Maui Resorts

Maui is a great place for top quality resorts, and here you find some of the most comfortable and luxurious places to stay in the whole state of Hawaii. There are many 5 start resorts here and I will mention a few of the best.

Maui is the island most know to be the place for relaxation, sunbathing and beach time, and this might be the reason why there are so many beautiful resorts here, providing you with all you might wish for to have a relaxed and wonderful holiday.

At the Grand Wailea Resort and Spa, you are offered a lot of different activities on your stay. It’s is located at one of the most beautiful beaches, Wailea Beach, and covers about 40 acres of land. Here you have a great spa, a golf course, tennis, opportunities for sailing, snorkeling or swimming in the sea, nice pools and also conference facilities. Food holds a high standard, and so does the rooms. The landscape is beautifully built up to give a calming, soothing feeling.

At Kaanapali beach you find Sheraton Maui Resort. It was named “hotel of the year” 2007 by Starwood Hotels and Resorts and is a fancy, yet calm place to stay. It is perfect for a romantic weekend, with lots of focus on how to make your stay as pleasant as possible. Its location is beautiful and it’s possible to stay here all through your whole holiday, and find ways to enjoy yourself. Here you find water in all forms, the beach is great for swimming and there are pools and waterways in the area.

Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa at Lahaina is another great resort at Maui. This resort has everything you might want for your vacation; the 40 acres the resorts covers offers golf, tennis, spa, pools with waterfalls and slides. The view of the beach and the mountains is adorable and you have 5 restaurants and 6 lounges to choose from for you dining and evening pleasure. This resort also has great facilities for conferences.

The Ritz-Carlton Resort at Kapalua gives you an opportunity to have the best of two worlds – both the luxurious comfort of having everything you need there and also being beautifully melted into the lushness of the natural unspoiled landscape. This resort is situated at D.T. Fleming Beach and here you find all the beach activities you can ask for. The resort also holds two 18 holes golf courses on the site and there is a great spa and good dining and lounging facilities. A great place to spend a relaxed holiday.

These are some of the best resorts you can find at Maui, even though there are more to find. If you’re looking for top service and comfort, these are all safe tips to go for.

Big Island Activities

The Big Island is a very special place and is quite impressive in its natural diversity. While visiting this beautiful island there are a lot of activities for you and your family.

For those that want an experience out of the ordinary, you might want to go and swim together with dolphins. There are a few tours that can bring you to places where dolphins can be found and there you can have close contact with them, swim together and play. For an even more up close experience, you can go to Hilton Waikoloa Village and there join the dolphin quest. Here you will swim for about half an hour in small groups in a lagoon, together with bottle nose dolphins. Certainly an unforgettable experience.

Parker Ranch is another place well worth a visit while at the Big Island. This ranch was founded in 1847 and is one of the largest in the whole United States with its 150 000 acres of land. On the ranch are about 50 000 cattle and 400 horses. The ranch has a lot of historical interest and is open daily to the public. The activities offered here are among others wagon rides, museum tours, historic homes, shopping and dining. It’s a fun place to visit and great for kids.

You’d probably like to go on at least one boat cruise while at the island to get to know the marine life around this island. To go on a tour with a glass bottom boat cruise is a great way to do this. There a few different companies that offer this and you will be introduced to the reefs with all the colorful fishes, turtles and reef sharks.

For a natural experience out of the ordinary, you can visit Waipio Valley on the north of the island. This is a 6 mile long valley with all the wonders you expect to find in a tropical paradise. In this canyon, that leads its way to the ocean, with a beautiful black sand beach, you find hundreds of waterfalls and fruit trees and flowers of all kinds. By car you can see some of it, but the best way is to go on a hike and really get into the nature found here. You find tours that offer horseback riding through the valley, which is a great way to experience it.

At the Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, located about 20 miles south of Kona you can get to know a bit about the history of the Big Island. Here you can find a lot of archeological sites and other historical landmarks and really get a feeling of how the island once was. Along the coast of this site you can also get to see some green sea turtles who are feeding in the waters in this area.

These are a few of the things you can entertain yourself with while at this remarkable island.

Maui Activities

Maui is an island in Hawaii that’s becoming more and more popular each year. No wonder, it has a lot of activities and fun to offer and still the natural calm beauty is present everywhere you go. You might find that there are so many things to do that it’s almost hard to choose. I will here list some of the top activities for this island.

Maui offers many opportunities to go on cruises around the island. There are cruises that take you from the shore to different spots outside the island, with opportunities to do some snorkeling, swimming and sunbathing. It’s a great way to spend the day in a relaxed way and to enjoy the sunshine and some nice dining along the way. There are also shorter dining and cocktail cruises which gives you a great way to introduce the evening.

Other boat tours can offer whale watching, one of the most popular and amazing things you can do while at Maui. These rides start in the early morning or at sunset and take you to some spots where whales normally can be viewed.  It’s quite a feeling when you’re getting close to such a magnificent animal as the whale. This two hour tour is a great way to start off your day or evening. You can also do some amazing snorkeling!

While at Maui you probably want to visit the Haleakala Crater which is an extinct volcano and that can be explored in many different ways. Why not get to know this beautiful area from the horse-back, and ride through the landscape in a serene, relaxed way? If you are on the more adventurous side, you might prefer to go on a mountain bike ride downhill the volcano; most surely an exciting experience.

Haleakala can also be explored by foot; there are guided tours and you’ll get to walk through underground passages with stalactites and other beautiful formations from the volcanic activity as well as exploring the outside scenery.

To get an eagle eye perspective on Haleakala and its surrounding area you might want to go hang-gliding above it. It’s available both for beginners and the more experienced hang-glider and an experience you most certainly won’t forget. For those less adventurous there are helicopter tours offered that takes you around the island, and gives you a great panoramic view of it.

Surfing is great at Maui, and you find beaches suitable for both the beginner and the advanced surfer. Honolua Bay is your best pick during winter months and Lahaina Harbor is great in the summer. In the hotels you can often find surfboards to rent and in the area around the beaches you can find beginners surf-courses.

These are some of the unlimited possibilities there are for activation during your stay at this beautiful island.

Kauai Beaches

Kauai is the oldest of the Hawaiian islands and was formed by volcanic eruption about six million years ago. It is situated in the northernmost of the islands in the state and it provides you with a large amount of beautiful sandy beaches.

On the North Shore of Kauai you find a number of amazing beaches. Ke’e Beach is located there and is probably the most visited beach on the Island. At this beach several movies has been filmed, among them “The Thorn Birds” and “Castaway Cowboys”. It’s a beautiful sandy lagoon, with lots of fish which makes it a perfect place for snorkelling. It’s calm water, especially during summer months, makes it also great for swimming.

If you are looking for a beach to do either snorkelling or scuba diving then Tunnels Beach, also at the North Shore might be the beach for you. It’s a 2 mile long sandy beach and deep water caverns are located in the reef close to the shore, making it a great dive site. You also find shallow, sandy and calm areas that makes is a good place for swimming too.

‘Anini beach on the North Shore of Kauai is another populated beach. Along it’s shore you find expensive houses overviewing this scenic beach. Here you also find campsites and other tourist facilities. Along the beach runs the longest offshore reef in the entire Hawaii, which makes this one of the safest and most protected beaches at Kaua’i. It’s a great place for both snorkelling and swimming.

Kealia Beach is a 1/2 mile long white sandy beach on the east of Kauai. This beach is popular among surfers and boogie boarders who go here in the summer months when it usually provides a perfect surf. It’s also possible to do a bit of swimming if the surf is calm, but be aware that there might be strong currents, riptides and powerful waves in this area.

If you are looking for something more secluded, you could pay Hideaways Beach a visit. This is one of the nicest sandy beaches on the North Shore and provides good swimming when the water is calm. To reach this beach you do a 10 minute hike through the forest and with no service facilities you can enjoy being out in the nature.

A must see when on Kauai is the Glass Beach on the West Shore. This is one of the most unique beaches in the whole state of Hawaii. The far side of the beach is filled with smooth, polished pieces of glass! An extraordinary beach to visit.

Those are some of the beaches that I recommend people to visit while at this beautiful island, providing opportunities for you to relax and enjoy your time on Kauai.