I've seen several places that Maui beaches are crowded in the summer, but I saw a trip review somewhere that talked about beach chairs 4 rows deep during the holidays...is that what is meant by "crowded" this time of year? Thanks!

depends on the beach. kaanapali is always crowded, farther north not so bad, some of the stops between kahalui and lahaina you can have to yourself

There are a couple more responses to your first post about this.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...=Aquaria&fid=1

Thanks, Suzie, I'm having problems getting posts to show up for me, so I apologize for all the duplicates.

Hi Aquaria, when you want to find your post if you click on your name next to the Welcome at the upper left hand side of the screen all your post will appear. You can also just click on your name if it is on any post and again your post will appear.

BTW, I don't know where you will be staying on Maui. I had family members that just came back from the Maui Sheraton a week ago Sunday. They said up until Friday it was rather quiet. On Saturday lots of families started arriving so the beaches around them were crowded..they didn't complain..just commented. Have a wonderful trip. My relatives certainly did.

You may escape crowds by going south to Makena, or east to Hana and its environs. Hamoa and Red Sand in the Hana area are often deserted, though when occupied, attract different types of people.

The Ka`anapali area is the most densely crowded, due, perhaps to its high-rise development.

We stayed at the Sheraton Maui at Kaanapali the end of July-beginning of August 2005. If you compare their beaches to the New Jersey shore, they are desolate.(We are so used to people setting up blankets/chairs right next to us!)It was not crowded when we visited.
There were people, but they were spaced out along the beach & many of the people just drop their clothes & towels to go snorkel at Black Rock. We had rented chairs from Snorkel Bob's for the week. However, they weren't used so much!. We enjoyed the
water. We also enjoyed walks from Kaanapali Beach to the Whaler's Village/Hula Grill on the beach for great food & beautiful sunsets with live music.

I have to echo what Linleedo1 said. We stayed at Kaanapali Beach Hotel two times, once in July of 1999 and once in October of 2002, and we didn't find the beach crowded by any means. We are the kind of people that enjoy our own space and we were quite comfortable there.

We atayed in the Kaanapali area over Christmas, which is also supposed to be an ext.remely crowded time of the year. We had no problem with crowds on the beach

Obviously what one person thinks is crowded another person thinks is uncrowded. In an attempt to answer the original question "Exactly how crowded are the beaches?" I would say that on most Maui beaches you can expect to be no closer than 100 feet to another person.

We stayed at the Marriott in Kaanapali in March and loved it. The beach was not crowded, it was the pool area at the hotels that seemed to draw the crowds. Beach chairs were not provided for the beach so most people were at the pool.

the nicest weather and best beaches are in Kihei and Wailea Makenna.
I have never seen tons of people.

I've been going to Maui for many years and the beaches at the big resorts can get crowded. Plus lots of kids running around. Not much privacy either. I finally found an area that is never crowded because the beach that this property is on is pretty private and it runs 5 miles down to Kihei. There is a "nature" preserve that runs parallel and therefore, there are not hotels or buildings on the beach. You can see the condo (right on the beach), and you can snorkel and swim in front of it. Check it out at their web site www.mauibeachfrontparadise .