Maui for 10 days

Go to Hana, but take your time (get up early if going and coming in one day). Go "upcountry" and see the beautiful flower farms, rolling farms and pastureland. See the volcanoe/crater. Rent snorkel equipment and go right off the shore to see amazing diverse,colorful fish. Lahaina town--shopping, eating, etc.

Quick Tips:

Try to avoid Christmas if you hate traffic. Even though you can get away from people, to drive to the main places the two-lane roads are heavy with cars, and the sightseers are constantly slowing down or just going slowly all along.

Best Way To Get Around:

Must rent a car--unless you are staying at your resort the entire time.

Ocean view, 5th (top) floor, simple colors, baths are fine, but small and less fantastic compared to other hotels in this price category. Two great restaurants--Hakone, a top japanese, and The Prince Court--fine dining. Beach for this hotel only. Had free Pilates/yoga classes 2-3 days/week, water yoga/conditioning class 5 days/week, good fitness room,though small. Very nice concierge. Excellent but unobstrusive service, free valet parking, beautiful inner courtyard with trees, birds, koi ponds. Not overly ostentatious at all--really grew on you the longer you stayed.

Very classy, deluxe accomodations, huge modern marble baths with separate shower and tub, two separate sinks and closets. The most spectacular setting on a beautiful promontory. Has a lot of spa/pampering services if you want that. Smallish beach for the number of people using it (we were there at Christmas, though). Rooms are decorated in stylish earth-tones--no gaudy Hawaiian prints here. Expensive, but only $10.00/night more than Maui Prince, with a more luxurious feel to it. One of the best Sushi restaurants on the island is in the shopping complex connected to it (Sansei).

The best sushi/nigiri/sashimi place on Maui, and the locals drive from all over the island to go here. Creative dishes--best way to eat here is to get several small appetizer-sized selections to try a wide variety of the offerings on the very large menus. We didn't really have a single bad thing--too many good items to list. We loved this place the best, so came here for two dinners.

This chef has a small but expanding empire on the hawaiian islands based on his excellent reputation which continues to grow. We ate at two of his restaurants on Kauai, excellent New Hawaiian/Fusion dishes. No two menus at his places are exactly alike. Always packed, with locals as well as tourists in the know.

Roy's are a favorite for a loud, people--meeting place for locals who want to see and be seen. This takes nothing away from the new-age Hawaiian fine dining that is presented here. We loved the Roy's on Oahu, which is why we ate here--a second Roy's right beside his first on Maui. This on has slightly spicier dishes featured, with things like a hot Thai-chili sauce accompanying wonderful meat and fish dishes (there's a selection of a few veggie entrees, also). Never disappointed. Most of his restaurants have an open-kitchen concept, but this one doesn't.

Incredible that there is coral reefs a few feet from shore. Warm water, clearer than I expected, tons of diverse, brightly colored fish I'd never seen before. This is an excellent beginner spot, calm water. Just watch that you don't go out too far or you do get into open ocean.

We wondered if we should do this--as it seems like such a long, slow drive and possibly over-hyped?? But we did, and it was an amazing tropical rainforest with waterfalls, pools for dunking in, glimpes of history, old Hawaii, etc. I highly recommend laying out $20.00 and buying the Hana cassette or cd guide for your car or you may miss a lot of significant sights. We also read along out of three guide books, which had a sometimes different perspective on what we were seeing. We stopped and saw the black sand beach, and found the rare red sand beach and spent a fun two hours there, swimming and sunbathing nude! (Most people consider this a clothing-optional place, but since it is hard to find and most guide-books won't tell you how to get there, not a lot of people are there, which is very nice--no gawkers). You don't have to go nude, some guys had swim trunks on, and a couple of girls just went topless. Really only about two dozen people total there. Very safe, calm little cove to swim in. It can be rainy or drizzley, off and on every once in a while. (This IS the wet side of the island, and we were there in the winter). For more adventure, drive back a slightly rougher way, 'round the back side of the volcano instead of backtracking. Same amount of travel time, and only do this if there is enough daylight left. Watch for cows in the road.

Red sand beach--hard to get there, hard to find, but not crowded, no gawkers. See my entry on the Drive to Hana.

Little Beach--very well known, crowded at Christmas-time, but fun as everyone was very laid back and it didn't seem to have many gawker-types--most peaple came in couples (except the gays). Seemed to be at least 50% heterosexual, though, which surprised us. All ages, shapes and sizes, so you didn't have to feel intimidated about "perfect" bodies. We had a fun afternoon there. Southwest side, south of Makena.