MAUI City guide
welcome to Maui
We spent four nights in Hawaii after dropping off Hallie in LA for the week with all four of her grandparents. You can read the full account of our trip here (days 2 through 6 of the trip).
December was a great time to visit Maui. Rates weren’t too bad, the hotel wasn’t overcrowded and the weather was warm and sunny almost every day.
We waffled for a bit over whether to rent a car and ultimately decided it was worth it. If you’re planning to tour around the island you definitely need it, but if you’re just going to be driving to dinner at night and spending your day at the resort you can probably just Uber and break even. We rented from Enterprise through our hotel and got a Ford Mustang, which was fun - you don’t get that with Uber.
how we got there
We flew Hawaiian Airlines round trip between LA and Maui. From LAX to OGG we flew in Hawaiian Airlines extra comfort, which wasn’t anything special, just a little extra legroom. On the return flight to LA we flew in Hawaiian Airlines first class through Honolulu. For the quick flight to Honolulu we sat in Row 1 and received a glass of fruit juice at the beginning of the flight. From Honolulu to LAX we flew on one of Hawaiian’s newly renovated A330s, which features a sleek but tropical design, lay-flat seats and a food service (that we really couldn’t eat much of because it all had meat).
We booked our round trip flights through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, spending 79,400 Ultimate Rewards points. We upgraded our return trip using 50,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles that we transferred over from American Express Membership Rewards. The Honolulu to LAX leg was a little short to spend 25,000 points/person, but I wouldn’t hesitate to spend it again if flying a longer distance (the same planes go to JFK).
where we stayed
We stayed at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea. The hotel lives up the Four Seasons name and is a true five star experience. We had a standard room, which was spacious and well appointed with a shower, bathtub and balcony. The only negative was that we didn’t have much of a view.
I have to mention the service at the hotel, which was outstanding. Everyone was so accommodating and helpful, and one concierge even remembered our name on Thursday even though we had only spoken to her once on Monday.
We visited the spa once and had a couples massage in an outdoor hale (a massage hut facing the ocean). While pricey, it was a great massage, and the few dollars extra you spend on the outdoor hut is worth it - it’s very relaxing to hear the ocean as you get your massage and we didn’t really hear anyone on the beach.
The highlight of the resort is of course the pools, including the adults only Serenity Pool which is located above the ground level and features an infinity pool and multiple hot tubs. We spent most of our time there. Service was great and people came around frequently with little snacks or to spray you with Evian spray. The one thing to note is that it can be difficult to get chairs at the Serenity Pool. Cabanas can be rented for an exorbitant fee, and there is a row of chairs that can be booked the day in advance for an additional fee (I think it was $100). Note however that the chairs that can be prebooked face the pool, whereas other chairs face the ocean. One thing we didn’t learn until the last day was that you can get to the pool early in the morning before anything is taken and put your name down with a return time. If chairs are available at your return time they call you, and if you don’t come within 15 minutes they move you down the list.
where we ate
Lahaina Grill - Lahaina is on the other side of the island, about an hour from Wailea, but this was the best meal of our trip. Everything was delicious. This was one of the best salmons we’ve ever had. Service was also fantastic here and they took a photo at the table that was emailed to us after the meal. Before dessert the waiter asked us if we were celebrating anything and when he heard birthday he took away our menus and returned with a piece of triple berry pie that had Happy Birthday Stephanie written on the plate and said it was on the house.
Mama’s Fish House - This is a huge restaurant in the middle of nowhere with a real classic Hawaiian feel. It’s a pretty famous place that’s been around since the ‘60s. When you come in you see signed photos of all of the celebrities that have visited. Food is great - it’s a real solid seafood meal (Tzvi had yellowtail collar) - and the desserts are unique and tasty as well. Service was great and they had a card waiting when we arrived that said Happy Birthday.
Ferarro’s Bar e Ristorante (at the Four Seasons) - The Italian restaurant located in the Four Seasons, the whole restaurant is outside, which is nice unless it’s night time, in which case instead of an ocean view you just see black. Like every restaurant in Hawaii they serve fish, but they primarily served pasta and Italian staples. Like everything at the Four Seasons the service is great. The Italian food is a nice change of pace from the fish you’re eating everywhere else, but not a must visit if you’re not staying at the Four Seasons.
Monkeypod Kitchen - Just up the road from the Four Seasons, Monkeypod’s website makes the restaurant look modern and trendy, but in reality it’s a super casual restaurant. The food was fine but the night was a bit soured by the fact that we overdressed and the experience didn’t meet our expectations. There wasn’t much on the menu that tickled us and we skipped dessert.
Spago (at the Four Seasons) - We didn’t eat dinner here, but after we left Monkeypod unsatisfied we stopped here for dessert upon getting back to the hotel. We had great drinks and fantastic dessert. Any restaurant that serves kaiserschmaren (an Austrian pancake dessert) gets a good review from us. We came when the restaurant was empty, but it was nice to sit outside and service was great.
Breakfast at the Four Seasons - Fantastic but traditional breakfast buffet. Highlights were probably the pastries.
Poolside at the Four Seasons - The food ordered poolside was good enough but small portions and high priced. It gets the job done, but don’t expect too much.
Breakfast at O’o Farms - see below under “What We Did”
what we did
O’o Farms Seed to Cup Coffee and Breakfast Tour
On the website the tour looked totally legit, but its basically a totally laid back and informal guided tour of a farm. That’s not a bad thing - this was a totally unique and non-commercial experience unlike any we’ve had before and something I would recommend in a heartbeat.
The farm is two buildings and lots of fields on 8 acres and basically exists just to supply its owners’ restaurants. We were the only visitors on the day we went and basically got led around the fields to pick, and eat on the spot, lettuce, flowers (yes - edible flowers), fruits and vegetables. Basically they told us to just go ahead and pick whatever we wanted and eat it.
As for the coffee, we explored the coffee fields and picked coffee cherries from the trees, we saw the roasting process (it’s all in one building) and got to sample a lot of different coffees.
The highlight of the tour though is really the breakfast. For the most farm-to-table experience we’ve ever had, we had breakfast outside at a table overlooking the fields, and were served only foods that had been grown at the farm and picked fresh for our meal. The best part was probably the two dozen sticky honey-coffee cherry breakfast buns that were made in outdoor brick oven (we ate all of them). The meal was very vegetable-centric, but it was delicious and so incredibly fresh.
Blue Hawaiian Helicopter Tour of West Maui and Molokai
There are two options when booking - you can either do the A-Star or the Eco-Star. The Eco-Star is just slightly more expensive and has a lot more glass than the A-Star so you can see a lot more. We did the Eco-Star. Luckily we got put in the front row (you get good views wherever you sit, but the front was definitely better). Unfortunately seating is based on weight - they need to evenly distribute - so you don’t get to pick your seat. Our pilot served as tour guide and DJ, and did some light commentary. He was very good.
Our tour took us over West Maui and Molakai. Molokaʻi is the fifth largest island of the eight Hawaiian islands, is just northwest of Maui, and was originally used as a leprosy colony. Basically, it’s a lot of really empty land that you cant reach by car and is really beautiful. There were even 2000 foot tall waterfalls, which for comparison, are taller than the Freedom Tower. At one point we were going over a vast empty field of trees and the pilot started playing the theme from Jurassic Park, which went with the scenery perfectly.
final thoughts and what we didn’t do
We didn’t do the Road to Hana, a driving trail that takes the better part of a day to navigate and takes you through the forest where you can see beautiful views and waterfalls (and I think you can swim in the waterfalls as well). Given the limited time we had on the island and the fact that the main purpose of our trip was to relax and enjoy the sun, we just couldn’t justify spending almost an entire day driving and seeing nature. I recommend reading about it and seeing if it’s something that interests you, and try to talk to someone who’s done it, but ultimately we had no regrets about skipping this one.