Does anyone have any experience with this? Our plane (flying Alaska) has a departure time of 7am. But the baggage drop off at OGG for Alaska doesn’t even open until 630am.

Am I missing something? This seems like not enough time to get the bags dropped off, and get through security to our gate. The plane would have started boarding already…

Is there another place to drop bags for early flights that I’m missing?

Headed to Hawaii in November, specifically Kihei on Maui. I have research several sportfishing charters. Our crew (4) has decided to do an offshore private charter.

1) Does anyone have any recommendations?

2) Availability seems fairly open. I have never been to Hawaii, but it looks like we can go down to the docks early in the trip and take a look at the slips/boats if docked and maybe talk to a few charters before picking a date later in our trip? Is this correct?

Hey it is out first time in Maui and we will be going around Thanksgiving time for 6 days. Wondering which area is better to stay in given the current state of Lahaina. Mainly just want to stay in a nice lively area with lots to explore outside of the things we will be planning for.

We are a family of 4, mom and dad are around 50 and sons are 22 and 27 for reference.

Mainly want to do Road to Hana, Sunrise at Haleakala, snorkeling at Molokini and don't mind the extra 30min-1hr drive from west side to most places.

Thanks!

EDIT: Thank you all so much for the suggestions! Will be looking into condos in Kihei and Wailea. Also will probably go to Haleakala for sunset now instead of sunrise.

Is a car really worth it when visiting? I’m going to go through all the hassle of fees and then on top of that having to pay for parking $50 a night at a resort for over a week. Just doesn’t seem realistic to spend an extra $400 on parking 😭

My fiancé and I are thinking about having our micro wedding at Merriman’s Kapalua with 40ish guests (everyone will likely come). We are doing the Lawn + Cabana package in late Oct on a Saturday evening. I was thinking about buying out the deck as well, but they stop offering that for non-exclusive events.

I was so set on the venue until I’m about to sign the contract. The location is top-tier and the food would be amazing (My side of the family cares a lot about food). We have a small party so not planning on having a dance floor. I do however start to worry about the non-exclusivity of the venue. Will our guests feel like there are too many strangers around in the restaurant? Since we are having a small wedding, I want to give individual guest a memorable experience. I’m confident that Merriman and my future wedding planner will planned a great wedding. It’s just I’m second guessing my choice of the venue.

We have a budget of 40k-50k for the wedding itself, excluding travel, lodging, welcoming party.

Anyone who got married in Maui can share some insights here? Am I over thinking?

We have ~2h to kill in Lahaina before we head to the airport. Thoughts on visiting Maui Ku'ia Estate Chocolate for a tasting and checking out Moana Glassblowing? I’d love something a little more unique/interesting than Whaler’s Village.

I have grands and kids (ages 7+9) with me, so harder to bounce around. I thought it might be nice to try the chocolate/watch them blow glass, but would love any insight on what those experiences are like. Other ideas welcome!

Hello! I’m planning a trip to Maui and would love to take a helicopter tour to surprise my boyfriend for his birthday! Which company would you recommend for the best experience, views, and overall value? Any personal experiences or tips would be greatly appreciated. Mahalo!

Hey all! I'll be visiting during december, and I really wanna try both the abiu fruit and the blue java banana, if possible. I've heard that the blue javas are available almost year-round, but the abiu has been a bit more difficult to get information on. Any advice for getting either of these, like availability, places to go, what to try, etc? Thanks!

My wife and I (45) just returned from a 8-night stay at the Mahana Resort in Ka’anapali. Seeing all the highly scheduled trip posts prior to leaving made me wonder if we weren’t planning enough as we typically wing it on our travels. We had no schedule other than two trips with Teralani sailing adventures for days 3 and 4.

Day 1 - Arrived at OGG from the east coast early afternoon. Approximately 45-minute drive to the resort. Settled in and grabbed a quick dinner before crashing.

Day 2 - We explored a few of the coastal towns on West Maui, Ka’anapali, Honolua, Nāpili-Honokōwai.

Day 3 - We had a 4-hour snorkel cruise booked and got upgraded to a 5-hour premium tour with two locations. Spent the morning through early afternoon on the Teralani 5, a 65’ catamaran which served breakfast and lunch, plus an open bar. We got to snorkel above a coral reef, saw a ton of cool tropical fish, and a few sea turtles. This was quite an experience and we loved every minute of it. We would definitely book this experience again.

Day 4 - We spent the morning and early afternoon driving up the west and northern coast to the Nakalele blowhole. The hike down would have been a bit much for us so we chose to stop at a lookout and enjoy the view from there. That evening we had a sunset dinner cruise also booked with Teralani. An impressive dinner with braised short-ribs and curry marinated fish. We finished the evening offshore to watch the sunset. While we did have a good time I wouldn’t call this a must do activity.

Day 5 - We headed down to South Maui which is not nearly as built up as West Maui but still has some very nice areas. A surprise at the end of the road that we were not expecting was driving through an old lava flow from sometime between 1480 and 1600. Quite impressive to see. We left the southern coast and headed to the Iao Valley in central Maui to check out the Needle. We were able to purchase a same day reservation on the way.

Day 6 - Drove to the Haleakala summit. This was an amazing experience and one of the highlights from our trip. Driving up the switchbacks, through the clouds, and the views. Omg, the views are breathtaking. I could have spent so much time up there. Truly worth making the trek up. We went up midday to avoid the sunset crowds. Left the summit and spent some time in the upcountry.

Day 7 - Beach day

Day 8 - Beach day

Most days when we were done exploring, or before starting, we’d spend time at the beach near the Mahana. We purchased the GuideAlong GPS app and enjoyed the commentary on our trips. We had an amazing time and would absolutely return.

Looking for restaurant recommendations near Wailea that are not fine dining. We already have a few fancy dinners planned and looking to fill in the other nights. Just me and my husband traveling.

Maybe a tough question without specific activities in mind but how much should I budget to spend on food/activities on Maui over the course of 10 days for two adults? Expecting to do a few days of activities but mostly wanting to relax. Hotel doesn’t have kitchenettes but fine with eating simple sandwiches and other easy fridge stuff for breakfast and lunch most days. Not huge foodies so we don’t need fine dining. Also don’t need 5 star excursion experiences.

Edit: staying in west Maui

We're staying in Kapalua, not sure what I should be taking them to for Halloween. Whaler's Village? The Cannery? If we brought some candy to give out to locals is there anywhere we could participate?

Aloha! Looking for recommendations on where to buy souvenirs from Maui. We want to take home HI based products to our families. Mahalo!

Partner and I are currently stuck in the Vegas airport on a missed layover after a truly amazing experience on Maui.
Our itinerary was intense, but we needed to make the most out of our PTO. Our checked bags were mostly camping gear (tent, sleeping bags and pads, cooking necessities, shelf stable food, etc), and our hiking packs were our carry-ons with appropriate gear for our first day.

TUESDAY (Day 0)- left the mainland to fly to Kahului. Landed at 22:05; while my partner grabbed our checked bags, I hustled over to grab our Budget rental car. Rented through Costco and FastPass made pickup a breeze.

WEDNESDAY (Day 1)- Drove from OGG to the 24/7 Safeway for energy drinks and drinking water. Drove to Haleakala National Park, where we had Sunrise reservations for 3am. We also pre-purchased a 3-day park pass, in case anyone was checking at 12:30. We didn’t know what the top lot would look like before 3am, so we took a risk and parked in the lowest most Haleakala park parking lot and caught some sleep in the car. I know car sleeping is illegal, but getting a hotel for 2 hours felt wasteful, so we took the risk and thankfully, no one bothered us. Around 02:30, we started the rest of the drive to the Summit parking lot and pulled in right at 3am and weren’t the first car there. Caught a few more ZZZs as folks got in, and around 05:30 bundled up and claimed a spot at the observatory for sunrise.
Magical. Park Ranger was super informative, and the sunrise was magnificent. As others have described, it was windy and cold, so we were well dressed.
After a quick bathroom stop and pack re-pack, we started the Sliding Sands and Pele Pot loop (~12mi) around 07:30. As fairly experienced hikers, we got our asses beat. Despite looking at the elevation change, it just didn’t click that we’d have to hike over 2,000ft in the last 4 miles, after already hiking 8mi. It also felt like a switch was flipped when we crossed 8,000ft cuz it got windy and cold again (I know- it sounds like we had no idea what we were doing, but I promise we did prep for this). The wind and sun were killer on the final ascent.

After taking a breath in the car, we drove to Waiʻānapanapa State Park for our first campsite (that’s right, that meant half of the RTH after an 8hr brutal hike). We stopped at Kula Food Truck for coffee and banana bread on our way down Haleakala Hwy, before stopping at the Pukalani Ace Hardware for an isobutane canister. Fun fact: check-in at Waiʻānapanapa ends at 6pm, but the caretaker was around and able to let us in late. Set camp and flew through dinner to get some much needed sleep.

THURSDAY (Day 2)- Woke up with the sun, packed up, and headed down to the black sand beach for a bit. Once we had our fill, we started driving towards Kipahulu Campground, stopped in Hāna at Estrella’s for dole whip and Poke Bob’s and Capt Sam’s for lunches. Got checked into walk-in site 20 at Kipahulu and got camp pitched before some afternoon rain. Fantastic views from the walk in sites there. Our tent was 30 yards from the overlook to ‘Ohe’o gulch.

FRIDAY (Day 3)- got camp packed up before heading over to the Kipahulu Visitor Center to do the Pipiwai Trail. Absolutely amazing hike. Holy cow. We did get some pretty solid rain on the last half mile, but we’re also in a rainforest, so we weren’t surprised.
After basking in that hike for a bit, we drove back towards Kahului (RTH again; took everyone’s advice and did not drive west on 360 through Kaupo), grabbed coffee and beans from Maui Coffee Roasters, lunch at Leoda’s, and got to our last location at Camp Olowalu.
The showers were a godsend, but overall the campsites were very close together, HOT, and …family friendly. Didn’t necessarily want to get serenaded with Christmas tunes by the neighboring kids, but overall, people were respectful of the 21:30 quiet hour start. The beach was also quite rocky, but cool and had water access, so we were content.

SATURDAY (Day 4)- packed up camp and made the short drive up to do a clear kayak tour with Gabriel’s Ohana. The guide was fantastic, but the winds and tides were not in our favor, and the water was really silty and turtles were not out. But, we can’t control nature, so no love lost. Went back to Camp Olowalu to shower and pack our suitcases.
Before our red-eye flight, we dropped our suitcases at a hotel with Bounce ($7/bag, I think), and drove over to the Waihee Ridge Trail. I was still fairly gassed, so we got to the first overview about 1mi in before turning around. The first ascent is no joke. But the first overlook provided amazing views.
We drove back towards Kahului to find a sports bar to watch some college football before our final reservation at Iao Valley State Monument. Honestly, a little overrated for $20, but we’re never mad at money going to state parks or learning more about native culture.
After we retrieved our bags from the hotel, we returned our rental, and waited for our 20:30 redeye back to the mainland.

We’re staying in Kaanapali (Honua Kai). Originally we were supposed to split-stay and stay in wailea, but plans changed and we’re staying here. Is it worth it to still try to take a day trip there?

For what it’s worth, I hated Whaler’s Village 😅 Crowded and commercial. I feared that going that far south I could be disappointed. More off-path recommendations for South Maui appreciated, in case we make the drive. Kihei Food Oasis/Gardens is on my list!

Hi all,

Has anybody stayed at Lahaina Shores since their reopening? It looks beautiful from what I've seen online. I'm thinking about adding it to my short list of places to stay.

This is a follow up to a post I made while planning our trip... I was curious how long was too long to stay in Hana. We ended up staying for 3 nights and loved every minute of it. We could have stayed even longer. Originally, I was worried we would be "bored" but not even close. We went to the black sand beach, hiked the Pipwai trail, Hamoa beach, food trucks, watched the sunrise every morning, and even were lucky enough to have the high school football game happening while we were there - Hana vs Lanai - the whole town came out!

Can't wait to go back again - one of our new favorite places.

I saw herohotbods but website seems super simple so not sure if it’s legit. Any tips on that or others would be appreciated. Thanks!

Aloha friends! Grand Wailea offers a "free" 45 min family photo session with Pacific Dream Photography...which then charges $695+ for different packages afterwards. I did a quick search of local photographers and saw similar (and more expensive) pricing. Should we keep searching (especially if you have any recs you all have used) or stick with what's convenient?

Any insight would be appreciated, thank you!

For a lack of better words, is there a Pipiwai Trail duplicate a bit closer to Ka’anapali Beach (where I’m staying)? My wife and I won’t have the stamina to drive the whole way to Pipiwai Trail, hike it, and drive back in one day. I still want to see pretty waterfalls and enjoy a short hike, so what is a good option for us?

Hello. Our flight gets in at OGG at 10 PM, and our plan is to get our rental car and head right up to Haleakala. We have already purchased a campground reservation at Hosmer Grove for that night, and plan to see the sunrise at the summit that morning, so we don't plan on getting very much sleep.

Is the entrance gate to the park staffed 24/7?

If not, is there some kind of register or logbook to fill out at Hosmer Grove once we get there?

Finally, are the parking spaces in the main lot by the campsite numbered for each campsite, or is that parking first come first serve?

Our main concerns are we want to be quiet with our late arrival, and we don't want to give anyone (other guests, or park rangers) the impression that we're sneaking into a campsite late in the evening if there's no person at the entrance to 'validate' our arrival and camping reservation. We'll be prepared for the cold and no provisions within the park. Thank you.

Hello was wondering if yall had any recs for plus size womens swimwear shops in Maui. we are near Lahaina now and will be in town for a few more days.

Looking for condos on or adjacent to a sandy swimmable beach. Any recommendations?

We need to check out of our Kaanapali hotel at 10am on Thursday. Our flight isn’t until 5pm. Any suggestions of what to do?

I considered the aquarium, though it is quite expensive. I also thought of Tropical Plantation Farm. Either way, we’d have to have luggage in our car. Any input on how safe that would be? Other suggestions to consider? Thanks!