Oahu and Maui: Pearl Harbor and the Road to Hana, 5 Nights

A driver meets you at Honolulu airport for the half-hour run into Waikiki. The rest of the day is for adjusting: a first swim at Waikiki Beach, where the water is calm enough for children and beginners on surfboards, and sunset along the seafront promenade. Accommodation is room-only in Hawaii, and the streets behind the beach are full of cafes, poke counters and food trucks, with good vegetarian choices.

An early pick-up for the drive to Pearl Harbor, where the story of the December 1941 attack is told at the memorial visitor centre. A Navy boat takes visitors out to the white memorial built over the sunken USS Arizona, when conditions allow. The tour continues to the Punchbowl cemetery in an extinct crater, then drives past Iolani Palace, the Kawaiahao stone church, the State Capitol and City Hall before returning you to your accommodation.

A free day. Energetic travellers climb Diamond Head's crater trail for the view over Waikiki; non-residents need a timed reservation, which we can make. Others take the circle-island tour to the North Shore, where winter surf can be enormous, or spend the afternoon and evening at the Polynesian Cultural Center. A submarine dive off Waikiki is a gentle way to see the reef. All are optional extras we can book in advance.

Check out after a slow morning and transfer to the airport for the short inter-island flight to Kahului. On Maui a driver takes you across the island's isthmus to the West Maui coast, around an hour's drive. Lahaina town is rebuilding and reopening in stages after the 2023 wildfire, and the stay is on the resort coast to its north. From December to April, humpback whales often surface within sight of the beaches.

An early start for the day Maui is famous for. The Hana Highway threads along the rainforest coast of East Maui through hundreds of bends and over dozens of single-lane bridges, and the guide does all the driving. Stops usually include waterfalls and pools, rainbow eucalyptus and bamboo, and a black-sand beach. From West Maui this is a very long day in a vehicle, so bring snacks, water and something for motion sickness.

Check out and transfer back across the island to Kahului for your flight onwards, usually via Honolulu or the US mainland for India. If the flight is in the evening, the beach walkway along Ka'anapali makes a good last morning, and a stop at a roadside stand for fresh pineapple or shave ice is the Maui way to say goodbye.