THE BEST MAUI TRAVEL GUIDE (from a local resident)

aloha my name is blake aka bkr and i'm local born raised right here on this beautiful island that i call home maui [Music] and today right now i am bringing you the best maui travel guide from 2021 to 2022. we will be covering what time of year you should visit maui what are some of the best hotels restaurants bars to go to what are some of the best activities you should do while you are here what side of the island to stay on because it's a big island so in this video you're going to learn all of this good stuff right now i would also like to point out if you only came here for one of these topics there are going to be chapters down in the progress bar and also if you go down to the description of this video there's gonna be timestamps so you can skip forward and just go to the key information that you came here to the video for before we move on if you haven't watched episode 1 of this 10 part series i encourage you to do so because it tells you why i'm qualified to make this series and why everything all the information you're gonna learn here today is vital before your trip to maui hawaii so be sure to subscribe if you haven't already turn that notification bell on because you're gonna be getting updated when new videos are coming out that are part of this series and i'm also gonna be updating all of you before your trip to maui because with cover 19 and traveling here things are constantly changing there are new updates coming out every single day and i'm gonna do my best to keep you all informed and updated before your trip to maui now what time of year should you visit maui there are many variables at play but in my opinion the best time of year to visit maui is the summer from the months like may to about september are in fact the best times of year to visit depending on what you want to do so let me explain first off why you should definitely visit during the summer if you have a choice the summer we have longer days there's a less chance of rain we have a lot more activities to do during the summer except for one big activity that you will not be able to do if you travel here during the summer and that is go whale watching in the summer you have a lot more activities available that you don't have during the winter season when the humpback whales are here because of laws and regulations during the summer season you you can have jet skiing you can do a lot more water activities there's fly boarding things like that all of which that i have done on this channel i've done every single activity there is to do but the only thing about coming during the winter if you want to see the humpback whales is it is our rainy season there is a good chance depending on where you're staying that there will be rain and it could rain for a whole week and the days are shorter as well the sun sets much much sooner but don't get me wrong a lot of times you can get lucky and have a 10-day vacation and it's just sunny throughout your entire trip even during the winter time so it's always a hit or miss if you travel here during the winter so if you have a choice in my opinion if wells aren't a big deal to you if you don't need to see humpback whales and go whale watching i suggest you visit during the summer from the months of may to september those are the safest times of years to come i won't say this i won't say it won't rain in the summer but it's very very less likely that it will so what side of the island to stay on where to stay because maui is a big island if you haven't been here yet and i know a lot of people are going to have their own opinions on where it is better to stay if it's going to be lahaina and nepali you know west maui or if it's going to be kihei wailea south maui those are the two main places that tourists tend to stay when they visit maui and for many many reasons that will be going over here shortly so first off i'm going to start with my hometown of lahaina ka'anapali west maui from oluwalu all the way to napili to kapalua where the ritz carlton is lahaina used to be the capital of hawaii there's just a ton of history it's a very cool vibe you can feel it when you visit lahaina and lahaina west maui has some of the best beaches in all of hawaii and they're very close together some of the best snorkeling is over here the best beaches the best restaurants some of the best bars and everything is within 10 to 15 minutes west maui just has it all there's a ton of activities there's so much to do there's a lot of diversity here a lot of culture a lot of history and the view of molokai and lanai is just my favorite view i've ever seen in my life obviously i'm biased from my friends families and anyone i know that's visited here they always tell me that they prefer to stay in west maui it is a little bit pricier but you get what you pay for kihei is more of a place if you want to kind of stay at your hotel if you want to go to like the restaurant the bars things like that if that's what you want your vacation to be it's more of a built up town there's not too much history to it there's not as much culture but it is kind of like a younger crowd so it is a little funner uh if you're more into like you know being if you're younger and you want to travel here or if you're older if you want to stay at your hotel like the four seasons grand leia places like that i recommend staying within kihei but you know i know a lot of people get mad for me for this section here alone so just go ahead in the comments down below tell us what side island you like to stay on if you visited maui and then we have a conversation there so people watching this video can kind of know where they want to stay more of but either way to be honest with you you can't go wrong but if you visit maui i recommend you staying in either kihei wai lea kaanapali kapalua napili lahaina anywhere in west maui anywhere on the south maui if you want to be close to all the nice beaches all the things to do the restaurants things like that so here are my favorite hotel recommendations if you're looking for luxury in west maui you have the kaplan ritz carlton you have the kaplan montage and in wailea you have the four seasons you have the andaz you the fairmont and grandma leia those are my favorites so depending on what i just said where you want to stay you're looking for luxury pick one of those options my favorite hotel is going to be the kapalua montage i think it was just voted like number one hotel in the nation so you can't go wrong if you can afford it and then my next favorite hotel is for like you know the average price my favorite is the westin maui resort and spa there are two of them but that's my favorite if you're coming with your family or go to the height any of the ones with water slides and bars and things like that are always very fun if you can afford it try a stay out anywhere on that strip on the poly beach where blackrock is because you're gonna be close to everything the whole boardwalk you can walk the whole thing in the morning if you like to walk or run uh you're it's just super accessible definitely definitely the best spot especially for sunsets okay next up we have probably the biggest question i get asked from anyone visiting maui and that is should you book a rental car and this one i used to say 100 yes all the time but i've changed my opinion about this a little bit because it really depends on where you stay so if you're staying at one of these resorts and it really just depends on what you want to do when you visit maui do you want to just stay at the resort and hang out the beach right in front drink you know pina coladas at the hotel and never really leave or do you want to take advantage of maui and travel it because there's a lot to do a lot of things to see a lot of sightseeing a lot of adventures a lot of hikes a lot of beaches a lot of activities and it is a very big island so in my opinion if you're looking to you know get out of the hotel 100 rent a car but if you plan on staying in the hotel most of the time and you don't really feel like you need to leave it if you're staying at one of those nice resorts like the kaploo montage or the grand male fairmont one of those resorts where they have shuttles and they'll bring you to some of the main spots then maybe not rent a car and you know just get a turo and support local and rent one of our local cars here and then go adventure one or two days out of your trip so it really depends in my opinion where you end up staying to all my friends to all my family to all of you all my subscribers if you plan on visiting maui do yourself the favor and just rent a car because you're going to want to look around adventure around the island isn't as small as i think some people think you can drive around it in a full day but that's still a whole day and that's a lot to see so definitely rent a car if you can do it all right time for the fun part what activities should you do when you visit maui so my number one thing i always tell everyone to do is to go visit haleakala crater if you can it is amazing if you can go watch the sunrise up there or sunset if you don't know haleakala is our dormant volcano here in maui it's over 10 000 feet tall you can't miss it when you land here it's gonna stick out like a sore thumb not a sore thumb at all it's the best thumb ever it's the most beautiful thing ever if you go up to holy alcohol crater if you go watch the sunrise or sunset those are the best times to go going midday is cool too there are a few hikes in the craters it is above 10 000 feet tall and sometimes it does snow there during the winter so it gets cold i bet you didn't think about bringing a jacket when you came to hawaii but guess what you might want to bring a jacket to hawaii just for the sole purpose of visiting haleakala to be honest with you it is one of the most beautiful things i think you can possibly do during your trip to maui if you haven't seen the hollyoak crater already if you haven't been up there for sunrise or sunset i recommend you do it it is worth it it is worth the drive up there just plan accordingly because it does take a few hours depending on where you're coming from if you're coming from like caught on the polly or lahaina side it could take like two and a half hours just to get to the crater sometimes even longer if you don't know already if you plan on visiting and watching the sunrise you do have to make a reservation in advance because there's limited parking my next biggest recommendation to everyone visiting maui hawaii is to go do the road to hana but if you plan on doing this please be pono be righteous if you see a no trespassing sign in hana do not trespass it's probably someone's private property if you're driving the road to hana also if the locals behind you the locals that live in haunted town that live in hana they know the road the speed limit's more of a recommendation just pull over on the side of the road let them pass and all will be good i love the road to hana if you don't know already it is one of the most beautiful drives you will probably do in your entire life it goes through our rainforest here in maui it's there's just waterfalls everywhere there's a ton to do and my favorite hike on maui is actually over there the hike to waimoku falls it goes through the bamboo forest has a nice boardwalking part of it and at least this giant waterfall and it's hands down my favorite hike to do so if you want to hike to a waterfall i recommend that trail because the road to hana is basically a full day trip it takes about three hours from lahaina just to get into the town of hana and then you get to drive all the way back in that's another three hours so six to seven hours total and you're going to want to stop a lot there's a lot to see there's a whole bamboo forest there's waianapanapa state park which is one of my favorite places to go in hana so if you do hana i recommend stopping why not panapa state park and then stopping at florida waimoku falls trail hike i'll have information down below for you all this is one of the biggest things you should know before you visit it is the five ps the first being put on reef safe sunscreen only a lot of the sunscreens that you probably are used to using like those banana boat ones if they do not see reef safe on there they aren't illegal you can't use them they're banned here and it really really harms our reefs it kills all the coral reefs and just don't use them you can tell the smell so if you're at the beach and you're using non-reef sunscreen with all the chemicals that kill the reefs everyone's gonna know so just make sure when you land here make sure you're buying reef safe sunscreen it will stay on the bottle so that is number one number two pack and pack out whatever trash you bring to the beach whatever you do on your hikes or wherever you go on the island i think wherever you are in the world you should always practice this but whatever you bring make sure you bring it back out whatever trash you make make sure you bring it back out and also while you're there if there's trash on the ground you might as well pick it up do something good while you're here leave the place better than you found it number three being pull over for locals if it's humpback whale season or if you're driving to the nakhole blowhole or you do the road to hana and if there's a local tailing if they're driving right behind you it's because we know the roads we got places to be we have families to feed we've got things to do we got to go to work and we know the roads very very well just allow us to pass by thank you for doing that mahalo the fourth bee put on your mask if it's still required of course and just out of respect and that leads us to our fifth p and that is b pono be righteous if you're doing the road to hana if you're doing anything here in maui just try to be as righteous as possible if you see a no trespassing sign if there's something you have to question should i do this or shouldn't i not do this just don't do it just do what is right be pono if you have a day and you just want to you know go to the bar go to restaurants go shopping maybe learn about some history go visit lahaina front street the historic front street is where all the shops it's just a mile of shops and restaurants and there's a lot of history it's an old whaling town it is beautiful you can watch the sunset there i don't know it's a vibe you want to get some shave ice while you're there go to a restaurant go to a bar you know it's it's just a good time definitely visit lahaina front street if you plan on visiting maui you're going to see why i think so highly of you know staying in lahaina and why i'm so proud to be able to handle undergraduate and be from west maui because you know the west side truly is the best side so obviously a big activity to do which is a no-brainer is to go snorkeling there's a lot of good snorkeling options out there definitely do it and you will see why wearing reef safe sunscreen is so important because if you've been here in the past i'm sure you noticed the reefs have changed a lot when you come now a lot of the reefs have died so there are really only a few spots to go that really do have a lot of fish and that look pretty healthy so if you do plan on snorkeling wear reef safe sunscreen and here are some of my favorite spots honolulu bay about 10 minutes north of khan nepali there's a rain forest there that you can check out it's very beautiful the snorkeling there is amazing mostly during the summer though because during the winter we have north swells me and the waves are big and the water is not really good to snorkel in so i wouldn't recommend snorkeling there during the winter unless there's zero waves which i hope not because i like to surf another great spot is kapalua bay over there in kapalua or right next door napoli bay is also pretty good kapalua honolulu bay and then black rock and caught on nepalis so if you are staying on that kanapala strip that boardwalk you have one of the best snorkel spots right there and also if you like to cliff jump or thought about cliff jumping is definitely one of the best spots to learn how to do so or do so i mean you don't really have to learn all you have to do is jump but you get the point okay paid stuff if you come to maui if you come here and you don't get boat sick you're not scared of boats or being on the open ocean go on a boat yo just go on a boat go on a sailboat if you're visiting here during well season go whale watch even if you do get a little seasick just find a calm day hopefully you get lucky go see those whales go on a sunset sale go do it it's 100 worth it have some cocktails watch the sunset listen to some live music which some of the boat companies do offer my favorite company that i celebrated my dad's birthday on is sell maui you can't go wrong with him it's one of my favorite sailing companies around and last thing if you don't know if you aren't aware i'm a professional photographer and videographer so if you plan on coming to maui and you want to book a photo shoot with me or do a video shoot i'm happy to do so obviously with the charge it is a business so if you want a book like a 30 minute photo session with me for you and your family for you your dog it doesn't really matter who with or a video shoot feel free to go in the description down below send me a quick email let me know your dates what you're looking to do and i'll go ahead and email you back and give you my rates now if you haven't already be sure to like this video if you found any of this information helpful it does help me out a ton also i do have maui shirts available i do have some merch you'll see it right below the youtube video there that also helps support the channel if you want to support me or book a photo shoot with me that definitely helps support me and what i do in the next video i'm giving you my top 10 things to do when you visit maui and if you haven't already be sure to subscribe down below because this is only the second video of a 10 part video series so if you want to stay updated turn that notification bell on while you're down there because i'm going to give you updates before your trip to maui and other than that i hope you have a beautiful day aloha [Music] [Music] so you

Channel: BKR

Views: 162,784

Keywords: maui hawaii, maui travel guide, maui travel 2021, maui, hawaii, hawaii vacation, hawaii family vacation, hawaii travel, what to do on maui, rental car maui, things to do in maui, maui things to do 2021, what do do on maui, maui intinerary, hawaii itinerary, things to do maui hawaii

Id: LfOhSui626g

Length: 16min 11sec (971 seconds)

Published: Tue May 18 2021