The Hawaiian Islands are home to some of the world's most beautiful waterfalls. Below we've included links to several of the best waterfalls on the islands, most of which you can actually see without a tour or helicopter (all falls visible from the air only are noted).

On the list of falls below, we've included the height of the falls when possible, a rank (out of 5 stars), noted if it's a seasonal falls (dry in summer), and included any additional access information as necessary. If you discover a falls we've mistakenly left off this list, by all means please contact us and we'll make sure it's added. We've also broken the falls down individually by island if you'd prefer to view them that way: Maui Waterfalls, Kauai Waterfalls, and Big Island of Hawaii Waterfalls. Oahu waterfalls will be coming soon.

**Click the name any falls below for more information.

Like a lot of visitors to Hawaii, you're probably wondering, which Hawaiian island is the best for you and your travel party? The islands are so diverse, that selecting the right island really is an important decision. And once you've started visiting the islands, coming back to a different island can often feel like a totally different place with a whole new set of experiences, sights, and attractions. Having been to all the major islands, we've already formed some bias on which we favor. But we'll put our bias aside for a while and objectively tell you about the beautiful islands in the Hawaiian chain so you too can pick the island that's just right for you. In due time, we're sure you'll pick your own favorites. The following quiz was developed using a variety of resources around the web. There are many similar quizzes out there, and a lot of chit-chat about the "best" island. Ultimately, if you still can't decide, you might try heading over to TripAdvisor.com and asking your questions there. We usually hang out on a few of the forums daily as well.

A question we hear frequently is "What's the best time to travel to Hawaii?" or "When should I visit Hawaii?" This question is typically followed by "What’s the weather like in Hawaii?" You can learn about the general weather conditions on our Hawaii Weather page (also linked at the bottom of this article). On this page we’ll discuss our personal favorite times of the year to visit and why. We should note that this article is written in bias towards the Big Island, Maui, and Kauai, and doesn't detail Oahu as much. We highly recommend checking a local Hawaii calendar online prior to scheduling your trip, thus allowing you to determine what is and what is not occurring on the island of your choice ahead of time. We've detailed a few of the major events (specifically on the Big Island) below. Also, as a general rule of thumb, if you hope to avoid the crowds, then consider planning your trip to avoid holidays. Many folks from the west coast of the mainland (or even from neighboring Oahu) will jump over to the less visited islands for the holiday(s). This is especially true during the Christmas holidays, when things get very busy in the islands.

First we want to point out there is considerable confusion about there being a "wet/dry" season and a "high/low" travel season in Hawai'i. The two assumptions are both true and not true; from a certain point of view. Let's take a look.

Spring: Less rain starts to fall on the islands as the trades die down to their summer levels making this is one of the most ideal times to visit. Some call this the start of the "dry" season. The weather is almost always perfect and in general this is the best time to find good travel bargains. After mid-April most airfare and lodging prices drop as a result of "high season" ending. The last week of April and first week of May are often a time when the most Japanese visitors will arrive due to the "Golden Week" holiday in Japan.

Water temperatures measure near the high 70-degree mark this time of year, and the surf begins to die down as the trade winds let up. The best part of the spring is the fresh flowers, fruit, and vegetation that can be seen around the island. This is our favorite time to visit. We should note that the spring does hold one large event on the Big Island of Hawai'i that can cause crowding on the Hilo side of the Island. The Merrie Monarch festival is held annually starting on Easter Sunday. Visit the Merrie Monarch website (merriemonarchfestival.org) for dates and times.

Summer: Typically summer is classified on Hawai'i as the "low season." This results in lower rates for both accommodations and/or rental vehicles. However, this "low season" classification can often be misleading, as June - August are very popular with travelers. Airline prices will often increase into late June through July as demand is higher for seats nationwide. Thus, if you are flying from the east coast, the most expensive flight you pay for might ironically be the continental flight to the west coast.

According to the tourism authority in the islands, July continues to be the month with the most visitor arrivals. To us, this makes sense because this is when the most families visit the island, mainly due to their children being out of school. The same rule applies for local children on the island. This is their summer and they often frequent the same beaches, trails, and places you’ll be visiting too.

The summer months are always the warmest on the island, and temperatures can reach as high as the 90’s under the right conditions. Combined with the high humidity, the heat can occasionally be unpleasant for some travelers not accustomed to it. Surf is at its lowest during the summer, and the rain clouds are few and far between except on the windward coast. Note the difference in flow rates at Rainbow Falls, on the Big Island, between summer (left) and winter (right). Water temperatures usually rise above the 80-degree mark. While a rare event, the summer months are also hurricane season in Hawai'i, and the last major storm to hit Hawai'i was Iniki in September 1992, when it came ashore on Kaua'i as a strong category 3 (border-line category 4) storm. In 2007, another storm grazed the southern portion of the Big Island, giving some folks quite an initial scare when it appeared to be locked on the island chain. These large storm systems are, as noted, rare - just be aware they do occur from time to time.

OK, let's get right to it - the very best of the Hawaiian islands. If you're like most visitors, you probably want to know the highlights first, the rest later. Or maybe you don't have three months to spare perusing your way around each island, who does right? Most visitors have a few days to a few weeks at most. So we've given a lot of thought to what places would make the highlight real of Hawaii, the top 10 places for each island, with a few honorable mentions to follow up. It's not to say there aren't a few dozen other great stops on each island, we just think these are the very best. Hopefully if you have only a day or two on a particular island, these lists will help you get right to the good stuff.

So you're thinking about Hawaii and here you are at our website. Now what? If you're still on the fence about Hawaii, then hopefully we'll convince you along the way it's one of the most amazing places you could ever visit. And if you've already decided Hawaii is your next vacation stop, then the following steps should help you better start to plan your trip and understand the layout of our site. There's a lot of useful and professional information here, so pull up a chair and lets get to the good stuff...

This article is written for all visitors, but especially first timers...

Before you pack your bags, put on your Aloha shirt, and jump the Pacific Ocean to head to Hawai'i, there are a few basic things you should know about the island, its people, weather, geography, and lifestyle. Furthermore, this section of our guide is meant to help you plan the perfect Hawai'i vacation by covering some of the most essential facts all visitors need to know. On this website we'll cover some of these facts and planning tips including money, when to visit, the weather, what you'll need to pack, the best way to get to the island, online trip planning, accommodations and car rental tips, and include itineraries for the one and two week travelers.

Lastly, if you're like most visitors to the islands, this is an investment. It's your money, your time (planning), and you want to make sure its the best experience possible, the most bang for your buck. Consider this section of our website a tutorial on good investing in Hawai'i.

The islands of Hawaii could each easily be described as paradise. But even paradise has its hazards and we'd be foolish not to at least educate you on a few of them. Please make sure you and those who travel with you know about these hazards. Our statements below are rather candid because we want you to know the truth about the place you are visiting. This isn't Disneyland; it is often wild, rough, and natural law prevails out here. The more you know, the better prepared you are to avoid the hazards of our beautiful islands. We've made this short section a chapter in all of our recent guidebooks, and that should show how much emphasis we put on this subject.

Wildlife, Plants, & Insects (All Islands)

For the most part you are very safe on the Hawaiian Islands from all animal and plant life. There are no large predators or snakes, and there are few plants that will cause irritation when hiking (no poison oak/ivy for example). However, other hazards still exist.

The main culprit we've come across in the animal world is actually an insect, the centipede (seen here). In Hawai'i these aggressive insects carry quite a punch and getting bit or stung by one is not what you want during your visit to the islands. The resorts usually spray for them very well, but be careful with any shoes left outside during the night, etc. Another insect that gets a lot of attention is the Cane Spider. But it's mostly hype. The brown cane spider is mostly feared due to its appearance (size). It is about the size of a can of tuna; that includes its long legs. Typically it will run versus defend, and the bite of a cane spider is rarely dangerous. None-the-less, we wanted to give it a mention.

On any island in Hawai'i (including Oahu in our honest opinion) a rental car is definitely the best option for getting around the island you're visiting and viewing all the sights we detail both here on our website and in our physical guidebooks. The rental rates in Hawai'i are some of the cheapest anywhere in the world because the competition is fierce.

There is no *serious* bus service on the islands, excluding Oahu, and taxi services are both expensive and illogical for sight-seeing purposes. Mopeds and bikes can be a practical alternative for day excursions along the drier south coastlines, but generally are not as useful in other parts of the island, especially where long distances and/or rain storms may prevail between locations you'll want to see.

Ultimately, your best bet is to get a rental for your stay on any island, especially Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island. Below are some tips when acquiring your rental car:

So you want to know 'All about Hawaii?' Well you're in the right place.

The following is a cumulation of links throughout our website and across the web that you should find useful for all-things-Hawaii. From history and culture to the flora and fauna, this is the article for anyone looking to learn more about the Aloha State.

A few of the 'hot' topics folks seek regarding the islands are the History of Hawaii, the Weather in Hawaii, and both when to visit Hawaii as well as Hawaiian Language and Shaka.

The Hawaiian Islands are home to some of the worlds most beautiful gardens, arboretums, and landscapes. Below we've included links to several of the best gardens on the islands, most of which require admission, but at a price worth paying.

On the list of gardens below, we've included the admission price when possible, a rank (out of 5 stars), general location, and included any additional information as necessary. If you discover a garden we've mistakenly left off this list, by all means please contact us and we'll make sure it's added.

If it's Hawaii tourism data you're looking for, then you're in the right place. We'll cover the latest tourism trends on the Hawaiian islands and provide a series of graphics and summarized data to give you a good idea of what's happening by the numbers.

Using 2005-2007 statistics from the tourism authority in Hawaii we can present the following data. The graph seen here (to the right) shows the Total ARRIVAL Data in 2007 to each island (including multi-destination/island arrivals). You can also view the 2006 data graph. A pie chart is not truly the best format to display the visitor totals for the various islands as the number of visitors shown in the chart is greater than the true total, as many visitors go to more than one island. However, for our purposes, it should give you an idea of how many visitors (percentage wise) are arriving/visiting each island. Just keep in mind the actual arrival numbers are "inflated" a bit. A more accurate way to look at this is Visitor Days per island. You can view a chart of the Total Visitor Days per island as well. The percentages are what's important here, and you can see they do not change very much.

The tabular chart shown further below (you can click the box to enlarge it) gives the breakdown of visitors in the islands on a month by month basis (color coded per island). The bold lines that are clearly visible are the 2007 data trends. The faded "background" lines which almost looks like shadows of the darker lines are the 2006 trends. As you can see, 2007 was a better year overall for the Big Island of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, but on Oahu, travel dropped in 2007 in comparison with 2006. That is the second consecutive year that travel on Oahu has dropped while overall visitation has increased on the other islands.

In considering the "health" of the tourism market, one must also put emphasis on the two factors that are the most important: "visitor days" and "visitor expenditures." Mahalo for the tip by amberloo at TripAdvisor. In her words, "If there are more visitor days and more money being spent annually over the long-term, the industry is healthy regardless of any other factors; such as mere arrival totals. The goal of many government planners is to increase "days" and "spending" while limiting (or even decreasing) arrival counts."

Why limit arrival counts you might ask? One has to consider tourism "capacities" of the islands and how that will effect future trends. Maui and O'ahu likely reached their carrying capacity (for visitors) years ago, thus have few remaining competitive development opportunities and will not have the statistical fluctuations or upside growth potentials seen on Kaua'i. In fact, due to growth in 2007, Kaua'i has now about reached its own carrying capacity pending completion of on-going development in areas like Po'ipu.

2007 Tourism Authority Final Report
For the full year 2007, total visitor days decreased 1.6 percent, while total arrivals dipped 1.2 percent to 7,368,048 visitors. The average length of stay was virtually unchanged at 9.15 days. Visitors from Canada grew 5.3 percent and arrivals from the U.S. West rose slightly (+.1%), but there were fewer Japanese (-3.5%) and U.S. East (-3.3%) visitors compared to 2006.

"Hawai‘i's visitor industry remained stable in 2007 especially coming off of two robust years of growth," said State Tourism Liaison, Marsha Wienert. "We continue to be encouraged by the increase in visitor spending, as well as ongoing growth in the number of visitors from markets such as Canada, Hawaii's fourth largest market, and the strong performance of Hawai‘i's cruise industry."

Our Hawaiian to English names translation page has been combined into an easy to download PDF document. The list of Hawaii names is extremely long and thorough (we'd hate to leave anyone out) and it's easy to download/view in a PDF document. Please make note that this translation is for FUN only. The names used in Hawaiian culture often have meaning, and should not be used lightly or carelessly. Find your name and use it in a respectful manner. Enjoy, have fun, and Mahalo!

Below we'll cover a few tips for selecting the perfect hotel, condo, resort, bed and breakfast, or house/cabin rental.

1.) As we’ve said already on this site in multiple places, booking online is your best bet for discovering good values and saving money. Booking a room along with a car or flight will especially save you money, as many online companies have pre-negotiated rates for “packaged” trips.

Hawaii is a land of diversity, a land of much beauty and of many contradictions. Mother Nature pulled out all the stops when forming this place. And the life that has since inhabited these green gems is as diverse as the entire world itself. From lush rainforests to barren deserts, Hawaii is as eclectic a place as you'll ever visit. A favorite get-away for people around the world, Hawai'i has become famous for its miles of beaches, erupting volcanoes, lush rainforests, and exotic flora and fauna. Let's take a look at what makes Hawaii like no place else on earth.

Older than Time / Younger Than You
All good things take time. Hawai'i's existence is no different. The islands likely began their journey upward from the seafloor some 70 million years ago, before even the dinosaurs met their end. These islands have been springing up from the sea in assembly line fashion, moving to the north and west on the earth's crust over time, eventually sinking below the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. But as old as the islands are, many hundreds of acres on the island of Hawai'i are likely younger than you are. So young in fact that even if you were born today some of the earth there would be newer than you still. And in another 50,000 years or so a new volcano will likely pop above the waves. Two dozen miles off the southeast coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, Lo'ihi continues its ascent to become the next Hawaiian island.

Lost World / New World
When Michael Crichton wrote his book famously entitled, "The Lost World," many people had flashbacks to “Jurassic Park.” If you've ever watched the show "LOST" on ABC, you might call it a "lost world.” Perhaps this is all more than just ironic. The “Jurassic Park” movies were, of course, filmed on Kauai, and "LOST' is filmed on Oahu. Such visions of a lost world were very real just a short time ago. Hawaii was the true "lost world" until around 2000 years ago. While much of the planet was inhabited by peoples far and wide, Hawai'i stood alone in the middle of the pacific for millions of years. Hawaii is approximately 2,000 miles from the nearest continent. Some 65-million square miles of open water surround the islands without interruption.
Even after the original settlers from the Pacific discovered and inhabited Hawaii, it wasn't another 1700 years that "modern" man would discover the islands. Captain James Cook stumbled upon the islands in 1778. The rest, as they say, is history.