A question I get often is: "How hard is it to get around the islands? Is there a ferry?" Nope, no ferry -- at least not yet. Boats do run between Maui and Lanai but only carry passengers. The ride can bumpy so bring those Dramamines. However, flights around the islands are very easy and, at present, very cheap. No interisland flight lasts more than an hour. Even better, there is currently a fare war going on between the two incumbent carriers, Aloha and Hawaiian, and Go!, an upstart that is offering $39 one-way fares between the islands. That's an insanely low price. Before the entry of Go!, round trip tix went for nearly $200. Go! has deep pockets so they'll likely be around a while and the prices will stay down. Still, think about it before you start island hopping.

Here's why. I'd estimate that the average interisland trip for a tourist requires roughly 4-6 hours between dumping rental car, catching rental car shuttle, getting to airport early, getting bags, catching shuttle to rental car place, etc, etc. If you are only in the islands for a week, that means you basically lose a day to travel time. Is there a better way to do it? Yes. Book a triangle fare, where you arrive and depart on different islands. Triangle fares have multiple benefits. They cut out one interisland flight, freeing up time. They also are usually a bit cheaper to do this as the most expensive interisland travel is the one you book only when you get to Hawaii). Another caveat. Fly-drive-room packages tend to reduce island hopping costs considerably. All the major airlines have code-sharing agreements with the interisland carriers so its seamless to incorporate these flights into travel plans. Take all of this with grain of salt as your mileage (and the competence of your booking skills/travel agent) may vary.

Major Interisland Airlines: * Aloha Airlines * Hawaiian Airlines * Go!

—Alex, 08/15/06