Vegan travel in Hawaii

jjcomet,
Happy anniversary!
I have been to Kauai twice, Oahu once, and Hawaii once. Having a home base on one island doesn't sound like it would work for enjoying the different islands. It's not exactly like doing day trips from Paris. I don't know how long you have, but I would give each island at least 4 or 5 days. If you have two weeks you can see 3 or 4 islands. With 7-10 days I would only visit 2 islands. To me the purpose of the islands is to kick back, live on island time, and relish the natural beauty there. No rushing around is called for. We have done a bit more sightseeing on Oahu (memorials, museums, etc.), but on the Hawaii and Kauai it is the islands themselves that are what one sees, feels and enjoys. And flying between islands or taking a boat isn't particularly cheap. Maybe you could pick a couple of islands and fly into one and out of the other? All this depends on how long you have, of course. Our one two-island trip involved Kauai and Hawaii. I believe we had 10 days total. And we rented a car for each island (very pricey nowadays, but worth it, in my opinion). Oahu can be seen pretty much without a car.
In SoCal, where I live, you can fly into Lihue, Kauai, Kona, Hawaii, Honolulu, Oahu or Kahului, Maui. So open jaw is possible.
Princess Pupule,a frequent contributor to this forum is very knowledgable about Hawaii. Maybe she can chime in if she sees this post. We celebrated my 80th and my husband's 81st birthdays last January on Oahu. It was, as it always is in Hawaii, areal treat!

jjcomet,
Re vegan restaurants, I am a carnivore so haven't sought them out. However, produce is abundant on Hawaii, in my experience, so I am guessing you will find vegan options on any of the islands. I googled "where to find vegan restaurants in Hawaii" and found choices for each of the islands, although Oahu had the most options. Good luck!

The first question that needs to be answered is how many night are you planning to spend?

Taking 'tours to other islands' from Oahu is about as practical as basing yourself in New York City to visit Boston, Philadelphia and Wash.DC.

With 9-10 nights you could manage Oahu and one other island. Fewer nights than that, pick one island. Any less than 4 nights per island is just a series of 'packing-moving-unpacking'. Other than Oahu a rental car is needed to move around and see the sights, so each additional island is the added time to pick up and drop off a rental car.

No help on the vegan food restaurants. Have always had a condo and did our own cooking, except for one special night out.

Even though you may not be able to find a lot of vegan restaurants doesn’t necessarily mean that good vegan options will be hard to find. Most menus are well marked with vegetarian, vegan, GF and other offerings. With so much local produce your choices will be varied.

As far as an Oahu base and island hopping for day trips I’m not sure what to advise. Are you seeing tour operators who offer this? It isn’t something I’ve encountered. We know some Kauai locals who fly to a different island for a day to meet friends, go to a Dr. appointment, etc. There can be inter island fares on Southwest Airlines for as little as $39 sometimes. But by the time you factor going to HNL early for your flight, getting a rental car for the day, touring a round, returning the car for a reverse flight that day it seems to be pretty inefficient. Others are recommending what we typically do when we visit 2-3 islands on our two week trips. We fly into one island, take a one way flight to another and fly home from island #2 or #3 and don’t use one island for a hub.

Oh, and Happy 30th!

Most cruise companies will sell you the cruise only without airfare. You might have to get in touch with them rather than rely on their ads or website.

Wow! Thanks for the outpouring of help and suggestions. The trip is still in planning stages, but we're probably looking at 10 -14 days total. From what I've read here, it looks like we'd be best to pick two islands rather than try to island-hop. I am all ears for any other advice for a first-time visitor to Hawaii. My wife and I are in our late 60s and very fit, so we're hoping for some more adventuresome experiences as well as a good deal of just kickin' back.

For a 14 day trip you could conceivably squeeze a 3rd island into your itinerary, but I agree with the others that sticking to Oahu and one of the neighbor islands is preferred in order to save yourselves a lot of needless running around.
We lived on Kauai for many years and so can recommend it - especially for an anniversary trip. The north shore area near Hanalei is other-worldly beautiful - some of the prettiest scenery in Hawaii in fact - and has some terrific hikes as well. The only detractor is that it's on the NE (wet) side of the island so you can count on at least a passing shower every day - which explains why it's so lush up there. Could split time between the north shore and the area near Poipu on the south shore which will be much drier - perfect beach weather in fact. Would avoid having to deal with the traffic congestion that plagues the corridor that passes thru Kapaa and Lihue.
For our own annual return trips to Hawaii we head to the Big Island and generally split time between the Hilo side (wet) and the Kona side (dry). Lots to see and do there including a day trip up to Kilauea Volcano NP which has some great, though at times challenging, hikes around and across some of the old (inactive) calderas. For a splurge a stay at the Volcano House on the rim might be a unique experience.
In case you're not already aware, there are direct flights to/from the west coast into both Lihue (Kauai) and Kona, so you'd save yourselves a day of backtracking to Honolulu by booking a multi-destination (open jaw) flight that arrives on one island and departs from another.

hey hey jjcomet
as others have mentioned, no island hopping. pick 2 islands, decide how many days you're staying on each.
I'm from the BIG island (hilo/hamakua coast) and it's a BIG rural island with two lanes roads, lush green on the east side (hilo/volcano) and sunny/hot on the west side (south kohala/waikoloa "large resort area near the beaches" or kailua kona - small village south of kona airport. touristy, rocky shores, many restaurants shops, coffee land tours, snorkeling bay, one of my favorites places.
you will need a car, 6-7 days on big island and split your stay (hilo/volcano and waikoloa or kailua kona)
we all have our favorites that some agree some don't, it's your decision.
fly into one and out of the other (multi-city without backtracking, southwest or hawaiian airlines flies between islands. use to be a quiet island, not anymore, so many travelers going here there and everywhere.
like mona says, don't know much about vegan but menus do have what's what, plus there is so much fruit and vegetables available on the islands.
coffeetimes.com
click LBD coffee times, click island guide, and click the different islands to see what they offer and what is on the island. lots of research for you to look at and decide where you want to go. keep asking questions before booking anything and the posters here will give you good, bad, ugly. wanting you to have a great time and you will be prepared before you get there which will be much easier getting around. good luck and have fun
aloha

... 10 -14 days total. From what I've read here, it looks like we'd be best to pick two islands

Terrific.... the massage got through.

In my view, if Oahu is one of the Islands you choose, and you have a 10 night trip, 3-4 night on Oahu is sufficient, and spend the other 6-7 on another Island. Which ever 'other Island' you choose it will b better to spend a greater number of nights there than Oahu. Even with a 14 night trip, spend more on 'the other island'.

A special treat on the Big Island is the monthly star gazing

Free Stargazing Program at the Visitor Center As of 2023 the free stargazing program has resumed with some important changes. It now is a monthly event and reservations are required.
Once a month staff member at the VIS organize a free stargazing event. These events are free to attend for locals and visitors alike, but reservations are required and availability is limited. (https://hilo.hawaii.edu/maunakea/kuene/stargazing.php#reserve)

Maui has Haleakela, and you can do sunrise or sunset there. You can do a bike ride down the summit

Kauai has the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" ( https://www.hawaiistateparks.org/parks/waimea-canyon-state-park)
Lots of hiking through lush tropical vegetation and fabulous views if that is part of your being active lifestyle. Plenty to see even for non 'hikers'

The last 15 years we have been rotating trips among Maui, Kauai, and Big Island and still cannot decide which is 'best', but have enjoyed the 'research'.

The more research you do, the more difficult you will find it to pick which 2 islands to do. It's a great problem to have.

Great advice from everyone. Based on the feedback, I think concentrating on 2 islands seems to the best way to go. Eager to hear more from others about their experiences on different islands.

Would help to know when you'd be making the trip.

Each of the major islands has its own special attractions. I suggest that you do some reading on-line or maybe a guide book to see what interests you. But DO NOT buy the "Revealed" books as they are very much frowned upon by locals.

The Big Island, where I live, is bigger than all the other islands put together. It's also the youngest, where you can walk on land that was created as recently as 2018. There's the dry side with big resorts and beautiful beaches, and there's the wet side with rain forests. You could easily spend a week exploring around the BI and only touch the surface.

We haven't spent much time on the other islands. But I really really like Kauai. It's the oldest island and the greenest. I like the north shore and Hanalei, and I like the beaches in Poipu, and I like Waimea Canyon (Grand Canyon of the Pacific).

Maui is much more than the disastrous fires in Lahaina, and they welcome tourists to bring in much-needed tourist dollars. There are beautiful beaches there as well as the aforementioned Haleakalā National Park and the always-exciting Road to Hana.

Oahu is much more than Honolulu and Waikiki. Rent a car and drive around to Kailua and to the north shore. BTW, once in a while we do a day trip to Honolulu for doctor's appointments and shopping, but it is a very long tiring day.

Re: Vegan dining

I've only been to Kauai and that was in January 2022 so supply chains were still recovering and staffing was difficult. I traveled with family members, 3 of whom are vegan (including me) and 2 omnivores. I have to tell you we had a difficult time eating vegan. After a few days the 3 of us started eating fish as that was so much easier to manage. It's hard enough to find a restaurant that 5 of us are good with without adding in the vegan layer. We 5 have traveled together a number of times (including Europe) and Hawaii was the most challenging. I suspect the time frame of post-Covid also had a bearing on the food offerings.

Thanks for the tip about the "Revealed" guides. I have started to do some research using a few others and the big island definitely will be on the itinerary. I imagine we could profitably spend the entire time there, but we do want to take in another island as well. We're probably looking to go in January or February, if that makes a difference as to which other islands might be best choices.

Aloha, Denis and I are both vegan and have been to the Islands many times. That said, the last time was December 2015, also for a wedding anniversary. That was Maui. Winter of '11-'12 we visited all four of the major islands. So...... my knowledge may be dated, but I'll share anyways. Comments are in no particular order.

First question, are you familiar with https://www.happycow.net/? If not, take some time to understand how to use it. Always double check to see if the listing is current. Looking for reviews on sites like Trip Advisor is useful, as they are dated.

Someone else beat me to when are you going......

Agreed, two islands max. Fourteen days is better than ten. "Island time" is something to be appreciated, so you need time to do so.

We always get a place with a kitchen, always. This is not necessarily a vegan thing, it's also that we just dislike eating all our meals out and it's less expensive. As discussed above, the local produce is wonderful, and pure pleasure to use. If you choose to go the hotel route, at least go and check out the fruit options. Please enjoy some apple bananas for us. :-)

For some odd reason, in Hawaii fish is sometimes considered vegetarian, as it's not red meat. So be mindful of that, maybe especially fish sauces if that would bother you.

Depending on which island you choose, the local health food stores have prepared food options, which are excellent for picnics. Like at Kauai's Lydgate Park or any beach.

Thai restaurants can be vegan friendly and they were plentiful when we were there. Remember, you can look at menus online ahead of time. Well, mostly.

The cruise ship ports are not necessarily close to the places you might wish to visit. Nawiliwili Harbor on Kauai comes to mind, long walk into town.

Traffic was unpleasant last time we were there, I doubt it's improved. Keep that in mind when you plan.

There is a tourist publication you can usually get at any of the airports. It's kinda fun. https://www.101thingstodo.com/kauai/
Nice for listing things like the aforementioned farmers markets.

Should you go "up country", do remember to take some warmer clothing. We went to the astronomy program on the Big Island a long time ago. It's COLD up there. Ditto up at Haleakala NP.

We did eat out at Duke's on Kauai once. Nope, not veg friendly at all, except for their (then) lovely salad bar, which was beefy enough for a good meal, beans, potatoes, etc. You'd have to ask if that's still an option.

Food carts were rare when we went, but I think they're more popular now. I'd do some checking on that option.

That's all I can think of for now. Happy anniversary.

Donna

Actually, the time of year you'll be going can make a difference.
Our experience when we lived on Kauai was that the weather during the winter months was more unsettled than the rest of the year - could range from being absolutely glorious to several consecutive days of winter rain. That's one reason that for our own return trips every year we head for the Big Island - there's generally a better chance of sunny weather over there, especially on the Kona side where you'll be in the rain shadow of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. You'd have to be very unlucky indeed for the weather to go sour on the Kona side of the BI.
FWIW, another attraction for us is the area north of the Kona airport where you'll generally find fewer crowds and a much more mellow Hawaiian experience. We usually alternate between basing ourselves near the town of Waimea or on the northern tip of the island near the old plantation village of Hawi - it really is the place where stress goes to die, and the road between Waimea and Hawi (rte 250 on the map) is one of Hawaii's great scenic drives.
Your other island really should be Oahu - lots to see and do there but know that midday traffic can be murder getting around the island if you choose to rent a car. Not a show stopper by any means but something to be aware of.

Donna & Denis

Aloha

Thanks for sharing all these helpful tips! I completely agree about checking multiple sources to ensure the listings are up-to-date—especially when you're looking for vegan-friendly spots in Hawaii. When I was there, I found it really useful to use a couple of different platforms. I've also used https://www.happycow.net/, but apart from that I've also found https://www.restaurantji.com very helpful, especially if you're looking for small eateries at reasonable prices.

And it's true, as you already said, on TripAdvisor there can often be outdated information or some restaurants are not on the site at all

I also loved your suggestion about getting a place with a kitchen. Hawaiian produce is incredible, and there's nothing like making your own meals with those fresh, local ingredients. Plus, it's a great way to make sure everything is 100% vegan!

Thanks again for the advice, and happy travels to anyone planning a trip!

Mahalo,

I think you'll have the best chance outside of Oahu finding vegan food in Maui. I'd recommend the Kihei food truck park - we found vegan sushi there a couple of years ago and I think there is a dedicated vegan spot there also. If you choose Kauai, you'll find vegan options in Hanalei.