I am definitely still going through Hawaii withdrawals and have a hard time accepting that I no longer get to wake up and be at the beach by 7am. Although life is back to normal, I wanted to share the second part of our Maui trip which includes my favorite stops in Lahaina, Kaanapali and Paia. I loved getting to explore most of the island and even though I didn’t take many photos I highly recommend driving the Road to Hana. It was much longer than we anticipated, but ended up being one of my favorite aspects of the trip. We played all our favorite music, had the windows down and just laughed the whole time!

I loved staying in Wailea, but we spent a lot of time exploring other parts of the island. One of my favorite areas was the cool town of Paia and the surrounding Baldwin Beach State Park. Paia is a perfect place to have lunch and walk around as the downtown is packed with cute stops and restaurants. It is also home to the famed Mama’s Fish House, which we didn’t end up going to, but need to make a priority on the next trip. We spent one morning at Baldwin Beach in a pristine swimming hole surrounded by giant sea turtles. This stretch of beach is beautiful and if you get there early it is very calm and empty, perfect for swimming.

We also spent a lot of time in Lahaina. I love the beaches and shopping in this area, so for a more touristy feel I recommend Front Street and the Whaler’s Village both in Lahaina. We loved black rock beach (I actually jumped off the rock after about 10 minutes of hesitation) and Kaanapali. On our second to last day we rented a cabana from the Sheraton and it was probably the best thing ever. We just relaxed on the beach and swam until it got too hot, but it was definitely worth the $70 charge.

Nakalele Blowhole is another popular attraction to see the Instagram favorite, the heart shaped cut out in the rock. I didn’t do a ton of research on this before we went, so I was under the impression that it was much closer to the road. It is definitely a hike down to the blowhole over jagged and uneven rocks. I was wearing really uncomfortable flip flips, so I wish I had brought some running shoes or something a little easier to walk in. We made the trek down to the blowhole, which was incredible but definitely very dangerous. There are markings all over the area warning people to stay back as people have died getting too close and being pulled under the water. Behind the blowhole is the heart rock which looks much smaller in person, but definitely a very cool sight to see and take photos of.