It's been a cold week here with a couple days of sub-freezing temperatures. It looks like the weather will warm up a bit for the weekend but for now, it seems like a good day to take a look back at Hawaii!
We were on the island of Maui for 5 nights back in November. It was a wonderful vacation. Our main goal was just to relax but we did get away from the resort for a bit and do some sight seeing too.
1.
Logistics - starting at the beginning, we booked our vacation through Costco. It was great! It allowed us to get almost everything done in one step and at a good price. Our package included flights, hotel and rental car. It also included a free breakfast buffet at the hotel every morning. This really helped make the planning much easier. The other thing I would recommend for Maui is the
Gypsy Guide. This was a really useful app on the phone. It has options for various locations in the US and Canada. The app runs on your phone and not only does it give directions, but it provides interesting information about the sights along the way and recommendations on places to stop. We loved using it.
A scenic viewpoint on the side of the road we found because of the Gypsy Guide
2.
Hotel - We stayed at the
Marriott Wailea Beach Resort. It was stunning and I loved this hotel. Wailea beach is a bit of a ritz-y area on Maui. Like I mentioned, we got a good rate through Costco. The hotel had just been refurbished earlier this year. It's right on a cliff overlooking the ocean and there are beautiful beaches to either side. There is a beach path that was great for a stroll or early morning run. The hotel is big and it was a fairly long walk to our room, but that meant it was on the end of the hotel and therefore a short walk to the beach.
The beach path got more crowded as the day went on, though the cats seemed to be there all the time.
The pools were amazing. There was an adventure pool with slides and a splash area for little kids, an adults only infinity pool overlooking the ocean, and a family pool that also had an infinity pool overlooking the ocean. The separate pools meant that most rooms were fairly close to one pool or another. The bar service was pretty good by the pools too, which is always a plus. We rented a cabana one day but even on other days, it seemed like there were usually chairs available when we looked.
The view from our cabana, with the pool behind us and the ocean in front of us.
There were multiple restaurants too. There was a poolside grill, the main restaurant which had a stunning view of the ocean, a food truck by the adventure pool and a smoothie/juice bar on the way to the beach. One of my only complaints is that there weren't a lot of vegetarian options though. But the food we ate was delicious and breakfast was always great. There was also a luau a couple nights per week. The hotel was also walking distance from a mall, which was great for supplies, restaurants, and souvenirs at a slightly more reasonable price than the hotel.
Our view from breakfast every morning
3.
Restaurants - So many good restaurants! One of our favorites was
Cow Pig Bun, where they had vegetarian poutine! We kind of stumbled on this one a bit by accident and it was tucked away in a office building. But the food and drinks were great!
Monkeypod Kitchen was another favorite. It was bit more upscale and a bit more tourist-y but still delicious. And perhaps the best Mai Tai I had on the island.
The last restaurant that really stood out was
Hali'imaile General Store. This one was another celebrity chef restaurant but the decor and feel of the place was definitely more rustic. It was upcountry and we had lunch there on the way up to Haleakala so it's a good option for if you have an outing up that way. The food was delicious but I loved that for vegetarian options, they told me that they could pretty much replace the protein in any dish with tofu for me. And it was really good!
4.
Sights - Maui is so much about the ocean. But there are some historical sights to see along the way as well. On our way back down Haleakala, we stopped at
Makawao, an old cowboy town. Who knew that Maui had a cowboy history!?! It was really interesting to check out the tiny little museum, take the walking tour of the historical buildings, and check out the boutique stores and art galleries.
We also drove up to
Lahaina one day. Lahaina seems like the main town on the island. It's an old whaling town and we gave ourselves a little walking tour there as well. It was really interesting to see the historical buildings, the museum, and the giant banyan tree in the old town square. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon. It was a bit of a lengthy drive from Wailea but it was beautiful scenery the whole way and well worth the time.
And we figured since we were in Hawaii, we had to experience a Luau. There were several options around the island but since there was one rights at our hotel, we figured we would go with that one for convenience. It was expensive but we enjoyed it. The show was amazing and the food was plentiful. The food wasn't the best food ever but it was pretty good. And the drinks were good too. We enjoyed the company at our table as well.
5.
Hiking/Activities - So much of the beauty of Maui is in it's natural scenery. It's all mountains and oceans and there seem to be amazing views everywhere you look. There are several hikes that are supposed to be amazing but we chose two. We went up to
Haleakala which is one of the mountains in the center of the island, a dormant volcano, and a national park. A lot of people go up for sunrise (for which you need a reservation now). The fee is $25 per car and that gives you a pass that's valid for three days. We decided to take it easy and just go up in the middle of the day for hiking. The day we went was cloudy and a bit rainy but still beautiful. But it was cold! I had read that and we were still not adequately dressed. Definitely take extra layers for this trip. The drive up was beautiful but a little hazardous in spots so I'm glad we went during the daylight. And the Gypsy Guide gave a lot of great information along the way about Maui history, culture, and places to stop for hiking trails or other sights.
The other hike we did
La Perouse Bay. This area is the last lava flow from Haleakala and you can clearly see where the lava hit the sea. It is an otherworldly landscape of black lava rocks overlooking the ocean. There are also some old ruins from A native Hawaiian settlement that used to be here. It was a little difficult to figure out exactly where to go and we did accidentally end up on private property at one point, but once it was pointed out we turned back around and found our way back to the public trail. It was hot so definitely take a lot of sunblock and water on this trip!
And lastly, so much of Maui revolves around the ocean. We spent some time just swimming and relaxing on Wailea beach but we did have one structured ocean activity that was amazing. We took an
Outerigger Canoe tour with Hawaiian Paddle Sports and it was absolutely amazing. The guide gave us a lot of information on local culture, the Hawaiian language, the ocean, and local wildlife in addition to teaching us how to paddle the canoe. We saw whales! And then we went to snorkel and he took photos that he emailed to us too. It was an amazing trip and I would highly recommend them.
So that was our trip to Maui! We were only there from Monday to Saturday and were definitely sad to leave. It was a beautiful island with plenty of opportunity to relax but also plenty to see and explore. It seemed like it could really be whatever you need it to be. I'm also linking up with the Friday Five link up
hosted by
Running on Happy &
Fairytales and Fitness.
