Maui Towns and Regions

Haiku is really an area of the island of Maui as opposed to a town. It does have a town of sorts but it just consists of a post office, a couple of restaurants, a doctor's office, a bike company and a few retail shops. The majority of Haiku is basically a country community that is a combination of mostly rural residences with a smattering of agriculture producing properties. Haiku encompasses a large area extending approximately from the north shore of Maui...… (more info)

No trip to Maui is complete without a visit to Hana on Maui's jungle-laden east side. The trip via car to Hana is long (about 2.5 to 3 hours from the Airport in Kahului) because of the remote nature of the drive. The fifty mile or so journey from central Maui is slow primarily because the Hana Highway, as it is called, is literally chiseled out of the cliffs that are often five-hundred feet high and descend straight down in a right angle...… (more info)

Honokowai is one of those places on Maui that is known more as a region than a town. Located on Maui's west coast north of Kaanapali and south of Kahana, the nearest thing you could delegate as anything resembling a "center of town" would be the Honokowai Beach Park. This is located on the beach just across from a shopping center and grocery store which is also the site throughout the week of an outdoor farmers market...
… (more info)

The 1960's may have ushered in the "the great society", the beginning of "space travel" and as many people believe, the "age of Aquarius", but here on Maui the 1960's ushered in the "tourist boom" in Hawaii with the islands first planned "destination resort" which became known as the "Kaanapali Beach Resort". Prior to the first hotel being erected on this beach (the Royal Lahaina Hotel in 1962) Kaanapali was simply known to be the most beautiful expanse...… (more info)

For many years the area of the island of Maui known as "Kahana" was essentially a series of Hawaiian style homes that winded their way along the coastal road which took you from Lahaina to Honolua. It was really the "tourist growth" which burgeoned in the nineteen-sixties that laid the framework for modern day Kahana. The center of Kahana was designated as an area where high-rise condos and hotels were permitted and on the coastline working in either direction...… (more info)

The town of Wailuku may be considered the center of power on the island of Maui, but the town of Kahului by all yardsticks would be considered the center of commerce. Kahului has the main airport on the island as well as the major port. Kahului has the major shopping centers on the island and it has all the big mainland "box" stores also. Kahului is the place that every item that arrives on island passes through and it is the place where all people arrive at...… (more info)

The area known as Kapalua at the north-western tip of Maui was a large area of land approximating 2500 acres that was initially granted as a gift by the Hawaiians to the Reverend Dwight Baldwin (who was one of the original missionaries to arrive in Hawaii) in the mid-eighteen hundreds. Eventually it evolved into an even larger area of land approximating 25,000 acres through a series of additional gifts, mergers and purchases and became known as...… (more info)

Kihei is the sprawling town on Maui's southern coast. Kihei could actually be referred to as an area more aptly than a town. There is really no central area to Kihei but is rather a series of condos, hotels, private homes, restaurants, shops, beach parks, churches, bars and nightclubs that extend a full five miles along the shoreline. Kihei is a long and narrow community as it barely extends a mile inland from it beautiful ocean coastline at any given point...… (more info)

When people refer to the beautiful Upcountry portion of Maui they are usually referring to the area known as Kula. Kula is really an area or region as opposed to a town. There are a couple small "mom and pop" groceries and a couple very good restaurants but other than that your nearest town is Pukalani or Makawao for supplies and goods. The area here is all rural and it seems that from wherever you are in Kula you have some great views of the isthmus below and the West Maui Mountains...… (more info)

There's no doubt, that of all the towns and regions of Maui, not to mention the entire state of Hawaii, no place has a richer history and more interesting past than the town of Lahaina. During Hawaiian times this was a land that was populated by the "Alii" or upper classes and the minions that served them. The gentle and pleasant climate which can often border on genuine hot (the Hawaiian translation of the word Lahaina is "land of the merciless sun")...… (more info)

Maui's quaint up-country town of Makawao is located at about the 2000' level on the slopes of Haleakala. Makawao is an upcountry treasure and is located in one of the most picturesque settings to be found on the island. Makawao's heritage was established years ago when it was central to the region of the wide-open cattle ranches which were (and still are today) found along the mountain slopes, as well as centrally located in the midst of Maui's lucrative...… (more info)

The town of Maalaea is located under the "chin" of the island at the furthest point of indenture of the obvious bay that dominates the south facing shorelines of Maui. That bay is named "Maalaea Bay". Maalaea is about a ten to fifteen-minute drive from the airport, about a twenty-minute drive from Wailea and about a twenty-minute drive from Lahaina. Maalaea is in fact probably the most equidistant town in terms of miles to all major areas of the island...… (more info)

From ancient times the town of Wailuku has been a focal point in matters that concern Maui. Wailuku was an important area of inhabitation for the ancient Hawaiians and it was the site of the decisive battle in the Iao Valley just behind Wailuku between King Kamehameha of the Big Island and the forces of Maui which allowed Kamehameha to establish a permanent foothold on Maui which later paved the way for the island to come completely under his dominance...… (more info)

Napili is a West Maui coastal town that lies just south of Kapalua and just north of Kahana. Napili's main street runs right along the shoreline and it is essentially a beach community consisting of condos and hotels that have beautiful views of, or easy access to, the ocean. Its closest beach is appropriately, Napili Bay, and this is one of the most beautiful beaches on Maui. The weather in Napili is excellent year round with its daytime...… (more info)

Paia is a unique and very fun little town located on the coast about ten minutes east of the Kahului Airport. This tiny town which extends about two blocks in each direction from its major stoplight intersection at the junction of the Hana Hwy and Baldwin Avenue is today a town filled with many storefronts, restaurants and curiosities. Its early days were quite different however. In the 1880's the Paia Sugar Mill was created a short distance from the...… (more info)

Wailea was the second of Maui's master-planned resort communities (the first was Kaanapali) and it was built in the 1970's. In many ways this might be considered the best as it is situated on approximately 1500 acres of South Maui ocean coastline that is purported to have some of the very best weather on the island. Five gorgeous crescent-shaped golden sand beaches are situated on its mile and one-half of shoreline and its ocean views of the blue Pacific, the islands...… (more info)