Re: Hawaii

Hawaiian Airlines is the usual choice for flying between Oahu and Maui.

I vote for San Francisco, I've lived about 20 minutes from it all my life and never tire of visiting. But you'd need a couple of full days to really get a feel for it.

We are flying from the east coast to the west coast. We are planning on arriving in California late morning so that we will have the afternoon and evening to see a few highlights. We are considering San Francisco and San Diego. Any thoughts?

We're going to be flying through Las Vegas on the way to Oahu in January--staying 3 days.

We're flying into Los Angeles on the way back, where we're renting a car. We'll return the rental car at San Francisco Airport and we'll fly home from there. We never tire of a day or two in Los Angeles and the drive up U.S. Hwy 1--The Coast Highway to Carmel, Monterrey and San Francisco. This will be our fourth time taking this route.

The airfare for this excursion is about $170 more than flying directly to Hawaii and straight home. That's a small price to pay for turning a good vacation into an absolutely great vacation.

We'll be taking a one day excursion flight over to Kauai on Hawaiian Airlines. We'll take a single engine plane tour around the island. Kauai is maybe the most beautiful place on earth, and is well worth seeing from the air.

IMO San Diego is more accessible for the kind of partial 1-day visit you're planning. The San Diego airport is close to downtown and to some of the main attractions (on approach you get a close look at some of the downtown buildings) than is the case with the San Francisco or LA airports.
IMO San Francisco is better seen on a trip where you have more than your 1 day.

We've been going to Hawaii since, yikes, 1992. We've taken all our foreign exchange students (high school years) to Hawaii and taken them on the helicopter tour of Kauai. It is so amazing because you get close to waterfalls etc. Sit in front if at all possible as people do get motion sickness sitting in the back seats. Anyway, we live in San Diego which has great weather and the San Diego Zoo (like no zoo anywhere, really it's amazing and it seems like there are no cages due to design factors) and yet, I'd recommend San Francisco for you. It's really unique and can be done without a car (splurge on a central hotel).

I once chartered a twin engine plane and went to every Hawaiian island in one day--over 1000 miles. Those tours are no longer offered--replaced by helicopters' close up views.

But helicopter tours are about 3x the price of a fixed wing flight due to their being so much more expensive to fly. And I'm paying for my wife and I. I could fly to Europe for the price of 2 helicopter tours. Sometimes we try to hit the high spots

I too love San Diego, and the weather there is really great. I used to travel to California 4-5 weeks per year on business, and we just love the scenery north of Morro Bay--and the Lake Tahoe area. You know you're well traveled when you go 2500 miles from home and you have your favorite restaurants and bars.

Hawaiian HA Northern California's gateway is Oakland OAK. OAK is convenient to San Francisco via BART. We use to stay at a Downtown Oakland Courtyard a block from BART with quick access to downtown SF at Oakland prices.

Hi Marci, another vote for San Diego. I've been there several times for business and it's a lovely city. The "downtown" area is only a mile or two from the airport so it's easy access and an inexpensive taxi ride to and from your hotel. The scenery is beautiful and there are lots of nice restaurants and shops nearby. Hope you have a great trip!

When is trip.. because while I loved my visit to San Fran...the weather in the winter can be very cool and rainy... San Diego gets my vote for a winter stopover.

Although I've almost always lived in the San Francisco area, for a very short visit I would recommend San Diego. It has a smaller, more manageable airport, and the city feels less crowded to me – easier to get around when you don't have a lot of time to learn the lay of the land. Also, since you're going in June, you can count on better weather in San Diego and San Francisco. Summer in San Francisco tends to be cold and foggy; warm weather commonly comes in the early fall. Regarding the San Francisco rain that someone mentioned above, I wouldn't worry about that – we're in our third or fourth year of drought, and rain in June is pretty unheard of even if we were not in a drought.

If you can add another day or two, I have a different recommendation. I'd suggest flying into San Francisco, spending a day visiting a few of the highlights of the city, and then renting a car to drive down Highway 1. You could decide how far you wanted to go down the coast, and whether you would continue on to LA and fly out of there or return to San Francisco for your continuation flight.

Some favorites... The Monterey Bay Aquarium is probably the best I've ever seen. It's also in an absolutely stunning setting. The next town south, Pacific Grove, has a long stretch of really beautiful rocky beach, which is great place for walking. When I'm in the area, usually stay in Pacific Grove because it's a lovely little town dating from maybe the 20s, much quieter and more pleasant than Monterey, and much less expensive than Carmel. If you go to Pacific Grove, the Fish Wife is a great restaurant. Carmel comes next, with a beautiful white beach, and lots of interesting galleries, shops, and restaurants. Just a little further south is Point Lobos, which combines a variety of stunning seascapes in a very compact area, with offshore colonies of sea lions, harbor seals, and sea otters. The next 75 miles south is the Big Sur coast – Wonderful sea views, several nice parks where you can stop to hike, and June is a good time for wildflowers (assuming we get some rain).

Re: highway 1. Going South is NOT for the faint of heart since you will be on the ocean cliff side -- spectacular views for the passenger but some pretty sheer drops. Beautiful drive. And less traffic than the road to Hana.

I too love the Monterrey-Carmel area. But with rooms out of my personal price range, I usually stay 5 miles north at Marina, CA. Carmel's a great entry point onto the Coast Highway--and they have great restaurants and bakeries there..

Last time I stayed in Big Sur was many years ago. We stayed in some little wooden shacks. I remember that the local citizens looked like a bunch of old hippies from the 1960's--artist types. My wife and I still joke about that trip.

If you want to acclimatize to sea level Hawaii San Diego's coastal (not inland) climate is more Hawaii sea level like than Frisco (coldest winter is summer in Frisco). If you want to acclimatize to a Haleakala sunrise experience go to Frisco.