How We Spent 11 Days in Maui, Hawaii

Dave surprised me with tickets to Maui for my 30th birthday. It was the best gift ever and we had so much fun on our trip. We spent 11 days in Maui and it was the perfect amount of time to feel like we got to truly got to see the island while having a mix of adventure activities and some relaxing days, too.

I will say, we planned the trip so that the first half would be mostly adventure and the second half would be mostly relaxing. I wanted to do the adventure stuff while we were fresh on the island because I figured the jet lag would work in our favor. I learned that island life is a lot like mountain life where you wake up early and go to bed early and I didn’t hate it! I also wanted to end the trip on a relaxing note too, since after all it’s vacation! ;)

Day 1:

We arrived to Kahului Airport in Maui, picked up our rental car and went straight to our Airbnb to put our stuff down. We ventured out into Wailea and walked along the beach walk. Did dinner in Kihei, had some delicious shaved ice and then went straight to bed. Honestly, we were so tired from traveling but we were glad we got a little taste of Hawaii by dipping our feet in the ocean and having shaved ice (all the important things, ya know?) It was the perfect intro evening to Hawaii.

^^ Since we were going to be driving around the island quite a bit, we figured a convertible would be the most fun to do it in. I’m so glad we spent the extra bit of money to rent one. We had so much fun cruising around in this little Mustang.

Day 2:

The next day we went snorkeling at Molokini Crater. We booked a tour through with Triology. I highly recommend this tour company. They were great, very accommodating and served us cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a big bbq lunch and we had drinks on the boat, too. It was a beautiful catamaran boat and we went to some awesome snorkeling spots. It definitely was the best snorkeling I’d ever done. Molokini is known for it’s really clear visibility so it was an excellent place to snorkel. I did get pretty bad sea sickness while out on the water and I was out for most of the trip, BUT it was still one of the highlights of our trip… so that says a lot! (I am super prone to motion sickness, the waves weren’t too bad, so don’t let me scare you off). The snorkeling was just incredible and we saw tons of colorful fish and spent a few hours floating around with them, so that’s why it was still truly the highlight of our trip.

After the snorkeling we chilled at our Airbnb so I could shake off the sea sickness a bit. We then went to explore some off the beaten path areas. We went to Big Beach, laid our towels down and just chilled (again, shaking off that sea sickness). We watched the local surfers/skim boarders and took a nap on the beach and walked up and down the shore. We later went for dinner in Wailea. Things were pretty crowded, we wanted to go to Monkey Pod but the line was crazy so we ended up eating at Pita Paradise and the food was pretty good!

Day 3:

We woke up at 3 a.m. (I know, crazy right) and drove to the top of Haleakala Crater to watch the sunrise. In order to get into the national park for sunrise, you do need to make reservations 60 days in advance. I’d make sure you reserve them quick because tickets run out fairly fast. It was totally worth seeing the sunrise from 10K feet above the ocean and it was just so beautiful. We brought blankets with us because it was a bit chilly up there. We then took our time on the drive down and soaked up all the views.

After sunrise at Haleakala Crater we drove to Paia for the remainder of the day. We spent the time in downtown Paia going in and out of shops. It’s a super cute surf town. We got acai bowls and iced coffee from Paia Bowls and did a little shopping in the boutiques. We loved this one store called Aloha, I got this beautiful gold chain necklace and Dave got himself a sun shirt. Another super cute coffee shopped we loved was Paia Bay Coffee.

After spending time in the town, we drove a few miles down the road to Ho’okipa Beach, we took in the views and plopped ourselves on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. We watched the turtles come in with the waves. It was pretty special to see. I highly recommend going to Ho’okipa beach if you want to see turtles. There were so many there and apparently it’s always a great spot to see them. We then drove back into town, had an early dinner at Paia Fish Market (which was delicious!) and headed to our Airbnb for the night.

Day 4:

On this day we did the Road to Hana! We had breakfast on the porch of our Airbnb and then hit the road. The road to Hana is beautiful, very windy, and pretty narrow too so just make sure you feel comfortable driving in those conditions before you go. I recommend bringing dramamine or drinking some ginger ale if you get get car sick easily. It also helps to do the driving yourself (ha I ended up doing all the driving and truly think it’s what helped me not get car sick). The drive is stunning and shows you a totally different side of the island that’s really lush and green and jungle like. Below are the stops we did on the road to Hana and some of the highlights:

• Twin Falls (we did the small walk to the further waterfall, it was a nice, easy way to start the trip and stretch the legs)
• The Garden of Eden (you do have to pay to get in, but thought it was worth it if you love beautiful plants and flowers, like I do!)
• Keanae Point and Peninsula (we got some delicious, warm banana bread at Aunty Sandy’s for a snack)
• Lots of waterfalls along the drive like Pua’a Ka’a Falls, Makapipi Falls, Upper Hanawi Falls… we stopped here and there just to take pictures and stretch our legs but didn’t spend too much time at them.
• Coconut Glen’s vegan ice cream (the candied ginger and lemongrass flavor. omg.)
• Hana Lava Tubes
• Hana Bay / Hana Beach Park

After hanging at Hana Beach in the late afternoon, we checked into our super cute Airbnb which was a cottage on a fruit farm. They grow all sorts of fruits like bananas, pineapples, passion fruit, avocados, limes and even had a fresh fruit basket waiting in the cottage for us. We settled in, the owners gave us a few coconuts to drink, and then we explored the fruit farm before walking over to Hana Farms for dinner. We each got a pizza at Hana Farms and split a salad and listened to the live music. It was such a fun and chill night!

Day 5:

We slept in, grabbed coffee from Hana Farms, packed our cooler, tossed the beach chairs in the trunk and then headed to the other side of Haleakala National Park where we did the Pipiwai Trail to Waimoku Falls. The hike itself is an easy 4 mile round trip trail. It felt good to get a sweat on and of course, we stopped for lots of pictures. The hike takes you through these beautiful bamboo forests and it’s pretty magical. After the hike we did another small trail by the water, as well as seeing the Pools of ‘Ohe’o (Seven Sacred Pools). Then drove back towards Hana and stopped at Hamoa Beach. We planned to spend the rest of the afternoon at Hamoa Beach and brought a picnic lunch and some drinks. I highly recommend Hamoa Beach, it was one of my favorite beaches and we had a blast swimming in the waves. The waves got really big too, which made it super fun and a little scary at times. For dinner we went to Hana Ranch and watched the sun go down as a storm rolled in.

Day 6:

We left Hana and headed towards Kaanapali. We were staying in Kaanapali for the last leg of our trip. I was most excited about this last Airbnb because the views were absolutely unreal. We were right on the water and could hear the waves crashing below us. It was a very cool spot. Our friends just happened to be in Maui the same time as us, a few doors down, so we stopped by their place and watched the Euro Cup Final. We had a late lunch at Mama’s Fish House which honestly, you have to eat at Mama’s Fish House if you’re in Maui. It’s so, so delicious. After eating a feast a Mama’s Fish House we walked off our lunch at Baldwin Beach Park.

Day 7:

A pool + beach day with our friends! We went snorkeling right off Kaanapali beach and saw lots of fish and even turtles. In the evening we ate at Mala Tavern which was so good and right on the water, too. We then walked into Lahaina to check out the town a bit, got some shave ice and watched the sunset.

Day 8:

We mostly enjoyed our Airbnb and the incredible views. We could see turtles from our balcony. During the day we explored some beaches north of Kaanapali to do more snorkeling. We packed a picnic lunch (I swear, picnic lunches, snorkeling and lounging at the beaches were a highlight). Just such a chill way to spend the day. The beaches we went to were Kapalua Beach and DT Fleming Beach. Kapalua Beach was more crowded but DT Fleming was empty and I loved it! I realized I didn’t take many pictures at the beach and that was mostly because we’d leave our phone in the car to completely unplug and to not have to worry about our valuables being on the beach while we were in the water. For dinner we walked over to the Honoapiilani Food Truck Park and brought back fish tacos and grilled shrimp and veggies to eat on our balcony and watch the sunset.

Day 9:

We’d walk the beach in the morning and then head out for another beach/snorkel/picnic day. Another favorite beach that we went to was Slaughterhouse Beach. It was tucked away and again, not crowded but also had some great snorkeling and spots in the shade which was always a plus!

We spent the majority of the day at the beach and then went back to get showered and changed for a luau. We didn’t book a luau at first because I thought they were kind of touristy and gimmicky but last minute we decided to go one, because when in Hawaii! (Dave had also never been to one before!) It was such a fun night and I’m so glad we went. We were blessed with tickets, they were all sold out for months in advance but we stumbled upon Old Lahaina Luau and they just so happened to have two cancellations for the night we wanted. It was actually pretty cool going, we got to try a bunch of local Hawaiian dishes that we normally wouldn’t order and the entertainment was fun too. We also got dressed up in our most tacky Hawaiian prints for the luau too!

Day 10:

We moved out of our Airbnb and stayed with our friends at their resort for the last few days. Days were mostly spent at the pool + beach and then in the late afternoon we went to The Mill House and walked around the grounds. We had lunch at Cafe O’Lei at The Mill House and it was such a beautiful spot for lunch. Later we walked around Iao Valley State Park to see the famous Iao Needle. The Iao State Park was pretty but a little underwhelming. It’s a very small park and honestly I think living in Colorado makes me very spoiled when it comes to mountain parks. Regardless, the mountains were beautiful, so lush and green and it was still very special to see. In the evening we walked around Whaler’s Village to get some gifts for people back home.

Day 11:

Our last day was another beach + pool, chill day. We had brunch at Duke’s, I got pancakes and they were very delicious. We relaxed and packed up and for dinner we went to Mama’s Fish House for one last indulgent fish dinner and Mai Tais. After leaving Mama’s Fish House we hung out on the beach there and saw a big sea turtle sitting there on the beach, sending us off!