I am taking the whole fam damily to Hawaii this fall.

One week will be on Kona at the Mauna Kea.
The other week will be on Maui.

I know nothing about Maui.
What's a good place to stay?
Mid to high end preferred.
And yes, on the ocean.

do you want Kihei on the south coast or Lahaina on the west?

It's a small island but takes a bit of time to get around. We stayed at the ritz but it wasn't close to much. We liked it a lot though.

Kaanapali ali. Condos right on the beach, your own kitchen living room all have ocean views very nice in Lahaina

I have no idea what side of the island to be on.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort North of Lahaina. It was very nice. When the conference was over we stayed at the Ritz Kapalua. Great place, Maui.

Kaanapali is great for the family, right on the beach, we stayed at the Hyatt. Snorkeling at Black Rock, paddle boarding, etc all there on Kaanapali Beach. Plenty of great restaurants (Barefoot Bar one of my favorites), and Lahaina right there with some more great restaurants and outlet shopping.

We have also stayed in Wailea (Marriott), a bit more upscale and more quiet. Again, great restaurants and shopping.

Mama's Fish House for a really good dinner.

http://kaanapalialii.com


Hotels are ok, but with the whole family we chose this because you have a nice private condo, multiple bedrooms, close to the resorts, right on the beach, close to shopping walk or drive to great places to eat and it has a bbq area. We would go to the local markets get fresh seafood, booze, and cooked up the best meals ourselves, you can drive anywhere easy.

A better experience and more relaxing than a hotel. Got married on Maui too, I'm sure there are other condos you could find thought I'd drop in a link

Lahaina is a good area lots to do

We stayed at the Westin resort...beautiful place.

http://halehuikaimaui.com/

in Kihei, right on Keawakapu beach. We have stayed here several times, clean, quiet at night, no better beach around. Wi-Fi, etc. Not far from Wailea shops, about 35-40 mins from Lahaina. Going back next month. My .02.

Royal Lahaina

Well we sold our Maui home so we can't invite you...you don't want Kihei...too hot and crowded. You want either Wailea or Lahaina/Ka'anapali/Kapalua.
Our favorite snorkeling beach is at Kapalua near what used to be the Ritz Carlton, and the Merriman Kapalua Restaurant is right next to the beach, fabulous for a sunset dinner.

Wednesday nights, again right next door to Merriman's is Napili Kai resort and there they have Hawaiian Slack Key guitar concerts almost every week. NHTagmember can vouch for how cool they are.

If you are going with a family, I would agree with renting a condo such as the Maui Eldorado in Ka'anapali.

AirBNB works fine.

We'll be back in Maui for three weeks from August 21 until September 14. If you happen to be on Maui then please e-mail me, would love to meet up.

By the way, even if you aren't a snorkeler or diver, you must see the Maui Ocean Center in Ma'alaea. A very good friend is director of education there. You will see all the Hawaiian fish and wildlife from various levels of the ocean, and from very small to very large.

Other popular tourist things to do:
1. The road to Hana--schedule a whole day to drive there and back
2. Drive to top of Hale'akala, but the dawn drive is too crowded. Go at sunset instead. And stop by Hosmer Grove, take your binoculars, and look for the Hawaiian native birds, the I'iwi and Apapane.
3. Drive around the north side of the West Island, stop at the blowhole, and buy some ice cream at Leilani's shack at Kahakuloa--it's the pink one.
4. Fall is not the time to see Humpback whales; however a boat ride over to Lana'i with Trilogy or Pacific Whale Foundation will give you the chance to see spinner dolphins, which are very cool.
5. In central Maui, the Iao Valley is a very pretty and accessible park with the well-known Iao Needle and demonstration taro garden.

If you want to shoot, you'll pretty much be limited to trap shooting with Art Shepherd on weekends in Haliimaile; or Sporting Clays at the
Four Seasons Resort on Lana'i.

Please do NOT do any of the following:
1. Ride down Hale'akala on a bicycle
2. Body surf at Big Beach
3. Snorkel at Black Rock near the Westin

I've seen too many medical disasters from those places!

Feel free to e-mail me

The Grand Wailea is very nice.

We honeymooned at the Fairmont Kea Lani and had an amazing time.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort North of Lahaina. It was very nice.

The Hyatt Regency Maui is excellent and a wonderful, family-oriented hotel. We have stayed there several times and have always enjoyed it.



.

It is at the high end of the high end, but the Montage at Kapalua Bay is an extraordinary hotel.

Kapalua Bay itself is a really beautiful location with great snorkeling starting about 20 yards out from the beach, which is very protected from rough seas.

It's a bit remote, though.

'sjtill' has it right. The Kehei/Wailea area are crowded (still nice) and statistically highest for shark bites. Napili Kai is were we stay. It is a very nice complex right on the very nice Napili Bay. Also has the Sea House restaurant on the grounds and they have very good food and a killer Happy Hour for drinks and pupu's. You can walk a couple hundred feet to Merrimans which is another fantastic must do restaurant. Further up the road at the Honolulu store is a great place to stock up on supplies and they also have a food service area which is very well priced for Maui.

The benefit of staying on the "West" side of the island is you can see the spectacular sunsets, and some of the other islands off shore.

Maui Ocean Center is wonderful. Show your Triple-A card for entry discount. They have a HUGE deep sea tank where you can see huge fish. Sometimes they have a Tiger Shark swimming around.

Hale'akala now requires reservations thru the NPS as it gets crowded, especially for the sunrise. And, I froze my but off up there. It does get cold. Great place to watch the evening stars.

Iao Valley has been closed since the September floods but IIRC is scheduled to open again very soon.

And yes, while it is nice, Big beach can be a crippler. I think they had 3-broken backs/necks in one week awhile ago. I got tossed one time and came out embarrassed but un-injured but for days after was finding sand in places it shouldn't be.

Please don't hesitate to send me an email if I can answer any questions you have. Don't forget to check Costco as they have good deals on a lot of places.

We stayed at the Hilton in Wailea for our honeymoon 3 years ago. Highly recommended. Beautiful calm beach.

VRBO.com has listings for privately owned houses and condos that range from buget friendly up to palatial. One of the nice things about going that route is they often provide a lot of stuff like coolers, beach chairs, boogie boards, etc that people often end up buying and tossing out if they stay in a hotel.

As far as hotels go they're mostly very nice and priced accordingly. The Four Season, Andaz, the Grand Wailea and the Fairmont Kae Lani are good choices for high end in Wailea, South Maui.

West Maui has a lot going for it and is very popular as well, although traffic on Honoapi'ilani Highway, basically the only road between it and everywhere else, just plain sucks more often then not lately. If you plan on exploring more than relaxing at your resort that may be dealbreaker. There is another road, Kehekali Highway, but it's not really a viable alternative and best looked upon as a death defying thrill ride not for the feint of heart. Westin, Hyatt, Marriot, Sheraton all have places in Ka'anapali, among many others. Ka’anapali Beach Hotel is the most Hawaiian one if that's important.


There's also Hana if you want remote, very remote. Not a lot to do but a gorgeous setting for escaping from life. Hana gets rain and has bugs. Totally different ecosystem than the others.

As far as car rental, I suggest discounthawaiicarrental.com. They negotiate rates with the major rental companies and usually save you some money in addition to offering some extras. No advance charges and they don't ask for a credit card to hold the reservation.

Have fun. If I'm not off island when you're out let's grab a beer.