Frommer's Hawaii Day by Day [Paperback]

I picked up this guide book because we are planning a trip to Hawaii later this year. The chapters are laid out in the following manner:

Chap 1- The Best of Hawaii (this includes the author's picks for best adventures, snorkeling, restaurants, etc regardless of island)

Chap 2- Strategies for Seeing Hawaii (some general tips on your vacation, but nothing groundbreaking)

Chap 3- The Best All-Hawaii Itineraries (gives you ideal itineraries for 1 or 2 week stays in each of the islands)

Chaps 4-9- There is a separate chapter for each island. Each island chapter gives you an ideal 3 day itinerary, along with sections on the popular parts of each island. You also get the standard travel guide book features such as best restaurants, best hotels, best sightseeing, etc.

Chap 10- History of Hawaii

Chap 11- The Best Special-Interest Trips (such as special outdoor activities and food festivals)

Chap 12- The Savvy Traveler (some general tips on packing, getting around, etc)

This is a very good guide book if you are considering a trip to Hawaii, but are not sure what islands you want to visit. Since the book has to cover each island, you won't get the level of detail you would get in the "Revealed" series of Hawaii books. So if you are dead-set on specific islands, you may want to pick up the Revealed books instead, which have terrific reviews.

However, as a general Hawaii guide, this one is ideal. Every page is full color and there are plenty of photographs. It also comes with a foldout map in the back. It is pretty small and you could easily pack it in your luggage. But since you don't get the level of detail you may want, I would combine this book with a travel review web site such as TripAdvisor. You can use this book to get ideas on restaurants, hotels, etc, and then look at TripAdvisor to get even more details and recent reviews.

In comparison to Fodor's Hawaii 2010, Frommer's offers visual guidance with lush photographs on virtually every page.

This book suggests spending at least one week per island and it attempts to include undiscovered territories too. However, no single guide can possibly cover everything unless several books are merged together. Therefore when choosing this type of text, it would be wise to focus on the experience a traveler desires, such as luxury or budget travel; plane, boat, or automobile commuting in comparison to other forms of voyaging such as hiking, hitchhiking (illegal in Maui), biking, kayaking, or yachting.

This is a good general guide that may be supplemented with data from websites or other texts like The Rough Guide to Hawaii (Rough Guides) or one of our favorites, "Cruising Guide to the Hawaiian Islands."

Readers may appreciate the attention to detail provided in these 614 pages, along with the full foldout map attached. Each island is covered in a hundred pages or less, and useful details about wildlife, best-of's, and more make this well-rounded information useful to new visitors of these magical islands.

What we liked most about this guide was its variety in representing both typical touristy stuff and, more importantly, REAL experiences that are grounded in local customs and culture. Far from the pre-fabricated experience, food suggestions include the must-eat shrimp from any of these little trucks on Oahu, more notably, "Giovanni's Original White Shrimp Truck". The photo of a beaten up bus with hollowed out windows serving as the place to order and be served, sides covered in scribbles and faded paint--what a gem!
Likewise, the guide has the usual offerings like great maps, gorgeous glossy pics of locals, beaches, volcanoes, the flora and fauna, etc. with tips on activities for kids, adventurers, historians, sports enthusiasts, botanists, and more! The only downside is you'll desperately want to go back to Hawaii and do everything in this book!