The islands of HAWAII, with their volcanoes, palm-fringed beaches, verdant valleys, glorious rainbows and awesome cliffs, hold some of the most spectacularly beautiful scenery on earth. However, despite their isolation, two thousand miles out in the Pacific, they belong very definitely to the United States.

If you expect your South Seas idyll to be completely unspoiled, forget it; the fantasy of a dream holiday in Paradise remains firmly rooted in the creature comforts of home. With six million tourists per year, including honeymooners from all over the world, frequent fliers cashing in their mileage and more than a million Japanese, the islands can seem like a gigantic theme park. Worldwide recession, and the sobering impact of Hurricane Iniki on Kauai in September 1992, may have combined to slow resort development, but you can't help but be aware of how much of what was unique has gone.

Honolulu, by far the largest city of the fiftieth state, and with its resort annex of Waikiki also the main tourist center, is on Oahu. The biggest island, Hawaii itself, is known as the Big Island in a vain attempt to avoid confusion. Maui and Kauai also attract mass tourism, while smaller Molokai remains far quieter.