kelly

I will be in Maui for the first time over the Thanksgiving holiday. Has anyone been there during that time of year? Are there any festival I might catch? Are all of the tourist places (restarants, snorkle boats, golf, etc.) going to be open? Are there any places that have traditional Thanksgiving dinners?

tj

Kelly --

I spent last Thanksgiving on Maui...it was a great time to be there!

I am not aware of any festivals, but it was nice to see the Xmas lights go up the next day!

We had our choice of many restaurants (both in and out of hotels) that served traditional turkey dinners.

All of the services at the resorts were open on the holiday. If you are not staying in a resort, you may want to save the day to do some snorkeling or nature stuff (which is always open), but I doubt you would have a problem with anything being closed all day.

Have a great trip!

alan shapiro

My wife and I have stayed in Maui for the last 8 years during Thanksgiving.There really isn't any festivals except if your into basketball.The Hawaii Invitational is there at that time of the year and trust me there will be at Least 2-4 top 20 teams in the tournament.
All the restaurants are open and MANY of them have special Thanksgiving dinners.When are you getting there?Where are you staying?The reason I ask is that almost all the hotels have a book of all the restaurants that have special dinners with the prices.The last few years I've been staying in the Kanapalli Alii condos and they are wonderful.The last 2 years I've gone to the Westin for Thanksgiving because if you go towards the late afternoon the sunsets are phenominal.The Black Swan is a great setting but you have to book far in advance,which I never do.
This the first year we will not be in Maui,we decided to try Kona instead.
You are going to have a ball.The restaurants are not crowded just plan ahead and make your reservations early.
If you have any other questions throw them at me and I'll try to answer them.Have fun!
By the way go on Zagats.com they rate all the restaurants

kelly

Thnk you so much for the info. I will be staying at the Kea Lani in Wailea. We are intersted in fishing, golf, snorkeling, and restaurants. Other than that we are really looking for lots of R&R! Do you think I could get a reservation at any of the great restaurants for Thanksgiving? And should I try or will I get a pretty good place at the last minute?

tj

I stayed at Kea Lani as well and loved it...it is BY FAR the best hotel in Wailea...

We had T-giving dinner at the 4 Seasons and while it was very nice (although the waiter was clueless!), I would not rush back for Thanksgiving. Their $78 3 course turkey dinner was JUST a turkey dinner...next time I would have a more moderate Thanksgiving and splurge on another night...for what it is worth, I made the reservation about 2 months in advance, but don't know if that was necessary or not...

alan

You should not have that much trouble getting reservations but you need to do it the week before if you want a view.
Go to Zagats.com and you can basically plan the restaurants for your whole vacation.Their rating system is great!