3 Perfect Days in Lahaina

Eat. Sleep. Surf. Repeat. Don’t Surf? Eat. Sleep. Beach. Repeat. Either way, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend 3 early December days on the island of Maui. After seeing my foursquare activity, one of my @hulagrrl210 twitter followers asked me for a trip report when I was done having all my fun. Until then the thought had never occurred to me to write about this amazingly special place. Lahaina is like home; my family has been in the islands since the late 1950s and I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time growing up there. At the same time, I’ve never really had a typical Hawaiian vacation. I’ve never stayed in any of the big fancy hotels on Maui (although I’ve been to most of them) and I haven’t really done many of the usual tourist activities. When I go back to Lahaina, I like to spend time with family, relax, and try to get in the water as possible. I also look forward to being able to walk everywhere…or at least everywhere that’s important: Long’s Drugs (CVS) for Vanilla, Foodland for poke and beer POG, Starbucks for the people watching and other treats (mmmm, mocha coconut), and best of all, one of my favorite beaches in the world is just down the street. There is no shortage of good food in Lahaina, and on short trips like this it seems like a challenge to see how much I can eat in between trips to the beach and how many rays of sun I can soak up before its back on a plane to the mainland.

How to Spend 3 Perfect Days in Lahaina

Day 1:

• Early morning run down Front Street. The town has a completely different character before all the visitors show up from nearby Ka’anapali hotels.
• Baby Beach with the baby. An offshore reef protects this stretch of sand from the waves and is the best place to bring little kids. This is also where I learned how to swim.
• Lunch at the LYC.
• Paddleboarding with the sea turtles in front of my grandma’s house in town. I take my new GoPro along to capture the footage.

  Friendly Honu

• Pho and Taro Pudding from Bale Vietnamese in the the Lahaina Cannery Mall. My husband always goes for the Spam fried rice. There are free hula shows in the mall on Tuesday and Thursday nights and during the daytime on weekends. After dinner we stop by Long’s Drugs to get some “vanilla” for desert. After all, miles and points people never really take a vacation Also, if you’re looking for some really good coffee to take home to the mainland, Long’s usually has the best prices on both Kona and Maui grown varieties.

Day 2:

• Another not-as-early morning run down Front St. On the way back we swing by Take Home Maui to say hi to the Mr. Pickles look-a-like.
• Paddleboarding/Surfing at Laniupoko Beach Park just south of town where find myself surrounded by my own kind. This beach has been taken over by SUP in recent years, but be careful of the reef. It’s shallow here!

  GoPro #selfie (and a new surfing video coming soon!)

• After all that running and surfing, I’m hungry so we feast on poke from Foodland. This is my favorite meal of the whole trip!

  Ahi limu poke, Ahi shoyu poke, spicy edamame, kimchee tako, California roll poke bowl and Kona Big Wave

• Mid afternoon shave ice from Ululani’s. After my last Shaka Shave Ice was a little light on syrup and heavy on the attitude, we go here now. For something totally different try the Haleakala (leche syrup and sweetened condensed milk) with ice cream in the bottom. If you’re looking for Tiger’s Blood though, Shaka is still the best.
• Back to Baby Beach

  Lahaina Sunset

• Dinner at Lahaina Coolers, a local favorite. This time of year Maui Brewing Co.’s Amber Reign is on tap- a very good reason to come here at Christmas time.
• Evening walk under the world-famous Banyan Tree. Christmas lights + one of the world’s largest trees (it seriously takes up the whole block) = the other big reason why I try to visit Lahaina every holiday season. Bonus points for being able to view Christmas lights wearing shorts and flip flops.

Day 3:

• Starbucks (did I mention the people watching?) This is also a great place to meet up with friends.
• Baby Beach
• Maui Tacos
• Baby Beach. It’s low tide so I’m able to wade almost out to the reef. I spot three convict tangs, a parrotfish, and a Humuhumunukunukuapua’a, all without getting my hair wet.
• Longhi’s for dinner. We haven’t been here in ages, but I’m reminded why this Lahaina institution is worthy of it’s excellent reputation. The Mai Tais aren’t bad either. If you don’t mind waiting 25 minutes for desert (or remember to order ahead of time) the chocolate souffle is truly out of this world!

  Longhi’s Mai Tai

With such a short trip, sadly, some of my other favorites are left of the list:

• Penne Pasta on Dickenson Sreet. Two words: Baked Penne. There’s also a friendly stray cat that likes to hang around outside- a sign of any good dining establishment!
• Oku’s Sushi Bar at Kobe Steakhouse, another local favorite and the best sushi in town.
• Mala. I haven’t tried nearby Honu yet (same ownership) but have heard it is excellent as well. Mark Ellman’s restaurants are always good.
• Speaking of Mala, this derelict pier that the restaurant is named after is one of my favorite (secret) places to paddle/snorkel with huge turtles, tons of fish, and lots of white tip reef sharks (don’t worry, they don’t bite) and the occasional scuba diver. The easiest way to get there is at high tide (trust me) from the Baby Beach side.
• Surfing at Lahaina Harbor. A couple of surf schools teach here if you’re a newbie.
• Hula Pie from Kimo’s. This is our favorite place to stop by after dinner for a night cap. Surprisingly kid friendly too!
• Breakfast at Coolers. If you’re really hungry, the surfer’s special can feed an entire family (or a hungry surfer). Hot sauce goes on everything.
• Ok, so it’s not in Lahaina but Saeng’s Thai Cuisine in Wailuku is usually our first stop to/from the airport on “the other side” (Kahului). Unfortunately our flight times didn’t work out this trip…

The good news is I’ll be back in January.

Mele Kalikimaka me ka hau’oli Makahiki hou! much love, the Singh family

Want to know what’s good to eat or where the waves are breaking? Be sure to follow hulagrrl210 on foursquare and twitter

Aloha!