We will be going to Maui in August. I am searching for a beachfront condo with a beautiful, close-to-the-water view. And on a sandy beach we can walk along (no rocky shores!) We are on a budget of about $100-120 per night (or less would be great!) We will not do any cooking, so a studio condo is fine with us, but if it had a kitchen, that would be great. At least a small fridge would be nice. I think I have narrowed it down to West Maui, Ka'anapali beach sounds nice, but we are open to other suggestions.

We would prefer a small condo complex, and definitely want to be beachfront -- maybe a few steps from the water, or a few yards. Our idea of a good time is sitting on the lanai for hours and listening to the surf and looking at the view. Any suggestions?

We are also going to get married there, honeymoon there, and celebrate my birthday there (one of those milestone birthday's). But I will post asking for wedding suggestions and restaurant suggestions in a few weeks...

Thnaks so much for any condo suggestions!

Footsox1

At that time of year, you might have luck in the south Maui (Kihei) area. Many have ocean views, and are a hop from the beach, but ocean/beachfront will probably cost more than you want to pay. (But if it's just across from the beach, same difference, right? You can sit on the beach and watch the sunset every night!) Try the big three across from Kamaole Beaches, Hale Kamaole (best chance of good views), Kamaole Sands, and Maui Kamaole. Also there are some places in Kihei proper, across from the beach, that might be a little louder, but a good deal (Kihei Akahi (?). (Maui Sunset has the views, but a rocky beach. Going south, the Wailea complexes are great, but beyond your budget.)

We just booked a 1br/1ba condo at Villgae by the sea (Kihei) for April. This condo is top floor (6th), oceanfront, free parking and excellent location. I found it on vrbo.net. You need to write to the owner asking what is the best rent he can give the condo for. We got ours for a total (tax, cleaning fee) of $420 for 5 nights 6 days. Considering April is a high season in Hawaii (spring break), I think we got a good deal.

Not cheap, but Kaanapali Alii is nicest on Kaanapali beach front..Whalers Village not bad too..

Check out the small condo complexes on the Napili beach, I don't know the names of all of them but go to the mauirevealed website and look at the listing and shoreline condo view. I have stayed at Napili Sunset, but it may be more than you want to spend. They have studios, but they are not beachfront.

We were on Maui last month and stayed at the Maui Kai ( www.mauikai.com )
All rooms are oceanfront and have nice-sized lanais. They have studios, which also have a kichen. Very good location.

Hale Pau Hana is directly on the beach(not across the road). The beach is Kamaole II and is wide, sandy and connects to two other beaches. There is excellent snorkeling at both ends of the beach.
The complex is in "downtown" Kihei and allows easy walking to about eight restaurants.
When we watched TV at night we had to shut the sliding glass doors, the sound of the surf was too loud.

You may want to rent a condo in the Maalaea area of Maui. We have used VRBO two times this year to book our condo. We paid $150 and $175 for a two bedroom, two bathroom condo with kitchen and washer/dryer, but we rented in the high season.

The condo complexes in this area are small and all have ocean views. Our last stay, we were steps from the sandy beach.

The Maalaea area is not as touristy as some other areas of Maui. There are several restaurants in the area as well as the Maui Ocean Center.

We have stayed at the Sugar Beach Resort near Keihi several times, and found it to be a good value. It is on a very long white sand beach, good sunsets, and most of the condo's are true ocean front (my definition is that you can easily hear the surf). Condo's in Keihi are generally less expensive than in West Maui though many Keihi condos are across the road from the beach. The down side it that if you want to go to Lahaina or other W Maui toruist spots, it can be a bit of a drive, and the road is getting more crowded all the time. Also, that area is on the isthmus (SP?), between the mountains and can be a bit windy, and if they are burning sugar cane a bit smokey at times. Not a huge deal, but a possible distraction. We were playing tennis once at the Sugar Beach and black sugar cane embers were raining on us, some still glowing. Made for decent war stories.

We have also found the Mahana in West Maui a good value. More money than the Sugar Beach, but a better location.

I was doing this search originally before I decided to go to Oahu. I wanted affordable ocean front condo with kitchen, and possibly sea turtles swimming right outside my door. My best search results were: Kuleana, Honokeana, and Pohailani. These are some websites I got for them:
http://www.kuleana713.com/
http://www.honokeana-cove.com/ (a sea turtle haven for sure!)
http://www.pohailani302.com/

Hope this helps!

A nice, small condo is Noelani. There is no beach -- but is right on the water. We watched whales from the lanai daily. Great pool and great employees -- very helpful. This is located just north of Kanapalli. There is a park right next door with a small beach. There was a surf competition there one day. Those kids are amazing!

Footsox,
I can't recommend a place for you to stay but I can tell you 2 places to avoid. The Outrigger Maui Eldorado has plenty of studio condo's but it was the worst experience we had in Hawaii. All I will say we had a rodent in our room and the staff was lazy. Enough said there. The 2nd point is I have done intensive reading that Ma'alea is a nice place to visit but the smoke from the Sugar Cane factory does linger and cause fresh air issues for guests. I loved the Maui Ocean Center and all their exhibits I just wouldn't stay there overnight.

check out punahoa in Kihei. Their studios fit your price range for the summer season. It is a small complex, 4 stories high. No pool but direct ocean front. A 2 minute walk (on grass) takes you to the north end of Kamaole one beach where you can walk and walk and walk. It's on a quiet street from the main drag.

We stayed there once and loved it. We now have a kid who requires a pool though.

http://www.punahoabeach.com

Kim

I was in Maui in October and stayed at the Hale Kai, a great condo north of Ka'anapali. Really reasonable rates, right on the beach, next to a county park and across the street from a fish market and a farmer's market. The people were nice, the condo was spotlessly clean and they also have a pool. The website is www.halekai.com

Have a great time!

We have stayed in the Maalaea area four times and will be staying there this weekend. We have never had a problem with smoke from the sugar cane fields - perhaps because we were there in January, February, or March. I do not know about August but I will ask residents when I visit.

In reference to another poster's observations, we spent 3 weeks in a studio condo at the Eldorado and had a great time. At the time it was free parking as well, which saved us a bunch (it's since gone to 5$/day)At any rate, the condo was clean, maid service every day, great view, and the beach cabana was outstanding!

Rex