Give me your hotel review for Maui, and fun activities?

We stay at the Napili Kai Beach Resort. It has a nice, kind of retro feel to it. We get a lanai condo (timeshare rental) and have the beach right at our door. And toads. The beach there is nice and calm, with soft sand. The snorkeling is nice, but not stellar. We have seen a three legged sea turtle (assuming it's the same one) there each time we have been. I much prefer it to a non-resort condo, because we don't have to pack up the car to go to the beach, drive, and then find parking, and if we get tired, hungry, or need the bathroom, it's right there.

Fun things to do- submarine, America Cup sailboat cruise, Old Lahaina Luau (they have a historical one at brunch time- great historical reenactment), Molokini snorkel/SNUBA trip.

Something I always have wanted to do, but haven't made it to, is the tour of the leprosy colony at Molokai.

I love Maui. I think its the most beautiful island. I think you will do fine in that price range, hotels actually aren't that expensive in Hawaii. I don't have specific recommendation as I stay in condos.

I used Trilogy charters. It's a family run business, they were very good, very professional. The tour we did actually took us to Lanai to snorkel off of the beach. They provide breakfast, you can watch whales on the way, then there's a lunch bbq on Lanai. It was an awesome experience back in 2009.

The road to Hana is my fav too, done that twice. It's just so amazing to see all the sights. And the crazy part of the drive is fun too. I like Lahaina too for restaurants and walking/shopping, but it def got more built up last time I was there versus years ago.

I think the key with prices and Hawaii is to just plan in advance, also to ensure you get the reservations you want. I lucked out with a condo that had a cancellation, which was normally booked up to 2 years in advance, and I was planning a year ahead.

Another vote for the Napili Kai Beach Resort, but that is a condo and not a hotel. The beach was lovely and our room was great. And it was nice to have the kitchen for breakfast, snacks and some lunches. We ate out most lunches and dinners, however.

Maui is beautiful. I recommend the book "Maui Revealed".

Maui has been our favorite vacation destination and we've done it enough times that we no longer do many of the touristy stuff that others might do.
Our favorite activity is this hike near Hana. We've gone twice on the tour but now go on our own, www.hikemaui.com/hikes/east-maui-waterfalls-rainforest-hike/
It's always our best day there.
We always do a snorkeling tour and I have to recommend the Alii Nui, it is by far the nicest of all the boats we've been on.
aliinuimaui.com

I think we've done just about every excursion there is to do there: luaus, shopping, boat charters, sunrise at Haleakala, ziplining,, road to Hana and more. Some are things you have to do just once and repeat each visit and some are a once and cross that off the list experience.

The only thing I have no desire to do is ride a bike down Haleakala. I've met too many people over the year who broke a bone doing that and that's not how I want to remember my vacation.

We now only stay in Wailea and that is probably the more pricier side of the island, but we've fallen in love with it

We already have booked our trip there for this summer.

Some tours allow you to jump out and swim. They will stand out because the boats stop and go a lot literally chasing the Dolphins. I wont pretend to be all PETAish but when I was researching the best tours I came across information that made me decide it wasn't an ethical vacation activity.

We visited Maui for the first time last summer - it was me, my dh, our ds (10), dd (10), ds (8)and my 80 year old mother. We also stayed at the Westin in Ka'anapali and I loved it there. The pool was amazing and the kids had a blast. It's right next door to Whalers Village which has shopping and restaurants.

We rented a car and did the road to Hana on our own, making stops wherever we wanted along the way, and actually kept going and drove all the way around the island instead of turning around - that's not recommended by the rental car agencies by the Park Ranger at the Seven Sacred Pools said it would be fine and he was right. The scenery wasn't as grand but it was a much more direct route than the road to Hana. We did sunset at Haleakala which was fun (and cold!).

We took at day trip to the big island of Hawaii (I believe you always need to fly to other islands as ferries aren't offered). We took an organized tour there and spent most of our time in Volcano National Park (awesome) but also some time in Hilo.

We did a weekly rental of snorkel equipment for everyone at a local place and my ds saw a turtle in the water right off the beach at our hotel.

We did the Old Lahaina Luau and also dined in a couple of the local restaurants in Lahaina right on the water - so, so nice.

We also did a catamaran snorkeling trip right off the beach of the hotel - the boat literally came right up to shore. This was a last minute excursion and one of my favorites of the trip - we motored out to a cove north of Ka'anapali, saw a huge pod of dolphins, snorkeled and saw many sea turtles and fish and than sailed back to the hotel. Breakfast and lunch was provided. I can't remember which company it was but it was arranged right at the hotel.

I'm envious of your trip - enjoy!!

We stayed in Wailea and next time will stay in Kaanapali area. We found there was a lot more to do there and in La Haina, then the other end were we were. (I'm sure I am butchering these names)

Our favorites were Haleakala (volcano), a snorkel trip that dropped us on Lanai for the day and a helicopter ride. We did the road to Hana and it was beautiful, but it was an all day trip (sun up to sun down) and we were beat by the time we got back to our hotel.

Enjoy your trip!