Hi y’all! Hope your Monday is fabulous. The other week I had such an incredible 7 days in Maui and received so many questions about different things we did. I wanted to round it all up in today’s post. Last September, I knew for a grad gift I wanted a trip. Around November, my parents called me and said they would give me their timeshare in Maui, Hawaii for a week. They get it 2 weeks each year and they are going for a week in July for my moms 50th. So Josh and I got the other week available.
We started saving for our flight tickets, rental car, and activities/food immediately. We planned it for the day after I graduate so that we could both take off from work all at one time and also be able to start full-time at the end of May/beginning of June.ย I had been SO excited all semester for this. I grew up going to Maui with my family since I was little so this was my first time to go all by myself, and with my fiancรฉ. We wanted to do it big, but also stay within a budget. Hawaii is freaking expensive yโall. I never realized until this trip when I was on my own dime haha. BUT, we had the time of our life and I wanted to share a little bit about what each day looked like for us and also different ways we saved.
Sunday
Sunday we got in around 3pm. From there, we went to grab our rental car from Enterprise. We got a really awesome 4-door black jeep. Customer service there was amazing and we really enjoyed renting from them. Afterwards, we went straight to Foodland. Something my parents always did for us growing up was buy groceries for breakfast and lunch and we ate dinner out. It saves a ton of money. Josh and I had a couple to breakfast and lunch spots picked out so we planned meals for the week around that. Definitely the best thing to do if you don’t want to blow through cash everyday on food. Foodland also has some of the BEST pokรจ. I had to grab a snack for the road haha. Josh wasn’t too sure about this… it was his first time to eat it and I think he liked it but a few bites was enough lol.
From the airport, it’s about an hour drive to the west side of Maui where we were staying. My parents timeshare is at The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas. I love the area it’s in and it’s stunning. We checked in, got situated, and went to meet some friends for dinner. About a week before we left I saw one of my friends IG stories about the fact she will be in Maui. Her last two days ended up being our first two days so we got together with her and her husband Monday night at a restaurant I was dying to try. We ate at MonkeyPod kitchen in Whaler’s village and y’all. You MUST go here. It’s so fun, fabulous music, incredible food, and ocean views!! Seriously some of the best food and drinks.
Monday
On Monday we woke up, made breakfast, and headed out to explore and grab coffee from a little shop in Whaler’s Village again. We loved Island Coffee? for caffeine and they have really great breakfast too. We walked, sat around, and had a relaxing morning. From there, since I was so obsessed with the jeep haha I asked Josh if we could just explore/drive. Well we ended up driving for like 2 hours and it was incredible. We had the top off, windows down, and the views alone were enough. It was so cool to drive through, see the surfers out on the water, all the families, I mean Hawaii is the most beautiful place.
After we got back it was pretty late in the afternoon so we just hung and laid out by the pool for a bit. We went in around 3:00 to get ready for some photos. That friend from the night before? She’s and incredible photographer and was SO sweet enough to offer to snap a few “newly engaged” photos for Josh and I. I can’t wait to share them with y’all! Afterwards, we headed to Pa’ia for our dinner reservation. I’ve read the best things about this restaurant and how it books super fast. I ended up making a reservation for it back in March haha. We did 5:30pm for our dinner so that we could watch the sunset with it. It’s called Mama’s Fish House and it’s on the a stunning property right on the water. The restaurant is seriously one of a kind. It’s EXPENSIVE. But well worth it. Every day they print new menus/ have new items because it’s completely based off of what they catch that day. So cool right!? I mean, this was some of the freshest fish and both of our meals were the best we had the whole trip. Our waiter was so kind and the hospitality alone made our evening. I ended up making a reservation for my parent’s anniversary when they come in July too.
If you drive a little down the beach past Mama’s Fish House (on the road to Hana just a few mins down) there’s a really amazing beach that has wind surfers out there and also so many turtles laying out on the sand. I mentioned earlier that Mama’s Fish House was in Pa’ia and that was the coolest little town. I recommend going a little early for dinner and getting a chance to walk around.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, we had the same morning routine as the day before and we went down to the beach for a bit to lay out. Around lunch I was determined to take a drive and go to a little juice stand we passed on the way up to our resort from the airport. It’s called Olowalu Juice Stand and it’s such a fun little outing. They have a huge fruit stand (amazing banana bread) and we bought a whole coconut and a bunch of mangos. It was SO fresh and delicious. They have a food truck where they serve juices/smoothies and we got 2 different kinds from the list and sat at a table while chickens and baby chicks ran around us. It was amazing haha. If you go, get the coconut!! They open the top so you can drink the coconut water and when you’re done, you hand it back to them and they will open it up and cut the coconut meat us. Incredible!! After that, we went back to our resort, got ready and headed to Lahaina town pretty early to explore.
Lahaina was my favorite for shaved ice (Ululani’s), Gelato (Ono Gelato), dinner, and just walking around. We went early to shop around, and check it all out. If you walk down a bit there’s also a HUGE tree that my siblings and I used to take pics in when we were little called the Banyan tree. It’s a pretty cool sight! Josh and I got stuck in an art gallery afterwards and this guy talked to us for like 2 hours haha. He was SO nice and really cool but I was starving and by the time we got out it was dark and we wanted something fast. We went to a place called Kool Kats. It was a little burger/diner joint. Wasn’t my personal favorite but Josh LOVED it haha. He got a really awesome burger and a beer so my dude was very happy lol.
Wednesday
Wednesday was a LONG day. We did the Road To Hana this day haha! My dad and everyone warned us not to do the whole thing… so we had to do the whole thing lol. It’s about a 6 hour drive all the way through with all the stops and then about 4-5 hours back. We hit the road around 7am and drove to Pa’ia again. We ate at the COOLEST coffee shop. I mean… it was like an outdoor rainforest y’all. I was in heaven. I believe it was called Pa’ia Bay Coffee. We also filled up gas here and then started our trek. We stopped along the twin falls, bamboo forest, and a bunch of random places to see waterfalls. It was beautiful. About half way, we were dizzy from the winding road and hungry. We stopped at the coolest little food truck area… we got these pork tacos with homemade Mac n cheese and everything was so awesome!! I can’t even explain it haha. We went on through the end and there was absolutely nothing in Hana. I mean, there’s a hike and other stuff you can do but we just wanted a cool view and there was nothing. I definitely recommend just doing half way next time haha.
Once we reached Ka’anapali (where we were staying), we decided to grab dinner so we could grill at our resort. My dad always did this and he LOVES Maui Fish Company. It’s some of the freshest fish! We picked up some Mahi Mahi, Ahi, and potatoes.
Thursday
Thursday was SUCH a fun day. We started our morning at 7am and drove down to Wailea, Maui. This is such a nice area. We went to a little beach called Makena Landing and met our Stand Up Paddleboard instructor. We went through a company called Maui Stand Up Paddleboarding and they were wonderful!! We loved our guide and while it was kind of challenging to do on the ocean, we saw sea turtles and went pretty far out. It was a really cool experience. I also loved hearing about all the wonderful things they are doing. They are extremely environmental friendly, which I loved. They offer other activities too so y’all check them out next time you’re there!
After our fun morning, we stopped by Wow Wow Lemonade. It was SO delicious. Some of the freshest lemonade I’ve ever had and an incredible aรงaรญ bowl. After we were full, we headed back to our resort to relax. That night, we went to a restaurant called Aloha Plate. The whole restaurant was outside, and the view is amazing. We were not that impressed with the food though ๐
Friday
Friday we were so exhausted from the last two early days that we slept in. Once we woke up we got in the car and drove about 30 mins away to see the Nakalele blow hole. This was another thing my siblings and I did and Josh and I had so much fun seeing it together. Afterwards, we drove back and went snorkeling!! This was Josh’s first time to snorkel. He loved it. It’s such a cool experience and we saw a ton of fish and eel. We made plans to do a Luau this night (so touristy but fun for first-timers. Aka Josh. haha). We did he Luau at the Sheraton and the food was awesome. We sat next to two kids our age and we had so much fun talking to them. Afterwards, we actually all went down to Lahaina and got drinks at a fun bar. It was called The Dirty Monkey lol and it was SUCH a blast.ย
Saturday
Saturday was our last day sadly ๐ Josh and I just hung at our resort and left for a second to get more shaved ice. ๐ We went to drop off our car around 5pm and our flight took off around 8pm.
We had SUCH an incredible 7 days in Maui and it was really special getting to go with Josh right after we got engaged. Thanks so much for reading!! We also created a little highlight reel of our whole 7 days in Maui. Check it out:
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