Pacific Travel

Pacific Travel - Hawaii

With the cold bite of winter, few places seem more attractive than those sun-soaked islands lying not so very far from our frosty front doorways.

Flying to a Pacific Island getaway can bring warmth to your personal world in more ways than one, and it doesn't have to break the family bank account.

Tempting packages are well within reach of the average family. Shop around before you buy - some airfare-plus-accommodation deals can be actually cheaper than the airline fare alone. Travel agents have access to better deals than over-the-counter airline prices.

Hawaii, north of the equator and just nine hours' flying time from our shores, remains an incomparable holiday destination (and can also be visited as a stopover on some flights).

For all its glamour, Hawaii's prices are surprisingly down to earth, for accommodation and food.Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii and its main business centre, is on the island of Oahu,
famous for Waikiki Beach and Pearl Harbour, and is best known to most tourists, but all the islands of the Hawaiian archipelago have fine natural attributes.

Kauai, the Garden Island, is only 20 minutes from Honolulu and is blessed with white sandy beaches, tropical gardens, caves and waterfalls. Maui is where the first Hawaiian kings made their capital, at Lahaina. It has golf courses, good shops, hotels, apartments and restaurants, and great swimming beaches. Sunset excursions to the peak of its famous volcano, Haleakala, are a special feature.

Molokai is not an island many people go to when in Hawaii. Kalaupapa is a must see. You can fly in on a small plane or hikers can take the 1,200-plus uneven steps down from the park. On the east side there is a great old church and this wonderful view of Kalawao Bay. (RIGHT PICTURE)

It takes 40 minutes by plane to reach the Big Island, which a 65000 square kilometres is larger than all the other Hawaiian islands put together.

Its two mountains, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, both higher than Mt Cook, remain snow-capped from December to May, while the active volcano Mauna Loa continues to disgorge lava. Ask your travel agent about luxury cruises operating from Honolulu and stopping off at Kauai, Hawaii and Maui. And you can go by excursion launch to Molokai, a former leper island. Organised coach tours will take you almot anywhere you want to go if you're staying in Honolulu - but you can also opt to travel right around the island of Oahu by public bus, paying a minimal go-anywhere fare.

Posted by: Lucky Banks