Maui - Where do I want to stay?

[keweenawlove]

I'm starting to make plans for a Hawaii vacation next spring, split between Kauai and Maui. I'm trying to figure out the best area of Maui for DH and I to stay. We'll probably end up staying at either a condo or B&B, rather than a big resort. So far, the only things on our must-do list are the Road to Hana and the Haleakala sunrise mountain bike. Generally, a perfect Hawaii day for us would be a hike or something active in the morning, followed by relaxing/snorkeling on an awesome beach with a few drinks.

For reference, we're staying on the north shore of Kauai. I couldn't picture us staying anywhere else on Kauai.

Any other recommendations or links to travel blogs are also appreciated as I start planning

[love1999]

Oct 8, 2013 13:15:05 GMT -5 keweenawlove said:

I'm starting to make plans for a Hawaii vacation next spring, split between Kauai and Maui. I'm trying to figure out the best area of Maui for DH and I to stay. We'll probably end up staying at either a condo or B&B, rather than a big resort. So far, the only things on our must-do list are the Road to Hana and the Haleakala sunrise mountain bike. Generally, a perfect Hawaii day for us would be a hike or something active in the morning, followed by relaxing/snorkeling on an awesome beach with a few drinks.

For reference, we're staying on the north shore of Kauai. I couldn't picture us staying anywhere else on Kauai.

Any other recommendations or links to travel blogs are also appreciated as I start planning

There is good snorkeling around Black Rock in Maui.  We stayed at the Sheraton, which is on Black Rock, but there are other condos nearby if you don't want to do a resort.  We've done both the Road to Hana and the Haleakala sunrise mountain bike tour from the Kaanapali/Lahaina area and felt like that was a fine location to be in for those.  Not sure exactly what month you're thinking of going in, but if you are there during whale season, I highly recommend a whale watch or two.  We've done ones through Hula Girl, Triology and Scotch Mist.  We also really enjoyed our snorkeling excursion through Triology to Molokini and Turtle Town and would definitely recommend it if you enjoy snorkeling.

Kauai is on our list for our next Hawaii trip and Maui is one of our favorite places in the world, so I'm jealous!

[love1999]

Oh, and I highly recommend stoping for a bite at Leoda's Kitchen and Pie Shop (just before Lahaina on the right hand side of the road if you are coming from the airport). SO good. The chocolate macadamia nut pie is amazing and we also really enjoyed everything else we had there (DH had a burger and I had the pot pie on our first trip, two really good sandwiches on our way back to the airport).

[dearprudence]

I'm similar to you with the North Shore of Kauai (Next year will be our first time not staying there!). So if we share similar taste in terms of that, then I would recommend the South side of Maui. It's more similar to the Princeville area than other places in Maui. And it's going to be closer to the Road to Hana and Haleakala than if you stay somewhere like Lahaina or Kaanapali.

[chicago]

I prefer the Ka'anapali area to South Maui. We loved exploring Front Street every night and it felt like that area had more activity. I think it would be a nice contrast to North Shore of Kauai. Friends of ours liked Honua Kai for a condo rental - I think they went through Vrbo. We stayed at the Westin Villas, so a nice combo of resort-like and condo-like.