Perfect Days on Maui

Areas of Maui

West Maui

lahanai Almost an island unto itself, mostly covered by the West Maui Mountains, West Maui is connected to the rest of Maui by an isthmus from Kahului-Wailuku to Ma’alaea. West Maui consists of a half-dozen different areas and combinations of vacation experiences:

Along Hwy. 30 between Ma’alaea and Lahaina are a series of scenic lookouts, places to watch gorgeous sunsets, and Papalaua Beach, Ukumehame Beach Park, Mile Marker 14, Olowalu Beach, Launiupoko Beach Park and Puamana Beach Park with many spots to surf, snorkel, swim and picnic.

Lahaina, a self-contained destination that is unique in Hawaii with everything to offer visitors from historic sites and shopping to restaurants and a busy, fun harbor providing a marvelous variety of ocean excursions, and lacking only a great or even excellent beach for watersports;

Ka’anapali Resort, its hotels, first-rate condos, and shopping at Whalers Village, an abundance of vacation rentals, and a great beach, all of which are only minutes from Lahaina and the Kapalua-West Maui Airport;

Honokowai beach area and Kahana, both full of condos and vacation rentals, a couple of outstanding restaurants and takeouts;

Napili and Kapalua, each with a great beach, and D.T. Fleming Beach Park and Oneloa Bay next to the Ritz Carlton Hotel, all close enough together to form one unique coastal playground;

Northwest Coast with several fantastic beaches and bays around the spectacular, rugged coastline. from Mokule’ia and Honolua bays and Punalau Beach (just past the 34 mile marker) that starts a 25-mile adventure drive along the Kahekili Hwy on a narrow, sometimes scary road, along incredible shoreline, past the Nakalele Blowhole, the village of Kahakuloa and 636-foot-high Kahakuloa Head to Waihe’e and Wailuku.

Olowalu

Very popular with locals, calm waters, extensive reefs, excellent snorkeling and surfing, long beaches, plenty of shade trees and good picnic spots, good places for children near the shore, result in lots of parking along the highway around MM 14 on Hwy. 30. Snorkeling sites in waters off Ukumehame Beach Park and Coral Garden-Papalaua Wayside Park further south (MM 11-13) are better accessed by both boat and kayak than from the shore.

Lahaina

A very complete destination except for the lack of a great beach (found in nearby Ka’anapali), Lahaina offers: plenty of shopping and art gallery browsing along Front St. and in various local shopping centers; excellent restaurants for all occasions and times of day; historic sightseeing that mostly lends itself to walking tours together with shopping; a very pleasant beach walk (north from Access #203); wonderful waterfront views; outstanding nightlife attractions; and all the marine attractions you could possibly want. Limited parking is Lahaina’s only drawback which can be offset by arriving early.

Ka’anapali

One of the best beaches in Hawaii, Ka’anapali really starts at Hanakao’o Beach Park (where there’s lots of parking). Ka’anapali’s beachside walkway follows the entire beachfront to Black Rock (Keka’a Point) with public parking and beach entry south to north at Access #210-#213 (Sheraton).

All of the resorts, shopping, restaurants, watersports equipment rentals, and ocean excursions in Ka’anapali are accessible to the public along the beachside walkway between the Hyatt Regency Maui and the Sheraton Maui at Black Rock. More than a dozen oceanfront restaurants in hotels and elsewhere on the grounds of Ka’anapali Resort will take care of meals for all occasions and times of day.

The Hyatt Regency Maui stands out among resort hotels in Ka’anapali. In addition to the Maui Marriott, Westin Maui, Sheraton Maui and Ka’anapali Beach Hotel, the Ka’anapali Resort also includes several of the best condos on Maui: The Whaler and the Ka’anapali Ali’i. Whalers Village provides a very enjoyable combination of shopping, meals, whale education and occasional outside entertainment. North and South Golf Courses cover a wide spectrum of golfing challenges.

Kapalua to Wailuku

The Kapalua Bay Hotel (to be rebuilt in 2006) and Villas and the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua are completely different in designs and spectacular settings. Together these resorts define a unique vacation universe that compares favorably with any resort in Hawaii.

Just as the Wailea-Makena resorts are enhanced by proximity to the La Pérouse Bay and the Kanaio Coast, the experience at the Kapalua-Ritz Carlton resorts extend to the journey along highways 30 and 340 from Kapalua to Kahakuloa, including:

great snorkeling (in summer) and views of Honolua Bay and Honokohau Bay and its lush Valley;
marvelous views along the rugged shorelines;
spectacular Nakalele Blowhole and the lovely setting and swimming at Olivine Pools (naturally formed swimming pools on a lava shelf below Hwy. 340 just before MM 16);
Hawaiian village of Kahakuloa.

(Note: you can only see Honokohau Falls, Maui’s highest waterfall, on a helicopter tour of West Maui, see http://www.tombarefoot.com/maui/heli_maui.html).

Kahakuloa

The road to Kahakuloa reveals coastal views as spectacular as any on Maui. However, 1½ miles of extremely narrow road into Kahakuloa and the paved 2½ miles of slightly less narrow road out of the village up to Kahakuloa Head, without any turnouts other than slight dents in cliffsides, are really scary. (The rule-of-the-road is that uphill drivers on this twisting one-lane road should back up when a car or truck approaches as you come into Kahakuloa or drive out of the village. Backing up as you ascend a frightfully narrow one-lane road that curves sharply along a cliffside several hundred feet over the rocks below is a “challenge”.)

For many people a better choice than a nerve-wracking drive in your own car (imagine an oncoming car and a car behind yours and no turnout or place to pass, not just once but several times) is joining Ekahi Tours (see www.ekahi.com/kaha-pict.htm) or Maui Eco-adventures for tours of Hwy. 340, the blowhole at Nakalele Point and Kahakuloa where you will be able to take a guided walk into the forest and visit taro patches, learn about the village and local history, culture and legends. (See http://www.tombarefoot.com/maui/outdoor_maui.html)

The shave ice sold at the blue wagon in Kahakuloa will be as good as you’ve eaten on Maui; likewise the banana bread sold as you leave the village. Tiny Kahakuloa Hawaiian Congregational Church is one of the most picturesque churches in Hawaii. The short hiking trail between 636-foot high Kahakuloa Head and 547-foot Pu’u Kahuli’anapa provides additional views and camera shots of Kahekili’s Leap where, a couple of centuries earlier, Maui’s King Kahekili would hike up Kahakuloa before breakfast and dive 200’ into the ocean.

A few miles later, in a most unlikely location, Karen Lei Nolane’s Kaukini Gallery, sells her highly respected art and an excellent assortment of gifts. After an incredible hairpin turn, you come to another stellar art gallery, Bruce Turnbull Studio and Sculpture Garden, where for decades the renowned artist has created superb bronze and wood sculptures.

Northwest Maui on Horseback & By Helicopter

horses A very different way to see the mountains and tropical valleys, pineapple fields and Northwest Maui Coastline, daytime or at sunset, is on horseback during 2-3 hour guided tours with Ironwood Ranch. Northwest of Wailuku, in an area called Waihe’e, Mendes Ranch provides wonderfully scenic rides around Waihe’e Valley and along the Waihe’e Coast that most visitors never see except from a distance. (See http://www.tombarefoot.com/maui/horseback_maui.html)

Before or after seeing the West Maui coastline and mountains on the ground, a helicopter tour of deep valleys, hidden waterfalls, rainforests, and craggy ridges of West Maui provides a very different kind of experience, for example, a 30-minute helicopter tour of West Maui with Sunshine Helicopters followed by 3 hours on horseback with Mendes Ranch. (See http://www.tombarefoot.com/maui/heli_maui.html)