Free Hawaii Visitor Publications
Even in Hawaii, some things are still free.
You've planned you trip to Hawaii for months. You've searched this site and read all sorts of articles to help you decide what you want to do and see in Hawaii. You've bought and read one or more of the excellent guidebooks available.
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You step off the plane, wander down to the baggage claim area and you note, out of the corner of your eye, those displays filled with all sorts of free visitor publications. What should you do? There are so many of them! Are any of them worth putting in your bag to take to your hotel and read?
The answer is yes. There are a lot of them and many of them have pretty much the same content. Some of them, however, also have some very unique information that will help you make the most of your trip, and even save some money.
Don't worry if you don't find the one you're looking for at the airport. Most are also available in distribution boxes scattered throughout the major resort areas of each island.
Let's take a look at some of the best free visitor publications available.
If you're renting a car, and
most folks do, the one publication you need to pick up is a drive guide. 
Hawaii
Drive Guides are a set of magazines serving Hawaii's car renters published by
the Honolulu Publishing Company.
Separate editions are published for the islands of Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, Kauai and Molokai.
By exclusive agreement with Hawaii's car rental companies, customers are handed a free copy of the Drive Guide, personalized for each car rental company, as part of their rental transaction.
The Hawaii Drive Guides have the best driving maps of each island that you will find. The maps clearly identify beaches, gas stations, and major visitor attractions.
For lots of valuable
information on things to do on each of the major islands, keep your eye out for 101
Things to Do. 
There
is a separate magazine for the Big Island of Hawaii, Kauai, Maui and O'ahu.
These are large size magazines with detailed information on what the editors feel are the 101 best things to do on each island. For the most part their choices are right on target and offer a wide variety of activities and attractions which will cover almost everyone's interests.
The magazines are also filled with lots of coupons, special deals on attractions and shopping information.
When we visit Hawaii, I usually pick up several copies of each island publication to give to friends who are planning trips to the islands.
This Week Magazines
produces an excellent weekly publication for each of the four major islands: Big
Island of Hawaii, Kauai, Maui and O'ahu.
First published in 1966, and now producing over six million magazines a year, these magazines contain fresh material each week all designed to let the visitor know what is happening now, "this week".
Each issue is packed with lots of information on activities, dining and shopping in the islands. This emphasis here is to help show the tourist some of the great discounts available while still feeling that they have seen some of the top things that Hawaii has to offer.
Well known for their beautiful cover models, including many who have gone on to successful careers in the entertainment industry, This Week Magazines are much more than just pretty covers.
Spotlight Hawaii Publishing
produces a quarterly magazine for each of the four major islands: Big Island
Gold, Kauai Gold, Maui Gold and O'ahu Gold.
In addition to providing information on activities, attractions, nightlife and shopping, Spotlight's Gold Magazines provide numerous articles about each subject island as well as a calendar of events for the quarter.
As an added bonus, Spotlight's Gold Magazines have superb detailed maps located at the back of each edition. Their Maui Gold edition has 12 separate maps covering the island of Maui.
Each issue also contains an excellent dining guide, providing in-depth information on the major cuisines and restaurants of each island.
If the beach, golfing, and water activities are for you, then you'll be sure to want to pick up a copy of Alaka'i Publishing's Beach and Activity Guides.
Beach
and Activity Guides are available for the Big Island of Hawaii, Kauai and Maui.
Every edition contains detailed information on the beaches of each island with photos and descriptions of each beach as well as a grid showing the types of facilities available at each one.
Each edition also contains detailed information on water activities available such as diving, fishing, kayaking, snorkeling and sea tours.
If that's not enough, you'll also find detailed information on the golf courses available for your enjoyment.
If that's not enough, the guides contain excellent maps to help you find all of the places you want to explore.
We've just looked at five of the free publications available - the ones that have editions for most of the islands. There are many more that you'll find once you reach your destination. Each island has their own unique free visitor publications.
In fact, if you're like most most visitors, you'll probably pick up so many of these that you'll find that your luggage is significantly heavier when you pack to return home. Some folks have even been known to ship their collection of island literature back home.
Many of these, and other similar publications, have excellent websites where you can get a preview of their print editions. We've put together an index of these websites for your enjoyment.
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