Planning a trip to Maui? This Maui Guide contains some of my favorite places on the island, and leaves a lot of open space for you to spend on the beach or enjoy your favorite island things!
Each Hawaiian island is unique, and Maui features gorgeous greenery, lovely beaches, and breathtaking views from just about anywhere on the island! This simple Maui Guide includes the following:
- An interactive map, provided by WanderLog, to make your trip planning easier!
- The best time to visit Maui
- Where to stay on Maui
- Maui Places to see and Food recommendations
- Road to Hana details
- How many days should you stay?
- And unique things to do while on the island!
Save this map to make your planning easier!
Wanderlog is a trip planner app that makes your vacay/trip planning THAT much easier! Everything I’ve mentioned in this article is saved in the map below, so be sure to download the wanderlog app and add these fun things to your to-do list. Keep scrolling to get all the details/scoops on the locations below! 🙂
Best Time to Visit Maui
We went in January, which has pros and cons. When you go in the winter months (Dec-March) there’s a lot of wind, meaning big waves. The north and west side of the island saw a lot of wind, which made it uncomfortable and cold on the beaches. However, the south side was perfectly fine though. The biggest pro of going during the winter is that there are plenty of whales! We saw whales everyday we were there!
Side note: I’m writing this in February 2021, and the pandemic has made it so only people who do all the proper testing and requirements can visit Maui. When we went, there was significantly less people in general due to it being after the holidays and the global pandemic. It’s definitely nice to not have so many people there (especially on the road to Hana), but also be aware that mask-wearing and social distancing are mandated on the island.
Where to Stay on Maui
We stayed at Castle Maui Banyan in Kihei because we didn’t need anything fancy–just a nice place to shower and sleep at the end of the day! They have very reasonable prices, especially if you purchase your stay using points from a credit card. I’m sure you can find good deals using third party websites as well.
Benefits of staying in Kihei:
I honestly think Kihei is the best place to stay. It is pretty central on the island and, in my opinion, has the prettiest white sand beaches. It doesn’t get the wind that the west side gets, so you can really plan on having an amazing beach day. 🙂
We also chose to stay our last night in Hana, because we didn’t want to do the road to Hana in one day. I highly recommend doing Hana in two days, as it allows you time to enjoy the bamboo hike at the end! It also gives you time to chill and enjoy Hana instead of rushing back quickly. We stayed at the Hyatt Hana Maui Resort. I think our place in Kihei was nicer than this, but I honestly think this is probably the nicest place to stay in Hana. The other inns and places we drove by didn’t compare to this resort.
Maui Places to See & Food Recommendations
There’s SO much to see on Maui! I recommend getting a rental car so you can explore the island on your time. I’ve listed some of the iconic, enjoyable things to do on your trip! Remember that you don’t need to do this all in one trip. I recommend reading through the Maui guide and jotting down a few things you’d like to do. Or save this page to your bookmarks to review later!
West Maui
Catch a sunrise at Lahaina town. The old banyan tree is an iconic thing to see Lahaina, as well as walking down the streets. Lahaina is a cute, old town with plenty of local shops, artists, and restaurants. There are also beaches to relax at here—just make your way towards the ocean and there are plenty of sandy beaches.
Eat a delicious acai bowl at Baya Bowls (this was probably the best-tasting, quality foods of all the foods in Maui).
We ate at Cheeseburgers in Paradise for lunch in Lahaina. It was pretty greasy but the fries were good.
Snorkel at Honolua or Mokulaie.
Stop by Punalau beach for a fresh coconut.
See the Nakalele Blowhole (if conditions are right–sometimes if the tide is too low, the water will rise high enough to shoot out of the blowhole).
Banana bread is a kind of a big deal in Maui, so my friend recommended Julia’s banana bread, which is usually around the Blowhole area.
And then STOP and turn around at this point. Going along the northwest coast from the Nakalele Blowhole area to Kahului breaks most of the rental contracts. This road is very dangerous, one way at most parts, and goes around steep ocean cliffs, with falling rocks on the other side. Pretty scary! We did this drive and I will say it’s beautiful and terrifying.
North Maui
Hike the Waihe’e ridge trail but please be warned. There are unattended cows along this path. One of the cows charged us and it was very scary! We were ok, but I’m not sure if I’d go again.
See the Iao Needle at the Iao Valley state park.
Check out the unique South Pacific and Asian architecture and plants at Kepaniwai Park.
Walk around Wailuku and enjoy the mural wall art along the buildings.
Eat dinner at Zippys in Kahului (Zippys is one of my favorite chain restaurants in Hawaii—it’s always consistently good!).
South Maui
Beaches, beaches, beaches! If you want a beach day, spend it here on the south side of Maui. It is so worth it!
We spent the day at Po’olenalena beach, but get there a tad early because public parking access to the beach is limited.
*Something really neat about this beach is to the south side of it is a great snorkeling spot! You’ll see a lot of tour boats and snorkelers around that area so it’s hard to miss it.
La Perouse Bay is a popular spot to see. We came here with a paddle board but because of the windy weather, it really wasn’t that fun. I think it’s gorgeous though.
There are a lot of activities down here—it just depends on what you want to do! You can rent a paddle board and walk it to the beach, rent some bikes and ride the town, or just walk around and check out all the street restaurants and food trucks!
There weren’t very many food places down here I can confidently recommend.
Haleakala National Park
There are two parts of Haleakala National Park and they are not connected by any roads. One of them you can access from the central Maui, and the other part is only accessible outside of Hana.
The popular Maui thing to do is see the sunrise at Haleakala. You have to reserve your place ahead of time. When I went onto the websites there was absolutely no spots available, so we planned to see the sunset.
It’s SO much better! And I don’t even think the summit is the best spot. As we drove up, we were in awe at how gorgeous the clouds looked below the trees! By the time we got to the summit, it was cloudy and so foggy that we couldn’t see anything. (See picture below).
So my advice is do Haleakala at sunset and enjoy being above the clouds but don’t feel obligated to go to the summit. There are plenty of places to pull off and enjoy the sunset above the clouds!
Road to Hana
I think the road to Hana is definitely worth a try at least once. I don’t think I want to do it again—mostly just because it’s long and I don’t enjoy being in the car that long, even with all the stops. Here are some of my favorite stops though (my road to Hana guide will be up soon!).
(MM stands for mile marker)
MM 2 – Twin falls
MM 16.5 – Seeing the beautiful rainbow eucalyptus trees at the Ke’anae arboretum (skip the Garden of Eden because the Ke’anae arboretum is free and has plenty of plants to admire).
MM 22.5 – Pua’a ka’a state park has easy access waterfalls, as well as a bathroom.
MM 23 – Short lava tube hike. Super neat and most people just drive past!
HANA – Finally getting to Hana is such a relief. I recommend staying the night so you don’t have to rush the Pipiwai trail. Maybe we were tired, but the Pipiwai trail took a minute for us to finish. We stayed in the Hana Resort.
Some things to do in Hana are to eat at the food trucks or the Hana Ranch Restaurant. The red sand beach is right here in Hana, an easy trail and pretty sight (it took us less than 10 minutes to hike to the red sand beach–we didn’t swim there. Just checked it out).
MM 42 – Ohe’o Gulch and Pipiwai Trail are SO worth it. The bamboo forest and Waikamo falls were totally worth it.
Make sure you STOP here and turn around. Going past the national park may violate your rental contract.
How many days should I spend on Maui?
I recommend 4-5 days, which gives you plenty of time for adventurous hikes and relaxing beach days.
What are some unique things to do on Maui?
Schedule a snorkel tour with Sail Trilogy to Molokini Crater
Try Wow Wow Lemonade
Plan a photoshoot for you and your loved ones
Buy and wear a haku lei the entire trip
Visit the Karen Lee Art Gallery – super gorgeous and neat! (Deelia Nelson is amazing!)
Be on the lookout for whales (especially during the winter months!)
Enjoy Maui!
I hope you enjoyed this Maui guide! So many people visit Maui again and again because of the delightful beaches and warm tropical sun. There’s so much to enjoy, I hope you have an amazing time! Don’t forget to save the Maui guide to help you plan your trip later!
Love,
Lei
Your turn!
What is your favorite thing to do in Maui? Let us know in the comments below!
