Maui in 9 Days

Guest post by ohmillers

Map tips: each color represents a different day. Click a marker to learn more about the spot, and click the star in the map header to save the entire map under Your Places in Google Maps.

Day 1

Arrived in the evening, grabbed our rental car and checked in to the hotel – Royal Kahana on the far northwestern part of the island. We didn’t need super-luxurious accommodations and it worked out well for us. Beautiful sunset views from the beach.

Day 2: Lahaina

Relaxed day in and around Lahaina – 10 minute drive. Lots of restaurants, shops and the gigantic banyan tree – very neat and impressive. Went back to Lahaina several times during the trip.

Day 3: Road to Hāna

• 

• 

Spent the whole day on a tour for the Road to Hana, booked through our hotel. A negative to doing it with a tour is that you only stop where they stop. We had a fantastic driver so the tour was a great experience. Maybe missed out on some things by not doing it ourselves, but took the pressure off and we were both able to enjoy all the sites since we weren’t driving. Also had no worries on the rough parts of the drive, which you can’t (or shouldn’t) take a rental car. Waterfalls, blowhole, black sand beach, rainforest, rainbow eucalyptus trees, tons of variety.

Day 4: Sea Maui

Snorkeling boat tour that was booked through the hotel – fantastic. Great crew, they made it a lot of fun. Saw sea turtles and fish, and even a whale shark that the crew was so surprised and excited to see. They jumped in and got some great underwater pictures. Went further out and got surrounded by lots of spinner dolphins that were jumping out of the water like crazy. Such a neat experience and sticks out as one of the highlights of the trip.

• 

• 

Day 5

• Nakalele Blowhole
• Old Lahaina Luau

Drove to the blowhole, worth the short hike to get there.

Walked along the beach by our hotel and saw a huge sea turtle come ashore right by us.

We had booked the luau in advance (8 months prior) to get good seats, and it’s known as one of the best in Hawaii. There was a lot of history included about the Hawaiian people, and the food was great.

Day 6: Whalers Village

Whalers Village is a more upscale area with shops and restaurants. Lots of the high-end hotels are right by, and it’s a great area to explore.

Day 7: Haleakalā National Park

Up at dawn for a helicopter tour. Amazing way to see lots of stuff you couldn’t otherwise see.

• 

• 

Still had half the day so we decided to do Haleakala (which we had planned for another day). Supposed to be 1 hour down and 2 hours back up. We had some snacks and some water, but it wasn’t as much as we should have had for the rougher hike back up. Tough terrain, some of it is sand, and you’re at 10,000 feet. Views were other-worldly and another one of the highlights of the trip. Quite a sense of accomplishment, hiking into and out of a volcano.

Day 8

• Maui Ocean Center
• Maui Tropical Plantation
• The Mill House

The aquarium is small but very well done – one of the best we’ve been to. It’s expensive so we spent a good bit of time there.

Toured the plantation and ate the Mill House – great food.

Day 9

• Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice – Lahaina
• Atlantis Submarines Maui
• Maluaka Beach

Went to Lahaina and had shave ice – it’s an involved process, not just chopped up ice and flavored syrup. Always a line, but worth waiting for it.

The submarine was just ok – snorkeling and the helicopter tour were much better.

Drove down to Turtle Town, aka Maluaka Beach. Tons of turtles, worth a stop.

Traveled in June 2019