/maui🏝️
Updated on 2024-05-11
Island breeze whispers,
Palm trees sway as hearts unite—
Maui love glows bright.
Hey, thanks for being here! Hope you enjoy your stay on the island(s). I do wanna share some of tips and recommendations based our prior experience in Hawaii. Of course, I’ll keep it updated before the wedding. Cheers! (Rui)
Recommendations
O’ahu
- 🏖 Waikiki
- 💡 If you stay at Waikiki and do not want to pay for overnight parking, you can park along Kalakaua Ave near Kapiolani regional park, lots of spots when the surfers go home.
- ☕ Island Vintage Coffee. The queue is super long even at 7 am in the morning. Acai bowl is good though. Can also order takeout.
- 🍲 Restaurant Suntory. Sukiyaki set is good.
- ☕ Kai Coffee. Lesser crowded cafe. Good substitute if waiting time at Island Vintage is outrageous.
- ☕ Kona Coffee Purveyors. Love the pastries there, also can grab one or two bags of coffee beans as gifts.
- 🍤 Ginza Bairin Tonkatsu. Top 3 if not the best tonkatsu I’ve had. Need reservation though.
- 🇨🇱 The Patagonia store here in Hawaii has limited edition of some T-shirt designs. “Pataloha.”
- 🌺 Southeast and central
- 🚶🏼♂️ Koko Crater Railway Trail (arguably the hardest trail on O’ahu)
- 🚶🏼♂️ Koko Crater Arch Trail
- 👓 Lana’i lookout (stop and photo time)
- 🚶🏼♂️ Makapu’u Point Lighthouse trail (1hr round trip, also can overlook the tide pools)
- 🍹 Waimanalo Beach Park (Not everyone’s favorite but my gf and I ended up spending two whole afternoons lying down on beach chairs there, just chilling)
- 🚶🏼♂️ Lulumahu Falls Trail (need to reserve online as the trail is on a private property)
- 🚶🏼♂️ Manoa Falls Trail. A well maintained version of previous one.
- 🪴 Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden
- 🍣 Mas & Joyce Okazuya. We had lunch there before the tour at Kuala Ranch. Small dishes at very affordable prices.
- 🦖 Kualoa Ranch. if you like movies, you will enjoy this place. Need to book tours ahead of time
- 🏄♀️ Northshore
- 🍤 Giovanni’s Shrimp truck.
- 🚶🏼♂️ Waimea Falls.
- 🦈 Shark’s Cove.
- 🧑🦲 Da Bald Guy. He was on Netflix! Love the garlic shrimps here
Maui
- Road to Hana could be exhausting. Manage your expectation.
Big island
Not many food recommendations and probably you’ve already planned some point of interest to visit.
- 💡Two tips:
- 🚗 If you decide to visit Waipio valley (there’s a beautiful black sand beach down there), park your car up the hill unless you are driving a 4x4 and confident to handle some extreme driving conditions.
- 🌋 Best time to observe volcanoes/lava is sunset, and it’s a flexible time. You get an overview of the surrounding and you the lava is more observable when sun goes dow.
References
