Maui questions / recommendations needed!

[smilejenn]

My family is heading to Maui on Wednesday. We are very excited but most of my trips to Hawaii have been to Oahu and I haven't been to Maui since I was in middle school! I was hoping to glean some information from all the travelers on this board

1) For those who have been there before, what were your favorite beaches? Any beautiful spots that can't be missed?

2) We will have a small kitchen at our Westin Villa, but still would like to eat one or two meals out a day. We will have a two and five year old with us, so we don't have much of an interest in the super expensive restaurants unless they have great happy hour/appetizer specials. Anyone have restaurant recommendations beyond what I read in the Revealed book? Any not to be missed restaurants? Places with killer Mai Tais?

3) We plan on doing the road to Hana, the sunrise at the crater, and a luau. Anything else we should consider? We'll be there eight days.

4) Is it typically too windy on Maui for sundresses? I live in central FL and we live in sundresses most of the year, but I'm thinking the wind may be strong on the island for them?

Thanks for any info you can offer!

[curlygirlygirl]

1) DT Fleming is beautiful, but windy
2) Killer Mai Tais at the Aloha Mixed Plate, which is a nice casual place with great happy hour drink specials. We also love Cool Cat Cafe, Mama's Fish House, Kimo's, and the Lahaina Fish Company. We always stop at Costco when we leave the airport to pick up a jug of pot, bagels, and lunchmeat.
3) Snorkeling
4) I wear sundresses most days, but it does get wind in the Kaanapali area.

[Deleted]

1. Makena (Big) beach is really nice. We prefered the beaches in Wailea as opposed to Kaanapali.
2. I wouldn't take the kids to Mama's Fish House. I liked Kimo's, Star Noodle and Da Kitchen. Loved Geste Shrimp Truck! Not sure about the mai tais though.
3. Old Lahaina Luau is really nice. I think you can also go snorkeling at Molokai crater.
4. Not too windy, we went in Oct last year and it was perfect weather for sundresses.
Have a great time!

[rootbeerfloat]

Are you staying at the Westin Villas in Kaanapali? I like the beach right there. (I was there earlier this month.) The beaches down south (Wailea) are also nice.

I can't think of any restaurant recs right now. But you should be fine in sundresses.

[Deleted]

MonkeyPod restaurant in Wailea is amazing. They have a happy hour and a Mai Tai with a lilikoi foam that is to die for. they have a kids meal as well.

We have also stayed at the Westin in Kaanapali... It is great for the kids.

Uulani's shave ice in Lahina is AMAZING.

[basilosaurus]

I wouldn't take anyone to Mama's Fish House. Totally overrated.

Also, I hate to say this, but the Revealed food suggestions were bad. They recommended a fair number of chains, and then they're recommend places that even they acknowledge aren't very tasty but still somehow worth going to. My copy was fairly old (5 years), so maybe that's changed.

Mala Ocean Tavern in Lahaina (on front) has a really good brunch. They were rec'd to us by local friends for happy hour, too, so I'd check that out for mai tais. I'o and Pacific'o are also on front st. are both really good, but I don't know that they'd be kid friendly. They have online menus, though, and outdoor seating, so you can look into it.

Skip Sea House in Napili. I have a cookbook from them that's awesome, but apparently that chef left, and the food now reminds me of a HoJo's.

I'll second the monkeypod rec if you're in the Wailea area.

If you want cheap/easy lunch, maui taco is always reliable.

Definitely stop at Costco on the way to the condo. It will be your best price.

You're missing snorkel/beach time in your activity list

[cricketwife]

3. I hated the Road to Hana, but I know that I'm in the minority. However, there's no way that I'd ever do it with a 2 and 5 yr old. I think you're asking to be miserable. What I think everybody would love is the dolphin/whale watching tour by Pacific Whale Watch (I think that's the name - it's a nonprofit.)

Also, the Atlantis submarine is fun for kids.

And lots of time at the beach! Aloha!

[smilejenn]

Aug 28, 2012 18:41:07 GMT -5 cricketwife said:

3. I hated the Road to Hana, but I know that I'm in the minority. However, there's no way that I'd ever do it with a 2 and 5 yr old. I think you're asking to be miserable. What I think everybody would love is the dolphin/whale watching tour by Pacific Whale Watch (I think that's the name - it's a nonprofit.)

Also, the Atlantis submarine is fun for kids.

And lots of time at the beach! Aloha!

Thanks for everyone's insight! We can't wait to check out your recommendations this week.

Cricket, we're definitely going into the road to Hana with an open mind in case we have to turn around half way there. We plan on taking lots of breaks during the drive and will watch out for morning sickness. Both my boys have been on super long road trips before (8-16hrs) so at least we know they don't mind being in a car for a longer period of time

[smilejenn]

Aug 28, 2012 14:29:14 GMT -5 rootbeerfloat said:

Are you staying at the Westin Villas in Kaanapali? I like the beach right there. (I was there earlier this month.) The beaches down south (Wailea) are also nice.

Yes! We're at those same villas!

[librarygirl]

1) For those who have been there before, what were your favorite beaches? Any beautiful spots that can't be missed?

2) We will have a small kitchen at our Westin Villa, but still would like to eat one or two meals out a day. We will have a two and five year old with us, so we don't have much of an interest in the super expensive restaurants unless they have great happy hour/appetizer specials. Anyone have restaurant recommendations beyond what I read in the Revealed book? Any not to be missed restaurants? Places with killer Mai Tais?

I believe this is near to the Westin Villas, but we really liked our meal at Duke's Beachhouse. Definitely a family place. Also in downtown Lahaina, the Cilantro Grill had terrific Mexican food. For sweets, definitely get some shaved ice from Uulani's as a pp mentioned.

3) We plan on doing the road to Hana, the sunrise at the crater, and a luau. Anything else we should consider? We'll be there eight days.

4) Is it typically too windy on Maui for sundresses? I live in central FL and we live in sundresses most of the year, but I'm thinking the wind may be strong on the island for them?

H and I visited Maui last November and the one day I tried to wear a flowy dress, I ended up changing. We did stay in the Kaanapali area and yes the winds were intense at times.

Read more: pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=trav&action=display&thread=50261#ixzz24tf2MLvX

[dutchgirl678]

We did the road to Hana with a 2-year old but we did turn around half way. I was also 22 weeks pregnant. A great place to stop for lunch is Flatbread Pizza in Paia. Wonderful pizza and kid-friendly. We were staying in Kaanapali and I was surprised how expensive some restaurants were and how un-kid-friendly their menus were. $10 for a kid's meal, really? And they didn't even have mac'n cheese, no filet mignon! This was at Hula Grill. We did eat one night at Leilani's as well and it was slightly better. Lunch at Aloha Mixed Plate in Lahaina was great. We also like Bubba Gump's in Lahaina (very kid-friendly) but I know it's a chain.

We drove up to the volcano and did a short hike there. Not to be missed is the Surfing Goat dairy farm. You can see the goats and taste all kinds of cheeses. We didn't pay to go on a tour but just hung around for a bit. We also found a small bakery near Kula that had amazing pie.

We also drove up to Kapalua golf course to see the dragon's teeth and drove all the way around the top to Kahului. I would say the drive was even more eventful than the road to Hana. Very curvy and a lot of super narrow roads where two cars can hardly pass each other. DD loved to drive around and see everything.

We didn't have much luck with the beaches as we went in January and had a big storm on the first day and very turbulent ocean the whole time we were there.

[bukah]

Drive to the very south end of the island (past Wailea) to the nature preserve. At the very end you can usually spot the spinner dolphins off in the distance putting on a great show! Also just north of this preserve (you will usually see cars parked on the side of the road) is one of the BEST snorkeling spots. YOu literally have tons of fish as soon as you get in the water and we saw a few of giant turtles swimming here as well! Or if you can take a snorkel tour. We ended up at Molokini (Which was AWESOME) and our boat even took us on the backside to snorkel (the water was toilet bowl blue); and to the southside to see the spinner dolphins!

If you like beer definitely make a stop at the Maui Brewing Company! Some great beers and the restaurant has good food.
I second Surfing Goat Dairy.. that was fun!
We did Road to Hana.... probably wouldnt do it again but once was great. Went up to Red Beach but it was a LONG day, some pretty stops though. Met some not so friendly locals on the way down (threw seeds at our car when passing) (i guess some locals really hate the tourists in this area)
One thing we did that was AWESOME was watching the sunrise at Halalekeala (sp?). Its a drive and you need to leave your condo pretty early (by 5) but it is spectacular.. and FREEZING! Bring the blanket from the condo and any sweatshirt/jacket you may have brought.

We enjoyed Stella Blues in Kihei for food; Also Dinas sandwitch (north kihei) has great sandwiches.

Sundresses will be perfectly good!



Have FUn!!!!

[kelley182]

Great hotel choice. We stayed there for part of our honeymoon and really liked it.

When you pass through Paia, I would highly recommend stopping for a meal at the Paia Fish Market.
www.paiafishmarket.com/pages/about-us

Our friend, who lived in Maui at the time, recommended it to us. We loved the food there!