HAWAII ON $500 A DAY

The Hawaiian Islands: they’re sporty, spectacular-and very accessible. Just 30 years ago, Hawaii was lolling in the steamship era, a far-off, foreign kind of place. But what a difference a generation makes, as statehood and technology have nudged the Islands into the jumbo jet age. Today, they’re only a hop. skip and a baggage claim away. Grab a flight, watch the movie, toss back a couple of pink airline mai tais and suddenly, you’re inhal-ing plumeria-pungent tradewinds.

All of which means that these days, lots of people can-and do –visit the Aloha State. More than five million made the trip last year alone. Many of them with one of those Sunday-travel-section specials, a deal so sugar cane-sweet they could get seven balmy nights and eight palmy days in a beachfront hotel plus air for less than $500. They still had enough left over to take a couple of surfing lessons, order a Tropical Itch and take in Don Ho. And they loved every minute of it.

But there’s another way to see the Islands-the first-class way. You might call it Hawaii On $500 a Day. Fact is, the 1980’s have seen a quantum leap in the state’s VIP services, in transportation, accommodations and activities for the well-heeled. Luxury digs and doings are not only more available but more affordable, and represent a whole new dimension in a Hawaiian vacation.

Despite this new level of sophistication, the raw material remains the same. The Islands’ natural beauty is still as eye-popping, the waters still as bathtub-warm, the beaches as alluring, the people as gracious as ever.

But maybe that’s the real beauty of it: that tropical blend of natural charm and sophisticated services. Today’s Hawaii is a chance to experience the best of the Islands, and still surround yourself in the most luxurious resort trappings you’ll find anywhere.

OAHU THE GATHERING PLACE



They call Oahu the gathering place because most of Hawaii’s people choose to hang their coconut hats there. It’s also where most vacationers stay, either by itself or in tandem with some of the Neighbor Islands. The residents claim roots stretching to Polynesia, the Philippines and Newport Beach. The tourists come from Tokyo and Pocatello. Put them all together and you’ve got the cosmopolitan hub of the Hawaiian Islands.

And despite its great open-ocean distance from anywhere else, the big city is no backwater. Now the eleventh largest metropolis in the US., Honolulu dangles a whole bunch of sophisticated carrots before traveling pleasure seekers.

Best known of these is Waikiki, the world-famous resort guarded by its looming landmark, Diamond Head.

And whether you’re on a shoestring or on a roll, there are lively attractions here you won’t want to miss. In Waikiki, there’s sprawling Kapiolani Park with its zoo and aquarium, the U.S. Army Museum, Urasenke Tea Ceremony, Kodak Hula Show and the beach itself, a people-watcher’s paradise. Elsewhere in Honolulu, there’s the Bishop Museum, a fascinating repository of Polynesia; lolani Palace, the only one on U.S. soil, and bustling Chinatown, with its apothecaries. acupuncturists and guided, back-street walking tours.

Around the island, you’ll find more theme parks: Sea Life Park with its huge reel tank and performing porpoises, the Polynesian Cultural Center with its dazzling shows and canoe tours of tiny South Seas “villages,” and Waimea Falls Park, 1,800 acres of lush foliage and ancient Hawaiian living sites. Oahu has secluded beaches, broad fields of pineapple and sugar cane, tiny hamlets to explore and the big winter surf which meets on the north shore, where board jockeys do battle with the 25-footers at Haleiwa, Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay.

So. how do you get around Oahu to see what needs to be seen? Well, you can hire one of the city’s many limo services, at rates ranging from $30 to $60 an hour. Their sleek Silver Shadows, Fleetwoods and presidential stretches come with the requisite goodies -the TV the bar and of course, the canape warmer Besides providing chauffeured wheels, these companies can also arrange everything from beluga to bodyguards With its fleet of Rolls Royces, for instance, Silver Cloud Limousine Service can drive you harborside for a gourmet dinner sail aboard its own 40-foot yacht, the Silver Cloud I.

Or you can charter your own yacht, with or without a crew At Pacific Islands Charters, Honolulu Sailing Company or Yacht Charters Hawaii, sloops and ketches are available for slipping under sail among the islands. A company called Luxury Private Yacht Charters will pick you up by limo and take you out for a day on the briny for $450.

Where to stay in Waikiki? The strip boasts a glittering line-up of luxury hotels and vacation condominiums, each with its own roster of VIP services. Consider the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, where the top floors are given over to the Regency Club, whose guests pay a premium for the likes of daily breakfast service and cocktail parties, their own 16-hour-a-day concierge and keyed elevators.

Nearby is the Hawaiian Regent, operated by Emerald Hotels. Just a seashell’s throw from Kuhio Beach, the Regent features extra touches like complimentary breakast and fresh towels twice each day. The hotel, which boasts state-of-the-art, newly renovated meeting space in its two towers, also includes Jacuzzi baths in larger suites,

Waikiki’s newest major hotel isn’t really new at all. This is the Halekulani, a striking, multi-rise creation rebuilt on the site of the venerable cottages of the old Halekulani. Its posh rooms are done up in tones of ivory and bone, and the hotel offers such genteel extras as in-room check-in.

Hawaii’s largest hotel-and this year’s biggest renovation story- is the Hilton Hawaiian Village, situated on 20 acres at the resort’s western gateway. More than $100 million has gone into the Village greening, including the new Ocean Tower, the hotel within a hotel on the Hilton’s best chunk of beachfront real estate.

Claiming more beach frontage than anyone else is Sheraton Hotels, which has the Sheraton Waikiki, the graceful, 86-year-old Moana and the still stately Royal Hawaiian, with its private sunning areas cordoned off on the Deach.

Another notable luxury hotel isn’t actually in Waikiki. This is the Kahala Hilton, which has recently played host to President and Mrs, Reagan and Prince Charles and Princess Diana, among other luminaries. This Hilton International property is located on the other side of Diamond Head, on the beach in one of Honolulu’s swankiest suburbs.

Hawaii has elevated the resort condominium to a fine art and in Waikiki, condos provide fine, spacious, home-away-from-home alternatives to hotels. Among them: the 700-unit Island Colony across from the Ala Wai Canal, the 95-unit Waikiki Shore situated right on the sand and the 160-unit Waikiki Lanais, operated by vacation condo specialist Hawaiian Islands Resorts. Like many Hawaii condominiums, these have front desks and other hotel-style amenities.



MAUI THE VALLEY ISLAND



Among the Neighbor Islands, Maui holds the most allure for travelers, at least judging by the Hawaii Visitors Bureau statistics. More than two million people visit the Valley Isle annually, to dip in its crystal waters, to sip mai tais in its dazzling beach hotels, to tackle the drive to Hana and make the pilgrimage to watch day break atop 10,000-foot Haleakala.

Part of the attraction is the diversity of natural attractions, which makes the island a microcosm of the Hawaiian archipelago. Here are long golden beaches, billowing fields of cane, rolling ranchland and the deep rain forests along the Hana Coast.

On Maul, you can take the waters by scuba diving beneath them, sailing or windsurfing upon them, or parasailing above them You can bicycle down Haleakala with Cruiser Bob’s or Maui Downhill or several other companies-an $80,38-mile, summit-to-the-sea coasting tour which can also include a champagne brunch Or you can hire a yacht for cocktail cruises, humpback whale watching in winter or extended sails to the smaller outer islands of Lanai and Molokini, complete with gourmet cuisine and day treks into otherwise inaccessible territory.

By land, Main’s transportation options go tar beyond the rented compact. At Luxury Sports Car Rental, (or upwards of $200 a day you can take the wheel of an Excalibur or Mercedes convertible. Or hitch a ride with Arthur’s Rolls Royce Limousine Service. For $50 an hour and up, you can be chauffeured to dinner, night clubs, protea farms or maybe the Tedeschi Vineyards, Maui’s own vintner.

Those rented Ferraris and Porsches look right at home in the portea cocheres at luxury hotels like the Hyatt Regency Maui at the Kaanapali resort, which has a Regency Club like its Waikiki counterpart. Stretching along Maui’s best swimming beach, Kaanapali includes a dozen deluxe properties, among them the Maui Marriott, the Royal Lahaina and the striking Westin Maui, set to open in August.

Up the coast from Kaanapali is the Kapalua resort, with its swank Kapalua Bay Hotel and Villas, two golf courses and a resort mall brimming with designer shops. Maui’s third major resort is Wailea, on Haleakala’s southeastern flank, with its own emerald golf courses, five beaches, luxury condos and two hotels, These are the Maui Intercontinental Wailea, a cluster of low-rises rolling down broad lawns to the sea. and the site of the Waves of Wailea fitness retreat; and the Stouffer Wailea Beach, with Is verdant tropical gardens and streams.

Yet another deluxe hotel is tucked away in remote Hana, that haven of ranchland and old island lifestyle on Maui’s east end The venerable Hotel Hana-Maui, recently purchased by Caroline Hunt Schoellkopf’s Rosewood Hotels, has nearly completed its sweeping renovation of this special Hawaiian place. The hotel’s refurbished guest bungalows are now considered to be the plushest in the Islands.



HAWAII The big island



For high rollers on holiday, the Big Island of Hawaii is the pot of gold. Here’s where you’ll find the Aloha State’s heaviest concentration of ultra-luxury hotels, all in a well-spaced line along the sun-drenched Kohala and Kona Coasts.

Grande dame of the Kohala Coast hotels is the Westin Mauna Kea, built in the early ’60’s by Laurance Rockefeller. Embracing the perfect crescent of Kaunaoa Bay, with the island’s loveliest beach, the fabled Mauna Kea is worth a visit for its art collection alone. Just to the south is the Mauna Lani resort, with its own rave-review golf course and Mauna Lam Bay Hotel operated by Emerald Hotels. Still further down the coast is the Waikoloa resort, with two golf courses, condominiums, one hotel -the Sheraton Royal Waikoloa-in place and another-the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa “super resort’-due to open late next year.

The flagship hotel at Kona at Keauhou, the island’s other master-planned destination resort, is the Kona Surf, with its own extensive art collection and handsome seaside architecture.

Each of these luxury hotels provides a fine home base for exploring the multi-faceted island of Hawaii, created by the fusion of five separate volcanoes. Two of them, Mauna Loa and Kilauea, are still active, and the latter has been staging molten lava displays every few weeks for the past four years. But even when it slumbers, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is a sizzling attraction offering a close look at the still-growing Big Island.

The Big Island has lots in store for the adventurous traveler, especially the adventurous traveler of means. At rates starting around $100 an hour, you can hop a helicopter for some fantastic flightseeing, including a buzz into the back of Waimanu Valley where several towering waterfalls converge m the same primeval pool. For $25 and up, you can ride the range of Parker Ranch, one of the largest privately owned spreads in the U.S. For $250 a day, you can bag a guide to take you hunting for deer or wild boar, For $400 a day, you can charter your own fishing boat and angle the waters of the Kona Coast, the capital of Pacific blue marlin fishing.

KAUAI THE GARDEN ISLAND



Kauai is Hawaii’s copter capital – and for good reason. Packed into just 550 square miles are some of the state’s most tropical attractions, many of them inaccessible by road. Here are green carpeted peaks, verdant valleys and great furrowed seacliffs.

A busy fraternity of helicopter companies offers air tours of Kauai and especially the spectacular Na Pali Coast, a geological treasure of lost valleys and beaches with lyrical names like Nualolo, Honopu and Hanakapiai. A sampling: Papillon Helicopters runs a $225 full-day jaunt which includes Red’s Falls, a private mountain spot with waterfall and stream. Kenai Air will take you around the island for $110, while seasoned pilot Jack Harter provides an especially knowledgeable narrative on his helicopter excursions. Another chopper company, South Sea Helicopters, picks up passengers in its deluxe van and touts its $160 Sunset Spectacular.

There are other first-class ways to explore Kauai. One of the most exciting is with Cap-tan Zodiac, whose fleet of rubber rafts plies the Na Pali Coast, dodging waterfalls and braving sea caves. Or try kayaking up the Huleia River, the wilderness featured in the opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Kauai has been a favorite Hollywood location for many years, from Blue Hawaii to the remake of King Kong. The popular Coco Palms Resort has had its share of these starring and cameo roles, with its lazy lagoons (remember Elvis’ wedding scene?), thick palm groves and sumptuous VIP cottages.

Other luxury hotels on Kauai include the Waiohai at sunny Poipu. This handsome Amfac Hotels property boasts beautifully ap-pointed rooms, the posh Tamarind restaurant and a remarkably friendly staff. New on the island are the Kauai Hilton, an ocean-front hotel at the Hanamaula Beach Resort, and Sheraton’s north shore showpiece, the Sheraton Princeville, a unique, plantation-theme hotel cascading down the cliff at the Princeville resort. From here, the panorama stretches across pristine Hahalei Bay, past waterfall-laced seacliffs, all the way to the promontory featured in South Pacific, the one Garden Islanders still call Bali Hai.