Honolulu is better than Lahanina. This is my second trip to Hawaii. My last trip was to Maui and my wife and I had an good time. Of all the places to stay on Maui, then we got lucky by picking Lahanina. It is a tourist town with bars, specialty art shops, clubs, dinner shows, and water tour boats. The only other place that is better on Maui, and for different reasons is Hana. Hana is the opposite because it is on the remote side of the island along the shore of the rain forest. This is a place to really relax. In one word it is cozy. Oahu and Maui both have volcanos but only one is so huge that you can camp overnight in. Yup I said camp overnight. That place is Maui and it is a short drive from Hana. The Haleakal Carter is a national park. The vocano in Honolulu is downtown and can be climbed on foot. Foreget about hiking up Haleakala; its 10,000 feet in the clouds. The beaches are better on Oahu. But better doesn't mean Maui is aweful. Hawaii does have a winter so our trip in March was in the 70's which is to cold to swim in. The best beaches are just in Lahaina but Oahu has more beaches around the island. Enjoy your trip

Lahaina beach is a very beautiful beach on Maui. I definitely would recommend visiting this place if you plan on staying at a hotel or renting a condo that is located ON the beach. The views are to die for and the snorkeling is great. The only thing I am not very impressed with is the lack of variety in places to go nearby. I'm sure my living in LA in SoCal doesn't help, but Lahaina appears to still be in the process of being developed. Many shops here have just celebrated their grand opening, and more places are being built. If you plan on spending most of your time at the beach, definitely choose around this area. If you plan on doing more hiking, visiting Hana, or surfing, try to stay more towards the main airport on Maui as that is centralized to all the great hiking and surfing spots!

Maui was great! Our flights were good. We even got moved up to a exit row on the way there. Both flights were full. It was raining when we arrived and settled down after a day or so. Light sprinkling and overcast for a few more days. The last 2 days we had regular Maui weather with sun.
We upgraded our rental car to a convertible- going for their add on special like I am sure 1/2 the visitors do!-as soon as we arrived ignoring the weather and hoping for sun!
We toughed it out and went snorkeling every day even though the weather wasn't perfect. It was also windy a few days which made the waves a bit big so we had to pick and choose on where we went so as not to get drowned trying to exit the water. hahaha We saw sea turtles every day and took some pics with underwater cameras. We will post them online if you want to see them. They came right up to us. We didn't have to search them out and we weren't feeding them like some people- so annoying and so bad for them! We saw a lot of really cool fish and on the last day we saw a barracuda which was enough to get us out of the water for awhile. We snorkeled at Black Rock- which is by the Sheraton and Airport Beach which was right off our parking lot by the Westin. The coral was amazing at airport beach. We did try to go to napili and kapalua but it was too murky with all the wind/waves.
We rented gear from Snorkel Bobs. My boyfriends fins didn't fit right and they were sort of clueless to remedy the problem. He wears size 14 but I am assuming other people have big feet. We went to the place next door and rented stuff for him which fit better and was cheaper and they seemed to have more answers to our questions- and returned his gear to Snorkel Bobs. I think the good place was called Pacific Dive.
We did try a lot of the restaurants in town with our favorites I think ending up being Pioneer Inn for breakfast and Kimo's for dinner. Most of the time we got sandwiches for lunch from a deli someplace along the way. It was great! We did some shopping in Lahaina and also at whalers village.
We saw the luau at the Hyatt. It was pretty generic. It was fun but I think next time we would pick something smaller and on the beach. The Hyatt has built their own stage and the food was buffet style. It just felt very "touristy"- yet it had a huge wait line for seating and wasn't very organized being that they do it every night. We took lots of pics and enjoyed it for what it was. Who cares? We were in Hawaii! The Hyatt itself is a gorgeous property.
The location of our condo was good(Resortquest Maui Kaanapali Villas) . The room was great. It had a full kitchen. Both the room and the grounds were very clean. The house keeping staff was great too. They did give us a garden level room with a lanai. It made it easy to walk to the lobby or pool and not have to remember the room key. The pool was nice with a built in bridge and water fall. It had a nice big hot tub too. The restaurant was good but small menu and a bit over priced even for Hawaii. We figured that's what you pay for the convenience of not having to leave your hotel though.
We did order pineapples to bring home from Take Home Maui on Dickenson St. They met us at the airport at the time of our flight check in and dropped the box with us to check with our luggage. It was very convenient and not overly expensive AND the pineapples are SO good! We also got sandwiches more than one day from their deli.
Everyone every where we went was nice! That's the best part. I don't think there was one thing in Hawaii we asked for that someone didn't do or get for us.

During my stay on Maui, I experienced a vacation of a lifetime. The weather there is usually around mid 80s. It is always slightly breezy and clam. There was never a dry heat, although it was sometimes humid. It rained occasionally but it was always sunny. I was able to find many rainbows during my stay in Lahaina. I was always able to become a nice bronze color without ever burning. The water is nice and clear teal color. It was a nice relaxing temperature; not to hot or too cold. My family and I were able to swim every day. The beach was an excellent place to settle down to read a book or magazine.
If you like outgoing activities, there were a plethora of different things someone could do. While looking in a brochure about the town, I came across activities that a variety of people could participate in. There was parasailing, snorkeling, surfing, dining, boating, and my personal favorite, scuba diving. The dive sites on Maui are absolutely breathtaking. We went on several dives, each more outstanding than the previous one. Anyone could find something to do if they wanted an activity for the day.
What is really amazing about the area is the nightlife. There is a street downtown with everything anyone could ever need. It contains everything from elegant restaurants to pizza from BJ’s and Cheese burgers and Paradise. I was shopping almost every night in the local surf shops for a swim suits and clothes I knew no one else would have. There were surf clothes, dresses, souvenir shops and pearls. Everything I could ever need was all on one street.
This vacation to Lahaina really was one of the best I have ever had; I have been there four times in my life and intend to go there much more. My dad even bought a timeshare so that we could go there anytime we wish.