Is Kihei a Good Place for a Maui Vacation?

After we had published or most recent post 'Our Maui condo vacation in Kihei' on our Best Hawaii Vacation Blog , not only our Hawaii friends were wondering whether Kihei is really such a good place for a Hawaii Maui vacation. Most of our friends figured from our enthusiastic blog writing that we must have liked our Maui vacation in Kihei a lot. We are happy to share with all our blog visitors our best reasons why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation.

3 Best Reasons why Kihei is a good place for Maui vacation

1. Kihei Maui has a beach for everyone

North Kihei offers great surfing beaches for wind- and kite surfers because of frequent wind activity. Wailea / Kahena area in South Kihei invites snorkelers and scuba-divers for some great ocean adventures. And all of the Kamaole Beaches, I, II, II together with Charlie Young Beach are 'displaying' Hawaii the way the Mainlander is dreaming of when he thinks of a Hawaii vacation: soft white sand beaches, blue skies and swaying palm trees.

2. Kihei has a condo for everybody + every budget

Naturally, when we searched for the, our, best place to stay in Kihei Maui, we cruised hundreds of websites and Kihei condo listings allowed for vacation rentals. Decision making was tough! You can choose from high end ocean front condos like Kauhale Makai, the more medium priced ocean view condos of Kihei Kai Nani or the more affordable vacation condos at Kihei Garden Estates, which we loved for its mellow Hawaiian ambience with its 2-story buildings in a tropical garden setting.


Be aware that you will always pay extra, double or triple, for ocean front or ocean view condos but again, there is a Kihei condo for everybody. Make sure that your Kihei vacation rental condo complex has a decent size pool for those days when the huge winter surf waves hit the Hawaiian Islands + Kihei during the winter months.

3. Kihei offers plenty of things to do

...in addition to beach walks, ocean swimming, snorkeling, board surfing, board paddling, boogie boarding + sun bathing on the beach. We love to play tennis. There are plenty of public tennis courts at the Kihei Beach Parks, like Kalama Beach Park and Waipuilani Park. Kalama Beach Park offers tons of fun things to do besides the tennis (4 hard courts with lights!) for Kihei visitors and residents alike. The park provides excellent facilities for picnicking and family outings with picnic tables + pavilions, BBQ grills, showers for those who played volleyball, basketball, baseball and soccer. I also noticed a great playground for little kids and a skate board facility which was busy with young skate boarders.


When we visited Kalama Beach Park, we also noticed a lot of weekend fishermen having several fishing rods with baits out in the ocean, staring at the ocean patiently waiting for the fish to bite and telling us all these angler stories about how many fish they caught the other day!

South Kihei offers paved trails along the ocean for biking and jogging, which we actually both like. For those who stay longer on their Kihei vacation and don't want to miss their daily workout with free weights and machines, Kihei offers 2 gym or fitness centers with daily and monthly rates.

Kihei's restaurant choices are from affordable to luxury, from fine dining to fast food. Kihei offers a restaurant for everybody's taste and budget. Nationality restaurants like Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese are favorites of visitors in Kihei. Another good reason why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation.


Honestly, we were kind of overwhelmed by all the dining and shopping options in Kihei. Our favorite place to shop was the 'Farmer's Market' in north Kihei with its daily fresh tropical fruits. Not cheap but who can resist tasty apple bananas, juicy strawberry papayas or sweet Hayden mangos?! Interestingly, no white pineapples. Those are really a speciality of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Last but not least, it is Kihei where you find the best weather for your Maui vacation. Kihei offers nice sunny weather all year round with our Hawaiian trade winds working as natural AC. Tell us what you think why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation. A hui hou. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

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Our Maui condo vacation in Kihei

Wow, Keoki and Pua spent a Maui condo vacation in Kihei? Really, Maui? Big surprise for all of our Best Hawaii vacation blog visitors who know that our favorite place is the Kohala Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii. After writing two Maui vacation blog posts recently: Best Flight offers from Seattle to Maui and Is it a good time to buy a Maui Condo NOW, not to forget our most recent post about Cheap Hawaiian Interisland flights, we decided it's time to reunite with Maui by spending a Kihei condo vacation there.

We took advantage of one of the Maui Vacation condo bargain offers and the most affordable air fares + Maui car rentals in years. Guess what. We got rewarded with a week of sunshine + blue skies, mellow trade winds, perfect ocean conditions for swimming and stretches of empty white sand Kihei beaches for those early morning beach walks!

Finally, we were able to visit all those Maui beaches in South Kihei, Hawaii visitors and residents rave about, and tell you what Kihei beach became our favorite beach. However, let us tell you first where we stayed in Kihei. We had booked a nice ground floor 1Bd/1Ba condo at Kihei Garden Estates. Kihei Garden condos are not ocean front like Kauhale Makai but they are a few 2-story buildings in a beautiful Hawaiian garden setting meeting our expectation for a peaceful Maui vacation. And the price was right for our Maui condo vacation!

We felt sorry for all the Maui condo owners who did not have any visitors. September is usually a slow month in Hawaii. I keep recommending this month because the weather is beautiful (not as hot as summer), travel to Hawaii is cheap, and beaches and restaurants are empty. This year, September seemed even having less visitors than in the past. We mostly had the swimming pool and the jacuzzi at Kihei Garden Estates to ourselves. As we are not big BBQ-ers, but we enjoyed the closeness of Star Market and a huge number of affordable restaurants (Thai restaurant was our favorite), all in walking distance from our Kihei condo.

From our Kihei Garden Estate condo it was just a short walk to the beach - wonderful for beach walks and cooling off dips in the ocean. As Charley Young Beach was only a short 5-min. drive down S.Kihei Rd, it became our favorite S.Kihei beach. In the mornings, we hopped in our car equipped with beach chairs, towels, books and camera to enjoy the most splendid Hawaii mornings by the ocean. Heavy winds are not really blowing in S. Kihei as they do on the northern coast. It was also fun to watch the board paddlers!

All in all, Keoki and I had a wonderful Maui vacation in Kihei. Affordable condos in Kihei, Kamaole Beaches and Charlie Young Beach are worth a Maui visit. Hope you like our Maui condo vacation photos. Where did you spend your Maui condo vacation in Kihei? Aloha, Pua Hawaii Maui Vacation

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Maui Hotel Vacation

How time flies by when you are having fun, on your Best Hawaii vacation or just writing about it! It's Monday and our Hawaii photo of the week is here from Hawaii stock photographer Jennifer Crites. I had not seen this photo before. Though I have seen many of these fancy Hawaii resort photos in the past, this one belongs to the best Hawaii Resort photos. Anyhow, here its...a photo of the recently totally renovated Ritz Carlton Kapalua Maui:

As usually, I did my homework on an update on the resort and what recent visitors to the Ritz Carlton Kapalua have to say. The resort reopened on January 7, 2008 following a $160 million transformation. This AAA Five-Diamond 445-room hotel offers exquisite sunset ocean views and overlooks the neighboring islands of Molokai and Lanai. Rates start at 'luxury' $599/nt. to $2000/nt. for Club Suite and $8000/nt. for Royal Pacific Suite. Ouch! Seems those 'ritzy' Maui hotel rates are not for us but definitely cater to the rich and famous. Movie celebrities love to visit Hawaii on their vacation. Ritz Carlton Kapalua, one of Maui's 6 star hotels, fits their budget and expectations (now or later?).

At the current moment though, celebrities or regular people, are advised to read recent Tripadvisor reviews Ritz Carlton Kapalua Everybody agrees that the Maui Ritz is at one of the most beautiful locations, as our Hawaii photo of the day proves, but obviously the hotel had reopened prematurely. Guests reported lots of construction noises inside and out still going on at any hours during the day. Pool area was not fully open and too noisy from ongoing landscaping, plus main restaurant and spa will be due to open in May. The completed rooms got in most cases great reviews and so did the staff (with exceptions). There is no doubt that after a few months, the Ritz Carlton Maui will live up to its expectations!

Vacation Packages to Maui for February and March 2008:

Well, I can't leave this post about Maui Hotel Vacation, without including some Maui Vacation Package information for 2008. Compared to the Ritz Carlton Kapalua hotel rates, even the Kapalua Villas offer really a bargain from $299/nt. pp. Read more on Kapalua Villas Vacation Packages.

Here are a few more hot deals I found on Vacation Packages to Maui for February and March 2008:

Pleasant Holidays still offers Maui Vacation Packages from $559 for February through March 22: 2 for 1 Air Fares from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Maui.

HawaiianAir offers Round trips for Book now - 2/27/08 and travel to Hawaii Now till March 14. Even though not all of these round trips flights are direct flights to Maui, the Interisland Fares are affordable these days:

LA - Honolulu $293 RT

Phoenix - Honolulu $298 RT

Seattle - Honolulu $338 RT

San Diego - Maui $270 RT

Kaanapali Beach Hotel claims to offer the Best Rate Guaranty Claim for the hotel stay when booking online. It does not hurt to check out their 2008 packages and rates for your Maui vacation.

That will do for today. Maui travelers, who spent their best Maui vacation at one of the Maui hotels, let us know the name of the hotel, when you were vacationing there and what special amenities at the hotel you liked best!

Mahalo and aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations
p.s.
Whether your next vacation is to Maui or Oahu or Kauai or the Big Island, you want to read 'When is the best time to visit Hawaii?'

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Best Things to do on your Maui Vacation - How about Golf?

Best Hawaii vacation blog is back, at least we are! Guess what we had been doing...we were on vacation, for 14 days! Not Hawaii vacation but a nice place away from the hustle and bustle of it all and away from the computer and blogging about Hawaii. Just to show you that we are still committed to our goal to share everything on Hawaii and Hawaii vacation, we posted midway through our vacation 'Why rent a vacation rental when on Hawaii vacation'. We hope it helps answering the question where to stay in Hawaii on vacation, hotel or private vacation rental. It is definitely worthwhile reading.

Great to see that the blog has already a life of its own by coming up in the search engines under many Hawaii vacation search results. OK we are all ready and eager to make your Hawaii vacation your best and most memorable one. Coming Monday, we will continue with our Hawaii photo of the week. As we have many Hawaii photos lined up for our Hawaii visitors, we decided to do a little extra one today, on a Friday. We are certain the golfers among you will love Jennifer's photo. Jennifer chose this Maui golf course photo from her Hawaii stock photos. It shows what spectacular views golfers can enjoy when golfing at Kapalua on Maui. See that island in the background? That's Molokai across the channel!

Maui is one of the top golf destinations in Hawaii and the world. Golf is one of the favorite activities Maui visitors come for when visiting this Hawaiian island in addition to surfing. It's not just one of the best things to do on Maui. There will be many Maui visitors who will tell you, it is the best thing to do on your Maui vacation. With over 20 golf courses, several in the world top category, Maui attracts not only the professional players with famous golf championships like the Mercedes Championship at Kapalua and the Champions Skins Game at Wailea. If you are a golf beginner or a vacation golfer, we are sure you will find the right Maui golf course and golf pro to help you improve your game.

So, have fun golfing when on your Maui vacation. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

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Hawaii Hiking - Maui Waterfall Adventures

It's again Monday and our Hawaii photo of the week is due today. Before I post that special Hawaii image, I was wondering whether you are still contemplating where to stay for your next Hawaii vacation, Hawaii hotel or vacation rental? If so, don't go away, sign up for our feed or email (see top buttons on right sidebar!) and you will get our insider information automatically delivered to your inbox. Next Best Hawaii Vacation blog post will tell you when we recommend to stay at a Hawaii vacation rental for your vacation and not at a resort.

We are quite sure that you liked our last week's Hawaii photo Best Things to Do on Kauai - Wailua River Tour. Hawaii stock photographer and well-known travel writer Jennifer Crites - here is one of her recent articles in the Hana Hou Hawaii Magazine - has many more of these unique stock photos available.

This Maui Waterfall photo shows us once again that Hawaii is not just about beaches, hula and Maitais. Jennifer successfully snapped this special shot of one of Hawaii's spectacular waterfalls, Maui Hana waterfall on the road to Hana, where visitors can actually swim, and the daring can jump. You can walk into the water, you don't have to jump. Doesn't that look like you want to be there right now? How about 'beam me up to Hawaii'?

All our Hawaiian islands are blessed with amazing, unique scenery, which offers lots of hiking trails to hidden valleys, canyons, secret waterfalls, volcanoes and rainforest. Like all the other island, Maui has numerous waterfalls on the island, some visible from the road, like this one, and others you have to hike to. There are moderate, short hikes or hikes which take a day (or two).

Make sure that you know what you are doing and of course, tell your hosts or friends where you are going. It does not seem like it, but every so often tourists get lost in unknown terrain, mostly due to sudden weather changes. The right hiking outfit and water and food supply is important. To carry a cell phone, won't hurt either.

If you want to learn more about the Maui Trails available, go to Hawaii Trails. That's the most comprehensive site for finding detailed hiking information on Hawaii hiking for Maui, Kauai, Big Island, Oahu and Molokai. Hawaii State Parks site has valuable information on Hawaii hiking as well. Hike Maui has offered naturalist-led hikes into Maui's wilderness since 1983. Maui Hiking Safari is another Maui hiking company which offers guided tours to Maui waterfalls and into the rainforest. I am sure you will find one Maui hiking adventure which appeals to you and your physical skills.

Let's go hiking in Hawaii. If you have a favorite Hawaii Hike, please, share with our visitors which island it is and other hiking information. Mahalo andaAloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

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