Hotels near Kahului Airport - OGG, Kahului

We left at 3:00 in the morning to travel up Haleakala to see the morning sunrise. A park ranger performed the traditional Polynesian sunrise ceremony to welcome the sun, which made it especially momentous. I think everyone felt some of that spiritual connection - it was a beautiful experience! We also saw Makena Cove at sunset the night prior, and its beauty took our breath away!

The Hana bus tour was a little long (10 hours), but still okay for a one time experience. I really enjoyed visiting Lahaina and taking the submarine tour to view the fish underwater. The restaurants next to and across from Maui Seaside Hotel were EXCELLENT, which kept me happy indeed!

I liked the Tasty Crust and the Ale House. It took a bit to get used to the way streets were labeled. Google did a very poor job of referring to them by the same label as the street signs which made it confusing for the first day. Once I quit trying to use it things got better. There weren't any fun activities in town but it is reasonably central to other areas.

We chose a very busy time to travel to Maui but the price for this 3.5 star bordered on obscene. It's a fantastic original 60's building with abundant opportunity to make smart, groovy, stylish, yet affordable accomm for seasoned travellers. However, it looks like a daggy old motel that ran out of paint. Many guests were gutted by the overall quality for the price - you only had to take one look at the rug in the foyer. The location by the sea was great, the port and the road - not so great (particularly on Sundays and Mondays when the cruise boats were in), but the gardens were charming. The air-con units were loud and clunky so we turned ours off and enjoyed the sea breeze. Beds ok, linen cheap and nasty, shower fabulous. Luckily for the greedy, tasteless owners of this hotel, the delightfully friendly (predominantly Philippini) staff went out of their way to assist guests with genuine care and attention, without prejudice and should be appropriately showered with thanks and praise.

Kahului is on the windy side of the island, but has very convenient access to services, basic shopping, and transportation to get to other areas of the island. There is a farmer's market in the shopping center :)

The town is near the airport and lots of shopping. For us we wanted a central location to drive from. That decision worked well as we branched out to visit blow hole, West Maui and then out the Hana HIghway to Hana and sights. If you're looking to enjoy a resort, I recommend one of the resorts in Lahaina, or Kaanapali.