Planning a Hawaii vacation 2010?

Here is an idea from Best Hawaii Vacation blog for 'Which Hawaiian Island to visit in 2010' and 'What to do in Hawaii on vacation in 2010?' If you want to add some additional excitement to your Hawaii vacation 2010, please, keep reading.

Hawaii Big Island has been named the island of adventures by Hawaii travelers for a long time. Viewing a live volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park or stargazing through telescopes on top of the highest mountain on earth (measured from bottom of the sea) Mauna Kea Summit, not to forget those daredevils who ski the mountain in winter, helped the Big Island winning this attribute of 'adventure island'.

I've always called the Big Island, the Hawaiian Island of Superlatives. Why not plan your 2010 Hawaii vacation for October on the Big Island and add one more of those Superlatives to your Hawaii vacation next year? Kona Hawaii Big Island will host the next Ironman Triathlon World Championship on Saturday October 9, 2010. Believe me the Hawaii Ironman in Kona meets the criteria for biggest and best Hawaii event. This is your chance to be part of the biggest spectacle in Hawaii. Not sure what to expect, watch this Hawaii youtube video of the 2009 Hawaii Ironman.

So, when sitting down with family or friends over the holiday planning your Hawaii vacation 2010, share with them this exciting video. BTW, this is not a paid advertising. I just like the video!

Mele Kalikimaka - Merry Christmas to all our Best Hawaii Vacation blog visitors. We hope you will stay with us through another exciting year of Hawaii vacations 2010. Aloha, Pua Affordable Hawaii Vacations

Tags: Hawaii vaction 2010, Big Island vacation, Best Hawaii event, Kona Ironman Triathlon

Which island is your favorite Hawaiian Island?

E komo mai and welcome Hawaii visitors,
Today, we are back to the same old question which Hawaiian island is your favorite - this is where you can find what other Hawaii visitors have to say about their favorite Hawaiian island - or in other words 'Which Hawaiian island should you visit for your best Hawaii vacation?'

I actually answered that question in detail in Yahoo answers some two years ago. Here is an updated version of 'Favorite Hawaiian Island':

Most everybody who visits Hawaii for the first time is getting overwhelmed and confused, yes confused too, by figuring out which Hawaiian island they should visit first. When you limited your Hawaii visit choices to 2 islands, you are already a step closer to your final destination in Hawaii. That makes things a little bit easier.

Here is what I recommend you to do before making your final decision. Think about and determine what it is you expect from this 'first Hawaii visit or vacation'! It's all about your expectations what to want to see and to do in Hawaii and how much money you can spend for your Hawaii vacation.

When asking fellow Hawaii travelers for their favorite island, you will hear all kinds of different answers and reasons. It's good to hear those but it does not help you solve your problem, unless they love exactly the same things you do. So 'word-of-mouth' is not necessarily working in your situation.If somebody gave you advice to make yourself knowledgeable about those 2 Hawaiian Islands for your best Hawaii vacation. I agree. That will help. However, here are my suggestions for choosing your Hawaii vacation island.

Book your Maui Hawaii vacation when/if

1. your are a surfer - Maui is a surfer's paradise
2. like lots of white sand beaches
3. are young + like nightlife + don't mind crowds
4. prefer ocean view rental and don't mind a condo

Book your Big Island Hawaii vacation when/if

1. you love adventure - 'live' volcano, snow in Hawaii (Mauna Kea summit)
2. love laid back Hawaii with quiet beaches: white or black or green
3. like a peaceful Hawaii vacation Big Island Vacation Guide
4. love healing vacations: spas, alternative healing vacation

Book your Kauai Hawaii vacation when/if

1. you like laid back Hawaiian atmosphere - not too touristy
2. you love green tropical scenery - Kauai is the Garden Island
3. you don't mind some rain from time to time
4. you look for affordable ocean front or view condos

Book your Oahu Hawaii Vacation when/if

1. you have to switch planes in Honolulu anyways
2. you have never been to legendary Waikiki Beach
3. you want to see the crazy surfers on North Shore
4. you want to discover the old laid back Hawaii
5. you want to learn more about Pearl Harbor

Be aware that I am totally generalizing. Best you complete my lists with finding pros and cons which apply exclusively to you. All those who went through this process before are invited to share their favorite Hawaiian island with our first-time Hawaii visitors.

Hope this gets you on the right track. Have fun contemplating your options. Have a great Hawaii vacation. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacation

Tags: Favorite Hawaiian Island, best Hawaii island, visit Hawaii

A Guide to your Big Island Vacation that will work for you

Aloha Hawaii visitors,

What's on today's 'menu' of Best Hawaii Vacation blog today? It's 'A Guide to your Big Island which will work for you'. Please, keep reading if you own a Big Island vacation rental or if you plan a Big Island vacation sooner or later.

Most of our visitors are aware that besides our weekly Hawaii vacation blog posts, which include vacation articles about all the Hawaiian Islands: Big Island, Kauai, Maui, Oahu and Molokai, we constantly update and improve our Hawaii vacation sites Big Island Vacation Guide and Kohala Coast Vacation Guide. Having called the Kohala Coast on the Big Island our home and having been Hawaii vacation rental hosts for many years before retiring from the business in 2006, that's the Hawaii we know best.

Our Big Island Vacation Guide with exclusive information about the Kohala Coast and beautiful Kohala Coast and Big Island photos, which we and Hawaii visitors took over the years, was getting Google's and thus Hawaii visitors' attention right from the beginning in 2004.

Some time after having created our Big Island Kohala Coast Vacation Guide, we noticed that we cannot pack all the Big Island vacation info onto that site. Exploring the Big Island on vacation, in cyberspace or in reality, is a huge project. Big Island visitors can get easily overwhelmed and lose track of focus. The biggest issue for any Hawaii visitor is to find the right home base on the Big Island from where they want to start their daily explorations. We consider our Big Island Vacation Guide with islandwide Big Island vacation rentals a guide which will work for you, Big Island visitors and for Big Island rental owners!

To tell you the truth there are lots of Big Island vacation sites and blogs out on the WWW. Naturally, our amateur, homemade Big Island Vacation Guide was facing strong competition especially from such big corporations like Homeaway, Alwaysonvacation, Vamoose, just to name a few. As former vacation rental hosts it was kind of sad to watch Homeaway buying out all the old well established rental directories like greatrentals, cyberrentals and even vrbo and thus being able to dictate the highest vacation rental listing prices rental owners have ever seen. Unfortunately, the high annual listing price does not guarantee Big Island rental owners that their Big Island rental gets found among the hundreds of listings and gets booked.

What makes our Big Island Vacation Guide unique?

1. Only affordable Big Island rentals, below $200/nt., get listed.

2. Only individually owned Big Island rentals get listed.

3. Big Island map shows location of vacation rental.

4. Guide displays lots of Big Island vacation info:

Activities, Car Rental, Events, Weather

Best Big Island Vacation Guide Feature for Big Island Visitors

- See all available Big Island rental locations at one glance.

- Click your preferred Big Island locations.

- See nightly rental rates at one glance.

- Only affordable Big Island rentals are listed.

- No wasting your time by visiting hundreds of rental pages!

Best Big Island Vacation Guide Feature for Big Island Owners

- Your listing is absolutely FREE. No limited time offer.

- No fine print restrictions.

- Link back to HawaiiAffordable + get a free link to your site.

So, visit Pua's and Keoki's Big Island Vacation Guide and let us know what you think of our unique Guide to your Big island vacation. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Tags: Big Island Guide, Affordable Big Island vacation, Big Island vacation rentals

Why bloggers steal our blog posts?

Thanks to all our Hawaii blog visitors who checked out our recent post about 'Visit Hawaii for Thanksgiving 2009'. Well, we know a short notice Hawaii vacation is not for everybody's budget and family schedule but we are happy to share Hawaii vacation rental vacancies and deals with all those who are still looking into a Hawaii Thanksgiving visit.

So, what's on today's blog agenda for our Hawaii visitors? Well, it's a post I never thought I'd have to write. Alas, it's not for our Hawaii visitors and even takes time away from our original blog goal sharing our and other visitors experiences to make your best Hawaii vacation possible. It's about bloggers who want to save themselves time and money by taking original blog content from other bloggers who put all the hard work in.

Blogging about our favorite topic Hawaii is a labor of love and commitment. When writing our Best Hawaii Vacation blog posts, we write them with the intent that the people who are searching the web for this Hawaii vacation information will find our posts. Believe me there is a lot of efforts, time and research going in each post!

Unfortunately, not all bloggers respect that. For quite some time, we have experienced that bloggers copy and paste entire of our top Google ranked Hawaii blog posts to their so-called 'vacation' and 'travel' blogs - without quotation marks, using our exact post title and without giving us, the original blog author, any credit for the post and without asking permission.

Why do bloggers steal our blog posts? Easy answer. They take advantage of top ranked Google posts under popular search terms for traffic boosts to their site and financial benefits. Good news is that Google really supports the real bloggers and helps us in keeping the search results clean from 'sploggers' with the Google spam report form. Each time I used it, Google removed the splogger from Google SERPs. However, I'd rather use my precious time to write about Hawaii + Hawaii vacation than having to report bloggers who steal our blog content!

Last but not least, a word to all our Hawaii or vacation blog friends who'd like to use content of one of our posts on their blog. We love you to do that! Please, make sure to give us credit in the very top before quoting us, limit the quote to 2 - 3 paragraphs with a continue reading link to our blog, include quotation marks and create your own post title. Thanks for spreading the word about Best Hawaii Vacation within the copyright terms. Mahalo and aloha, Pua & Keoki Best Hawaii Vacation Blog Editors
p.s.
Kahiau, one of the beautiful girls from Hawaii Big Island is our today's post girl with courtesy from WahineStyle.com.

Tags: Best Hawaii Vacation, Hawaii blog, blog copyright

Visit Hawaii for Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009 is coming up with high speed. Anybody of our Best Hawaii Vacation blog visitors who still wants to visit Hawaii for Thanksgiving 2009, might want to catch up on some Thanksgiving info from our older posts 'Best Places Hawaii for Thanksgiving 2008' or '3 Best Hawaii Vacation Tips for Thanksgiving in Hawaii' and of course, continue reading.

Here is a short list fully equipped Hawaii vacation rental homes near best beaches which are currently still available for 2009 Thanksgiving in Hawaii. Most vacation rental hosts offer great amenities, such as free high speed Internet access for your laptop and snorkel gear or and boogie boards. Visit Best Hawaii Places for Thanksgiving 2009, from most expensive luxury homes to cheap, affordable vacation condos and cottages:

Spend Thanksgiving Kohala Coast Vacation at this brand-new Luxurious Kohala Coast Villa - 3 Bd/3.5 Ba - (Sleeps 6) at the lowest rate ever $1100/nt.! This 3000sft features spectacular ocean views from each room, private swimming pool and spa. Guests will enjoy all the luxury Kohala Coast resort amenities of Mauna Kea and Hapuna Beach Resort.

This Puako Oceanfront 3Bd/3Ba from $735/nt. (sleeps 8) is currently still available for Thanksgiving 2009. This is the Best price for your family beach vacation in Hawaii! Book it when you can. There is no beach home available at this price.

You look for a luxury Hawaii ocean view vacation home, then this one is right for you Kohala Coast vacation home 3BR/3.5BA, $435/nt. (dbl.) w/pool & tennis court Enjoy ocean views and top amenities at the most affordable rate at upscale gated community!

It's just the two of you and you love to stay close to the beach, this Puako Apartment is right across from Beach 1Bd/1Ba Puako Vacation Apartment Best Deal Puako Beach $115/nt.! It is available before Thanksgiving week 11/10 - 11/22/09.

Save lots of money on your nightly rate for going out to dinner or do a whale watch tour when you stay at this fully equipped (full kitchen), private location with short 10-minute drive to the beach, which is currently still available for Thanksgiving week at $95/nt. with 7-night booking. Sunny Side Waimea Kohala Coast Vacation Rental Cottage Near Best Beaches

There is no place like Hawaii on a Thanksgiving vacation. Hope you found what you were looking for on our list of Best Places Hawaii for Thanksgiving. Please, let us know in the comments whether you booked one of these vacation homes and how you liked it. Mahalo and aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations
p.s.
Hawaii vacation rentals owners still having a vacancy for Hawaii Thanksgiving 2009, check our affordable Best Hawaii Vacation blog ads for finding your Thanksgiving guests TODAY.

Tags: Visit Hawaii for Thanksgiving, Hawaii Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving in Hawaii 2009, Best places Hawaii

Best Place for your Hawaii Ad

Our Best Hawaii Vacation blog offers affordable advertising options to Hawaii, Hawaii vacation or travel and vacation related businesses. The best ad place for your vacation business just opened up on top of our sidebar! Take advantage of our top search engine results in Google for Hawaii vacation + Hawaii travel related keywords (see below).

Advertising options on our Best Hawaii Vacation blog:

Blog Ad Option 1 - Text Link Ad on Sidebar at $15/mo. (3-mo. min.)

Best Hawaii Vacation blog offers Hawaii travel and vacation advertisers a unique opportunity to purchase a text link to their web site. Restrictions apply, “no-follow” is used for each paid link, and each link is subject to approval. You may advertise your Hawaii or other travel or vacation related business with a short 4-5 word text link ad at $15/mo. (3-mo. minimum). Save $30 when signing up for 1 year at our 'Economy' ad rate of $150/yr.

Blog Ad Option 2 - Logo Ad on Sidebar at $20/mo.(3-mo.min.)

Our Best Hawaii vacation blog visitors are mainly consisting of people who are planning a visit to Hawaii and are researching Hawaii accommodations, hotels, activities, events, travel, air fares and car rentals. This is a great opportunity to promote your Hawaii business. Your logo ad will be displayed in the top of the right sidebar. It's a 3-mo. minimum for your logo link. Save $40 when signing up for 1 year at our ad 'Logo' rate of $200/yr.

• 125 x 125 static ad logo


• Displayed on index page and every archive and blog post page


• Your link URL with logo - 'No-follow' tag applies

In addition to advertising here on our Best Hawaii Vacation blog, please, view advertising options for your Hawaii business on our well established Hawaii vacation sites KohalaCoastWeb and HawaiiAffordable Check out our very affordable Hawaii Economy and Premium ad listing offers.

Please, contact us for advertising your Hawaii vacation or travel business on our Hawaii blog. Mahalo, Pua Hawaii Vacations
p.s.
We appreciate your interest in writing a guest post on our blog about best Hawaii vacation themes. Write us an email and submit your Hawaii story for review. Sorry no advertising articles. If approved, we will publish your Hawaii article with your short bio and link to your Hawaii blog or website URL!

Google Search Results for Best Hawaii Vacation 2013

#1  'Hawaii Vacation Blog'
#1 '10 Best Hawaii Vacation Tips'
#1 'Big Island or Maui Vacation'
#1  '8 Best Maui Vacation Tips'
#1 'Is it a good time to buy a Maui condo?'
#1  'Maui Vacation Trip Report'
#1  'Best Hawaii YouTube Videos'
#1  'Best Hawaii Sunset Photos'
#1  '5 Best Photo tips for Hawaii Vacation'
#1  '5 Best Hawaii Ironman Tips'
#1  'What you should know about getting married in Hawaii'
#1  'Our Favorite Hawaiian Flowers'
#3   'Which Hawaiian Island is your Favorite Vacation Spot'
#3  'Best Hawaii Shopping'
#6  'What does a Hawaii Vacation cost?'
#8  'Best Time to visit Hawaii'
#8  'Is Hawaii a Good Place to Live'
#8  'Hawaii Real Estate Trends 2013'

Please, note that this is just a small selection of our search engine results.  Google SERPs may vary from week to week.

Tags: Advertise Hawaii, Hawaii Ads, affordable Hawaii advertising

Share your love for Hawaii with your Friends

Dear Best Hawaii Vacation blog visitors,

After our recent visits to Kihei Maui 'Is Kihei a good place for a Maui Vacation?', we are ready to move on with more Hawaii blog posts enticing our visitors to plan their next Hawaii vacation, sooner or later. Actually, we'd recommend better sooner than later because Hawaii vacation rental hosts still make unbelievable special accommodation offers for fall months and so does Hawaiian Airline. Air fare rates + Hawaii vacation rental rates will go up for the busy holiday season 2009.

Let's get straight to our today's post 'Share your love for Hawaii with your friends'. I love to read Hawaii tweets from my Hawaiian friends. If I come across one which I feel is of special value for our Best Hawaii vacation blog visitors, I retweet it. My Hawaii tweet will be displayed on my blog side bar where all my recent Hawaii tweets show up with links to Twitter friends or Hawaii sites of interest.

One of my favorite Hawaiian sites is HawaiianRainbow.com I wrote about my friends in my post 'Hawaiian Music' and told our blog visitors how they can listen to Hawaiian music 24/7 for FREE. Just add this site to your favorites and whenever you are in the mood to get in the relaxed Hawaii mood, go visit Hawaiian Rainbow and click the link 'Listen to Hawaiian Music NOW'.

Close your eyes and get transported to the Hawaiian islands. Feel the warm Hawaiian ocean breeze and hum to your favorite Hawaiian songs. Best way of releasing stress through this special Hawaiian meditation! Not to forget to mention 'Keoki's Hawaii Easy Stretch Video', which also includes a guided relaxation to the sounds of gentle ocean waves!

Besides Hawaiian music, I love Hawaiian hula whether it's the lovely hula ladies of a hula halau like the ones on our Hawaii youtube video or the powerful warrior hula of the guys, hula is food for your soul and your spirit. So sit back and relax with this wonderful Hawaiian hula halau 'Hula Halau O Kamuela', Merrie Monarch 2009 Women Auana Winner - a treat for your ears, eyes and soul. Don't forget to share your love for Hawaii with your friends by telling them about the magic of Hawaiian music and Hawaiian hula. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Tags: Free Hawaiian music, listen to Hawaiian music, Hawaii hula, hula halau

Vote for best Kihei Beach for Maui Vacation

Dear Hawaii travelers,

As you can see from our blog title today we ask Maui Visitors and residents to vote for their best Kihei beach, at least what they think is the best beach. Charlie Young became our favorite Kihei Beach when we stayed in South Kihei on our Maui vacation. Before we ask you to vote for your favorite Kihei Beach at the end of this Maui article, we share 3 reasons with you why we think Charlie Young is the best Kihei beach.

3 Reasons to vote for Charlie Young Beach as Best Kihei Beach

1. Charlie Young Beach - Best South Kihei location

We noticed that the beaches in North Kihei were prone to frequent winds which makes them the favorite beaches for wind and kite surfers. Charlie Young beach seems less windy and also offers nice little 'alcoves' and shady places from palm trees, which allows more privacy on the beach than the sometimes busier Kamaole Beaches with all the condo visitors from the Kihei Condo complexes from across Sout Kihei Rd. like Kihei Kai Nani, Maui Vista and Pacific Shores.

2. Charlie Young Beach - Perfect for Swimming & Beach Walks

The soft white sand beach of Charlie Young Beach next to crystal clear ocean waters affords easy ocean access for swimmers, for those who just like to float and relax in the warm waters of the Pacific or the more ambitious kind who like to swim across the bay parallel to the shore. The long stretch of white sand beach - Charlie Young extending into Kamaole Beach I - is perfect for those who love to get their exercise in with beach walks. One can see beach walkers starting off Charlie Young at all times of the day.

3. Charlie Young - Great for Boogie Boarders & Families

The ideal location of Charlie Young Beach makes this a special beach more protected from high surfs, especially through winter months. Boogie boarding looks pretty easy but we don't recommend newbies to start with the high surf waves. Charlie Young allows to ride some easy waves when trying boogie boarding the first time. It is pretty safe for families with kids, especially since the life guard stand of Kamaole I is right next to it. If you want to make sure that your kids are safe, you may walk a little closer to the life guard stand for optimal protection.


There is no long trucking your beach stuff to Charlie Young Beach from the parking lot and the fresh water shower for rinsing the salt water off after you come back from the beach before you climb back into your car, are nice features too.

So, let's vote for the best Kihei Beach. Is Charlie Young Beach your favorite beach too? Your comment with your Kihei beach vote is much appreciated. Mahalo and aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Best Maui Vacation Articles

How about a Maui vacation at a Kihei Vacation Condo?
Is Kihei a good place for a Maui Vacation?
Our Maui Condo Vacation in Kihei

Best Flight offers from Seattle to Maui

Is it a good time to buy a Maui Condo NOW

Tags: Best Maui Beach, Kihei beach, Charlie Young Beach, favorite Kihei beach

How about a Maui vacation at Kihei Vacation Condo?

E Komo Mai and welcome to Kihei on Maui,

Our today's post is a sequel of our last post where we listed 3 reasons why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation. 'Keihei Vacation Condos' are HERE for everybody who loves a Maui vacation on the white sand beaches in sunny Kihei on West Maui. The Kihei Condos we talk about are located in 'Kihei Garden Estate', the best kept secret among the many ocean front and ocean view Kihei vacation condo complexes.

We love the laid back Hawaiian ambiance of Kihei Garden Estate: low 2-storey buildings in a peaceful tropical garden setting, away from the traffic noise of South Kihei Rd, and only steps to a quiet white sand beach. Enjoy this beach for tranquil early morning beach walks, a dip in the ocean, watching Maui's magnificent sunsets or our gentle giants, the humpback whales, during the winter months. Serenity NOW at one of the 1Bd/1Ba or 2Bd/2ba Kihei Condos on your Maui vacation at Kihei Garden Estate!

The special 'makai' (ocean side) location of 'Kihei Garden Estate' does not only allow easy access to the ocean, but at the same time convenient shopping at Azeka Shopping Center and Star Super Market. Plenty of Kihei restaurants from fine dining to affordable nationality restaurants or fast food add to your comfort when staying at a Kihei Garden Estates condo. It's only a short 5-minute drive to the wonderful Kamaole Beaches and Charlie Young beach making these Maui vacation condos in South Kihei an ideal vacation home away from home.

The 1bd/1ba Kihei Vacation Condos are ground floor condos with a comfortable 640 sqft vacation space with garden views and peeka-boo views of Haleakala from your lanai at Maui's most desired location. The covered lanais are perfect for enjoying the tropical Hawaiian atmosphere with your meals. Cool tile flooring greets your feet as you enter the condo from the nearby parking lot. No climbing stairs with your shopping bags or beach equipment! A wall mounted A/C unit keeps the condo cool during hot summer days. Most of the time, a nice cross ventilation and ceiling fans throughout the condo, does not make the running of AC necessary.

Kihei condos at Kihei Garden Estates offer everything you need for your home-away-from-home for your Maui vacation: fully equipped kitchen, high quality mattresses for a good night's sleep, flat screen TVs w/DVD players for your entertainment at night, Hawaiian style sleeper couch for additional guests, lanai furniture for sitting outdoors, high speed Internet WiFi, beach equipment and so much more.


There is no need to venture out far from your Maui condo home, if you don't want to. You may relax right there. Kihei Garden Estate has a beautiful big enclosed gated swimming pool. This ground floor unit makes going to the pool a fun activity. In addition, a relaxing hot tub, two gas barbeques, a large picnic area will make your Kihei condo experience one to tell your friends about.

How about a Maui vacation at a Kihei Condo? Kick back and enjoy a relaxing Maui vacation at Kihei Garden Estates Vacation Condo at affordable nightly rates, depending on length of stay + # of people:

$79 - $99/nt.(2 - 4 people) for value season (NOW - 12/15/09) and $125/nt. - $135/nt. for high season (12/16 - 4/15/10). NO cleaning fee applies when staying 6 or more nights. Please, inquire for 2bd/2ba condo rates. Just write me an email with your travel dates and number of people in travel party and I will respond asap. Aloha from Keoki from sunny Kihei Maui

Kihei Condo Reservation & Rates

Deposit of $200 is required within 10 days of confirmation to secure reservation.
Full prepayment is due 30 days prior to arrival.
All rates are subject to 12.42% Hawaii State Tax.
Minimum stay is 4 nights. Cleaning fee for 5 nights or less is $85 per stay.
NO cleaning fee when booking 6 nights and more.
CHECK-IN time is 2:00 PM. CHECK-OUT time is 11:00 AM.
A 1/2 day charge is required to guarantee a late check-out.
Special rates available for 8 days stays or longer.
All rates and taxes are subject to change.


Kihei Vacation Related Articles

Is Kihei a good place for a Maui Vacation?
Our Maui Condo Vacation in Kihei

Best Flight offers from Seattle to Maui

Is it a good time to buy a Maui Condo NOW

Tags: Maui condo in Kihei, Kihei condo, Maui vacation, South Kihei condo, affordable maui condo

Is Kihei a Good Place for a Maui Vacation?

After we had published or most recent post 'Our Maui condo vacation in Kihei' on our Best Hawaii Vacation Blog , not only our Hawaii friends were wondering whether Kihei is really such a good place for a Hawaii Maui vacation. Most of our friends figured from our enthusiastic blog writing that we must have liked our Maui vacation in Kihei a lot. We are happy to share with all our blog visitors our best reasons why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation.

3 Best Reasons why Kihei is a good place for Maui vacation

1. Kihei Maui has a beach for everyone

North Kihei offers great surfing beaches for wind- and kite surfers because of frequent wind activity. Wailea / Kahena area in South Kihei invites snorkelers and scuba-divers for some great ocean adventures. And all of the Kamaole Beaches, I, II, II together with Charlie Young Beach are 'displaying' Hawaii the way the Mainlander is dreaming of when he thinks of a Hawaii vacation: soft white sand beaches, blue skies and swaying palm trees.

2. Kihei has a condo for everybody + every budget

Naturally, when we searched for the, our, best place to stay in Kihei Maui, we cruised hundreds of websites and Kihei condo listings allowed for vacation rentals. Decision making was tough! You can choose from high end ocean front condos like Kauhale Makai, the more medium priced ocean view condos of Kihei Kai Nani or the more affordable vacation condos at Kihei Garden Estates, which we loved for its mellow Hawaiian ambience with its 2-story buildings in a tropical garden setting.


Be aware that you will always pay extra, double or triple, for ocean front or ocean view condos but again, there is a Kihei condo for everybody. Make sure that your Kihei vacation rental condo complex has a decent size pool for those days when the huge winter surf waves hit the Hawaiian Islands + Kihei during the winter months.

3. Kihei offers plenty of things to do

...in addition to beach walks, ocean swimming, snorkeling, board surfing, board paddling, boogie boarding + sun bathing on the beach. We love to play tennis. There are plenty of public tennis courts at the Kihei Beach Parks, like Kalama Beach Park and Waipuilani Park. Kalama Beach Park offers tons of fun things to do besides the tennis (4 hard courts with lights!) for Kihei visitors and residents alike. The park provides excellent facilities for picnicking and family outings with picnic tables + pavilions, BBQ grills, showers for those who played volleyball, basketball, baseball and soccer. I also noticed a great playground for little kids and a skate board facility which was busy with young skate boarders.


When we visited Kalama Beach Park, we also noticed a lot of weekend fishermen having several fishing rods with baits out in the ocean, staring at the ocean patiently waiting for the fish to bite and telling us all these angler stories about how many fish they caught the other day!

South Kihei offers paved trails along the ocean for biking and jogging, which we actually both like. For those who stay longer on their Kihei vacation and don't want to miss their daily workout with free weights and machines, Kihei offers 2 gym or fitness centers with daily and monthly rates.

Kihei's restaurant choices are from affordable to luxury, from fine dining to fast food. Kihei offers a restaurant for everybody's taste and budget. Nationality restaurants like Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese are favorites of visitors in Kihei. Another good reason why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation.


Honestly, we were kind of overwhelmed by all the dining and shopping options in Kihei. Our favorite place to shop was the 'Farmer's Market' in north Kihei with its daily fresh tropical fruits. Not cheap but who can resist tasty apple bananas, juicy strawberry papayas or sweet Hayden mangos?! Interestingly, no white pineapples. Those are really a speciality of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Last but not least, it is Kihei where you find the best weather for your Maui vacation. Kihei offers nice sunny weather all year round with our Hawaiian trade winds working as natural AC. Tell us what you think why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation. A hui hou. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Kihei Vacation Maui Related Articles

Our Maui Condo Vacation in Kihei

Best Flight offers from Seattle to Maui

Is it a good time to buy a Maui Condo NOW

Cheap Hawaiian Interisland flights
3 Best Things to do on Maui Vacation
Things to Do on Maui

Tags: Kihei condos, Best Maui vacation, Kihei condo vacation

Our Maui condo vacation in Kihei

Wow, Keoki and Pua spent a Maui condo vacation in Kihei? Really, Maui? Big surprise for all of our Best Hawaii vacation blog visitors who know that our favorite place is the Kohala Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii. After writing two Maui vacation blog posts recently: Best Flight offers from Seattle to Maui and Is it a good time to buy a Maui Condo NOW, not to forget our most recent post about Cheap Hawaiian Interisland flights, we decided it's time to reunite with Maui by spending a Kihei condo vacation there.

We took advantage of one of the Maui Vacation condo bargain offers and the most affordable air fares + Maui car rentals in years. Guess what. We got rewarded with a week of sunshine + blue skies, mellow trade winds, perfect ocean conditions for swimming and stretches of empty white sand Kihei beaches for those early morning beach walks!

Finally, we were able to visit all those Maui beaches in South Kihei, Hawaii visitors and residents rave about, and tell you what Kihei beach became our favorite beach. However, let us tell you first where we stayed in Kihei. We had booked a nice ground floor 1Bd/1Ba condo at Kihei Garden Estates. Kihei Garden condos are not ocean front like Kauhale Makai but they are a few 2-story buildings in a beautiful Hawaiian garden setting meeting our expectation for a peaceful Maui vacation. And the price was right for our Maui condo vacation!

We felt sorry for all the Maui condo owners who did not have any visitors. September is usually a slow month in Hawaii. I keep recommending this month because the weather is beautiful (not as hot as summer), travel to Hawaii is cheap, and beaches and restaurants are empty. This year, September seemed even having less visitors than in the past. We mostly had the swimming pool and the jacuzzi at Kihei Garden Estates to ourselves. As we are not big BBQ-ers, but we enjoyed the closeness of Star Market and a huge number of affordable restaurants (Thai restaurant was our favorite), all in walking distance from our Kihei condo.

From our Kihei Garden Estate condo it was just a short walk to the beach - wonderful for beach walks and cooling off dips in the ocean. As Charley Young Beach was only a short 5-min. drive down S.Kihei Rd, it became our favorite S.Kihei beach. In the mornings, we hopped in our car equipped with beach chairs, towels, books and camera to enjoy the most splendid Hawaii mornings by the ocean. Heavy winds are not really blowing in S. Kihei as they do on the northern coast. It was also fun to watch the board paddlers!

All in all, Keoki and I had a wonderful Maui vacation in Kihei. Affordable condos in Kihei, Kamaole Beaches and Charlie Young Beach are worth a Maui visit. Hope you like our Maui condo vacation photos. Where did you spend your Maui condo vacation in Kihei? Aloha, Pua Hawaii Maui Vacation

Maui Vacation related articles

Best Flight offers from Seattle to Maui

Is it a good time to buy a Maui Condo NOW

Cheap Hawaiian Interisland flights
3 Best Things to do on Maui Vacation
Things to Do on Maui

Tags: Maui Condo Vacation, Maui Vacation, best Maui condo, favorite Maui beach

Fly cheap between Hawaiian Islands NOW

We just island hopped virtually yesterday from Maui to the Big Island. But this is much better. Here is our Best Hawaii Vacation blog Interisland Flight Special Alert for everybody who is visiting Hawaii in September. Hawaiian Airlines offers Island Hop Hawaiian Style at $24.99 Interisland Fare One Way, which includes tax!

Hawaii Traveler Alert:

Sign-Up by 8/31/2009 + get this Hawaii Interisland
Flight Special for 9/1 - 9/30/09

- The $24.99* Interisland fare inclusive of U.S. tax is applicable to one way routing
- You'll get unlimited Interisland trips at this low fare
- Reservations must be booked via HawaiianAirlines.com from 08/24/2009 - 09/30/2009
- Travel must be completed by 09/30/2009
- The $24.99* Interisland fare inclusive of U.S. tax is good for coach class travel booking class 1
- Discount cannot be applied to tickets purchased before sign-up
- Interisland flights booked with this special promotion are eligible for HawaiianMiles Mainland Madness credits.

Read more about this Cheap Hawaii flight between Hawaiian Islands in September 2009. Hawaiian island hopping as cheap as it gets! Don't miss the deadline on 8/31/09 for your September Interisland travel for this Hawaiian Airlines flight special. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Tags: Best Interisland Hawaii flight, cheap Hawaii Island hopping

Big Island Places to Visit - City of Refuge

It's time to island hop back to the Big Island after we spend some time on Maui dealing with the current abundance of Kihei condo short sales and the question 'Is it a good time to buy a Maui condo?' Maui condos are also getting some special attention this fall because condo vacation rental rates are lower than ever for the 2009 fall season. One reason for us to share with our Best Hawaii vacation blog visitors Best Fall Airfares from Seattle to Maui. After Labor Day, flight tickets are outrageously low. It's time for a Maui Beach vacation in Kihei!

If you are not a beach bum but prefer adventure, the Big Island is right for you as we pointed out in many previous posts such as 'Which Hawaiian island is your favorite island?' My favorite saying about a Big Island vacation is this Hawaiian island offers 'adventure beyond the ordinary'! Where else can you see a live volcano or go ski in the morning on a snow covered mountain and swim in the warm waters of the Pacific in the afternoon. Those who plan their Big Island vacation now, might want to peruse our previous Big Island vacation articles.


Here is another of those special Big Island adventures, which actually allows you to combine learning more about ancient Hawaiian traditions and culture with having the best Hawaii snorkel experience. It's a visit to the City of Refuge or Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, National Historic Park. The park is located on the southern Kona Coast. Take Hwy 11 to Hwy 160 and continue downhill 4 miles to the entrance of the park.


The visitors Center is open 8am - 5:30pm. A self guiding tour takes you through the grounds: The Royal Grounds and the Place of Refuge. With Honaunau Bay offering an easy canoe landing place + the availability of drinking water, it was the perfect place for the ali'i (Roayals) to build one of their major residences there. The Royal grounds were separated from the pu'uhonua, place of refuge, by a massive stone wall built about 1550 - 10 feet high + 17 feet thick! - and still standing today. Can you believe that?!


So, what's the story behind the City of Refuge? In ancient Hawaiian life, activities were regulated by 'Kapu'. If a 'kapu' was broking, Hawaiians feared that their gods would get mad at them with an earth quake, volcano eruption or tidal wave. To 'prevent' that they tried everything to catch the kapu breaker. A kapu breaker was sentenced to death, unless he/she managed to reach pu'uhonua, which meant absolution by a priest and a safe return home. Tough times, I'd say.


See for yourselves how ancient Hawaiian ali'i lived. When you walk those ancient sacred Hawaiian grounds, you might get transported into the past and feel the spirit of old Hawaii. We did not feel any goose bumps as some visitors report when visiting ancient heiaus in Hawaii. Get back into the presence by swimming and snorkeling in the ocean waters of Honaunau Bay. Don't forget your snorkel gear, as Honaunau Bay is one of the best snorkel spots on the Big Island. It is also a great place to see the Hawaiian green sea turtles.


You want to share your personal City of Refuge experience, we'd love to hear from you. Have a wonderful time on your Big island vacation. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Tags: Best Places Hawaii, Big Island vacation, Best Things to do on Big Island

Best Flight Offers from Seattle to Maui

Aloha to everybody who loves a Maui Hawaii vacation,

Let's stay for today's Best Hawaii blog post kind of within the topic we talked about 'Is it a good time to buy a Maui condo NOW?' We heard from Maui realtors in the South Kihei condo area that the months January through April 2009 had been really slow with interested buyers in Maui condos. Summer 2009 showed a big slowdown in vacation rental requests but on the other hand, more "Mainlanders" showed up interested in buying Kihei condos at 'bargain' prices as investment and as a vacation rental and a place to stay warm during cold winter months!

For all those, who are still looking into buying a Maui condo now or are getting ready for a Maui vacation during fall season, there is great news out there for Maui travel, especially for travelers from the Pacific Northwest, from Seattle and Portland. I came across those new best flight offers from Seattle to Maui through a Maui Twitter friend whose tweet I actually retweeted for our best Maui vacation visitors yesterday:

RT @MCIMaui New Direct Alaska Airlines Flight from Portland to #Maui: Will more competition mean more affordable... http://bit.ly/17sif9

It's pretty amazing how things come and go around through social networks like twitter. Anyways, my Maui Twitter friend had picked up the good Maui travel news from the Maui Real Estate Directory Blog, which wrote on a post 'Will more competition mean more affordable flights to Maui?': "As of July 3rd, a convenient new flight via Alaska Airlines is taking passengers direct from Portland, Oregon to Maui, Hawaii. Alaska offered three flights weekly at first, but as of August 7th, service will expand to daily flights." I definitely recommend Maui visitors to read the entire post New Direct Alaska Airlines Flights from Portland to Maui.

As we all know affordable air fares to Hawaii can and will give the Hawaii Tourism Industry a big boost. That's why we were happy to see our friends from Beat of Hawaii on the same track when they are talking about Hawaii Fall Airfare predictions, referring to Hawaiian Airlines, on one of their recent posts:

"Pacific Northwest will be the hottest market. In just the past week the cost to fly from Seattle to Honolulu has dropped by 25% and is now at $298 round-trip on Hawaiian. I expect to see Seattle and Portland fares continue to drop, especially on service to Honolulu and nonstop flights to the outer islands. Likely we will again see round-trip fares for as little as $200 (plus tax of about $20), from time to time, as we saw last year." Again, we recommend to read the entire article about the best flight offers from the Pacific Northwest to Hawaii.

Here is a copy of part of my comment in case you missed that:

"Much mahalo, Jeff, for making our Hawaii visitors from the Pacific Northwest aware of those special air fares from Seattle and Portland to the islands. I've checked on Hawaiian and found the special rates you mentioned Seattle - Honolulu and Seattle Maui for RT $298.

However, I noticed with Maui, that travelers might want to leave a little more time between now and their departing flights to Maui in September. As the direct flights to Maui leave only once a day, the planes get filled up fast and then Hawaiian asks more money for their seats, whether Wednesday or weekend flying, it does not matter."

So guys check Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines for those special fall airfares from the Pacific Northwest or San Francisco to Hawaii. Find your best flight special from Seattle to Maui or Honolulu Hawaii. Hop on the plane and have a great Hawaii Vacation. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacation
p.s.
We chose beautiful Hawaiian girl Sara from WahineStyle.com as our Hawaii post girl today.

Tags: best fall airfares to maui, maui vacation, seattle to maui, best price

Is it a good time to buy a Maui Condo NOW?

Aloha to all our Hawaii blog visitors, our regulars and the drop-ins,

The Sharks, Rays and Whales on the most wanted Youtube Video post took off right from the start. It was fun writing the post and sharing this spectacular video with everybody. Best Hawaii Vacation blog visitors and our Hawaii friends liked it a lot. I am sure Jon got quite some extra traffic for his video from our blog, and he deserved it.

As mentioned before, visiting other Hawaii blogs and Hawaii twitter friends is a steady source and pool for new ideas. A recent post by our friend Julie from 'Maui Vacation Guide' about Short Sales of Maui Condos got my special attention this time. Reading Julie's article on low price short sale offers for Maui condos for sale, triggered my curiosity to that extend that I thought Maui condo short sales will hit a nerve and attract the attention by a lot of our Hawaii blog visitors. It seems time to talk 'Hawaii Real Estate' again. This time specifically about 'Is it a good time to buy a Maui condo NOW?'

My first action to prepare this post was a Google search for Maui condos for Sale and peruse a big number of those top search result sites for Maui condos. Bottom line, there is quite a number of Maui real estate sites which focus on Maui condo for sale real estate market trying to lure the 'Mainlanders' hungry for Hawaii sun to buy a Maui condo now.

I liked those sites which provided in addition to the basic condo info like:

- Asking price

- Maui condo resort location

- condo bedroom + bathroom number

additional detailed condo info like:

- Is the condo zoned for vacation rental?

- Condo monthly maintenance fee

- Annual Taxes

- Sales history

The prices for Maui condo short sales are really tempting but be aware of that the banks take their time to 'collect' a number of offers for a certain short sale condo and decide for the highest offer after 3 - 4 months or even longer. If you are not in a hurry, try your luck. Maybe your nice cash offer will be accepted by the bank. In any case, that's probably the lowest price for Maui condos, not just short sales, I have seen in a long time. So, is it a good time to buy now?

Believe me, not just us regular folks wonder whether the Hawaii Real Estate market has reached the bottom or will even further slow down, meaning Maui condo prices will even come down more. The following article about reaching the bottom and about current trends in Hawaii Real Estate market by Michael Gallagher shows you that Hawaii realtors can't guarantee either whether this is now the best time to buy a Maui condo. One thing is for certain though, Hawaii real estate market will recover as it always has. There is no place like Hawaii! The decision is yours. Before you buy a Maui condo, here are 3 facts you need to know when buying a Maui condo NOW.

3 Facts to know for buying a Maui Condo

1. Maui Condo Vacation rental zoned

If you don't want to move to the island of Maui permanently and consider spending 2 - 3 months on Maui in winter, you want to rent out your Maui condo for the rest of the year at the best rate you can get. Lots of things have changed recently in the Maui vacation rental scene recently. Make sure that the condo you buy is in a vacation rental zoned condo resort or complex. If the complex got 'grandfathered' in, make sure the condo complex bylaws state 'short term rental allowed'. BTW, Maui legislature is still dealing with making more vacation rentals legal.

2. Maui Vacation Rental business Slowdown

Remember the economic slowdown has a big effect on family's capability to go and spend some extra money on vacation. Hawaii vacations got postponed by many families this summer. Summer 2009 in Hawaii was one of the slowest high season summer months for vacation rentals in years. Hawaii visitors who stuck with their travel plans to the islands, received deals they had never dreamed of. Good for them. However, vacation condo rates did often not cover the expenses Maui condo owners have like high monthly maintenance and annual taxes. Good news: Winter months look much better for Maui vacation condos!

3. Maui condo Property Management

Be aware that renting your Maui condo as a vacation rental requires knowledge, business skills and means to advertise it. That's why the majority of Maui condo owners rely on property management companies. Maui property rental managements charge for booking and renting you condo fees between 20 - 25%. You might want to check and compare. I even found out that one of the biggest Maui management company charges a monthly fee whether they book your condo or not.

BTW, when you are not a permanent Hawaii resident, you need a Hawaii agent to act on your behalf which is another reason that Maui condo owners decide for a Maui property management company. Lots to think about when you want to make some money from your Maui vacation condo.

Do you think 'It's a good time to buy a Maui condo NOW?' Our Best Hawaii blog visitors and we'd love to hear from everybody, whether Hawaii realtor or lay people like us. Mahalo and aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Hawaii Real Estate Related Articles

2009 Hawaii Real Estate Market
Best Price Hawaii House for Sale
Hawaii Real Estate Market 2008
Will falling prices in Hawaii Real Estate attract new home buyers?

Tags: condos for sale Maui, Maui condos Short sales, Hawaii real estate market, trends prices Maui condos

Sharks, Rays, Whales on the most Watched youtube Travel Video

More Hawaii ocean life, you ask, what is that for? Just wait a minute and I will explain.

Actually, the sharks, rays, whales and fish you are about to see are ocean creates also live in Hawaii's ocean waters but these sharks, rays and whales do live in the 2nd biggest aquarium (biggest one is in Georgia, Atlanta) in the world, in Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan

I can't believe this coincidence. One minute, I am writing my blog post about the wonderful book 'Sharks and Rays of Hawaii' and shortly after, when cruising my favorite Hawaii ocean blog 'The Right Blue', I come across this most awesome and amazing youtube video shot by video producer Jon Rowlinson! This is one of those miracle stories which twitter + tweets, youtube and the world wide web can make happen.

I just read on @jonrowlinson the following tweet:

Kuroshio sea is the top rated travel video on youtube...of all time. http://bit.ly/AZhJ9 Wait, it got a higher rating than Matt dancin??

Long story short. Here is Jon Rowlinson's famous youtube video displayed on Best Hawaii Vacation blog for your convenience and of course, for getting you all excited to watch all the fantastic ocean life in real nature on your next Hawaii vacation. Don't know how close you want to be to the sharks though. Watching sharks through the glass walls of an aquarium feels definitely safer.

Kuroshio Sea by Jon Rowlinson - 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world



Here is what Jon says about the aquarium:

"The main tank called the 'Kuroshio Sea' holds 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water and features the world’s second largest acrylic glass panel, measuring 8.2 meters by 22.5 meters with a thickness of 60 centimeters. Whale sharks and manta rays are kept amongst many other fish species in the main tank." Let's not forget to mention that music is "Please don't go" by the group 'Barcelona'.

So, what do you think about the video, sharks, rays, aquarium, music and all? Mahalo for your comments. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Tags: most watched youtube travel video, second biggest aquarium in the world, sharks and rays, ocean creatures in hawaii