Hawaii - Maui- Booking a trip with the wife. Tips advice?

[prostaffer]

Looking to go in October. This will be my first trip to the Aloha State.

This is what my co-worker told me.

• Rent a car
• Stay in the leihani (SP?) district - this is where all the bars and shopping are
• I'm not much of a hiker or beach person, but that would be nice for my wife and I
• Looking at Marriot, Hyatt, Waldorf Astoria or Sheraton.

Any other tips advice? My wife is willing to play a round out there so we will make it a worth while one for sure. Let me know anything else I need to know outside of golf as far as convenience, and where we should be!

 

[utvol23]

Looking to go in October. This will be my first trip to the Aloha State.

This is what my co-worker told me.

• Rent a car
• Stay in the leihani (SP?) district - this is where all the bars and shopping are
• I'm not much of a hiker or beach person, but that would be nice for my wife and I
• Looking at Marriot, Hyatt, Waldorf Astoria or Sheraton.

Any other tips advice? My wife is willing to play a round out there so we will make it a worth while one for sure. Let me know anything else I need to know outside of golf as far as convenience, and where we should be!

Just went in May. It was awesome to say the least. I stayed for 10 days with my wife. Definitely check out the Andaz in Wailea. It just opened last september and was a great hotel. We also spent some time in Kaanapali.

We when we stayed in Kaanapali we went into Lahaina in the evenings. Definitley go and eat at Lahaina grill one of if not the best meals ive had so good I had to go back again
Also go check out Mammas fish house which is right at the start of the road to hana. Awesome food but expensive for two people we averaged about $220 a meal. Lahaina grill was over 200 for the meal also so make sure to prepare for a healthy food budget if you are going to try those places.
The road to hana is definitely an experience. Its an all day affair but is awesome but the drive to hana is very mentally and physically exhausting.

I may be back to add more later. Oh and definitely get a rental car.

 

[DadNboujee]

Nothing is open past 9pm. But stay In lahaina.

 

[solewoman]

Nothing is open past 9pm. But stay In lahaina.

Yup it's actually a pretty boring spot. You should come to oahu instead. Nightlife is way better. Do the road to Hanna and go find the red sand beach it's awesome. There's another place like if you go at sunrise it looks like mars I forgot the name of it but it's awesome

 

[beh235]

Nothing is open past 9pm. But stay In lahaina.

This. Go to the beach. Shopping is on Front St and the surrounding area. The Maui Ocean center is nice, you can take nice pics if you want. When I went in February, I went to a spot called Monkey Pod, it's a restaurant, it was pretty cool. Enjoy man. 

@SoleWoman  you live on Maui? Dope.

 

[solewoman]

This. Go to the beach. Shopping is on Front St and the surrounding area. The Maui Ocean center is nice, you can take nice pics if you want. When I went in February, I went to a spot called Monkey Pod, it's a restaurant, it was pretty cool. Enjoy man. 

@SoleWoman
 you live on Maui? Dope.

I live in oahu. I just been to maui tho.

 

[beh235]

 

This. Go to the beach. Shopping is on Front St and the surrounding area. The Maui Ocean center is nice, you can take nice pics if you want. When I went in February, I went to a spot called Monkey Pod, it's a restaurant, it was pretty cool. Enjoy man. 

@SoleWoman
 you live on Maui? Dope.

I live in oahu. I just been to maui tho.

ahhh ok. I hope the hurricane doesn't hit you

 

[tsamshox]

Stayed in Ka'anapali last year. Def hit up Lahaina, Road to Hana, Molokini Crater, and maybe zip-lining. Enjoy the trip.

 

[kayzeezay]

In my opinion I would get a hotel in Kaanapali which is right up the road from Lahaina (not even a 5 minute drive). Nicer hotels/beaches and walking distance to Whalers village for dining and shopping. Also a lot of nice golf in Kaanapali as well. If money is no object then all of the nice hotels are located in Wailea (Four Seasons, Waldorf, Fairmont Kea Lani)

I agree with Mama's fish house, pricey but worth it.

I also recommend Kimo's in Lahaina.

 

[solewoman]

ahhh ok. I hope the hurricane doesn't hit you

Thank you. If it does it won't be bad

 

[spizike231]

Born in Honolulu, raised for a few years, moved to the mainland, but I went back to visit family more times than I can count. Only been to Oahu and Kauai, but..

Kauai >>>>>>>>>

 

[prostaffer]

We were looking at the Andaz. It seems to be an extra $500 for a 10 day trip, but sounds worth it. We looked at it before UTVOL23 mentioned it. Now we are really interested.

Breakfast, Wi-Fi, tea and non-alcoholic beverages included. Wailea sounds like it is within a drive of a lot of cool stuff. Kind of leaning that way right now. Sounds like it is worth the extra cash.

Thanks so much for all the help so far. Loving all the stories and recommendations!

 

[kayzeezay]

I forgot to mention that a rental car is a must in Maui but I hear you break an agreement where the car is not covered if you drive past certain points in Hana. I think all the rental companies ask if you're going to Hana anyway

 

[prostaffer]

I forgot to mention that a rental car is a must in Maui but I hear you break an agreement where the car is not covered if you drive past certain points in Hana. I think all the rental companies ask if you're going to Hana anyway

So road to hana is kind of a curvy road that takes you around part of the island?

 

[ksteezy]

Stay at the Westin bro! Hotel is the bomb! But yeah, Maui passed 9pm is DEAD...so wake up early and get things done early so at night you and the wife can just lay out in the beach under the stars, that's what me and the wife did, we didn't get to enjoy Honolulu night life because we were only there for the first 2 of our 10 day stay, both days which we spent adjusting to Jetlag, I under estimated that, thought it was a joke till I found myself landing in Honolulu at 3pm island time which was 9pm eastern time and thinking ima nap, which turned into a full "night" sleep, woke up at 2am island time wired but everything was closed then...lol

 

[23jumpman45]

Definitely go to Mama's Restaurant. Best seafood I have ever had. Sansei sushi in kihei was pretty good too.
And red sand beach is awesome.

 

[utvol23]

We were looking at the Andaz. It seems to be an extra $500 for a 10 day trip, but sounds worth it. We looked at it before UTVOL23 mentioned it. Now we are really interested.

Breakfast, Wi-Fi, tea and non-alcoholic beverages included. Wailea sounds like it is within a drive of a lot of cool stuff. Kind of leaning that way right now. Sounds like it is worth the extra cash.

Thanks so much for all the help so far. Loving all the stories and recommendations!

Im assuming you are in your 20s or 30s so I think the Andaz would probably be more of the hotel for you. We also looked into the Fairmont or the Four Seasons in Wailea but we are really happy with our choice of the Andaz. We went and ate dinner at Spago at the Four Seasons the food was great but it was an older hotel and more of an older clientele.

I will say that the advantage of staying out in Kaanapali was that you could just take a short drive to Lahaina and spend the night in the town.

Also definitely do a Luau.

 

[ksteezy]

I forgot to mention that a rental car is a must in Maui but I hear you break an agreement where the car is not covered if you drive past certain points in Hana. I think all the rental companies ask if you're going to Hana anyway

Only if you decide to loop all the way around, I think the furthest you can go without going into the full dirt roads in order to look around the island is after the sacred pools, we made the drive to the pools, but we literally got on the road to Hana at like 2pm, by the time we started making our way back it was pitch dark, pretty scary navigating that road in the darkness and pouring rain since is a rain Forrest....I just stood behind the same car the whole way, it was just us two on the road, so we kind of knew it was best if we stood together...lol

 

[utvol23]

So road to hana is kind of a curvy road that takes you around part of the island?

Curvy is an understatement.

Damn Ksteezy you went back in the dark. We were on the way back in the evening as the sun was setting and that was unsettling. Everyone told us to leave early and Dont drive the road at night.

We left at about 7 am and got about 7 pm

 

[kayzeezay]

So road to hana is kind of a curvy road that takes you around part of the island?

Yup, like UTVOL said it's pretty much an all day commitment

Stay at the Westin bro! Hotel is the bomb! l

Exactly where I stayed, loved that hotel

 

[utvol23]

Yup, like UTVOL said it's pretty much an all day commitment
Exactly where I stayed, loved that hotel

Im going to add in that the Westin is nice as I stayed there as well, but the Andaz is another level of luxury and service.

How long are you staying? if you are staying a decent amount of time it may be worth it to split you stay in Wailea and Kaanapali

Edit:
Reading your other post it looks like you are staying the same amount of time as we did. I would definitely check out both Wailea and Kaanapali.

 

[utvol23]

Fleetwoods on Front street in Lahaina is also nice if you want to eat dinner on a rooftop.

 

[23jumpman45]

U can keep going past the sacred pools and it turns into nothing but dirt and BUMPY roads. We didn't know we should have turned around but it was already too late. We saw like 2 cars for maybe an hour. I'm so glad it didn't turn out bad cause their is no cell reception out there. But there we some nice views lol

 

[prostaffer]

Im going to add in that the Westin is nice as I stayed there as well, but the Andaz is another level of luxury and service.

How long are you staying? if you are staying a decent amount of time it may be worth it to split you stay in Wailea and Kaanapali

Edit:
Reading your other post it looks like you are staying the same amount of time as we did. I would definitely check out both Wailea and Kaanapali.

I brought up that point. All though it looks like splitting stays between hotels is hard to do when booking trips with these online sites.

 

[prostaffer]

U can keep going past the sacred pools and it turns into nothing but dirt and BUMPY roads. We didn't know we should have turned around but it was already too late. We saw like 2 cars for maybe an hour. I'm so glad it didn't turn out bad cause their is no cell reception out there. But there we some nice views lol

a lot of people have told me to rent a convertible. so i'm guessing a jeep is the better experience? lol