My Maui Itinerary

What I did, ate, and saw during my week in Maui

I just got back from a week in Maui, and I am jet lagged and dehydrated, but the show must go on. I have a loose goal to hit all 50 states before I turn 40, and Hawaii was number 43. To be honest, I thought it would end up being my last because of the distance/expense to travel there, but when my aunt offered to let me tag along on her trip with some friends, I eagerly accepted.

Because it was my first time to Hawaii, and everyone else had been before, they graciously accommodated my wish list as much as possible. However, because I was a guest, and also didn’t have the ability to drive the rental car, I tried to keep my demands to a minimum. All of that to say, I am normally one to go out and explore a bit more on my vacations, but this was more of a relaxing trip — something I should do more of tbh. I don’t know if I’ll be back any time soon (so many other places I want to visit!), but if I do, I think I’d try O’ahu or The Big Island next time, just to mix it up.

I vlogged each day of the trip if you’re interested in more of a visual recap, and I’ve linked each video to the corresponding day. Here’s my Maui itinerary!

Where we stayed

We stayed at the Hilton Vacation Club on Ka’anapali Beach, which is located on the northwest side of the island. The hotel was nice with beach access, a pool, bar, restaurant, gym, gift shop, and activity center. We probably could have stayed the entire week there and not left the resort to be honest, but that’s not how I function.

Day 1

I posted already about our hiccup at the airport, but tl;dr: we got delayed for nine hours in Chicago and completely missed our first afternoon in Maui. We were originally supposed to land at 2:30 pm, which would have given us plenty of time to settle in, grab dinner, and go to bed early because we had a reservation to see the sunrise at Haleakalā the next morning. Unfortunately, since we didn’t get in until after 11 pm (and didn’t get to bed until about 1:30 am), we decided to opt out of waking up at three to see the sun rise over the mountains. If I do go back, I would definitely make sure to do this as I’ve heard it’s gorgeous and worth the early wake-up call.

This one I captured at the hotel wasn’t so bad though

Day 2

As disappointed as I was to clock in for a full shift at O’Hare and miss the sunrise, in a way, the timing kind of worked out because it put us on Hawaii time right away, and we beat the jet lag for the most part. We decided to take our first full day very easy and just kind of rest and get settled in, so we spent the morning at the hotel. I took a walk to familiarize myself with the grounds and get into Vacation Mode. In the afternoon, we decided to grab a coffee at Badass Coffee and explore the area a little bit. It was Sunday, so a lot of places were closed, but we noodled around at a few stores afterward. It was Sunday, so a lot of places were closed, but I took notes for places I wanted to go back to later in the week.

We grabbed dinner at the hotel restaurant and watched live music from a local musician to wrap up the night.

I got the banana mocha from Bad Ass Coffee!

Day 3

I woke up early on Monday and had enough energy to go for a short run in the morning. The sites were incredible and made me forget that I was exercising, which definitely made me want to switch up my running locations back home. Though the mornings were cooler, after my run I was warm, so I decided to cool off at the pool. I’m not really a pool/beach person in general, mostly because I’m not a strong swimmer and I don’t like to wear a bathing suit in front of other people, but I figured, when in Rome…

By early afternoon, I was ready for coffee number two, so a few of us headed to a close-by shopping center to try Island View Coffee, which was one of my favorites of the trip. It was located in a shopping center, so we took the opportunity to look for some souvenirs as well.

Mac nut lattes are my new favorite thing

We were close to a couple other places I’d bookmarked, so when we finished shopping, we headed over to Maui Ku’ia estate to do some chocolate tasting. They offer a full tour, but we got there right before they closed, so we just went to the gift shop, where they offered us some samples. I’ve had plenty of flavored chocolate in my lifetime, but nothing like this. The flavors were so unique, like calamansi lime and orange mango guava, and we ended up buying way too many bars.

A little bit farther down the road we stumbled upon a farmers market where we picked up some fresh fruit, which was all very sweet and delicious and made me realize how watered down our versions of those fruits are up here in Michigan. I particularly enjoyed the apple bananas, a smaller relative of the banana that’s creamier and more tart than I’m used to. We also stopped at Leoda’s Pies. We got there a little too late in the day and they only had a few flavors left, but fortunately, the one I wanted to try (and the one they’re famous for), banana cream pie, was one of them. We got a couple of those, the chocolate macadamia, and a coconut cream.

The last stop of the day was Honoapiilani Food Truck Park, which was right outside our hotel. I went to Lahaina Grindz and got a Kalua pork plate, which fed me for dayz.

Food truck culture is HUGE in Maui

Day 4

Tuesday was our busiest day because we decided to drive the Road to Hana. If you’re not familiar, this is a 64-mile road with hairpin turns and stunning views, and it takes pretty much all day long to drive. If you are someone who experiences motion sickness, I’d recommend you either ride in the front seat, drive, or skip this one altogether. I don’t normally have this issue, but even I did on this drive.

The views were worth it though

There are a lot of places to stop along the road, lookouts, roadside stands, hikes, etc. Our first stop was for Aunt Sandy’s banana bread, which came highly recommended. I have to say, it was good, and I’m glad I got to try it, but was it the best banana bread of my life? No. I do recommend getting it with the whipped butter though, because that really elevated it. We stopped again once we got to Hana to take a short break, but somehow completely missed the downtown area? No idea how we managed that, but we packed a lunch and ate it on the beach, so no complaints here.

Our last stop was on the way down, when I insisted that we stop at Coconut Glen’s for vegan ice cream. I got the traditional coconut and the ube and was very impressed. We also tried the lilikoi (passion fruit), and I think that was my favorite.

When we got back to the other side of the island, we stopped for coffee at Penny’s Ice Cream, and I got a banana latte. It was a little sweet for my personal taste, but still very good, and the coffee my aunt got there was her favorite of the trip. I finished the night off with a sunset on the beach.

Day 5

Wednesday had an exciting start because we saw whales from our balcony! I opted out of doing whale watching on this trip, so I was very happy that I was able to get a sighting naturally. They didn’t breach or anything too exciting, but we could see their fins and they sprayed water a couple times.

I went for another run and got coffee at Vida’s Coffee on the way back, which was in the same food truck park where I got dinner on Monday. I got another mac nut latte and loved it, which surprised me because I don't really like macadamia nuts that much? They just don’t taste like much to me tbh, but it’s the perfect amount of flavor for a coffee. This won’t be the last one.

Our outing this day was to go around to a few local shops upcountry to do some taste testing and souvenir shopping. We grabbed a coffee at Maui Bees Farm first, which I was very impressed with. I felt like they had some of the best quality coffee I tried on my trip. I of course also had to pick up some honey because if I see local honey, I buy local honey. Our next stop was The Pineapple Store, which sells — you guessed it — pineapple. Maui Gold pineapple is a BFD (that’s big fuckin’ deal if you’re cool) in Maui, and it’s a little sweeter and less acidic than your standard grocery store pineapple. Our last stop before dinner was Surfing Goat Dairy, a hidden (literally, we could barely find the sign) gem that my aunt and her friend found on their first trip to Maui. They offered sample plates, but we just got a couple flavors take home. They sell the goat cheese frozen so you have time to get it back to wherever you’re staying, which I thought was a neat idea.

Dinner was at Casanova, an Italian restaurant in Makawao, that was another find from my aunt’s first trip to Maui. I didn’t expect to eat Italian food in Hawaii, but it was good! If you go, make sure to get the focaccia bread.

Day 6

By this point in the trip, I was running out of clean clothes (because I packed very poorly, but more on that later), so I did a load of laundry at the hotel. I had the morning to myself, so I decided to go for a long walk to yet another coffee shop on my list, Hawaiian Village Coffee. They’re known for their vanilla macadamia nut drip coffee, so of course I had to try that even though I was sweating from my walk there. I’m so glad I did though because it ended up being one of my favorite coffees of the trip, and I bought some beans to take home with me. I’m decidedly not a flavored coffee person, but it was that good.

On the way back, I saw that the line for Papi’s Ohana, a cinnamon roll place that had had a line down the block every time I’d passed it previously, was down to only a few people, so I decided to check it out. They were sold out of a lot, but thankfully they still had quite a few cinnamon rolls left, so I got one to share. It was huge, like the size of my head, but very light and fluffy. I prefer a spicier (as in more cinnamon-forward, not like, hot) cinnamon roll, so it wasn’t my favorite I’ve ever had, but I’m glad I got to try it.

They’re yuuuuge

My aunt and I decided to have a solo outing with just us, so of course we found a bookstore to check out. To be honest, there weren’t a lot of options for bookstores, which surprised me. They had one Barnes & Noble and three friends of the library used bookstores, but that was all I could find. We did each find a book to take home though, of course. After book shopping, it was fun drink o’clock, so we went to Maui Coffee Roasters, and I got a banana matcha. The matcha flavor was a little lighter than I like, but the banana flavor really came through. Our last stop of the day was to Uluani’s Shave Ice, and it’s a good thing we didn’t try this earlier in the trip because I would have insisted we go back every single day. I got mango orange, guava, and calamansi with a sweetened condensed milk top, and it was SO GOOD. Please expand to Michigan!

We went back to the hotel and had a nightcap at the bar (I had an ube pina colada), and watched one last sunset on the beach.

Day 7

On my last day, I made it my mission to get an açaí bowl since I hadn’t had one yet. We found a little stand called Cafe Olea that had good ratings. I got a traditional bowl with strawberries, blueberries, banana, granola, and peanut butter, and it was amazing. I need to recreate at home immediately.

My flight wasn’t until 8 pm, so I had a little free time, which I used to soak up the sun one last time. I took a little walk on the beach and then went to the pool to lay out and catch up on my reading. I was hoping to get at least a slight tan, but I’m also terrified of sunburn, so I was pretty liberal with the sunscreen. I do think I managed to get exactly one shade darker though, so I’ll take it.

All too soon, I was packing my bags up and heading to the airport. Fortunately, my flights home were both on time, so I had a much smoother travel day on the way back.

Some Travel Tips/What I Wish I’d Known Beforehand

• My Maps: Whenever I travel to a new place, I always create a map using the My Maps feature on Google. It allows you to save places you want to visit on a map so you can better plan your time by visualizing what’s located where. It’s also nice if you’re out and about in a new area and you want to check if you had any coffee shops or restaurants nearby saved so you don’t make a panicked decision and end up eating somewhere bad. I love that you can color code based on business type, and add different layers, depending on what you want to see. This would also be good to have for places you want to visit where you live!

• Splitwise: One of my friends introduced me to this app a few years ago, and it’s been used many times since. Splitwise allows you to create groups and track expenses so you don’t have to Venmo each other a thousand times throughout the week, or, worse yet, have to figure out what you owe each other at the end. This is an easy way to split things as you go, and. you can split evenly, by percentage, by amount, and with the group as a whole or with only certain members. I can’t recommend it enough!

• Gift Shop Only!: Hey, did you know that you can just go into the gift shop of a place that offers tours without having to actually do the tour? Call me lazy and/or cheap, but sometimes I don’t want to do the tour. Sue me! I do, however, want to shop for specialty foods and trinkets. This is also a good option if you have someone(s) in your group who is unable to do the tour for any reason. We skipped the chocolate tour, but still got the chocolate, skipped the pineapple tour, but still got the pineapple, and skipped the dairy farm tour, but still got the goat cheese. I have zero complaints.

• Grocery Stores: One thing that’s fun to do when you’re in a new-to-you place is to go check out the local grocery stores. They’re a great place to get souvenirs and local snacks. I found much better prices on some of the items I’d seen around at tourist shops, like coffee and chocolates, at the grocery store. Plus, you’ll likely find some products that you can’t get back home, and I’m always curious what’s popular in other places!

• Weather: Okay, so here’s where I admit that I’m an idiot. I just kind of checked the weather for Maui in general, not thinking about the fact that it’s mountainous and tropical, and therefore has significant discrepancies in weather across the island. When I checked while packing, it said rain and 70 degrees every single day, and so I packed pants and light layers. Reader, it was 80 degrees and sunny every single day. It rained one (1) time. I wish I’d checked the specific city we were going to be staying in to get a more accurate weather prediction, but I didn’t, so please learn from my mistake. It turned out fine, but if I’d known, I would have packed differently.

• Island Time: I’d heard this expression, but I didn’t realize how much it seeps into everything. Things open up pretty early, but they also close very early, so after 4 or 5 pm, it can be hard to find things that are open. Island time also applies to traffic. They are simply not in a rush to get anywhere down there, and the speed limits rarely exceed 60 mph. We’d be going some place that was only eight miles away, yet it would be a 45-minute drive. So, plan accordingly and leave your road rage at home.

• Prices: I thought I was prepared for the expense of traveling to Hawaii having heard from so many people how pricy things are there. Since most everything needs to be shipped in, it makes sense that prices would be higher. I was not, however, expecting a bottle of kombucha to be over $9. Or for gas to be almost $6 a gallon. We offset this by eating about half of our meals in (fortunately, our room had a kitchenette), but it’ll add up quick.

• Chickens?: Maui is absolutely swarming with free-roaming chickens. They’re everywhere. In the streets, outside businesses, in everyone’s yard. It really freaked me out at first, but they’re chill af, and all the rooster crowing was kind of charming tbh. They grew on me!

unbothered, moisturized, happy, in their lane, focused, thriving

That’s it for my trip to Maui! How am I supposed to go back to work tomorrow?!