We Need Help to Plan Our Trip (Hilo, Kailua: rental car, where to stay)

[cindycat]

My husband and I are planning our first - and probably only - trip to Hawaii. We're 63 and have a few orthopedic challenges, but it just means that we won't be taking any mountain hikes.

Our main interests are the WWII historical sites, the countryside and interesting food and drink. We'd like to see a beach but don't care about spending a lot of time there. We don't need big city life.

I suppose we'd stay a week. I've heard of a cruise that stops at all the islands.

This might not be much to go on. I don't know enough about the state to ask good questions but if you can ask me something more specific, I'll answer. I'll appreciate any help you can give me.

Thanks!!

[hotzcatz]

Most of the WWII sites are on Oahu since they have the Pearl Harbor memorial as well as the big veteran's cemetery. There is a roadside memorial of camp Tarawa in Waimea on the island of Hawaii but if you blink you'd miss it and if you get to Hilo go to Cafe 100 early in the morning to see if you can catch some of the guys from the 442. They got out of the war and started the Cafe and some of them, I think, still get there early in the mornings, but perhaps you could call and inquire. It isn't a fancy cafe at all, more or less a walk up window with seating areas and they serve a very local menu. I would guess the closest sort of place you may be familiar with might be something along the lines of a Dairy Queen.

Most of the WWII is on Oahu. Oh, there is also a military museum on the beach at Fort Derussy. (The Hilton end of Waikiki Beach) It is a nice museum, last time I looked it was not only free but nicely air conditioned, too. Which is a really nice thing so close to the beach.

[whynot?]

Like hotzcatz says, most of the WWII sites are on Oahu, so if that's your first priority, plan to spend some time there. They're also fairly close to the city, so if you're trying to avoid staying downtown, you'll have some driving to do to get to them. Or you can book a bus tour through your hotel concierge to simplify by not having to park, etc. It's kind of hard to visit any island and not at least see a beach, so presumably you just don't want to pay a premium to stay oceanfront. What kind of place do you see yourselves staying? Resort? Hotel? Condo? There are lots of places to stay in the city, near the city, and way out of the city.

As for the cruise option, if you enjoy cruises, it's a nice way to see more of the state, and you won't spend so much time in airport security and rental car lines as if you flew from island to island. If you haven't cruised before, you might want to talk to several people who have. There are several options, but fewer than last year. You don't actually see all of the islands, but you can see Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island. (Cruise ships pass by Molokai and Lanai, but do not stop there.)

We picked up some friends' parents who were on a cruise last January. They were in their 70s and had a few physical limitations, but they didn't have any problem choosing activities they could enjoy from among the cruise's offerings.

If you don't want to cruise, but want to see a bit more of the islands from the water, you can also take the Superferry from Oahu to Maui, and you'll pass between Lanai and Molokai on your way to Maui. You can split your time between Oahu and Maui however you like -- the ferry runs every day. You can bring your rental car and stay on two islands.

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by cindycat

Our main interests are the WWII historical sites, the countryside and interesting food and drink. We'd like to see a beach but don't care about spending a lot of time there. We don't need big city life.

I'm going to comment on the basis of your staying on Oahu, because:

Thats where the serious WWII historical sights are.
That's where I live when I'm in Hawaii.
There's "countryside" on all the islands.
Oahu has the biggest variety of food and drink (IMHO).

I think your first decision, if you spend all your time on Oahu, is where to stay. You can drive around the whole island in a day, with lots of stops, so that doesn't govern. Most of the hotels are in Waikiki, and there are LOADS of restaurants there, but there are small towns with lots of restaurants, like Kailua, on the windward side, where I live. No hotels, but lots of Vacation Rentals, which you could find through web sites like vrbo.com. Here is a sample:

East Oahu Vacation Rentals - VRBO® is Vacation Rentals by Owner East Oahu - East Oahu Hotels, East Oahu Lodging, East Oahu Travel and Tourism (http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/hawaii/oahu/east-oahu#3066 - broken link)

If you don't rent a car for the whole time, you will want to rent a car for at least a few days, to get to the WWII sites, and to drive around the island. You can do that easily in Waikiki, or in Kailua. Lots of choices in Waikiki, and Enterprise in Kailua.

Here are some links to the Arizona Memorial and other WWII sites:

USS Arizona Memorial (U.S. National Park Service)

Pacific Aviation Museum - Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

National Cemetery of the Pacific

Fort DeRussy (Hawaii - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

To help you decide what you want to do, and where you want to stay, I would spend considerable time browsing the information about attractions and accomodations on all the islands at the Hawaii Visitors Bureau web site (Disclaimer: I'm a member, because I have a vacation rental on Kauai):

Hawaii's Official Tourism Site -- Travel info for your Hawaii vacation

Tell us more about your interests, and I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions.

You can also read past suggestions here by clicking on the "search" link above, clicking advanced, putting in the Hawaii forum, and entering search word(s) like

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Good luck,

Hank