We just got back from our very first trip to Maui! This was our very first time in Hawaii, and it far exceeded every expectation we had. Since moving to California, we’ve met so many people who head to Hawaii for their yearly vacation, and we can definitely understand why now.
We booked our flights through Hawaiian Airlines, it was our first time flying that airline and we have nothing but good things to say about it! The flight was only a 5.5 hour, direct route from our local airport (San Jose), so it really was a breeze to get there. With Daylight Savings being in effect when we went (late November), Hawaii was only a two hour time difference from Pacific Time, so we didn’t get totally off our schedule, but we felt like we had so much time to explore each day since we were able to get up before sunrise.
Let’s get into all the details from our trip to Maui!
Where to Stay on Maui
There are two really popular areas to stay on Maui – Wailea and Lahaina (below the fire damage). We found a deal at a resort in Wailea, so we chose to base ourselves there and were really happy with the decision.
We specifically stayed at the Hyatt Andaz Maui, and had a really good experience. It can definitely be a pricier hotel (as are almost all the resorts on Maui), but we kept searching different dates to see when we could find a few nights in our price range, and we ended up finding that the week before Thanksgiving. If your vacation time is flexible, try going before or after a big holiday when everyone has off, because that’s inevitably going to be when prices are highest.
The Andaz had everything we were looking for – beach amenities including complimentary snorkeling, paddle boarding, canoeing, beach chairs, and more, as well as a beachfront pool, restaurants, luxurious rooms, complimentary car service, and more. I mean look how stunning the view from our spots at the pool were every day!
Where to Eat on Maui
We both kept saying that we didn’t have a single bad meal on our entire trip! I’m listing out the places we made it to and where we wish we had below:
- Monkeypod Kitchen by Merriman’s (make a reservation or go during their Happy Hour!)
- Morimoto
- Tin Roof Maui (we got this right after landing, super close to the airport)
- Kitoko Food Truck
- Maui Brewing Company
- Ululani’s Shaved Ice
- Spoon and Key Market
- Ka’ana Kitchen (this was the breakfast buffet at our hotel, but we both agreed we would have come just to eat here if we weren’t staying at our hotel. They had mochi waffles, Hawaiian pork sausage, the crispiest breakfast potatoes, freshly squeezed juice. Amazing!
- Kihei Caffe
- Akamai Coffee
- Mama’s Fish House (as SOON as you know the dates of your trip, book here!) we booked our trip pretty last minute so it was completely booked up, but we’ve heard it’s a total splurge-worthy meal.
- Merriman’s (another splurgey spot we didn’t have time for!)
- Paia Fish Market (we wanted to go here after Road to Hana but timing didn’t work out)
- Drinks at the Grand Wailea (this hotel is classic Maui, and they have multiple very, very cool bars to choose from! One of their bars is even an aquarium that you sit at to order.)
If you need a few more ideas, we used this list and this list to find Maui food inspiration!
What to do on Maui
We only had four days, so I’ll list what we did and some other recommendations we didn’t have time for!
- Road to Hana – this was a very full, busy day, but we both agreed we are glad we did it at least once! Make sure to download the Road to Hana GuideAlong guide – more info on GuideAlong here. And here’s a video recap of our Road to Hana experience!
- Water activities – our hotel had very convenient and complimentary snorkeling, paddle boarding, canoeing, an outrigger expedition, and more. We opted for using this and saw so many tropical fish, turtles, and beautiful underwater scenes right in front of our hotel! But if your hotel doesn’t offer this, definitely research where you can go snorkeling and rent snorkel equipment, because it was probably the highlight of our trip!
- Wailea Beach Walk – our resort was right along this public trail that goes along all the fancy resorts in Wailea, so if you’re not based in Wailea or Kihei, probably not worth going out of your way for this! But if you are, it was very fun to do at sunset.
- Shops at Wailea – again, near our resort so easy for us to stop by, but don’t go out of your way for this unless you want to splurge while you’re on island.
- Sunrise at Haleakalā National Park – we didn’t do this, but we’ve seen so many people recommend!
- Lavender Farm – we were recommended this, but we didn’t have time! next time.
How long do you need on Maui?
We had four nights on Maui, and we both agreed that felt like the perfect amount of time. We had plenty of time at the pool, plenty of time to eat fun meals, bop around town, etc.! But I will say, we only flew 5 hours to get there, so if you’re spending a lot longer on travel, you may want to stay 5-6 nights to make the travel worth it. And I’ll add that we got up and started doing things at sunrise each day (easy for us with the time change), so if you’re someone who likes to catch up on sleep on vacation, more than four nights may be better for you!
Do you need a rental car on Maui?
Yes, I think so! If you plan on this being a true vacation and not exploring the island much, you could probably just get away with booking some airport transfers, but I would not count on being able to uber anywhere, especially at night! Our hotel had a complimentary house car you could use for destinations less than 1 mile away from the hotel, but most of the places we wanted to explore were longer than a mile away so we were very glad we had a rental car.
I also wanted to quickly share that I rented outfits for this trip from Nuuly, which I can’t recommend enough! So nice to have fun vacation dresses that I simply return when I’m done wearing, because I really don’t need to own tropical options like this. Here’s my full Nuuly guide, including a discount code.
That’s a wrap on our time in Maui! If you have any specific questions for me, feel free to comment below or reach out to me on Instagram.
