Anyone been to Maui?

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  1. #11

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    Also in Honolulu there is a cool restaurant called the Beach Bird Broiler. Its right on the beach not far from the big pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel and they bring you your meat raw and you cook it yourself, they have a huge salad bar and amazing cocktails.

    Take frozen peas to Hanama Bay to feed the fish, you can buy them at hte beach but really expensive. Don't know why but they love it.

    If you head to the North Shore of Maui where I go beware all the restaurants pretty much shut by 9pm. Its and early to bed early to rise place where everyone is pretty dedicated to their watersports.


  2. #12

    Thanks larac, I've written down all of your suggestions... much appreciated! Do you normally rent a car for the whole time you're in Maui, or for the day, 1/2 day etc.? Do they have taxis there?
    Jay, I've been looking at some site about 7 pools. Stunning! Can you swim in the water there? It really looks like paradise... very "Blue Lagoon"!


  3. #13

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    I saw people swimming in it, but I never got the chance. As for car rentals, its a good idea, things are pretty spread out.


  4. #14

    Is Maui the best choice in Hawaii? We can go anywhere really, someone just mentioned that Maui was nice. Any hotel suggestions?


  5. #15

    Thumbs down

    One thing you'd better be aware of - even if you are at the "Sharp End" of the plane - you'll more than likely want to throw several tantrums before you can get to the head-end of the Immig. Queue.

    By which time, you'll probably be wishing you hadn't bothered to even come.

    .... and without a hired car, you **WILL** wish you'd stayed at home. <Wry Smile>.

  6. #16

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    Not sure of your budget but I rented my car from Word of Mouth Rent a Car an extremely basic and cheap car but totally did the job http://www.maui.net/~word/. I rented for the whole time but if you knew that you wanted to just chill at the hotel at the beginning or end then you could look at getting I for just part of the time. No taxis that I'm aware of on the North Shore.

    I don't know about 7 pools sorry.

    I would say you could view the south side hotels on the internet and I would probably just try and pick one with a good deal.
    Kanapali is a very nice area.

    On Maui a drive up to Haiku and lunch at Colleens is nice also you can drive to Hana - about 2-3 hours drive but it is definately more about the journey than the destination.

    In renting a place on the North Shore make sure you ask about plane noise because you are quite close to the airport and will get some airplane noise everywhere but some far worse than others.


  7. #17

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    We just rented our cars (Honolulu and Maui) from Budget/Hertz/Dollar type of place. Depending on whether the company is paying, you can go cheap or splurge. Can't remember the time of year exactly but weather was excellent.

    I was told that Maui was like Honolulu 20 yrs ago before all the development, and Big Island is like Maui 10 yrs, before it started getting popular. I remember we also went to another island for a day trip and it was much less developed than either of those. So there's something for everyone, really!


  8. #18

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    We drove out to the Eastern end of Maui on the long and winding (300+ turns) road. If you want to go all the way around the island, you'll probably want to rent a jeep as the road isn't that improved on the Southern side (in fact, they say 'no rental cars on this road' on most maps). Charles Lindberg is buried on the South side of the island. There is also a black sand beach on the North/East side that is pretty neat to see, if you have never seen black sand.

    On Honolulu, double the recommendation for snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. Of course you may want to wait a day or two after flying--not sure of the recommendations on that. Go in the morning, before it gets all stirred up and silty.

    On the North Shore, get some shrimp. They sell them out of these trucks and cook them on the side of the road. Very tasty.

    Pearl Harbor can get quite crowded, by the way.

    I used to eat at a place called the "Hau Tree Lanai" in the New Otani hotel, just off Waikiki. Really nice view of the sunsets. Typical beach fare.

    Honolulu itself is built up like any major US city. I actually felt Western Maui was also pretty built up as well.


  9. #19

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    Hi there, spent Christmas in Hawaii two years running, absolutely loved it.

    Honolulu is great, but more commercial. Clean and safe, Waikiki beach does the trick and February should not be terribly busy. Food options are great so are restaurant and bar options, you must go for lunch on the veranda of the Moana Hotel (a beautiful old colonial hotel on Waikiki beach) equally cocktails at the Royal Hawaiian hotel otherwise known as the Pink Palace. The first five start hotel in Hawaii, built in the 20s and frequented by the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and the Hollywood elite of the era. The best hotel in Honolulu is the Halekulani, which is amazing but as was stayed for just over one month on both ocassions I ended up staying at the Ohana West Hotel, part of the locally owned Ohana chain, good value for money and fantastically well located. As already adviced by other used of the site, you should visit the North Shore, and Hanama Bay.

    With regards to Maui, is is beautiful and less commercial. Go to Big Beach (stunning never ending beach), Lahaina (which used to be the old capital of Maui) great seafoood reastaurants in old colonial buildings built on stilts and make sure you get a table for early dinner to withness amazing sunsets. And if you have time drive the Road to Hana, all 40 kms of it. Winding roads, dangerous at times and do make stops along the way to see the stunning waterfalls en-route. When you arrive in Hana (which is more hamlet than village), go to visit Red Beach (literraly terracota coloured sand like I have never seen in my life), you need to go past the grounds of a hotel (cannot remmember the name), through a japanese prisoner of war cemetary (spooky!) and the through a little path on the side of the mountain to see stunning beautiful cove which is wild and peaceful, the colours and the wilderness are well worth the visit (make sure you buy food for a little snack from Hana's only convenience store).

    Enjoy Hawaii and don't worry if you can't fit everything into the schedule as it will always give you an excuse to go back, at least that was my excuse!


  10. #20

    Wow, thanks everyone! Great info... I have printed this thread off and will definately use your advice.