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Where to Stay on MauiWhere to Stay on Maui -- there are 20,000 hotel rooms to choose from on Maui. Maui has two main resort zones that are both on the sunny drier sheltered side of the island. MAUI RESORT AREAS Maui's two major resort zones are West Maui and South Maui. ===== WEST MAUI RESORT AREAS The West Maui resorts lie along the base of the West Maui Mountain that is 5,000 feet high and blocks some of the winter storms, but also blocks some of the cooling trade winds in summer. To stay out of the path of most winter storms in West Maui, it is best to stay in the sheltered resort areas of Kaanapali and Lahaina during Maui winter. Conversely, during summer on Maui when the weather is always good enough to stay anywhere, it is somewhat cooler to stay in the West Maui areas of Kapalua, Napili, Kahana, and Honokowai, which are in the path of the prevalent cooling northeast trade winds that also bring occasional refreshing light summer showers as they sweep around the north side of the West Maui mountains. ===== SOUTH MAUI RESORT AREAS South Maui resorts of Wailea and Makena sit at the base of Haleakala Mountain, which is 10,000 feet high and massive enough to block virtually all of the storms winter -- but also block some of the cooling trade winds in summer. So by comparison, South Maui is somewhat hotter in summer and more sheltered in winter than the more exposed West Maui resorts at the base of the West Maui Mountain that is only half as high at 5,000 feet of elevation. ===== Links for WHERE TO STAY ON MAUI:
WINTER SUMMER May - September If you are planning to vacation on Maui in the summer, you can choose to stay in any areas of Maui, because they all have ideal weather in the Maui summer. Summer is the warmer season on Maui, being north of the equator over 1,200 miles. But the prevalence of trade winds in summer acts as natural ventilation making everyone cooler. The summers are warm but not hot, so that air conditioning is a luxury rather than a necessity – although most new hotels and businesses do have central air conditioning. During Maui summer the temperature is ideal in the shade -- and in the gentle sun of early morning & late afternoon -- and at night. Widespread rainstorms are rare summer, resulting in ideal sunny beach weather. In summer most rainfall consists of trade-winds showers, and these showers are most apt to occur at night. In the dry leeward areas, occasional light trade-wind showers may drift from the mountains downwind over the resort beaches briefly and then clear up, especially by afternoon. Humidity is frequently a comfortable 50 to 55 percent in the drier, warmer coastal resort zones. In the dry leeward areas like Lahaina and Kihei-Wailea, temperatures in the low 90’s may be reached on several days during the year, but temperatures higher than these are unusual. So although the weather during Maui summers is nice enough to stay anywhere on the island, the only exception might be the town of Lahaina, which can be a little too hot in summer, because it is cut off from the cooling northeast trade winds by the West Maui Mountains. =====
WEST MAUI RESORT AREAS DESCRIBED: The West Maui resorts lie along the base of the West Maui Mountain that is 5,000 feet high and blocks some of the winter storms, but also blocks some of the cooling trade winds in summer. Listed in order from south to north, starting with the areas most sheltered from winter storms: ----- LAHAINA TOWN The town of Lahaina [which means ‘Relentless Sun’] is sunny and balmy virtually every day of the year because the West Maui Mountain shields it from storms. This may be why the Hawaiian royalty chose to live in Lahaina, which is very dry and relatively free of clouds. Winter weather is best in Lahaina, of all the West Maui areas. However Lahaina has only a handful of hotels, and only two small beaches. ----- KAANAPALI Kaanapali is ideally located halfway between the relentless sun of Lahaina and the winter storms farther north, resulting in many rainbows in Kaanapali, especially during the winter storm season. Kaanapali has many of Maui’s finest resorts along the longest beach in West Maui, extending for three miles, with a beach walkway all the way along it. Also a world-class golf course. ----- HONOKOWAI Honokowai is north of Kaanapali, and is often the southern limit of the trade wind storms from the northeast as they sweep around the West Maui Mountains. Honokowai has a rocky coastline with very few small beaches, and as a result its condo-hotels are mostly rocky oceanfront rather than beachfront. Honokowai is an area containing many smaller condo-hotels that may be less expensive than the larger resort hotels to the south or north. It is also the location of the small airport in West Maui. ----- KAHANA Called by locals the “Kahana car wash”, this is where rains and wind most often sweep around the West Maui Mountains from the northeast, and where their cars get a brief dousing when driving through on the highway. In Kahana there is one main beach several hundred yards long, and along it are clustered five high-rise twelve-story resort hotels, and a few more across the street. ----- NAPILI The main resort area here is Napili Bay, with a beautiful but smallish beach and a handful of small condo-hotels crowded along it. ----- KAPALUA Farthest north is a former pineapple plantation has been converted into the luxury resort area of Kapalua, with world class golf courses. (But pineapple was grown here because it often rains in Kapalua in the winter.) ----- SUMMARY OF WEST MAUI RESORT AREAS The West Maui resorts lie along the base of the West Maui Mountain that is 5,000 feet high and blocks some of the winter storms, but also blocks some of the cooling trade winds in summer. To stay out of the path of most winter storms in West Maui, it is best to stay in the sheltered resort areas of Kaanapali and Lahaina during Maui winter. Conversely, during summer on Maui when the weather is always good enough to stay anywhere, it is somewhat cooler to stay in the West Maui areas of Kapalua, Napili, Kahana, and Honokowai, which are in the path of the prevalent cooling northeast trade winds that also bring occasional refreshing light summer showers as they sweep around the north side of the West Maui mountains. -----
SOUTH MAUI RESORT AREAS DESCRIBED: South Maui resorts sit at the base of Haleakala Mountain, which is 10,000 feet high and massive enough to block virtually all of the storms winter but also much of the cooling trade winds in summer. Below are the South Maui resorts listed in order from south to north, starting with the areas most sheltered from winter storms: ----- MAKENA Sheltered Makena has one resort hotel, a great golf course, and Big Beach, the deepest Beach on Maui (although not as long as the string of beaches in Kihei or Kaanapali Beach in West Maui). ----- WAILEA Wailea is a luxury resort area with several grand hotels along a beach walkway, with two world-class golf courses. On most days Wailea lies beneath a long narrow cloud that extends from the mountain out over the ocean, which provides cooling shade in summer, but also blocks some of the sun from the Wailea beaches in winter. ----- KIHEI Kihei consists of a six mile strip of resorts and condo-hotels mostly across the road from a string of beaches running the entire length. Here tourist accommodations may be less expensive than the larger luxury resort hotels to the south in Wailea. ----- SUMMARY OF SOUTH MAUI RESORT AREAS South Maui resorts sit at the base of Haleakala Mountain, which is 10,000 feet high and massive enough to block virtually all of the storms winter but also much of the cooling trade winds in summer. So by comparison, South Maui is hotter in summer and more sheltered in winter than the somewhat more exposed West Maui resorts at the base of the West Maui Mountain that is only half as high at 5,000 feet of elevation. ===== MAALAEA Maalaea condo-hotels face a harbor and are separated from South Maui by lowland beaches. Here are some of the highest winds that funnel across the low isthmus between the two high mountains of Maui, as evidenced by the wind turbines generating electricity on the mountainside above Maalaea. ===== It is the purpose of this website to list a choice selection of places to stay on Maui. It is NOT the purpose of this website to list every place to stay on Maui. Many other web sites do that. Many of the places to stay on Maui are listed here, but not all. In the category of condo-hotels, the only ones listed here are beachfront. NOT listed here are many more condo-hotels scattered along rocky coastlines, and also many more inland built across the roads from the coasts of Maui. Because they are not beachfront, many of those condo-hotels not listed here are of the less expensive variety. Those condo-hotels not listed here can be found by searching the internet. =====
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