Looking for last minute ideas/confirmations of what we're doing in Maui for my honeymoon. A couple things so far from friends/family/tripadvisor/etc. We'll be staying at the Westin Maui in Kanappali beach:

- Old Lahaina Luau
- Warren & Annabelle's
- Relaxing
- Mama's Fish House
- Thinking about doing Haleakala sunrise, but it seems like the bike tours are sort of crappy and you have to stop constantly. Thinking about just driving up one morning in the rental car.
- Road to Hana
- Thinking about a helicopter tour

Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

10/10/2011 4:19:03 PM

I went on Spring Break a couple of years ago - LOVED loved loved Maui. I don't remember all of the places we ate at, etc. But here's a couple of things...

- You HAVE to do Haleakala. It's amazing. Bring warm clothes and blankets, because it will be cold and windy as shit. Totally worth the early wake up call. I would avoid the bike tour, because like you said, I saw lots of stopping and a slow pace. Honestly, once you've seen the sunrise, its cool to walk around and see the crater, but after that, it all looks the same the whole trip back down. Save time for the next stop on your adventure.

- Road to Hana was awesome, wish it hadn't been rainy off and on all day. But the scenery is beautiful. Just be very cautious on the drive - a lot of the tourists were just stupid drivers/no yielding on bridges/etc. The North Shore scenic overlooks are mind blowing on a pretty day - and a crappy one. Black Sand Beach is on the route, and has some great scenery, trails, caves, etc. There's a couple of small towns along the way that have some cool things to see, such as the Hana Lava Tubes underground.

I bought my own new snorkel gear when I got there, because it was basically cheaper than renting and going on a snorkel tour, and I've used it multiple times since that trip. My boyfriend was living there at the time, and knew some locals who told us all the good snorkel spots. I like to do things like that on my own time with no guides, costs, etc.

We were down near Wailea, so if you are near there, try the 808 Deli for some fantastic lunch food - right across from the Kam beach accesses. Snorkeling in Makena was nice - found a cove that wasn't very populated and had a great reef inside and outside of the cove. Snorkeled in Kaanapali as well, made a couple stops on the way to Black Rock. If you make it there, definitely do the climb and jump at Black Rock - it's not that far down! We also did a whale watching tour, but we were there in-season.

[Edited on October 10, 2011 at 5:48 PM. Reason : ]

10/10/2011 5:46:06 PM

You will be right next to a place called whalers village (or something like that). Eat at Lalianis (sp?).
Lahaina is a neat place to walk around too. A ton of little shops and open air bars/restaurants. Westin has a shuttle that will take you there.

If you get a room on the ocean side of the hotel, you can watch a luau for free every night.

The water slide is surprisingly fast for how short it is.

10/10/2011 7:29:55 PM

There are some AWESOME spots to the west of Kapalua. I recommend going down that road, and looking for the area where all the cars are parked. There are some wave pools that are pretty amazing. I wish I could remember the mile marker for you, but the best spot we hit was when you were a good 750-1000 feet above the sea, and there is a clearing on the left. You'll walk down a steep cliff to the wave pool. Lots of fun.

Make sure you get some good snorkeling in. We stayed at the Four Seasons in Wailea, and it was in the heart of turtletown, so we got to snorkel with the turtles daily.

Mama's Fish House is good, but super expensive. We arent any stranger to expensive places to eat, but we stopped in for a quick lunch that turned out to be over $100. It wasnt quick or cheap.

The Road to Hana is fun. We didnt explore as much as we wanted. In retrospect, I would want to stay overnight in Hana, which would give you time to explore the town and surrounding sites.

We rented a 4x4 Rubicon, and there are some legal places to offroad on the backside of Hana (as well as some awesome beaches).

Be aware that the natives arent the biggest fans of American's. Don't be surprised if you see some signs telling you "If you dont live here, you shouldnt be here." Explore, but be careful of your environment.

Avoid the zip lines at Kapalua. They arent that fun.

I am a kiteboarder, and spent 3 days kiteboarding at one of the top 5 places in the world to kiteboard, but I doubt you do. That was the highlight of my trip. But even if you dont kiteboard, you should go to Kite Beach and watch some of the best in the world.

[Edited on October 10, 2011 at 8:02 PM. Reason : .]

10/10/2011 7:58:20 PM

helicopter tour is better and cheaper than most people think. You'll get to see it all from up there and it's a great first event if you want to know what you're going to do if you can find what you two were thinking about doing. It may not sound like much, but when you're doing the helicopter tour and you see things that you'd love to do at the end of your honeymoon or better yet, she wants to do, you're going to hate yourself.

By the way, congratulations.

10/11/2011 3:34:31 AM

I think we're going to do a helicopter tour, thanks for the confirmation. I have been browsing a bit to find some deals and found this Gold Card that appears to give pretty decent discounts. It cost $30 but appears to save us about $120 on the helicopter tour alone. Hopefully we can find other places to use it.

http://www.goldcard.hawaiifun.org/

10/11/2011 4:32:47 PM

[Edited on October 11, 2011 at 8:43 PM. Reason : big bada boom]

10/11/2011 8:42:34 PM

^ I do have that book, one of my friends gave it to me and it's been invaluable. Especially the information about going to Costco near the airport and what not, I think that will be a huge benefit.

10/12/2011 8:55:32 AM