Maui or bust!
 

We will be in Maui the first two weeks in December. First time and a dream come true! We are staying at the Aston Kaanapali Villas. So far we've planned for a Blue Hawaiian helecopter ride, the Four Winds snorkel trip,Warren and Annabelle's show and the Old Lahaina Luau. Also 3 days for the Hana road trip. Any feedback would be grateful! Aloha my friends!

Don't forget sunrise at the top of Haleakala. Do it early in your trip to take advantage of the time change, it's a 2-3 hour drive up from Kaanapali. I've only done it in the summer, tho, it may be EXTREMELY cold in December!

Where are you staying in Hana? There are some great rentals.Try Hana Hale Malamalama or the Hamoa Bay Bungalow for interestng accomdations. Congrats!

We are not staying in Hana, just taking our time seeing the sights on the Hana Highway. Not sure if we'll need 3 days or not. If not, it'll be more beach time (if there's still a beach!)

Hey mpaml,
If you're not planning on staying over in Hana, you'll only want to do the Road to Hana in one day (which is doable and the way most people do it). It makes no sense to keep on driving back out there for three days.

Hi Doug- We would also like to visit the high country and are planning to drive around the whole island (we're from NY, nothing scares us!HaHa) Still think one day is enough?

Being a fellow NYer, I hear ya.

You can explore the high country in a day.....and I concur with gigib about the Haleakala sunrise. Do this early in your trip while your bodies are still on NY time.

The Road to Hana itself can be done in another day. In my opinion, would be better to split the Road into a two-day expedition, staying over in Hana one nite, but as I said earlier, most people do it as a day. Leave very early, though, if you want to see everything and still do the trip around the island.

My original comment was only that the trip from Kaanapali to Haleakala or the beginning of the Road to Hana is a schlep-and-a-half. Don't want to do that too often if you don't have to.

Be sure to pick up the guidebook "Maui Revealed" it is such a gem for the road to Hana. We read the book before we went and highlighted the sights that sounded most interesting. Be sure to check out "Blue Pool"- it is a waterfall and pool seperated from the ocean by a bunch of bolders. Amazing. If you like snorkeling- check out the beaches along Maui's south shore- Wailea to Makena and further down. We spent a full day snorkeling along these and the best part is that it's free. Again, we used Maui Revealed to help us out. Have a wonderful time- I am jealous!

You are going to have an amazing trip. We stayed at the Aston Kaanapali Shores Villas when we went last December and loved it. The staff is amazing and very accomidating, the hotel itself if very nice. We stayed in a studio room which was just the perfect size for my finance and myself with an ocean view. We love activities so we were busy the whole trip sight seeing.
The hotel coordinates activities too which we found very reasonable.
We drove to Hana in a day and found we had a lot of time to stop at all the sights and beaches, just start early.
We drove up to Haleakala, which is beautiful drive and took our time sightseeing on the way. We didn't do the biking at sunset but the drive was great and were able to actually hike down to the craters.
The snorkel cruise is great. We wanted to take the helicopter ride but flew over to Ohau to see Pearl Harbour one day instead.
If you golf Kaanapali has some really great golf courses and fairly reasonable (club rentals, cart and 18 holes), if you go for 2 pm get the twilight rate and will have lots of time to finish.
In the evenings went into Lania, there are some amazing places to eat along the water.
Enjoy yourselves, you will have a fantastic time.

Fellow NY'er! One word of advice - do not do sunrise @ the crater & the road to Hana in 1 day as my hubby & I did on our honeymoon 5 yrs ago! WAY too long of a day! We just got back last wk from a return visit - 4 Winds Snorkel was fun. Also, be sure to snorkel @ black rock (by the Sheraton). Turtles!

I'm a little confused. We are staying at the Aston Kaanapali Villas. That is not the same as the Aston Kaanapali Shores Villas correct? Very little feedback on our resort. I"m starting to get a little nervous about that!! Somebody?! Anybody?!

Don't worry about the resort--it is nice. We stayed there last year. I was in a studio w/garden view. It was nice--we could look out the sliding doors and see torches and orchids right there. Our neighbors during the trip were fantastic people--we would often have coffe in the morning on our lanai and chat with them. The desk inside the hotel charges retail for the tours--NO ADDITIONAL CHARGES which is great. We had her book our snorkeling tour (we chose Paragon) and Luau (OLL).

There is plenty of parking at the resort, three pools, and is right on the beach. There is a free shuttle that goes to Whaler's Village. Front desk staff is fantastic--very nice and helpful. Maid service was fantastic--we had a VERY sweet maid. There is a restaurant onsite. We ate there once--it was decent.

I don't know about the "shores" in the title. Ours was just refered to as Kanapali Villas. Looking on a map, the resort was just on the other side of black rock.

Thanks kikahead! I feel better now. Any one do the snuba on the four winds? Worth the money? I'd love to see a turtle, colorful fish, maybe even a sting ray. What's the chance I'll see a shark? This girl's gonna stroke if I do!Saw Jaws one too many times!!!!!

Aloha rnpaml!

We did the road to Hana over 2 days, spending the night in a lovely little 2 BR cottage right on Hana Bay. I cost us an extra $120 to stay there, but made the drive much more leisurely & explorative knowing that we had somewhere to crash for the night.

I'd be curious if anyone knows if Sharon (the Elvis lover) is still stringing bead leis at Wailua Falls. I bought the most beautiful lei from her, and watched her string it, too. She told me the story of the representation of each seed, what it was, and the meaning behind using it in a lei.
I treasure it!

Also, there is a wonderful orchid grower/florist just before you get into
Hana, and his greenhouses are phenominal! He had large fresh floral bouquets for $2. If you get a chance stop.

Have a great time! Enjoy!