Options
RECENT Hawaii tour feedback.
Hello All! Getting ready to book The Best of Hawaii tour. It looks to me like they have slightly changed/updated this tour in the last year or so. Does anyone have any recent feedback on the current tour?
Also travel times are late Winter to Fall, does anyone have any feedback on best timing? I understand there are some rainy times but from what I see, there is not a "bad" time to go inside the Tauck travel options.. We are looking February or March 2027 or fall 2027. We have a few other things booked for 2026, so we are looking ahead. . . Just hoping for some feedback from recent travel. Thanks!
0
Comments
We went in 2020 so outside your question. But I'll say that it was a very good tour. You'll enjoy it.
Not sure if this would make a difference for you, but February/March are peak whale watching season.
Link to my Sept 2025 Best of Hawaii trip report:
https://forums.tauck.com/discussion/19162/aloha/p1
We had a place on Oahu for 23 years and lived there full time for 8. January through March has the worst weather that time of year for the state. Some nasty storms can come rolling through. Having said that, even a bad day in Hawaii is still a great day compared to almost anywhere else.
Thank you All! Helpful!
We're going in March of 2027. We plan to arrive a few days for an ash scattering plus a whale watch/shark adventure. It will be 15 years since we first did the Best of Hawaii. Would appreciate any feedback anyone has towards booking a Road to Hana trip. We'll be emailing the concierge for feedback.
Did a road trip from Kaanapali to Hana years ago so maybe not helpful…but it is a beautiful drive with lots, and lots, and lots of one land bridges and waterfalls and at the end you can see Charles Lindbergh's burial site if you are interested. I remember it being a full day there and back.
One time when I went to Maui, I had rented a car and started the drive to Hana. But I gave up about half way there. The road is twisty and tiring to drive. I knew that if I went all the way, I'd have to drive the same road back so I quit. I feel that I got enough of the experience of the drive. I don't know of anything in Hana that is interesting enough to go there - it's the drive that draws people.
”I don’t know of anything in Hana that is interesting enough to go there -…” 🤔😲 Not to be rude or anything, but if you’ve never been . . .
Certainly the drive is a big part of it, but if you are a connoisseur of history, Lindberg’s gravesite is quite interesting. And the Waiʻānapanapa State Park with its black sand beaches is a sight behold if you’ve never seen them.
I did Hawaii on my own w/family. We hired a private driver to take us on the Road to Hana and was very happy to have done that. It was back in 2008 and it doesn't appear as though the company is still in business. I could not imagine ever driving it myself. I am glad to have done it once, but never felt the urge to do it again. LOL. I do recommend it, but it's called the road to He!!. I even bought the shirt that said I survived the road to Hana. Like JaneP and MikeHenderson mentioned, it's a lot of single lanes and switchback turns. If you get motion sick, definitely take something. I was feeling the drive, and our driver had some ginger she gave me to help. Once we got on level ground w/out turns, I felt great!!
Definitely worth the trip, but I'd say hire someone else to do all the driving.
Since you have not yet booked, before you commit I'd read up on the impacts of this year's Super El Nino which has already started impacting weather in many places. For Hawaii they already have had a crazy number of Hurricanes. Check and see when the impacts will last through. This concerns not just Hawaian travel but many other places. Since you have not booked you may as well be sure your timing is right.
There are ways to research what attractions are in a place before you go, and I had done that. It would be difficult if none of us could know anything about a place before we went there. There was nothing I found that really called me to see Hana in person. YMMV
[Just as a side note, Lindberg was hailed for his flight, and there was a lot of sympathy for him when his son was kidnapped and killed.
But Lindberg was a Nazi sympathizer and extremely antisemitic. He was not a paragon of virtue, an American patriot, or a role model for anyone. Too often people only know of his cross Atlantic flight and don’t know anything of the rest of his life. To say that his legacy is tarnished is an understatement.]