Maui in 5 days

We travelled to Maui, Hawaii on Memorial Day weekend. Surprisingly, it was way less crowded than we expected! It is an amazing island with a lot to do and eat.

Travel Tips

Make reservations in advance – Whether it is a trip to Molokini Crater or a meal at Mama’s Fish House or a traditional Luau Dance, you should not wait till you reach Maui. Things get booked days in advance.

Pack for all weather – Maui, in general, is warm in May but it can get really cold at higher altitudes. If you plan to do a hike to Haleakala summit to see the sunset be sure to pack a light blanket. We also got some spontaneous rain while visiting the Iao Valley. So be prepared; wear layers and include a waterproof layer.

Car rental – We got a really good deal from Advantage Car rental. They do not have a counter at the airport but they have shuttles that get you to their nearby rental facility. Everybody gets tempted to drive with the top down once they get to the island – the convertible is usually the cheapest option while reserving a car ahead online and usually the most expensive one at the counter 🙂

Use organic, reef safe sunscreen – If you plan to be out in water, wear organic sunscreen to help protect reefs.

Royal Kona coffee – If you are a coffee connoisseur, try this particular brand of Kona coffee. Do not buy it at the airport; it is more expensive.

Itinerary

Day 1 – Arrive, Check-in and relax

We flew in to OGG, picked our car and started driving towards Kapalua. Stopped at Maui Brewing Company for lunch. You should definitely check it out if you like trying different beers. We stayed in Kapalua Golf Resort. It is a good place if you are not looking for something super fancy. Kapalua beach is good for watching sunset. However, you can’t see the complete sunset because sun goes behind Lanai island but the sunset colors are beautiful.

View from our balcony at Kapalua Golf resort

Day 2 –  Molokini Crater and Lahaina

Molokini is a tiny landmass off the south-west coast of Maui. Perfect for snorkeling and watching Maui from a distance. Most of the tour companies take you through Turtle Town as well on the same trip. Who doesn’t like swimming with turtles? This snorkeling trip was definitely one of the highlights of our Maui trip. Highly recommended. We went with Trilogy Excursions. They serve breakfast and lunch and have a open bar. The music is good too. If you are lucky you may also see a shark while out there – try swimming away from the noisy main group to a quieter spot.

Molokini from a distance

Day 3 – Iao Valley and Haleakala Crater

We started our day by getting brunch at Slappy Cakes in Lahaina. This place lets you make your own pancakes at your table. How fun! From there we headed to Iao Valley State Park. It is a beautiful tropical valley full of interesting plants and animals. Iao needle is the major attraction. The valley is walkable with some easy hikes. It was drizzling when we reached there which made it look even more beautiful. The greenery and peace was captivating.

Iao needle

View of Iao Valley

Then we started driving towards Haleakala National Park. The crater is at 10,000 ft above sea level which pretty much means you get to drive through the clouds to get there. It is a beautiful drive and will surely stay with you for a long time.

The Sliding Sands trail is definitely the one to take to get some great views of the crater. It involves walking downhill,  into the crater and then coming back up. Coming back up easily takes 1.5 times the time it took going down. The journey back is uphill and challenging due to the thin air at high altitude. It is not recommended to be out on the trail after sunset.

We decided to do a portion of the hike and come back to the summit to watch the sunset.The views were like something that we had never seen before.

Haleakala crater – View from Sliding sands trail

Sunset at the summit

Day 4 – Road to Hana

We started day 4 with a morning walk to the coast of Kapalua and grabbed some breakfast before starting our drive to Hana. We knew we were starting late and had no intention of going all the way till Hana. For most part, the drive is through a lush green tropical forest. The road is full of curves and narrow bridges. There are a lot of viewpoints and waterfalls on the way. Most of them are not marked so carry a guidebook with you or mark the points on a map before starting your drive. We drove till Upper Waikani Falls and then started heading back.

Upper Waikani Falls

It is a beautiful drive but if you have already visited/lived in a tropical country and have seen a tropical forest then you can skip this. On the way back, we stopped at Paia Fish market for dinner.

Day 5 – Wailea & Makena Beach and fly back

This was our last day but our flight was not until 10 pm. We checked out from our hotel and started driving towards Wailea Beach. On the way, we stopped at Lahaina Banyan Court. As the name suggests it has huge banyan trees and artists are selling their artwork in the court.

Lahaina Banyan Court

Then we headed to Wailea beach and spent a few hours there. This is one of the most well known beaches in Maui. There are spots for snorkeling here and also a shower facility. Plenty of options to rent kayaks, paddle boards and surf boards.

Wailea beach

We grabbed dinner at a nearby Monkeypod and then drove to Makena beach. This beach had less tourists and more locals in the evening hours when we visited. It seemed less crowded than Wailea and not at all commercialized. We spent some time walking in the sand and then headed to the airport.

Makena beach

We had a great time in Maui. Hope this inspires you to plan your own trip!