beach. Last time we were there we did a snorkeling excursion to one of the nearby coves which was magical.