Hotel recommendation (Maui)

[Amw1064]

We are spending 10 nights at Aulani in June and added 3 days on to our trip in Maui. I have no idea where to look or stay. Since we will have 10 days in a beautiful resort with pools, I am looking for somewhere that is nice but not so nice we won't want to leave the resort. Seems like the Westin is pretty popular but looking for other options. (possibly cheaper). Also if anyone has any suggestions as to what to see and do. Thanks so much!

 

[sbeets]

We started with a vrbo condo at kaanapali shores and finished at the Hyatt. Everyone agreed the condo was much better. Just not interested in $15 drinks served poolside like you get at the Hyatt. We loved the lower key kaanapali shores. I'm not high maintenance.

 

[sbeets]

as for what to do, it is still agreed that renting a boat with Ryan at wakemaui.com was the highlight. There were 6 in our group and he took us to the tiny little gems for snorkeling. No one else was there. And we wake surfed and wake boarded. It was amazing. It was so fun to have our own boat.

 

[nkereina]

We stayed at the Westin - some pics and details in my trip report in my signature. We did not rent a car while we were in Maui but we were able to walk next door for shopping and dining at the Whaler's Village, and there is a free shuttle that the Starwood hotels run that will take you to Lahaina and the surrounding area. That made the location very convenient, aside from Kaanapali being beautiful. Only con of this location is the long drive from the airport - its about 45 minutes, we used Speedishuttle who worked well.

As for the Westin itself, it was gorgeous and did not seem crowded to us. It was relatively small, especially compared to Aulani. Because of this, we didn't have qualms about leaving the resort for activities or dining yet when we did want down time, the pool was awesome. In the same vicinity, there is also a Hyatt and Sheraton, and a Westin Villas which is a timeshare resort. You may be able to rent points for cheaper rooms there.

 

[alohamom]

There are two distinct areas of Maui that people stay, Kaanapali and Lahaina on the west side and Wailea and Kihei in the south. Some people feel the weather is better in the south but I always found it windy. The beaches are very nice in this area though. Kaanapali and Lahaina in the west is where the Westin is located but the beach at Kaanapali can get rough. I dont think it is too bad in June. The town of Lahaina is fun to wander and shop through and is close to the Kaanapali beach area. I dont know if renting a condo is worthwhile for 3 nights because you will have your cleaning fee and that will raise the average per night price. I have friends who just love the Marriott Wailea and return on a regular basis. Having said that I know a few people who have stayed at Honua Kai (north Kaanapali) and LOVED it but I know that there is construction for a new resort happening right beside it and that could change the experience of the resort dramatically. You can rent through VRBO for that resort, in case you are considering it. This unit is owner operated and is approx 285 night (think there are parking fees) https://www.vrbo.com/446642

 

[GeneralTso]

Our favorite place is the Grand Wailea. We found many similarities to Aulani.
It's on the western side of the island, great weather.

Lahaina is super touristy, as is Ka'anapali. More than Wailea resorts it seems.

 

[DieHardJoe]

We are staying 4 nights on Kauai, 3 on Maui and finsihing with a week at Aulani. We started to research hotels for Kauai and Maui but a couple people mentioned condo rentals. We are in the middle of our research but we are now sure that we will be doing a condo on both islands. For Maui, here is the link we are using. https://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/hawaii/maui?from-date=2017-05-16&to-date=2017-05-19. You can filter by area, then add more filters if you'd like. MOst units, once you click on them, offer an availability chart and an instant quote. There are literally hundreds of options, but for the space you get (1-BR vs studio) and a full kitchen, and in many cases a short walk out the back door to the beach, there are so many really good options. We realized that we are the type of traveler that likes to rent a car, have breakfast in our room, then hit the road as early as possible to get the most out of our trip. The hotels offer more amenities for sure, but we just don't use that many of them to warrant the significantly higher price than that of a condo rental. Happy hunting!!

 

[nkereina]

We are staying 4 nights on Kauai, 3 on Maui and finsihing with a week at Aulani.

We did a very similar trip! We actually did 3 nights in Waikiki, 3 nights in Maui, 3 nights in Kauai, and then 6 nights at Aulani. We were very happy with how it all went and luckily had no snags. We liked Kauai the most!!

 

[robinb]

We stayed at the Westin Ka'anapali Resort Villas and it was wonderful!

http://www.westinkaanapali.com/

 

[ktlm]

We stayed at the Hyatt at Ka'anapali. We loved the area. The Hyatt was significantly cheaper than Aulani and it gets great reviews. Our room was outdated and nothing special, but we had an ocean view and when I opened the drapes it was gorgeous. The lobby is beautiful and they have parrots, penguins, flamingo and cockatoos there which DD loved. The have an area with some shops attached and a Luau on premises (we did not do that as we felt we had enough of that with the Star Hui and the Polynesian Cultural Center while we were staying at Aulani and wanted to do other things) The pool area is nice (has a swim up bar), there is a good stretch of beach to walk down. Breakfast was included with our stay and it was a large buffet in a really pretty restaurant area. We chose the Hyatt over the Grand Wailea for the area. The Grand has nicer rooms, but it is much more expensive, and we weren't in Hawaii to be inside the room. We would stay at the Hyatt again.

Our absolute favorite thing we did in Maui was drive the Road to Hana. It was absolutely beautiful. You want to buy a CD guide (there are a couple of different ones that are good), as that tells you the mile markers to stop and look at things, some of which you don't see from the road, or which take a short drive from the main road. You should get an early start for that one because there are so many places to see and explore and you will run out of time, and you can stop in Paia and grab a sack lunch from one of the many places that sell them to people starting the drive (you won't necessarily find food on the drive when you are ready for lunch- there are just a couple of places here and there). It is an all day experience and takes you to gardens, waterfalls, beautiful ocean views etc. There is a place along the way called the Garden of Eden that costs to get in, and we were glad we paid because it was beautiful. We did see some tour buses along the way, but I would much prefer to drive our own car so we could stop wherever we wanted and stay as long or short at each location as we wanted. My DD and DH loved the Haleakala Crater. You basically drive up to an altitude of over 10,000 feet and then you can hike around. For me, that drive up was scary and I got altitude sickness from hiking at the top. It makes for great pictures though and it is something to see. The terrain at the top made DD feel like she was on a Star Wars planet. For me, the Road to Hana was much more my style and speed!

 

[DVCjj]

We stayed at the Westin Ka'anapali Resort Villas and it was wonderful!

http://www.westinkaanapali.com/

I am staying there in 10 days. Never been to Hawaii before and a little overwhelmed.

I'm very glad to hear you liked the Westin Ka'anapali Villas.

 

[Amw1064]

I am kind of torn between the Hyatt, Westin & Sheraton in Maui. They all look good but of course you read one good review and then one bad one. Sounds like there is not much beach in front of the Hyatt but an easy walk down to a beach area? How far away is the road to Hana. This all seems so over whelming. (much like Aulani and Oahu did the first trip and it worked out great) Thanks for all the input.

 

[nkereina]

I am kind of torn between the Hyatt, Westin & Sheraton in Maui. They all look good but of course you read one good review and then one bad one. Sounds like there is not much beach in front of the Hyatt but an easy walk down to a beach area? How far away is the road to Hana. This all seems so over whelming. (much like Aulani and Oahu did the first trip and it worked out great) Thanks for all the input.

One nice thing about the Westin and Sheraton is that they have a free shuttle that takes you to Lahaina, outlets, Cannery Mall, etc. This is especially nice if you're doing the Old Lahaina Luau or Feast at Lele so you don't have to worry about driving back after some drinks. We used the shuttle twice from the Westin and found it very convenient and easy to use.

The Road to Hana just depends on where you pick it up I guess. It's 3 hours to Hana without stopping, but of course you'll run into some road that will slow you down and you'll be stopping along the way. I suspect all 3 resorts offer tours as well.

 

[Amw1064]

One nice thing about the Westin and Sheraton is that they have a free shuttle that takes you to Lahaina, outlets, Cannery Mall, etc. This is especially nice if you're doing the Old Lahaina Luau or Feast at Lele so you don't have to worry about driving back after some drinks. We used the shuttle twice from the Westin and found it very convenient and easy to use.

The Road to Hana just depends on where you pick it up I guess. It's 3 hours to Hana without stopping, but of course you'll run into some road that will slow you down and you'll be stopping along the way. I suspect all 3 resorts offer tours as well.

Is Road to Hana a roundtrip thing or do you start and finish at different areas. Can you only do a little bit and turn around?

 

[nkereina]

Is Road to Hana a roundtrip thing or do you start and finish at different areas. Can you only do a little bit and turn around?

Either. You don't have to go all the way to Hana. In fact, I think some rental car companies won't even permit it because the roads can be treacherous. If you're interested in going all the way to Hana and back, a tour might be best. But a lot of people only drive a portion of the stretch too.

 

[Amw1064]

Either. You don't have to go all the way to Hana. In fact, I think some rental car companies won't even permit it because the roads can be treacherous. If you're interested in going all the way to Hana and back, a tour might be best. But a lot of people only drive a portion of the stretch too.

Thankyou! Do you know the name of the town it starts at and how far away is that from the Westin? I am sure I am making this much more difficult than it is.

 

[nkereina]

Thankyou! Do you know the name of the town it starts at and how far away is that from the Westin? I am sure I am making this much more difficult than it is.

I believe the roads are HI-36 and HI-360 and I think the typical starting point is around Paia or Kahului, where the airport is. About a 45 minute drive from the Kaanapali area.

 

[wanderlust7]

Is Road to Hana a roundtrip thing or do you start and finish at different areas. Can you only do a little bit and turn around?

Last time we went, DD (age 1 at the time) got a little car sick, so we ended up making it to the Garden of Eden, ate the lunch we bought in Paia, explored a bit, then turned back. It was still a nice day even though we didn't make it to Hana. It's really about the journey and not the destination. There are things to see past Hana too - like the Seven Sacred Pools. One of these days, I hope to make it there. We'll probably have to overnight near Hana though since we can never get an early start!

 

[Janrantoo2]

We've driven the full circle multiple times and haven't had a problem. A few miles past the pools the pavement turns to a dirt road. You want to be off the dirt road before dark. With the exception of one hill that is pretty rough, most of the dirt road has been grated so it's pretty smooth. We try and time it to be by the winery for sunset pictures. You end up being on the side of Haleakala, so the view is spectacular! Also, you want to verify that the road is open. It was closed for a time after an earthquake and after one of the hurricanes side swiped Maui.

 

[ktlm]

tThe starting point is pretty much Paia, although the CD starts a bit before that. It isn't about Hana- there really isn't that much to Hana itself- it is about everything along the road. We went past Hana to the to the Seven Sacred Pools which is in the Haleakala National Park. It is the point past there which makes the full circle that many insurance companies warn against. The road is fine all the way to Hana. As far as the road to Hana itself- I've been on roads in Colorado and Arkansas in the mainland U.S. that were a lot scarier. Aside from the fact the road is narrow in parts, and there are some spots where you and oncoming traffic have to take turns-the road itself is fine. You don't have to go the whole way, you can turn around- you just might have to drive a little ways to find a spot to turn around. There are lots of people that get so caught up in spots along the way and stay in a certain spot so long that they turn around before they get to Hana to get back before dark. It is only 45 miles between Paia and Hana, and the drive itself if you didn't stop would only be about an hour and 45 minutes. I think on the way back we even made it in a little less than that as there was not much traffic at all on our way back. We did not make it back before dark- we drove about half the way in the dark which meant there was pretty much no oncoming traffic at all, except for a few probably locals and not much on our side either.

It is about 30 miles from the Hyatt/Westin area to Paia. I think it took us about 40 to 45 minutes.

As far as the beach by the Hyatt, right in front of the hotel it is not a very deep strand of beach, but if you just take your stuff and walk a very short way either direction, there is plenty of nice beach to relax on. If you walk the direction away from the other resorts there is an area where a lot of people park and come to the beach in that area and there are often turtles (or so we were told)- we saw a couple turtles so I would guess the employee that told us was right. If you walk towards the other resorts-there is a lot of beach that way and down towards the end of that strip was where we found the place with the calmest water (the time we were there the water was rough due to a tropical storm approaching).

I was overwhelmed before we went to Hawaii too. Don't stress, once you get there it is not hard at all. Once thing about Maui is that there is pretty much only one road to get to anywhere you want to go. It is not hard to get around at all-- unless there is an accident or major traffic or other issue on that one road!

The things that we missed that I was most sorry about were 1. I wished we had more time to explore Paia because it looked interesting. Because we got too late a start on the Road to Hana, we did not get back to Paia until late. We had dinner there, but the shops were closed. I wish I had forced DD and DH to get moving earlier, maybe even skipped the free breakfast at the Hyatt and gotten an earlier start. 2. We missed seeing the Banyan tree in Lahaina- I had seen it on a show on tv, but didn't even realize that was where it was and that we were right there until we were back from our trip. We were exploring Lahaina in the evening and hitting all the shops there, but just didn't walk down far enough-plus it was dark. Those are the couple of things that it would have been pretty easy for us to do as we were right in the areas, but we missed.