Finding a well-made Hawaii vacation guide when deciding to explore the islands that make up the State of Hawaii won’t be all that hard. They, after all, share common attributes with most good vacation guidebooks on any destination. The thing that sets Hawaii guides apart, though, is the tropical nature of the islands, combined with the flavor of native Hawaiian culture. Good guides always keep this in mind.

To start with, the best guides tend to treat each island in the chain – and remember, there are at least four worth seeing – as a separate and distinct entity. This is a wise decision, as the four of them also have somewhat different terrains and even cultural outlooks. Oahu, which is home to Honolulu, is the island in which most of the population of the state resides. And it combines a very large city alongside a North Shore surfing atmosphere.

The island of Hawaii, larger than all the other islands combined and informally called the Big Island, has three famous volcanoes, two dormant and one active. Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, each of which has snowcapped peaks, are dormant while Kilauea has had a very robust lava flow since 1983. Kauai is the Garden Isle and features Waimea Canyon, while Maui is the most laid-back and tropical of them all.

Due to this diversity of climate and terrain, the best guides treat each island both independently and as a part of the state. They also take the time to bring a visitor up to speed on the native Hawaiian culture which makes Hawaii what it is in the United States. The very best guidebooks attempt to avoid being nothing but a collection of coupons for sightseeing tours and the like, though even they might have several good ones in them.

So, now that we know the things that go into making a Hawaii vacation guide, we no longer have to worry about not being able to pick out a good one and utilize it properly. They’ll try to teach a little bit on the native Hawaii way of life, along with something on at least the four main islands in the chain which play host to large numbers of tourists. Hawaii is, after all, a jewel in the Pacific and hard to beat as a vacation destination.