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What is the best area to stay in Maui and why? |
Travel Info Just looking for the pros and cons of each area. ie things to do, cost, driving distance etc. Pleas help!!???!! Travel Tips The best thing to do (in the opinion of someone who was born, raised, and still living on Maui) is to fly to the Kahului Airport and get a hotel in either Kihei/Wailea or Lahaina/Kaanapali, because it has the nicest hotels near the beach side area. Wailea side of Maui tends to have the higher class hotels, which means more expensive, but you can get the same experience in the Kaanapali side with the cheaper hotels. Kihei/Wailea http://www.grandwailea.com/ http://www.fairmont.com/kealani/... Lahaina/Kaanapali http://www.kbhmaui.com/ http://www.westinmaui.com/de.htm... The only other place on Maui that isn't too far from sights is the Maui Beach Hotel, which also has another hotel next to it. These hotels are really on the low end and usually locals from the inter-islands stay at these because they aren't looking for anything extravagent. http://www.elleairmaui.com/homepage.htm... The prices are costs are seasonal for the hotels so the best thing to do it look at the websites for their current prices. Distances: Kihei is about 20 minutes from Kahului. Lahaina is about 30-40 minutes depending on traffic from the Kahului. Paia, Makawao, Pukalani is about 15-20 minutes from Kahului. Wailuku is a 5-10 minutes drive from Kahului. There are lots of things to do on Maui depending on what you are looking for. Both Kihei and Lahaina have beautiful beaches, and many excellent shopping areas. Lahaina is a lot more fun to look around though, because you can walk Front Street which has many shops and a nice view of the ocean facing it. Also, not to far from the main Front Street shops you can go to the Old Lahaina Luau, which is known as Hawaii's most authentic luau dinner show in Hawaii and the only one not offered through a hotel, but a private business. Also not to far from Lahaina you can go to the golf courses in Kapalua, which is where they hold the Mercedes Championchip Golf Tournament in January (another thing you can do is go to watch it). Above Kahului is Wailuku town and Iao, which has small shops, but the best sight in that part of Maui is the Iao Valley and Iao Needle. It's a short drive past Wailuku and well worth it with a beautiful view of Maui at the top of the needle. If you want to see more sights I recommend going to the summit of Haleakala, located past Makawao and Kula. There you can go to the Haleakala National Park and watch the sunrise, as well as do the downhill bike tour. http://www.maui-downhill.com/?source=goo... There is a lot more I could talk about Maui, but I hope the information I listed was good. Hope I helped :D Source(s): Also, I'm glad you picked looking at Maui, it really is special. Born and raised in Maui, Hawaii....so I'm a bit bias. Other Travel Tips You picked the best island in Hawaii to see. You will probably fly into Kahului which is on the NORTH end of the island. What ever you do, don't stay on the east side, it is beautiful to tour but the road to hana (while beautiful) is hell, it is twisty and curvy and in most places only one lane. Roughly 45-1 hour south is Wailea, in the southern part of Maui it is GORGEOUS, the water is really, really blue and a lot of hotels are in the area, and it is close pretty close to Kahului (then again you really can't get that far away on an island). T he west part is really great to Lahania is beautiful as well, and is similar to Wailea, just a little more built up. If you are looking for a more "romantic" "private" experience I would recommend staying in one of the little island towns on the west side of the island. They offer beautiful scenery in a private environment, while offering manageable driving distances to just about anywhere on the isalnd. Maui is pretty easy to navigate and is the most beautiful of all the islands. Keep in mind it is shaped like a pair of sunglasses. In the "right eye" is the Haleakala Crater and the area around it is uninhabited except for the east shore where Hana is and as I mentioned before is very difficult to get too. In the "left eye" is mainly lush vegetation and the "backcountry" of Maui, it is inhabitated and many small villages are back here. I wouldn't recommend staying there, because a lot of the roads are hard to navigate and I don't know about you but I came to Maui to see beaches. The best thing to do in ALL of Maui is to take a snorkel or scuba tour to Molokini/Lanai/Molokai and to Turtle Town. I also HIGHLY recomend Mama's Fish House on the north end. It is an AMAZING restaurant, the BEST meal I have ever eaten. (It is expensive though for our family of four it was about $300 but we all got our own plates, desserts, and drinks from the bar). Helicopter tours are really cool too as is a bike ride down the Haleakala Crater. I sincerely hope that you have a great time and if you have any questions about Maui or any of the other islands feel free to contact me. Have an awesome trip! P.S. Check out Tom's Barefoot Tours-they do an AMAZING job and helped keep our trip affordable. Tom's Barefoot Tours, My personal trip to Hawaii I read the other comment and i somewhat disagree with his answer. It really depends on what you want to see in hawaii on maui. The south shore is pretty but very crowded with tourists. If you enjoy seeing how the locals live from day to day and get a true glimpse of the real Hawaii I would say hang out on the north shore and head towards Hana. VERY VERY lush. Very private and very real. Not dealing with masses of people. And you can see all sorts of marvelous beaches all over the island, especially off the beaten path like Hamoa beach or the black sand beach or the red sand beaches. All on the north shore. If entertainment is what you are after and you want some disneyland interpretation of Hawaii go hang out in Lahaina or Kihei. Either way you will have a good time. In my opinion you cannot go wrong whatever you do or choose. I will put it this way, If there is rain where you are on the island, you can drive to the other side and chances are it will be hot and beautiful. I live in Maui. It doesn't matter. You just got three different answers and they are all correct. A tourist point of view, a transplant and a born and raised local. They all made very good points. Maui is "no ka oi" (number one) |
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