Maui is the best

Walk on the beach (all beaches in Hawaii are public and there is a wonderful variety of beaches to choose from on Maui). Watch the sunset (it's different every night). Eat in great restaurants (I'll tell you about some of the best in my journal entries.) See the scenic wonders of Maui (Haleakala volcano, I'o Valley, waterfalls on the road to Hana---more about some of these in my journal entries). Walk the streets of the old whaling town of Lahaina (historic and yet modern tourist town with loads of shopping, restaurants, and historic sites). Walk through the gorgeous lobbies and grounds of the major resort hotels (Hyatt, Grand Wailea, Sheraton, Marriott, Westin, Four Seasons, and others). Play golf.

Quick Tips:

LOTS of info about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels, and more at http://www.mauihawaii.org.

Best Way To Get Around:

You'll definitely need to rent a car for the whole time you are on Maui. There's not much public transportation, and there are a lot of gorgeous sights to see all over the island.

The Hyatt is my favorite of the several hotels I have stayed at on Maui. Kaanapali Beach is the best location to stay at because it is within walking distance of other resort hotels, restaurants, a shopping center, snorkeling, and all beach activites. The Hyatt has a fabulous open-air lobby decorated with oriental and other paintings and sculptures. The grounds are gorgeous, with flower gardens, pools, and even flamingos and penguins (yes, penguins in Hawaii). One of the two large pools has a waterfall with a swim-up bar behind it, and the other pool has a rope bridge and water slide. The Swan Court restaurant in the Hyatt serves a lavish buffet breakfast every day and gourmet dinners every night.

LOTS more info about Maui hotels, restaurants, sights, and activities is at www.mauihawaii.org.

The Grand Wailea is the most spectacular hotel on Maui. It is a huge resort with all the ammenities. The rooms are large and hi-tech, with most offering ocean views. The lobby has decorative pools and lots of beautiful sculptures. The many swimming pools have connecting water slides, a swinging rope, a sandy beach (yes, a beach at one of the pools), and even a water elevator. These pools are so popular, that they have to make guests wear color-coded wristbands, to make sure that only hotel guests are allowed to use the pools, and to keep out the guests of other hotels who try to sneak into the Grand's fabulous pools and water slides.

The one disadvantage of the Grand, is that it is in Wailea, which is a part of Maui that I do not like as well as Kaanapali. Wailea hotels are spread farther apart than those at Kaanapali, which means you don't have multiple hotels and restaurants and shopping within walking distance. In addition, the mountain views in Wailea are brown and dry, while the mountain views from Kaanapali are lush and green.

The top restaurant at the Grand Wailea is the Humuhumu. It has gorgeous sunset views and fantastic (though expensive) fish dinners, with the best bread of any restaurant on Maui.

LOTS more information about Maui hotels, restaurants, sights and activities is at www.mauihawaii.org.

Mama's Fish House is widely known as the best restaurant for fresh fish on Maui. They serve a wide variety of fish caught in the neighboring ocean waters that same day. Each fish is available in a choice of unique preparations.

Mama's is about a one-hour drive from the main hotel and resort areas (Wailea and Kaanapali), but it's worth the trip. They serve both lunch and supper, but I prefer to go in daylight, to get the view of the big waves crashing along Maui's north shore.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org

On the seventh day, the chef created brunch. My wife and I love a Sunday buffet brunch anywhere in the world, but the best of them are on Maui, where the view is as terrific as the food. Here are our favorite two, with one for those of you staying on West Maui (Kaanapali area), and one for those staying on the east half of Maui (Wailea area).

GARDENIA RESTAURANT at KAPALUA BAY HOTEL (808)669-5656

West Maui's most wonderful Sunday brunch. Fantastic variety of very good food, including rolls, bread, smoked fish, herring, lox, shrimp, capers, seaweed, salads, pasta, sushi, sashimi, potstickers, dim sum, juice, miso soup, cold and hot vegetables, Mahi (fish), sticky rice, bacon, sausage, omelets made to order, eggs benedict, waffles, stir-fry, chicken, beef, pork, potatoes and more. Numerous desserts including cheesecake, brownies, creme caramel, bread pudding, fruit flan, chocolate mousse, cakes and pies. Beautiful setting with a gorgeous view of hotel grounds and ocean.

PRINCE COURT at MAUI PRINCE HOTEL, Wailea (808) 874-1111

Maui’s most expensive ($34 in 1999) and most bountiful variety Sunday brunch. 32 kinds of salad, 8 kinds of bread and rolls, 6 kinds of cheese, 2 soups, 8 hot dishes, 16 desserts, and more. Champagne, Caesar salad, garden salad, anchovies and numerous other salad toppers and dressings, capers, olives, onions, seaweed, artichokes, pea salad, noodle salad, lomi salmon salad, shrimp salad, smoked salmon, sashimi, California rolls, sushi, papaya, melon, strawberries, other fruits, shrimp, crab claws, pancakes, crepes, omelets made to order (choice of numerous fillers including caviar), eggs benedict, bacon, sausage, breads, rolls, lavash, breakfast cakes, sweet rolls, juices, beef, chicken, fish, rice, Maui onion mashed potatoes, salmon Alfredo, steamed vegetables, dim sum, crème caramel, cheesecake, bread pudding with three topping choices, eclairs, tarts, cakes and pies.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org

Like many of the best restaurants on Maui, this is "Pacific Rim Cuisine" which is a blend of modern California and Japan and Pacific island foods. But at David Paul's, the food is more innovative and the presentations more beautiful and unusual than at other Maui restaurants that serve this type of food. For example, their "Reconsctucted California Roll" is an appetizer that is a stack of crab, avocado, and rice. (See my photo of this wonderful treat.) And their "Maui Martini" is a salad, not a drink, served in a large martini glass! And be sure to save room for dessert, so you can try their chocolate souffle (see my photo of that too). It doesn't look or taste like any souffle you've had anywhere else.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org

The full name of this restaurant is humuhumunukunukuapuaa, named after the Hawaiian state fish. It is an open-air Polynesian setting with gorgeous sunset views from some tables. See my photo of the sunset from there. (Make a reservation and arrive when they open at 5:30 to get one of the sunset view tables.) The food is fabulous, especially the seafood, and presentations are beautiful. See my photos of examples of their salad and an appetizer.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org

Beautiful elegant table settings indoors and outdoors, elegant service, fabulous food. I started with an appetizer of mushrooms in puff pastry, while my wife began with the tomato asparagus salad. Both of those were beautifully presented, as you can see in the attached photos. We then each had delicious fish entrees, mahi-mahi for her and opakapaka for me. You can't get fresh fish this good (or whith Hawaiian names like this) anyplace but Hawaii. When you get these Hawaiian fish combined with the elegant French cooking of this restaurant, you have one fabulous meal!

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org

Leilani's is an open-air restaurant on the ocean side of the Whalers Village shopping center, right in the middle of Kaanapali Beach, the most happening place on Maui. They have a bar area downstairs with less expensive and simpler food, open for lunch and dinner. The main dining room is upstairs, with a better menu (dinner only), including several choices of fresh fish preparations each evening. (See my attached photo of one of the fish dinners.) Many of the tables offer an ocean view, which is especially spectacular at sunset. (See attached sunset photo which I took from my table at this restaurant.) Save room for their great hula pie (macadamia nut ice cream pie) for dessert.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org

Roy's Kahana is one of two restaurants on Maui owned and run by Roy Yamaguchi, a chef famous as one of the originators of Pacific Rim Cuisine. The wonderful menu features mostly seafood, but prepared in unusual styles with fabulous sauces. Portions are large, so two can easily share an entree, especially if you are also ordering appetizers and/or salads. But you won't want to share dessert: my wife (the chocolate connoisseur) says that the chocolate souffle here is the best dessert she has ever eaten, and is worth a trip to Maui by itself! It consists of a cylindrical warm chocolate cake, and when you cut into it, the most delectible hot creamy chocolate sauce you have ever tasted comes running out.

Roy's a fun place even though it doesn't have a view of the ocean or mountains like some other Maui restaurants have.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org

After yearly trips to Maui for over 25 years, eating out every day, Plantation House is my wife and my favorite Maui restaurant. It's in the clubhouse of the Plantation Golf Course in Kapalua.

The Pacific Rim cuisine includes four kinds of fresh fish prepared any of five different ways at dinner every night. The views at sunset are gorgeous. The Bananas Foster dessert is amazing. Plantation House is also open for breakfast and lunch, with equally delicious foods and beautiful views of golf course and ocean. One of my favorite breakfasts there is any of their five types of Eggs Benedict.

Everyone who has tried the several luaus available on Maui seems to agree that the Old Lahaina Luau is the best one. Your seat is reserved when you make your advance reservation. Before the dinner and show begin, you can have all the fancy Hawaiian drinks you like, while you watch the sunset from this gorgeous beachfront setting. They have been cooking a whole pig all day in a pit in the ground, and the crowd gathers to watch the ceremony as they dig it up. Then you line up for the large buffet dinner, which includes some familiar foods and a few strange Hawaiian ones. (My favorite is the kalua pig, which consists of very tasty shredded pork. The strangest thing on the buffet is poi, a Hawaiian staple similar to wallpaper paste.) After dinner, they put on a beautiful show on the central stage, with hula dancers and singers demonstrating music from various different Pacific islands. The whole luau, including dinner and show, is outdoors.

LOTS more information about Maui activities, sights, restaurants and hotels at
www.mauihawaii.org

The Plantation Course at Kapalua is, in my opinion, the most beautiful of Maui's many gorgeous courses. The views from here are incredible! You are up in the hills, looking out onto the green fairways, with the ocean and the island of Molokai in the distance. In the winter, you can even see whales jumping in the ocean.

LOTS more info about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org

Haleakala is a 10,000-foot-high volcano, the highest mountain on Maui. Sunrise at the summit is an indescribably beautiful sight. You have to leave your hotel about 3 AM for the three-hour drive (in your car or in a van tour) to the top to get there while it is still pitch dark. You will see more stars than you have ever seen in the night sky because you are two miles up and you are many miles away from any city. You are standing on the edge of a huge volcano crater. You are freezing cold because it's only 35 degrees up there, and you just left your hotel on the beach (where it was 80 degrees). Half an hour before sunrise, the sky starts to slowly turn colors: purple, then dark blue, then orange, and then yellow. Finally, the sun peaks up from deep behind the volcano. You can now see that you are looking down on the clouds, as if from an airplane. As the sun rises higher, it sparkles on the minerals in the volcano crater. Then you are ready for the ride back down the mountain. Since it is daylight now, you have incredible views of the central valley of Maui below you, all the way down. Time to go back to your hotel and sleep a couple hours before embarking on the rest of the day's Maui activities.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at:
www.mauihawaii.org

The whales come to Maui every winter, and so should we! From December through March you can see whales swimming, blowing, and jumping in the ocean every day. You can see them from shore, especially from a few floors up in your ocean-front hotel or condo. But for a closer look, you need to go on a whale-watching boat cruise. One of the best places to watch from shore, is from the whale-watching lookout point on the main road (Honoapiilani Highway), along the winding mountain road, just south of the central Maui valley, on the way to Kaanapali (west Maui). One of the best cruises to take for a closer look is the one offered every day by the Pacific Whale Foundation.

By the way, people often ask me where they can go to 'swim with the dolphins.' The answer is not on Maui. The only places to do that in the state of Hawaii are at the Hilton Waikaloa Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii, or at Sea Life Park on the island of Oahu.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at:
www.mauihawaii.org

There are many spectacular places to hike on Maui. One that I recommend is the Lahaina Pali Trail. Below are two photos of my wife and I on the trail. This is a 5-mile hike over the West Maui mountains. We only walked the first half mile uphill, and then turned around and came back down. It is a beautiful hike, with wonderful views of the mountains and ocean. Like us, you can do as much or as little of it as you like. To get to the start of this trail, look for a small dirt parking lot just off the main road (Honoapiilani Highway), just past Mile Marker 11 (just past an emergency call box, just past the first section of wire fencing screen on the side of the mountain), on your way from the Lahaina-Kaanapali area toward the central valley of Maui. Call (808) 871-2521 for information and a brochure about the sights along the Lahaina Pali Trail hike.

You can take a great guided hike through the rainforest or other beautiful parts of Maui with Hike Maui (808)879-5270. (See their website at http://www.hikemaui.com). There are also books about hiking on Maui at all of the bookstores on Maui. One of the best is Hiking Maui, The Valley Isle, by Robert Smith. You can get it before you go, at major bookstores or by ordering it online from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org

The Maui Ocean Center is an aquarium opened in 1998 on the south edge of Maui's central valley, adjacent to Maalaea Harbor. There are wonderful exhibits of live fish, sharks, turtles, rays, and other sea creatures. They also have a very good seafood restaurant called the Seascape Restaurant open for lunch and dinner. (But it always seems strange to me to celebrate the beauty of the sea creatures and then to eat them.) It takes about 2 hours to tour all the exhibits, both indoors and out.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org

Big Beach is the largest undeveloped beach on Maui. By undeveloped, I mean that it does not have any hotels or condos or other buildings. It's just plain beautiful, the way nature made it. Big Beach is about a 15-minute drive south of the end of Wailea, the nearest developed resort area on Maui. You can walk along this long gorgeous stretch of sand, without any of the crowds you might find on Maui's other beaches.

All beaches on Maui are free and open to the public. So in addition to Big Beach, you can explore dozens of other beaches all over the island, no matter which hotel or condo on Maui you are staying at.

LOTS more information about Maui sights, activities, restaurants, hotels and more at
www.mauihawaii.org