From the reef to the summit.
Snorkel trips out to Molokini, the long drive to Hana, sunrise on Haleakala and the whales in between: what each one is really like, what it costs, and where to book it.
The bookings that make the trip.
These are the bookings that anchor a Maui week: the Molokini morning, the drive out to Hana with someone else at the wheel, the whale boat in winter, and the luau you reserve before you land.
Maui Pineapple Farm Tour in Haliimaile
Walk upcountry in Haliimaile’s working pineapple fields, taste Maui Gold at different ripeness stages, and take home an airport-ready pineapple.
From $99 per person
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★ 4.5Sells out fastMaui Snorkeling Adventure From Ma’alaea Harbor to MolokiniFrom $1851,997 reviews
★ 5.0Crowd favouriteTurtle Town Snorkel with Photo and VideoFrom $1291,916 reviews
★ 5.0Easy winRoad to Hana Adventure Maui Tour with LunchFrom $2761,832 reviews
★ 4.5Worth the early start7-Line Maui Zipline on the North ShoreFrom $1551,648 reviews
★ 5.0Family pickLahaina ATV AdventureFrom $2021,582 reviews
★ 5.0First-timer favouriteMaui South Coast and Molokini Crater Adventure from KiheiFrom $2321,575 reviews
The drive is the destination.
Leave Paia early, before the vans stack up at the one-lane bridges, then let the day unspool: black-sand Waianapanapa, the roadside waterfalls, banana bread from a roadside stand, the pools out past Hana. Book a driver and you actually get to look out the window instead of at the map.
Which Maui snorkel is yours?
The reefs are the reason half of Maui books a boat, and where you point it changes the whole day. Three good answers, each already reviewed and priced. Pick the one that sounds like your kind of morning.
Out to the crater
Molokini
5 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $159 · 2,221 reviews
A boat ride out to the sunken crescent crater, where the water runs sixty, eighty, a hundred feet clear and the fish stack up along the back wall. Go on an early trip for the calm and the visibility, before the wind and the crowds arrive together.
See the Molokini cruises →
Turtles up close
Turtle Town
5 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $159 · 2,221 reviews
Closer in, off the south shore near Makena, green sea turtles graze the reef in water calm enough for a first snorkel. Reached by boat or clear kayak, it is the gentler option and the one most likely to put a honu an arm’s length away.
See the Turtle Town tours →
Out to Lanai
Lanai
4 hours (approx.) · from $175 · 927 reviews
The longer trip: a morning sail across the channel to Lanai, spinner dolphins riding the bow on a good day and the lava arches of the Cathedrals underneath. More time on the water, wilder reef, fewer other boats.
See the Lanai tours →
The west side saves the best for last.
Maui’s whole west coast faces the sunset, so the evening boats push off from Kaanapali and Maalaea just as the sky starts to turn. Dinner comes out, the bar opens, the sun drops behind Lanai, and in winter a humpback often breaches on the way back in.
Winter belongs to the humpbacks.
Every winter, thousands of humpbacks migrate down from Alaska to breed and calve in the warm, shallow water between Maui and Lanai. From December to April you can meet them from a raft at eye level or a catamaran with an open bar, often close enough to hear the blow.
The parts of Maui with no road.
Some of the best of the island, the West Maui waterfalls, the sea cliffs, the far side of Haleakala, has no road to it at all. A doors-off helicopter, a zipline strung across a gulch or a paraglider off the upcountry slopes is the only way in, and the view comes with the ride.
Above the clouds by sunrise.
Haleakala tops out past ten thousand feet, high enough that sunrise happens above the clouds and cold enough to want a jacket in the tropics. Come back down slow through the switchbacks into upcountry Kula: lavender rows, protea farms, a hillside winery and cool air that feels nothing like the coast.
The island, corner by corner.
Each coast is its own day out. Molokini for the clear water. Hana for the waterfalls. The west side for the whales and the sunset. Upcountry for the cool air, Lanai for the crossing.
Land, water or air?
Twelve ways to spend a day on Maui. Pick the one that sounds like you, and every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Your first three days on Maui.
You can’t see all of Maui in one trip, but you can get the shape of it in three days. This is the order we’d give a friend landing in Kahului tomorrow: water first, the long drive second, the summit last.
Day 1
First, the ocean
Jet-lagged and up early anyway, so point it at the ocean. A morning boat to Molokini or Turtle Town, calm and clear, then an afternoon doing nothing on a south-shore beach.
Plan day one →
Day 2
The long drive east
The big one. Out early for the waterfalls, the black-sand beach and the banana bread, and let a driver take the switchbacks so you can actually look out the window. Long day, worth every mile.
Plan day two →
Day 3
The volcano at dawn
Set an alarm you’ll resent and drive up Haleakala for sunrise above the clouds, jacket on. Coast back down through upcountry Kula for lavender, a farm lunch and warm air again.
Plan day three →
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