Maui Travel Guide I Our Anniversary Trip to Maui, Hawaii
Hawaii will always be a special place to me and my husband. Our first vacation as a couple was actually to the island of Oahu in 2010 for a friends wedding less than a year after we started our relationship. We fell in love- we both love the beach, the culture and the food was so amazing. It’s a vibe. From Florida to California, to Mexico we love a place where we can get a little sunshine! We are defiantly beach travelers!
Ever since we visited Oahu we were dying to go back to a different island, we really wanted to make it work for our honeymoon but after planning a wedding we decided to go to Cancun and stay on an all inclusive resort where we can just show up and relax and not plan out our trip like I wanted to do in Maui. So… we set a goal. For our 5 year anniversary- which happens to land on 10 years since we began our relationship. to go to Maui. We often get asked how we afford to travel so much, which I can whip up a whole blog post about that if you are all ever interested but it really boils down to setting a lower monthly budget and putting XX dollars away to a travel savings each month. When we are home, we are both working a lot or like to enjoy our home and make meals at home and spend time together there. So, when our schedules allow we will splurge a little and head to the beach because we have saved for it.
Soo… let’s dive into it!!
WHERE WE STAYED
Air bb rentals are the way to go. We did a lot of research. I knew I wanted a chill vacation. We wanted to cook a lot of our own meals, make some of our own cocktails, & be walking distance to the beach. We found a beautiful place in Kihei (Kamole Sands Condos) and we LOVED this location! Our condo had a private pool, our balcony overlooked the ocean, we were walking distance to the best sunsets & tons of cute little beach restaurants and bars to explore.
WHAT WE DID
When we travel we very much like to experience the culture and do things we wouldn’t normally do. Some of the fun things on our list were renting surf boards and trying to surf one morning, taking some hikes to see epic water falls & enjoying some relaxing beach time and shopping. There is one thing that defiantly took the cake and I will wait until the end because it was incredible. I actually have an old friend that now lives on Maui and she became a great tour guide and was SO fun to reconnect with her. She knew all the great hikes and fun spots.
WHAT WE ATE
The BEST meal we had was at Monkey Pod in Wailea. You HAVE to go. We had just finished out pictures with Jenny Vargas and decided to make a date night out of it because we were all dressed up. We both had the Ahi Tuna steak which I believe was their special of the day, a few cocktails and a dessert. This meal literally MELTED in our mouths.
WHAT YOU CANT MISS
The main thing people suggested was “The Road to Hana” you can go on a guide or rent a car, preferably a Jeep for the rough terrain. Boy were they right. This will go down as one of the best days of my entire life! The Road To Hana means to are doing exactly that- touring a road that leads you to a town called Hana, but it’s the journey that’s incredible not so much the destination. We downloaded an app to help guide that way called “Gypsey Guide“. It told us to the important places to stop and where not to and explained some culture. It’s a long day so you can’t stop everywhere. Jurassic Park was actually filmed here! I can’t even describe the experience, black sand beach, red sand beach, incredible trees and rainforests, swimming in natural pools, incredible waterfalls. It was a dream come true. If you go to Maui you HAVE to go to Hana. The topping on the cake was the “7 Sacred Pools”. 7 natural pools, we hiked on the side of some big boulders to get it and it was the more incredible experience and views. Literally one of the best days of my entire life.
DO WHAT THE LOCALS DO
Remember how I said my friend lived there? Well one day we went to the Maui brew fest which is quite the local event which was an absolute blast! We were there in May, so if you are going in May I would check it out! I mean you can’t really say not to beer and palm trees- ammmm I rigt??
Hawaii will always be a special place to us. Yes, vacations aren’t cheap, but neither is eating out regularly or an expensive bag. Our flights were honestly the most expensive part but we have airline cards to help with that. Our Air b&b was only $150/night and was super nice, we went to Costco and made a lot of our own drinks and food. Yes, eating out in Maui will probably cost you at least $50/person but if you don’t mind cooking some eggs and bacon to the sound the waves you can make it work! If you’re hooneymoon’ in Maui let me know I’d be more than happy to give you more info (Or Oahu, been there too!)
Xo Crystal