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Our family spent the most amazing five days on the island of Maui. We stayed a total of 12 nights in Hawaii. Seven of those on the Big Island, and five on Maui. If you are also interested in the Big Island, make sure to check this blog post before planning your trip. This Maui travel guide is all about helping you create the perfect vacation. I want to share recommendations for where to stay, where to eat, and more importantly what to do in Maui.
Maui travel guide
Where to stay
There are a few general areas people tend to stay at during a Maui vacation. The west coast of Maui, where Lahaina, Kapalua, and Kaanapali are located is known for its large resorts and well-known hotel chains. There are many restaurants and shops, and the area is quite touristy. The west coast has gorgeous white sand beaches where you can watch beautiful sunsets. We stayed just north of Lahaina in Napili.
We stayed in a condo rental with a stunning view. The location was great. It has a small grocery/convenience store within walking distance, along with a few restaurants. The beach is beautiful and clean and did not feel overly crowded. We saw tons of whales and sea turtles from our lanai.
South Maui is calmer and has generally fewer touristy attractions. We visited Kihei for our last lunch and enjoyed the quiet little town that seems to attract many families with young children. If you plan to do lots of hiking, this will put you closer to the Haleakala National park.
The north side of Maui is much less developed, with no tall hotels and the beaches reminded me of the ones we saw on the Big Island. There were cliffs and lots of rocks. The waves are enormous on the North side, especially during the winter months. If you enjoy watching surfers, it’s the place to be. The town of Paia is located on this side of the Island and offers a cool and laid-back vibe.
Last but not least is East Maui. The well-known town of Hana is the main location to stay on this side of the Island. If you are planning to do the road to Hana, you could stay in Hana for a few days and elsewhere on the island for the rest of your stay. This would allow you plenty of time to visit this more remote area.
This Maui travel guide won’t tell you exactly where to stay. Ultimately, it depends on what you want to do while on the island. Look at what activities you are interested in, and decide if it makes sense to stay in one location, or to move around to be closer to what you plan to do. The island is beautiful and you can’t go wrong.
Where to eat
Because we stayed at a condo with an amazing ocean view, we ate many of our meals/dinners at home. However, all of our lunches were at restaurants as well as a few dinners.
If you have not heard yet, Maui is famous for all the amazing food trucks operating across the island. These food trucks are not the ones I’m used to in the midwest. They offer fresh food, often locally produced. Additionally, you can find food trucks for pretty much any type of cuisine you like.
Here are the ones we enjoyed during our visit.
- Food truck cluster next to Costco: when we first arrived, we stopped at this food truck location which had about 10 different options. My daughter and I had a poke from Kahiau’s Poke Truck. It was great!
- The Beach house bar and grill: I’d say we didn’t love the food at this one. The food was average. However, I wanted to include it as it was the only ocean-view restaurant near us. It is part of a condo complex but open to everyone. Beautiful sunset view and okay food if you live nearby.
- The Gazebo: Another beautiful location with just okay food. This place is tiny and I highly recommend arriving early. We waited over an hour for lunch. This place is open for breakfast and lunch only.
- Miso Phat sushi: This place was so good!!! The place is inside a strip mall and looks unimpressive. However, don’t let that fool you. The food was delicious. We took the sushi to go and ate it at our condo.
- Fleetwood’s on front street: The restaurant is located in downtown Lahaina. We were able to get in without a reservation by putting our names on the wait list about 2 hours early. The food was delicious and the service was the best we had during our trip. If you want to be seated on the roof where they have live music, make sure to have a reservation.
- Kitoko food truck: This food truck is located in Kihei and had the most amazing food. I had the best poke of the entire trip and my husband enjoyed a half lobster and beet chips. The location of the food truck is also fantastic. A beautiful garden with many different food trucks.
What to do in Maui
Maui has a lot to offer. You can go from a laid-back beach vacation to a more adventurous one. We landed somewhere in the middle. Hopefully, this Maui travel guide gives you options to design the experience you are looking for.
Before we jump it, I want to clarify that we did not do the road to Hana. We had spent countless hours on the Big Island driving around and the entire family was a little over it. Additionally, Maui had just experienced the biggest storm of the past decade and we heard that many areas were closed. You could not even make it to Hana during the time we were there.
Day 1
We flew to Maui from the Big Island on December 24th. We landed around noon. After picking up our rental car, we headed to the food court mentioned above. We enjoyed our delicious food and then stopped at Costco to pick up wine and other items.
Speaking of rental cars, I do think they are essential when visiting Maui. Everything is quite spread out. You will need a vehicle unless you plan to stay at a resort during your entire stay.
We then started driving towards our condo located just north of Lahaina. During our drive, we saw our first whale!!! This was so amazing to see. We saw many many more throughout the rest of our stay, but this first sighting was impressive.
Because we couldn’t check in until 4, we made a few stops. First to pick up our snorkel gear from Snorkel Bob. We rented the equipment on the Big Island. If you are visiting multiple islands, they will enter all the info in their computer system. This allows you to get your gear once you arrive at the second island without going through the entire process again.
Special note: they even offer prescription masks! My son who is nearsighted and doesn’t wear contact lenses was able for the first time to see clearly while snorkeling. This was game-changing!
Our next stop was the Fish Market. I have never experienced fish as fresh as what they offer. Their selection is amazing. The entire family agrees this is the best fish we ever had. We had 3 dinners of fish from this place. We had ahi tuna steak, ono, and blue marlin. If you like fish and are staying in the area, please buy your fish from there. You will not regret it!!!
Lastly, we stopped by the Safeway located in the same area to pick up the remaining items we needed.
We checked into our condo and enjoyed a drink on our lanai while watching the whales. We finished the night by grilling some fish and watching a Christmas movie.
Day 2
To make our Maui Christmas even more memorable, I was able to secure a ticket to go see the sunrise on top of the Haleakala volcano. We got up at 3:45 to drive an hour and a half to get there by 6:30. The experience was very special and we will never forget it. Make sure to bring warm clothes. It is very cold at the summit!
Important to know: To add your experience to your Maui travel guide, you must have a reservation/ticket to go to the summit to see the sunrise. They only release 60 tickets each day. The tickets are available at 7 am local Maui time, 48 hours before. By 7:01 am, they are completely sold out. It is crazy, you have to be on it. Make sure to create an account on the site ahead of time and log into your account before trying to make your reservation.
As you can imagine, the rest of the day was quite laid back. We returned to the condo and open the few presents we had brought with us. We enjoyed our lanai and I also went snorkeling, That’s when I swam with my first sea turtle. It was a very cool experience.
We walked over to the Beach House restaurant next door for lunch and returned to our place to hand out for the afternoon and call family members. We grilled some fish again for Christmas dinner and played a few games with the kids.
Day 3
We booked a five-hour snorkeling excursion with Aqua Adventures. Captain Darryl is a local Maui resident and his entire crew is phenomenal. They are friendly, knowledgeable, fun, and energetic. The boat is clean, and in excellent condition. The excursion included a light breakfast, the snorkeling gear (although we brought ours), a deli sandwich buffet lunch and an open bar (once we were done Snorkeling).
Because we visited during whale season, we made several “detours” to see whales from a closer viewpoint. Even though we did so, we still had over 45 minutes in the water at each of the two locations: Molokini crater and turtle town. We saw countless colorful fish, octopi, and sea turtles. definitely a must-add to your Maui travel guide.
We returned to the marina around 1 and headed back to our condo for the rest of the day. My husband and I took a walk to the nearby Pohaku park and beach where tons of sea turtles are floating around and even resting on the beach. It was such a nice discovery so close to our condo.
We also stopped by the Maui brewery to grab a beer. The service was just okay, we found the server a little rude but the beer was good and we had a tasty margarita flatbread. For dinner, we ordered sushi from Miso Phat. This “looks like nothing from the outside” restaurant had the best sushi.
Day 4
We finally slept in on day 4. The teenagers were very happy about this, and in all honesty, so were we. We had a slow morning drinking coffee and watching the whales.
Once we got ready to move, we headed out to grab lunch at the Gazebo restaurant located near Napili bay. As I mentioned above, we found the food to be good but not spectacular. The reviews were outstanding and I guess we just expected more. However, I will say the view is beautiful.
We then went hiking the Kapalua coastal trail. Some of the paths are in more residential areas, whereas other sections are true dirt/rock trails with fabulous ocean views. It took us a little under two hours to do the entire thing, but we did stop a lot for pictures and to admire the scenery.
Tips: Make sure to walk all the way to the end of the rocks to see the Kapalua tide pools. It was my favorite part of the hike. Also, bring some water. Most of the trail is in full sun and there aren’t really any places to stop to get water along the way.
Later in the day, my husband and I went snorkeling at Pohaku beach. We swam with turtles and also saw a large moray eel. It was freaky to be face-to-face with one of those in the wild. It did not look happy to see us.
Day 5
For our last full day on Maui, we decided to hit a few of the best snorkeling beaches. We first stopped by Kaanapali beach. This is where the famous black rock that people cliff-jump off of is located. The beach itself is really nice, but it is super crowded. We snorkeled and saw plenty of fishes and sea turtles, but you are bumping into people the entire time. Personally, I like a more quiet place to snorkel.
We then ventured to the north side of black rock to Kahekili beach, also known as old airport beach. This was a much more pleasant experience. We even saw two octopi! We probably stared at them for a good 15 minutes. Octopi are known to be solitary creatures therefore we believe they were probably going to mate.
For our last dinner, we headed downtown Lahaina. They have a cute little downtown pretty typical for a tourist area. We did find some of the shop’s vendors a little annoying. We spent time doing some shopping and walking around. We got to see one of the largest Banyan trees in the United States. It is quite impressive.
For dinner, we were able to get into Fleetwoods. It did not disappoint. The food was delicious and we had the best service. I highly recommend it.
Day 6
After eating our last breakfast on the lanai, we packed all of our luggage and checked out of the condo around 10 am. We drove to Kihei to see this cute little town, and more importantly eat lunch at Kitoko. This food truck park is the prettiest we saw on the island. It is essentially a large garden with tables throughout where you can have your food. If you are in the area, you really should make this a lunch or dinner spot. They even have live music! And the food at Kitoko was fantastic.
After lunch, we stopped to get a famous Maui shave ice at Ululani’s. Oh my!! I wasn’t prepared for how good it was. If I would have known, we would probably have had it every day. I would add it to your Maui travel guide.
We continued and drove to Paia. More specifically, we headed to Ho’okipa Lookout to watch the giant waves and the surfers. It is quite the scene. I couldn’t believe how big some of these waves were.
Lastly, we stopped by a cute restaurant in the town of Paia to have one last drink before heading to the airport. This place called Lima Cocina + Cantina offers peruvian food. We didn’t try any food but it looked good from what we could see. They also give you a postcard with your check that you can address to someone in your life. At the end of the week, they mail all the postcards. My mother-in-law thought it was quite fun to receive a post card from Maui.
We made our way to the airport to wrap up this fantastic vacation.
In conclusion
We had a wonderful time on the stunning island of Maui and we hope to return soon. There is so much more to see and do. I hope this Maui travel guide is helping you start planning your vacation.
Leave me a comment if you have a question about anything that we did.
Safe travel!
Cat xx