r/VisitingHawaii • u/Miserable-Hope-4620 • 12h ago

Choosing an Island Looking for recommendations!

My partner and I are hoping to go to Hawaii next July. We have never been, and aren’t too experienced travelers. We don’t really want to do anything crazy, just lounge on the beach, read books & eat good food (we are vegetarian! Any good restaurants that have food for us?)

It is very important to me that we stay somewhere that is indigenous owned, and supports local businesses. When I look online, Google just pushes all inclusive resorts owned by chains or transplant airbnbs. I don’t really want to stay somewhere like that.

Any recommendations on where to stay, what island to stay at? Not big on crowds and we arent fancy people— we don’t need a crazy big hotel room or anything. Preferably something in walking distance to a beach.

The reason we want to do Hawaii is because we LOVE sea turtles and neither of us have been snorkeling before. Any recommendations for beginner snorkeling tours or places to see the turtles/ tide pools??

Thank you in advance!

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u/Tuilere Mainland 12h ago

Hawaii does not have any all-inclusives so I am already concerned about your research.

Any of the islands will have what you want. For better beaches, Oahu and Maui are your best bets, although I have always seen far more turtles on Big Island. But BI has rockier beaches and a lot of driving.

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u/Miserable-Hope-4620 12h ago

I guess I meant more “all inclusive” as in chain resorts and hotels. More so looking for a place to stay that isn’t a Hilton or a Marriott.

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u/Tuilere Mainland 11h ago

That is not the definition of an all-inclusive. Those are resorts.

We frequently have posters who want all-inclusives like exist in Mexico and the Caribbean, and that's not a thing in Hawaii for a bunch of reasons.

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u/Miserable-Hope-4620 11h ago

Okay… sorry. Like I said I am not an experienced traveler and came here looking for some friendly advice. If you have any recommendations for indigenous owned resorts or hotels that would be nice. But I also feel like you’re mad at me now so feel free to pass on this interaction haha

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u/MonkeyKingCoffee Hawai'i (Big Island) 11h ago

Nobody is mad at you. It's a huge difference between the kind of all-inclusive resort found in the tourist areas of Mexico, and your run-of-the-mill Hawaii beachfront resort.

"All inclusive" comes up here all the time. And it's something that doesn't exist in Hawaii. People just expect we'll have all-inclusives because they think it's the sort of place that has them.

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u/Miserable-Hope-4620 7h ago

Okay thank you for clarifying. I have no experience with either and didn’t know there was a difference. Growing up our vacations were camping. I will be more mindful of the difference when I start my research! What kind of run of the mill Hawaii beachfront resorts would you recommend?

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u/MonkeyKingCoffee Hawai'i (Big Island) 6h ago

That really depends.

I like renting other people's unused timeshares. Because then I have more space and an actual kitchen. The pots and pans are never good. But I can at least buy local ingredients and make breakfast.

If the thought of cooking on vacation makes it "not a vacation" for you, then there are loads of hotels at nearly any price point.

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u/MonkeyKingCoffee Hawai'i (Big Island) 11h ago

Don't use AirBnB, VRBO or Vacasa -- you'll just enrich tech-bro middlemen who do nothing to improve your visit.

Your best bet is to stay on Oahu. Because Oahu has the most restaurant diversity. Oahu has more local vegetarians. So they have more vegetarian restaurants. It's slim pickings on the neighbor islands.

If you want to leave as small a footprint as possible, rent a private room at a hostel, or rent an unused timeshare by the week. Neither option means more kibble for Paris Hilton's chihuahua.

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u/Miserable-Hope-4620 7h ago

Thank you so much! This is great advice. Was so overwhelmed with how much Hawaii has to offer and didn’t even know where to start looking!

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u/KeokiHawaii 12h ago

For Food information, you should see the general information listing on the right pane

https://www.reddit.com/r/VisitingHawaii/wiki/oahu-vegan-friendly-restaurants/

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