All Things Maui- Your Guide To The Island

We went to Maui for my first ever marathon- but in all reality- I signed up for the marathon in this location because I knew that we’d get an amazing vacation after the race. And we were not disappointed. Maui is a gorgeous island and there is so so much to do and see!

Here, we’ll do a quick tour of the island from South to North so you get a feel of the different neighborhoods, talk about our recommendations for the must-do and must-see areas, give our favorite food recommendations, things we wish we did, things we did that we wish we skipped, and some pro tips at the very end.

The Neighborhoods

First up the neighborhoods. When you fly into Maui you’ll fly onto the north side of the island, but all of the major beaches and places to stay are on the south side. I’ll start in the eastern most portion of the southern border and work my way across so you know where to stay and what you’ll get in each area.

Makena. This is the western most area of Maui on the south side of the island (even more west than Waliea shown above). There’s not many big hotels here, but I do recommend coming here for the beaches. Makena has a big state park with lots of sandy beaches (Big Beach was our favorite) and lava rock beaches and they make for some wonderful snorkeling. Our favorite place to go was Makena Landing Point, also known as Turtle Town- and we did see 5 sea turtles there in the 45 minutes that we went snorkeling!

Wailea. Wailea is a very fancy, resorty area of Maui. It is absolutely gorgeous. The streets are wide with bid sidewalks and huge trees providing shade. It’s really very picturesque. You’ll find all of your major resort hotels here, along with upscale shopping, high end restaurants, and beautifully maintained golf courses. My marathon started at the Shop at Wailea and we came back here to get some Aloha leggings (see Pro Tips) from LuLuLemon and to have a nice meal at Tommy Bahama. We don’t have the wallets to stay in this area, but if you do, you’re going to be very happy with your gorgeous accommodations.

Kamaole. Just north of Wailea you’ll reach Kamaole, which is where we stayed. Kamaole and Kihei have a more family friendly feel to it and we loved that. By no means are there little kids screaming and running around everywhere, but it didn’t have as much of a resort vibe. Most of the accommodations were in condominium complexes and the restaurants and shops felt more casual and, lucky for us, affordable. We stayed at a condo in Kamaole Sands and just loved having all the comforts of our own condo for cooking and lounging, with a pool and 2 hot tubs in the complex, just right across the street from the beaches at Kamaole Park I and II. Even if you don’t stay here, you have to come to here to watch the sunset. People will line the beaches and grassy parks in front of the beach to see the sunset here and it is just perfect. Just to add to why we loved Kamaole, our favorite dinner spot, Café O’Lei is here too (see more about this in the “Food” Section)!

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Kihei. You’ll drive between Kamaole and Kihei without even realizing you’ve changed neighborhoods. They truly do have the same feel and vibe to them. Our favorite breakfast place, Kihei Café (more on that in the “Food”section) is here. Luckily, we found this spot just by driving by on our first day and came back another time or two because we just loved it that much.

Between Kihei and Lahaina. Once you leave Kihei, you’ll pass through some smaller areas before you reach Lahaina, which is the next major neighborhood. As you hug the western shoreline, you’ll first pass by the Marina where lots of snorkeling boat trips leave from (see “Activities” below for more details) and the Maui Ocean Center which is a huge aquarium. Then head through some cliffs and through the one and only tunnel located on Maui. Lastly, you’ll pass through a small town of tree lined streets. This area doesn’t get great cell service, but the drive from the cliffs to Lahaina is just breath taking in my opinion. Once you get through the tunnel you’ll see lots of little beaches on the coast and people just pull off into the sand to catch a few waves or relax. Look to your right and you’ll see lush green mountains and remind me of the Nepali Coast. While you’re on this part of the drive, do yourself a favor and stop at Leoda’s Pies and Kitchen (again, more in the “Food” section) and grab a pie to share- it’s wonderful.

Lahaina. This town is so adorable. It’s a little harder to drive right along the water, but you can, you just have to drive through a few neighborhoods. I love that part of Lahaina also has a real local. My marathon ended a Lahaina Beach Park so that beach will always have a special place in my heart. Keep on driving down Front Street and you’ll come upon a great shopping area in what feels like an older Fisherman’s town. Make sure you walk down all of Front Street because there’s some great local things mixed in with the more commercial/touristy stores. The courthouse and Banyan tree are a must see. The Baldwin House can show you a bit of was a missionary’s life was like. And this is another good spot to watch the sunset. Lahaina has a harbor so lots of whale watching, fishing, and other boarding tours leave from here too. Plus, Sunrise Café is a great breakfast spot (see more in the “Food” section) and we got our favorite shaved ice here from Ululain’s (all my Tri-State area readers, the shaved ice is so fine it’s like Rita’s Water Ice and you can get ice cream in the bottom and have a Hawaiian gelati!)

Kaanapali. Just north of Lahaina is Kaanapali, another gorgeous resort area. I don’t think it’s quite as fancy as Wailea but there are tons of big hotel options here. We checked out the beaches here and really loved it. There’s also a good walking path along the beaches that connects all the larger hotel/resorts, which would be a lovely place to walk or run in the mornings or evenings. We didn’t get to spend as much time up here as the other neighborhoods but one of my best friends stayed here on her honeymoon and absolutely loved it. The beaches are some of the nicest beaches in Maui and they happy spent every day on their beach. Also recommend coming here for a sunset.

North of Kaanapali. You can keep driving to the very North of the island after Kaanapali. You’ll come along narrow, windy roads with lush greenery. We drove up to the Nakalele Blowhole, which was gorgeous (see the “Things To See/Do” section for all the details). We didn’t drive past this area and heard from a few people that it just got more and more windy and more and more narrow.

Paia. This is truly a fisherman’s town. It on the east side of the island and is the first thing you hit on your Road to Hana journey. It has about 3 blocks worth of shopping and restaurants and really is a cute little town. The original Paia Fish Market restaurant is here and we hear it’s amazing (we’re not seafood people so clearly wasn’t going to be the place for us). If we had one more day we likely would have come here for a little shopping and exploring and then hit Jaws just a few miles up the road to watch (from afar that is) some killer waves and surfing.

Hana. This isn’t really a neighborhood where you’ll end up staying overnight (or if you do it’ll just be for 1 night on your Road to Hana trip) so I’ll cover it more in the Things To See/Do section.

Things To See/Do

Road to Hana. In my opinion, this is a must do thing while you’re here. And I think most people agree. Two quick notes: 1. If driving is a point of contention within your relationship, either be on your BEST behavior when your partner is driving, or maybe opt for a tour. And 2. If you plan on going past Hana to get to the other side of Haleakala National Park- rent a Jeep- the potholes here are a little much.

Here’s our down and dirty. Start very early. I would recommend starting at least at 7am. If you want to do the Bamboo Forest hike in the Haleakala National Park, you’ll need to start even earlier, like as early as the sun comes up. Use GyPSy Guide, this guide is AMAZING! It runs off of your GPS signal so even when you lose cell service it still plays along. And he is great at pointing out where to stop along the way so you don’t have to do much research and planning on your own. It’s $6 and it’s worth every penny. Our favorite stops were the Keanae arboretum, where we got to see the bamboo trees, and the Waianapanapa State Park to see the black sand beaches. We also stopped at the Garden of Eden, which is a paid exhibit ($15 a person) but I thought it was so worth it. They have a lot more rainbow trees and just some gorgeous greenery and plants. If you want to understand my obsession with the rainbow tree, see below. Oh and last tip, if you’re dedicated to making it past Hana into the Haleakala National Park to see the Seven Sacred Pools and hike the the bamboo forest on the Pipiwai trail, maybe consider staying the night. It takes about 45 more minutes to drive the 9 miles to the National Park (and these 9 miles are very dicey) and when we went the Seven Sacred Pools were closed to swimming so we were a little disappointed. Oh and we didn’t have a Jeep so we were also a little bit stressed driving back.

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Haleakala National Park. There are two parts of this park. The main part sits in the center of Maui and people love to visit the Summit at sunrise. I recommend it. It’s really beautiful. The other part of the park is past Hana (see above). If you want to visit the summit at sunrise specifically you’ll have to get a ticket from recreation.gov. The ticket only costs $1 for your vehicle and you can book months in advance if you’re a planner. Or if you’re like me, and I know some of you are, they also open up 30 more tickets 2 days prior at 7am Hawaii time. Which is how we get ours because I’m not a very good long term planner. Please, please, please, whatever time of day you plan to go to the summit: Bring. Warm. Clothes. It’s about 40 degrees up there and windy so you’ll be really wanting your coat, hat, and gloves when you’re watching the sunrise for an hour waiting on your timelapse video- like this one… 😊

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Upcountry Farmer’s Market. On your way back from Haleakala, check out the Upcountry Farmer’s Market. I’m sure tons of the farmer’s markets are great, this is just the one we chose because we needed some breakfast after a sunrise summit. It had a lot of booths with so much fresh fruit and veggies, sugar cane juice, fresh coconut water, acai bowls and more. Definitely worth an hour strolling through.

Ultimate Whale Watching Tour. If you go during the winter like we did, it’s whale season in Maui! And it is the freaking best because whales are just amazing. They travel all the way from Alaska for mating season and the pregnant female whales deliver their calves here because there’s no predators in the water, giving the calves time to grow (for 4-6 weeks) before they make the long trip back to Alaska. Seriously fascinating creatures. There’s lots of tour companies out there, but we really loved the Ultimate Whale Watching Tour. We did the 2 hour VIP tour so there was only 12 people total on the boat so we feel like we got to see so much. The tour guys were amazing. We saw some whales super close up and it was definitely worth it.

Four Winds Snorkeling tour to Molokini. Off the coast of Maui there’s a little crater island called Molokini. Tons and tons of tour boats go there for snorkeling excursions. These are my thoughts: the water is so unimaginably clear; there are beautiful fish and coral but there’s not a huge variety of fish, so just be aware of that. We still had a great time and I would still recommend it, but I think a few people were disappointed they didn’t see a bunch of different types of fish. We chose to go with Four Winds and we really enjoyed them! We actually saw a ton of whales on our trip out to Molokini and the crew on board was extremely helpful. You can bring your own under water camera and I really recommend it. We rented one for $40 and I still think that was worth it for the photos that we got, but if you have your own already, don’t forget it! Also if you get cold in the water you can rent a wet suit top for $5. But if you plan on doing a lot of snorkeling on your own it might be worth getting some leggings from Hurley that can go in the water to keep your legs warm and a long sleeve rash guard for your top.

Snorkeling on your own. After snorkeling at Molokini, we wanted more! So we rented our own gear (we chose to rent from Boss Frog’s and thought it was very reasonably priced) and hit the beaches. I really wanted to see sea turtles so we went to Makena Landing Park which is part of a little area of beaches called Turtle Town. The water definitely isn’t as clear as Molokini, but you still have good visibility here and we saw 5 turtles in about 30 minutes! We also drove to the very end of Makena, as far as the road would go. There’s gravel parking lot at the very end of the road that will lead out to a lava rock beach. We heard the snorkeling there was good too- and it did not disappoint. We had to swim a little far from the beach because the visibility right at the shore was terrible, and this beach is not very populated so being far away made us a little nervous, but the fish and coral reefs there were really incredible.  

Tour de Beaches. We didn’t go to the same beach ever. We decided to pick a new beach in a new area every day. I think this was a great way for us to make sure we saw a lot of the island and really get to experience the vibe of each little neighborhood. We’re bit explorers so I loved this. Favorite beach for us? We really liked Big Beach in Makena State Park.

Things I Could Have Done Without

The Seven Sacred Pools. Ok so this may not be popular opinion, but I think if we had to do it all again, we probably would not have driven past Hana to see the Seven Sacred Pools. I’ll preface this by saying that we found out when we got there that they were open for observation, but we couldn’t go in the water, so that was a bit of a disappointment. We also got there around 330pm and had only 3 hours left of daylight, so we weren’t able to hike the Bamboo Forest so if felt like we added on a lot to our trip just to look at some of the pools, which were very pretty, but probably not worth all the extra grey hairs my husband got for driving the last bit of the route. IF you check and you can go into the pool and IF you get there with enough time to hike the Bamboo Forest, I think you should do it. You might have to stay a night in Hana to make that happen. But if you have the time, go for it!

Things I Wish We Did

If I could add 1 extra day to our trip I would definitely add on two things to the sights we saw:

Paia. Paia is a little fisherman’s town on the very early part of your trip to Hana. It’s quick to get to from the airport and it’s just an adorable little town that has cute shops, some art galleries and a few restaurants. The original Paia Fish Market is there and I hear it’s amazing (we’re not seafood people so we never went).

Watch the Surfers at Jaws. If you keep going past Paia still in the early part of the Road to Hana, you’ll pass by a beach called Jaws, named because of the huge waves they get there. I would have loved to spent a few hours watching the surfers conquer these waves.

Ideally if we had 36 hours in a day we would have explored Paia and stopped at Jaws on our Road to Hana day, but in all reality there’s not enough time in the day to do all of those things and Paia and Jaws are early enough on the drive that you really can take another afternoon and do both pretty easily. Next time, Maui. We’ll see you next time.

Food

Café O’Lei. This is a wonderful restaurant in the Kamaole neighborhood. It was the first place our condo suggested for us to eat dinner, and I know why. We ended up eating here 2 or 3 times during our 10 day stay. The food was wonderful and so very affordable- especially for Maui! The menu has a wide variety and if you love veggies you have to get the Roasted Japanese Eggplant and Quinoa meal- to die for.

Kihei Café. This was our absolute favorite breakfast place. We happened upon it the first morning when we decided that we’d find a breakfast place by driving up the water and seeing “what moved us”. This place looked quirky, local, and it was packed, so we knew it had to be good. I highly suggest you get the pork fried rice (yes, fried rice for breaskfast) and I loved the corned beef hash meal. Maybe more importantly, if you’re my husband anyway, is the cinnamon roll. Do not be fooled by the place a little closer to Kamaole called “The Cinnamon Roll Place”. They, in fact, are not the best cinnamon roll. We know. We tried. If cinnamon rolls are your jam, just get one while you’re at Kihei Café. The only thing to note here is that it is cash only. So bring some cash or at least a debit card- they do have an ATM there.

Ululain’s shaved ice: We had the most AMAZING shaved ice in Oahu a few years ago, so Hawaiian shaved ice was something that I was most looking forward to when we arrived. There’s tons of places selling it, but so many of them looked like the normal shaved ice I could get at the boardwalk in New Jersey and I was starting to get worried. That is until we found Ululain’s in Lahaina. Again the line was longer, so we went. That’s mostly how we base our food decisions when we travel. It usually never leads us astray. This shaved ice is so fine and it has ice cream under the shaved ice and it’s the perfect special treat you always thought Hawaiian shaved ice would be. And without even knowing it, I put together my 3 favorite flavors and it turns out that what I picked is called the “Jersey Shore” on the secret employee menu. So clearly it was meant to be.

Leoda’s Pie and Kitchen. This little shop is located right next to a General Store in a part of Maui that isn’t super populated. It’s on the drive up to Lahaina after the cliffs. You will drive through a gorgeous where trees surround the road on either side and provide your convertible with a little bit of shade. Save a little space on your way to Lahaina and stop in to grab a pie. This shop has more than just pie, it’s a really cute breakfast and lunch café and the menu looks great. Sadly I only have personal experience with the pie. But it was a GREAT experience.

Sunrise Café. While Lahaina is a really nice town, it also have a lot of touristy traps for restaurants. Sunrise Café is NOT one of those. This is a small family owned little shop that makes a great breakfast. If you love fruit (aka if you’re my type of people) get the pineapple boat which has tons and fresh fruit inside of a half pineapple shell. My only recommendation: Come here with LOTS of time. This café is the epitome of good food isn’t fast and fast food isn’t good. Don’t come with a screaming child who needs food now and don’t come planning to get on a boarding trip 30 minutes from the time you sat down. Do get the croque monsier with the fruity jam. And just like all great breakfast places in Maui, do bring cash.

Pro Tips

I think I covered most of the Pro Tips in the various sections, but if you’re still with me at the end, here’s a few that I have left.

1. Rent a car. You definitely need a car here. This island does not have public transportation and you’re going to be disappointed if you just stayed by your resort beach the whole time. There’s so much to see!
2. Go to Recreation.gov for tickets to see the sunrise at the top of Haleakala. It only costs a dollar per car but you have to book it online or you’ll get turned around when you get close to the top. And that will make future you very sad when you got up at 4am. If you’re better person than me, you can book the sunrise a few months in advance. If you’re more like me, you can also book a limited number of tickets (30 a day a believe) 2 days prior at 0700 Hawaii time. For example, we went on a Saturday, so I was on the website like a mad women at 0659 waiting for the clock to strike 0700 so I could get my ticket. Make sure to you have a log in with recreation.gov prior to or else it will make you sign up and you’ll waste precious minutes while someone else possible snatches up your ticket.
3. If you like LuluLemon at all- stop at the one in Wailea at the Shops of Wailea. They can add an “Aloha” decal to some of their products, like my favorite Align leggings, and some sweatshirts and tops too. It costs an extra $10 but I think they’re adorable and totally worth it.
4. When in doubt, eat where the lines are. It always works for us.
5. Also when in doubt, bring cash because the best places seem to be cash only.
6. Stop everywhere. Pull off on the side of the road to take in all in. Watch the whales. Spend too much time staring into the water. You’re on vacation and it should feel like it.