Please help w/ where to stay on Maui
 

Greetings, appreciate everyone on this board that help with their tremendous suggestions.

I am spending one week in Maui at the Grand Wailea in Jan on business, then staying a second week for R&R with family (two kids, 5 and 4). We are going to stay on Maui for this second week and need some suggestions as to where to stay. A few thigns about us:

1) We prefer more authentic vacations where it's more a "locals" environment, less touristy. Not a resort. More house/condo/B&B type.

2) Prefer near beach but doesn't need to be on the beach. Nice to be somewhat close to a town but countryside would be fine.

3) Would enjoy an area that could be good for exploring/adventure rather than a location where we would just hang at beach all day (never been to Hawaii, so maybe this point is moot).

Can any of you make recommendations as to GEOGRAHPIC AREAS of Hawaii, or even specific properties? Thanks again.

Rich

You may find this website helpful -
http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/

You mean geographic areas of Maui, right? The main beach area are Kaanapali/Lahaina, Kihei, and Wailea. January is the rainiest month in Lahaina, however. I believe Kihei and Wailea are slightly less rainy.

If you want to stay off the beaten path, you could look into Hana and Paia. Hana is VERY rainy, Paia much less so. More info on Paia here: http://www.paiamaui.com/ and it was just profiled in this month's Budget Travel as one of America's best small towns.

Since the first half of your trip will be spent in Wailea, I'd pick one of the others for the second week.

In some ways Lahaina fits what you want. It is a busy town & certainly tourists along the main street, but falls away to real local neighborhoods surrounding. There are B&B's available that are walking distance within town.

One "must do" on Maui for me is going up the crater at Haleakala. You can drive all the way up, so I think it would work fine as a 1/2 day trip with younger kids.

I would look into Paia, Kula, Haiku & Makawao for B&B's, small inns and cottages. I also liked staying in Lahaina.

We rented an oceanfront cottage in Makena that was great. There is still a small cluster of them left that haven't been torn down to make way for 20 million dollar estates. Most of them are available on vrbo.com. This area, while close to Wailea is very quiet and still relatively peaceful.

Hello Raz,

Did u checked the site http://www.springvacationrentals.com, which lists some really good quality condos, Villa's and houses, some on the beach. A Bit pricey but very well furnished. As on our last visit we have been booked a Villa through this site. And we had a good time during our stay and i would like to suggest u check the site where u can get a good property accourding to u, Hope that u can think about. Have a pleasent stay....

Mike....

Although Makena is nice, it's not much different in appearance than the beach at Wailea. It's probably only 2 miles max from the Grand Wailea, so you won't be experiencing a different part of the island. I think Hana would be very interesting. The downside is the lack of decent, affordable restaurants. Paia is tourist central for those tourists who want to pretend they're cool.

The Grand Wailea is a beautiful resort. I think you will enjoy your time there,even though you are not resort people. We aren't resort people either but I would happily stay there.

If I had a whole other week though, I think I would take my family to Kauai or the Big Island. You will have a week to explore Maui. Since you are already planning to pack up and move to another location, I think I would choose another island.

We did spend 10 days on Maui and could have stayed longer. If you decide to stay on Maui, I would move up to the Kaanapali/Napili area for my second week.

Yes, even better suggestion- why not spend the other week on another island? Lots of stuff for the kids on the Big Island.

When karameli mentioned that Hana is very rainy, she is not kidding. At that time of year in particular, if you are there for the sun and beach, you could be quite miserable. You have a better chance of good weather if you stay on the lee side of the island, which will be the south or southwest side. The northheast part of each of our islands will be the wettest, as the prevailing wind is from that direction. (See Maui map at: http://www.hawaiivtmaps.com/mauimaps/index6.html)

When you are there for your first week in Wailea, you will be on the "dry" side in the shadow of Haleakala, which will block a lot of the rain from the prevailing wind. You might want to stay in a smaller condo or hotel in the same area for your second week.