Dave

My wife and I will be spending eight days in Maui in late Feb./early Mar. We will be staying at the Renaissance(?). Anyone out there have any opinions on the hotel. And also, besides great snorkeling, any suggestions on other things to do. Thanks

Dennis Eberly

My wife and I stayed at the Renaissance hotel in Feb of '96 and enjoyed it very much. Very nice property, very nice grounds. Restaurant ok. Beach is a little small, but ok. Adjacent to fabulous properties like four seasons, etc. Wailea is a beautiful area.

Caren

Which side of Maui are you staying on ? I will probably be the only person to tell you that you can skip seeing the sunrise on the crater. My husband and I were in Maui in May'97 and we got there for the 5:30 AM sunrise and were totally disappointed. However, the video of the event made it look spectacular....Be warned--it is COLD up there. People draped in hotel blankets shivering looked at us with jealousy because we were wearing hats/gloves, thermal socks and windbreakers with flannel shirts and wool pullovers. It is worth the luggage space to be prepared.
The road to Hana is worth the drive but Hana is very limited in terms of accommodations and personally I think that the road is best experienced in staying overnight rather than doing it as a day trip.
Contact me by e-mail, if you want to talk further.

Dan B

My wife and I will be there (at the volcano) in early July for the first time. Will we need to be similarly outfitted for cold weather?

DWoods

Aloha!! The Renaissance is beautiful. They upgraded us to an ocean view with no questions asked. Grounds are beautiful. Beach is small. Fodor rates their luau as the best and it was worth the money. You must see the whales. Go to Lahaina and use Pacific Whale Foundation. Wonderful experience. Rent a car, small, it's super simple to get around. We did the road to Hana from the bottom of Maui and up to Hana. It was desolate and rental companies won't help if you have problems on the bottom road, but the road to Hana and back from the north would be boring to do both ways. The volcano at sunrise is an adventure, cold (40's) that time of year. but the view and ride back down out of the clouds is breathtaking. Just enjoy!! We're going back in March. You can also do the road from Ialo up and around to Kaanapli lots of people do. stack up some stones as you go. Aloha!!