Aloha! If a vacation to Maui is in your near future, you are in for adventure and unique excursions that you can’t find anywhere else. This island of Hawaii offers rustic country land, lush jungle areas, and luxurious beach-front resorts. Keep reading for my Maui travel tips and itinerary item suggestions for your beautiful trip!

Transportation

Maui is a large island with popular sights spread out on different sides of the island. I definitely recommend renting a car for your whole stay on the island for cost efficiency, convenience, and accessibility for a couple of the top excursions like the Road to Hana and Haleakalā National Park. I recommend renting a car through one of the companies at the airport, so you can pick up and drop off your rental around your flight times. Just for an idea for pricing, we had a rental car for 6 days and it cost about $415 for the economy-level rental.

Accommodations

Personally, I decided to stay at 2 separate places during my time on Maui to see more of the island and for convenience with location for specific excursions. There are countless local Airbnb options to consider on Maui. For my first accommodation, I stayed at an Airbnb which was a guest suite in Makawao. This Airbnnb was located near the countryside of Maui in a safe neighborhood and was a short drive to top sights such as the Road to Hana and Haleakalā National Park.

My second accommodation was at the Residence Inn by Marriott Maui Wailea. The hotel was a short walk to the beach. Wailea is a great destination, because the ocean views are stunning, there are plenty of activities or shopping districts to keep you occupied, and there are countless resorts along the coastline with big events such as luaus taking place.

What to Do on Maui

The road to hana

The Road to Hana is an out-and-back route that is about 125 miles roundtrip as you follow switchbacks through the lush jungle and along the stunning coast. This scenic drive takes you to waterfalls, beautiful beaches, and to popular hike trailheads. The Road to Hana is a must when you visit Maui. Grab some delicious banana bread that has become a staple for those traveling along the Road to Hana route and take in all the natural beauty! I have a blog post with absolutely everything you need to know if you drive the Road to Hana – how to navigate the route, Road to Hana stops to consider, what to expect, and specific travel tips. Check out my Road to Hana blog if this excursion is on your itinerary!

Wai’anapanapa State Park

Wai’anapanapa State Park is located along the Road to Hana, but I want to highlight this specific stop on this blog post as well, as black sand beaches are not easy to come by. If you want to visit the black sand beach, you need to make a reservation ahead of time! Click the link to make a reservation. Parking is $10 and an entry is $5. You have to make a time-specific reservation, so plan accordingly. We booked a reservation time of 12:30-3:00 PM, and since we we had a car, they told us that we needed to arrive within the first 30 minutes of the reservation.

Drive to the summit of Haleakalā

When vacationing on Maui, I recommend visiting Haleakalā National Park. Haleakalā is a dormant volcano, and you can drive the paved roads up to the top of the volcano in about 1-1.5 hours for the dynamic views. For a vehicle to enter the park, it costs $30, but the entry pass is good for 3 days. If you decide to drive to the summit for sunrise and are entering the park between 3:00-7:00 AM though, you need to make reservations ahead of time at this link. The sunrise reservations open up far in advance and they go quick, so this excursion certainly takes some planning. Reservations are only needed for sunrise ahead of time though, so if you want to go during the day or in the evening, you can enter without a time-specific reservation.

We considered the sunrise reservation for Haleakalā, but the tickets go so fast. We were also hesitant about having to get up at 3:00 AM without knowing if it would be a great sunrise or full clouds. I have seen videos on Instagram where you have the classic Instagram-worthy expectation, and they were met with awful weather, so the reservation in advance can be a risk. We figured we would try to go for sunset, since no reservations are required. The evening we went, we ended up getting turned around because the parking lot was full. That being said, if you plan to go for sunset, definitely get there a couple hours prior. Still, we were able to drive to the summit the following day in the afternoon. The sky was blue, and we had better weather than the potential sunset date anyway, so we were content!

Haleakalā National Park

Apart from driving up the summit of the volcano, Haleakalā National Park has many hikes to embark on. Several hikes are located at the end of the Road to Hana, so we used the park pass one day for hiking on our Road to Hana day and a second day to drive to the summit of the volcano. After entering Haleakalā National Park, I recommend doing 2 popular hikes. First, the Pipiwai Trail is a 4 mile out and back trail that takes you through a bamboo forest to see 2 waterfalls. The giant waterfall at the end of the hike is Waimoku Falls. This hike takes about 2 hours. Plan on your shoes getting very muddy.

The second hike we did was to see the famous Seven Sacred Pools. The Seven Sacred Pools are also referred to as Oheo Gulch or Pools of ‘O’heo. Know that there is no swimming allowed here. This is a 1.1 mile hike that takes about 30 minutes.

Go golfing

Maui is an iconic spot for golfing if you are an avid golfer. My husband enjoys golfing and wanted to golf in Hawaii. For the thrill of it, we went thrifting for a couple cheap golf clubs for him, and found an inexpensive course called Waiehu Municipal Golf Course. The price was low but the greens were in impeccable shape and the views were jaw dropping! You can look one way out at the coastline and then look the other way at the expansive mountains. It definitely made for a memorable excursion!

walk along the coast in wailea

Like I mentioned, we split up our Maui vacation. We stayed in the countryside by the Road to Hana and Haleakalā National Park and then stayed in Wailea for the second half. The atmosphere in Wailea was a fun switch-up as this area is more beachy, luxurious, and busy. Go through the shopping districts in Wailea, try new coffee shops, and walk along the coast in Wailea with the fancy resorts on one side and ocean views on the other side. I loved our evening walks along the coast each night that we were here!

explore paia

Paia is a surf town where many tourists start the Road to Hana. Paia is more than just a town to drive through though. There are beachy boutiques, quaint coffee shops, and great restaurant options in Paia.

makena cove

Makena Cove is a photo-worthy beach where the ocean waves roll in to the cove that is surrounded by black lava-rock. It is a very small and remote beach, but it is worth the stop!

restaurant recommendations

While there are endless food options on the island, I will highlight a couple spots we went to that you may consider. Coconuts Fish Cafe is a laid-back beachy restaurant. They serve delicious coconut shrimp, fresh salads, various sandwiches, and local fish and chicken plates.

Budget-friendly meal options in Hawaii are not super easy to come by, but several restaurants do host happy hour deals. Monkey Pod is a popular restaurant on Maui that is known for their happy hour deals. Between 3:30-5:00 PM, they offer $2 off draft beers, $3 off wine glasses, $4 off cocktails, 1/2 off appetizers (not including seafood), and $16 pizzas. Their pizzas are usually $23-$25 each, so that is a sizeable discount on the pizzas, and my kalua pork and pineapple pizza was delicious!

Although Foodland is not a restaurant, they have become a staple spot for food in Hawaii. If you have gone down the rabbit hole of Instagram reels or TikTok videos about Hawaii, you have probably seen people recommending food from Foodland. Specifically, the poke bowls are what everybody says to order. A poke bowl consists of raw fish tossed in sauce on a bed of rice. There are many options to choose from at Foodland and a bowl only costs about $8.

Conclusion

Maui is an island with it all. If you want a peaceful countryside escape, you can find it here. For adventure and lush jungle, enjoy your journey along the Road to Hana. If embarking up a volcano is on your bucket list, Haleakalā National Park can help you cross off that bucket list item. If you want to relax at a luxurious resort right on the ocean, Maui has countless options for you. And of course, the resorts are hosting iconic Hawaiian events such as luaus and traditional shows with Hawaiian dancing.

Thanks for stopping by! During our vacation, we visited Oahu, Kauai, and Maui, so if you are deciding between islands yet, check out my other blog posts on these islands and other destinations I have visited in the destinations tab on my website. Cheers to visiting your dream islands and making connections around the world!