Maui — The Valley Island

Attractions
from Hawaii Travel Experts
    

• Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum is a stately sugar planation superintendent's residence. Learn about Maui's geography and water system, and the people and events that created What was Hawaii's dominant industry for nearly a century.
• Baldwin Home in Lahaina, now a museum, is an excellent example of early Hawaiian Islands missionary homes.
• Banyan Tree in Lahaina, planted in 1873, is said to be the largest banyan tree in all Hawaii.
• Bailey House Museum, the charming 1830s home of missionary Edward Bailey sits on a historic site at the mouth of Iao Valley. The museum features missionary memorabilia, Hawaiian artifacts, gardens, oil paintings, and a museum shop of locally crafted Hawaiiana and fine books.
• Hale Paahao is the old jail built for drunken and disorderly members of whaling crews that roared through Lahaina in themid-1800s.
• Haleakala National Park is the place where, according to Polynesian legend, that the demigod Maui captured the Sun and held it captive to give his people more daylight hours. And here you may stand to capture an unforgettable scenic view. From the crater's topmost rim to its floor is a drop of 3,000 feet. The crater floor measures 25 square miles, a fascinating landscape of richly colored cinder cones. Haleakala's last eruption was more than 200 years ago.
• Iao Valley is now an enchantingly tranquil park, but in 1790 was the site of bloody fighting when Kamehameha conquered Maui in the famed Battle of Kepaniwai.
• Kaahumanu Church is the oldest Congregational Hawaiian church of central Maui; the original section was built in 1837.
• Kaanapali is one of Hawaii's top resort areas, along three miles of golden sand beach with a misty mountain backdrop. Lots of recreational facilities — golf, tennis, riding, swimming — and the whaling museum / shopping center.
• Kanaha Bird Sanctuary, where each winter, migratory birds from the American Northwest make this park their Hawaiian Islands vacation home.
• Kapalua on the northwest coast of Maui has the luxurious Kapalua Resort, offering its residents and guests golf, tennis, three beaches, restaurants, with luxury hotel and vacation condominium accommodations.
• Kaumahina Park, halfway point on the drive from Kahului to Hana, is a perfect place to pause and picnic.
• Kihei is the friendly little town that meanders along the southern west coast of Maui, at the foot of magnificent Haleakala. Kihei is different from other destinations because it deftly blends residential and resort life: on any given day there is about an equal mix of residents and visitors. There is a variety of businesses, shops, and restaurants notable for their non-resort prices.
• Lahaina was the first capitol of the Hawaiian Islands and still the historic heart of Maui. This colorful town is stepped in memories and evidence of whaling days, missionaries, ancient Hawaiian rulers, and the plantation workers from various countries who migrated to Maui.
• Lahainaluna School is the oldest school west of the Rocky Mountains, established in 1831. Its first building of poles and grass was replaced by a stone building which still stands on the modern school grounds. Here you will see Hale Pai, the old press on which Hawaii's first newspaper was printed in 1834.
• Makena lies amid the grandeur at the foot of the Haleakala Volcano along the southwest shore, where 1800 acres have been cultivated as a resort. Makena has a hotel, two condominium complexes, and restaurants. Makena is also home to two 18-hole golf courses, tennis facilities, and pristine beaches — Onolea, popularly called Big Beach; and Puu or Little Beach.
• Maui Tropical Plantation is a working plantation with acres of tropical fruits, sugarcane, coffee, and macadamia nuts.
• Oheo Stream (Seven Pools), of which it is said that in these crystal pools, the mother of Maui the demigod used to wash and bleach her tapa cloth.
• Puaa Kaa Park is a gem of a park whose name means the place of the rolling pigs — dating from days gone by when plump wild pigs were said to have rolled down the slick, steep grassy hills.
• Tedeschi Winery is Hawaii's only winery. Taste its light pineapple wine, a forerunner to the production of grape wine from vineyards on the slopes of Haleakala.
• Waianapanapa Caves, where strong swimmers and scuba divers, diving into a pool and swimming underwater, can reach a big inner cave — a legendary trysting place for lovers of old.
• Wailea is a deluxe 1500-acre beach front resort area between Kihei and Makena. Facilities include hotels, condominiums, fine restaurants, three championship 18-hole golf courses, a tennis club, excellent swimming beaches, and a view of neighboring Hawaiian Islands.
• Wailua Lookout has a choice view of the entire Keanae Peninsula and its spectacularly lovely coastline.
• Whalers Village Museum at Kaanapali exhibits hundreds of antiquities recalling the boisterous, rowdy years of the whalers, housed in a picturesque atmosphere — the yesteryear of the whaling ships.