8 Day Maui Babymoon – 2021 Itinerary

Aloha! We just got back from 8 days in Maui and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was combination trip of 5 year wedding anniversary and Babymoon as we expect our first at the end of September. We could almost picture ourselves living there. Almost. Spoiler – it’s expensive. Definitely looked up house prices on Zillow.

This will be a rather business-like post similar to our previous trip itinerary from Japan 2015 .

We spent 8 days/7 nights in Maui with our time split between Wailea and Ka’anapali areas. Our structured itinerary is below – shout out to Connie for keeping it up to date and making this a copy/paste post for me.

You’ll notice some days are split in 2 as we traveled with another couple with slightly different activities.

Itinerary

Activities

Ali’i Kula Lavender Fields – nice few hours to escape the heat. Easy drive from Wailea. Basically a big garden with some exotic plants. Instagrammers dream. https://www.aliikulalavender.com/

Haleakalā at Sunset – this was probably the highlight of the trip for me. Plan to arrive 15-20 minutes before sunset to find parking. The drive up is an experience in itself. Driving up the windy road through the clouds, you start to wonder if you’ll ever see the sun again. And then, boom. You’re out of the clouds facing an amazing sunset. Bring a jacket as the temperatures are 30 degrees cooler and windy. https://www.nps.gov/hale/index.htm

Road to Hana – start early and follow Gypsy Guide’s Road to Hana tour. Highly recommended – made the drive much more interesting than random stops. If you get car sick, bring snacks and crank the AC as it lives up to its reputation of windy. Start early to beat some of the traffic and get to end quicker so you’re not driving back in the dark. https://gypsyguide.com/tour/road-to-hana-maui/ https://roadtohana.com/

Drums of the Pacific Luau – what’s a trip to Hawaii without a good ole luau. Drums of the Pacific was very fun, food was good, and the show was great. https://drumsofthepacificmaui.com/

Kapalua Plantation Course – I played this course mainly for the views and they were amazing. Still trying to break 100 (upcoming blog post on that) and shot 105. Course was in decent condition but the greens weren’t championship level. Pricey for sure. Not sure I’d pay it again but do not regret getting the experience. https://www.golfatkapalua.com/plantation-course/

Ku’ia Chocolate Tasting – Yum! This was a fun hour getting to taste different chocolate made right on the island. Like a wine tasting but for chocholics. https://mauichocolate.com/ While there, I met the owner of the Maui Gold Bee Tour. Looks like a fun experience to check out next time. https://www.mauigoldbeetour.com/

Travel & Lodging

Points, points, points. Maui is the place to be right now so dig deep into your credit cards and loyalty accounts to save big money. We flew Delta roundtrip for 98,000 points total for both of us which seems like a steal. Got upgraded on every leg with 2 first class upgrades. Hard to beat free!

We split our stay between an Airbnb and Sheraton Ka’anapali. Our Airbnb was well equipped in Wailea complete with beach towels, chairs, and golf clubs. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/37290753

The Sheraton was great fun. Throughout our stay, memories came back to me of visiting years ago with my parents. Tried to buy some kadima paddles to recreate the long afternoons on the lawn but the shop only sold beach footballs. We spent 215,000 points for our stay which definitely felt steep but when you compare that to their $600+ nightly rates we were happy to spend our points instead of real dollars. https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/hnmsi-sheraton-maui-resort-and-spa/

Have you been to Maui or planning to go this summer? Let me know! Would love swap stories or answer any questions you have.