What are the best tours and activities to do in Maui? — featuring The Hawaii Vacation Guide

0:00 Here at the Hawaii vacation guide, we have a saying, you don't have to do a tour when you come to Maui, but we recommend doing one or two because gosh, there's some camp miss experiences on Maui. That tour just makes it so memorable and so fun. Even more than just seeing like these

0:16 can't miss things or having these camp miss experiences. I actually think it's the local guides that make the experience just like so memorable because they impart so much knowledge. You get to learn so much and you go home with stories that you will be retelling for years. I mean, he's really retells

0:35 them for years. A lot. Yeah. I talked to I'm getting becoming that dad. Right. So, two reasons we're doing this video is one to help you pick the right tour for you. And number two, support a lot of these local tour operators who after the Maui fires, they need a little support. They're they're struggling.

0:49 Yeah. So, let's keep those boats full, keep those employees happy. And here we go. Our favorite tours on Maui. Oh, wait. I have a disclaimer. Disclaimer, we are affiliates for some of these, which means we will receive commission. Good point. We're not making this video for that. We're not

1:04 affiliates for all of these. This is really just to share our favorites. But I do want to let you know that just transparency. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up and then we'll make them for the other islands, too, because we've done a lot of tours. Go. This like kind of our

1:16 jo Oh, also, I just want to point out that we pay for these tours. Yeah, we do. Yeah. Yeah. We don't get them for free. So it's not like Yeah, we try to be unbiased with it. All right, number one. Here we go. This is just a canvas experience is the road to Hana, right? We drove it by ourselves

1:34 so many times. We diyed it and it's a good way to do it. But boy, going out with a local guide. You talk story. A lot of them are from Hana, so they have great advice. And this takes the stress away from driving, enjoying the views without having to worry about pulling over. They know the best stops and they

1:49 even they change their stops based on the weather and the time of year cuz they know the good waterfalls. They know the good little hiking spots, the good photo spots. So, our favorite tours are down below. We really like Valley Excursion, though, because we got 10% off for you. We have a code down below

2:03 for that one. I think it's HBG10. Yeah, something like that. But they're they're just a nice company. We've done had really nice tours with them. All of these in on our list are wonderful, though, so you'll love them all. All right. Another great one to do is Holly Akala. That is going to the top of

2:19 Maui's giant volcano, 10,23 ft up. You can do at sunrise or sunset. You need a permit for sunrise though, and that's where it's nice booking a tour cuz they'll do all that for you. Usually the tours or the the permits sell out fast, but they'll take care of it. They'll pick you up at your hotel room. What we

2:36 recommend doing is doing your first day on Maui cuz the jet lag's going to wake you up or second or second day, the jet lag's bad. Come from the east coast or even from the west coast. So, you're going to wake up early. They'll pick you up early like 3:00 4 in the morning. They'll take you

2:48 to the top of the mountain and it's just a gorgeous experience. They do Hawaiian chants when the sun's coming up. On the way up they talk story and then let you sleep a little bit longer. Then usually a lot of them on the way down they stop for breakfast or like continental breakfast and and like it's just it's

3:03 just a fun experience. It's a great way to start your trip on Maui. Halakala sunrise and we just saw the sunset from the top of the world. Sunrise. Sunrise. All right. Another one that we always get asked about is Mokini. And we've done a lot of Mokini snorkeling tours. We actually have an article with a bunch

3:21 of like great Mikini snorkeling tours. So like check out down below. And I just want to say like we didn't do Mikokin for a while because we heard is like a cliche or it's super busy out there and it's just not worth it. It's not that good a reef. I find it to be a wonderful reef. It's it's kind of it's

3:36 just this protected crater. It's a crescentshaped crater out there in the channel and it's just a beautiful spot. And yeah, a lot of boats come in the morning, but like we avoid that by going out with our favorite sunrise snorkeling tour. So you see the sunrise. They have excellent food. It's all like local food

3:53 too on it. From the beer to the cinnamon rolls. It's just a wonderful experience. We've gone out with them three times on it. Yeah. It's great. And and they also have a later afternoon one too. But if you want to beat the crowds, do that sunrise tour. But even then, the crowds aren't that

4:07 bad cuz they all have their own little mooring spots. So it's okay. Another good one if you want a slightly less expensive option. This one it's not as like you know luxurious catamaran. This is like we get you there. We show you the good stuff. We get you back. Yeah. They get you on a raft. It's

4:22 awesome. So they have a couple of tours. You can go out. You can just do Makini Crater and come back. I told Jordan when we did it, it felt like kind of like a water taxi in like the best way ever, right? No fluff. Like 50-minute boat ride out there. You snorkel 45 minutes or longer and then

4:39 you come back cuz it leaves from South Kihei or at least from Kihei boat ramp. So super convenient. But then they also have another one longer. You go around to the backside and then you hit up another snorkel spot. So choose your own adventure with them. But they offer a couple great

4:53 tours too. Those are wonderful. So it's a great way to see Mikini. There's a lot of great tour companies that go out to Mikini. Those are just our two favorites. But like I think it's worth going to to Mini if you have any desire. I think it's worth it. Yeah. And and also too, like we said, a

5:08 tour isn't necessary. There's wonderful places to go snorkeling in Maui from the shore. Oh, yeah. Some of our faves, we have an article down below on those. Don't feel like you have to do it. One of our sayings also is like you should get out on the water. Getting out on the water in Hawaii is gorgeous. And the

5:21 best way to do that, unless you have your own boat, is to go on a tour. Ooh. If you have your own boat, like invite us. It'll be wonderful. We'll be there. We'll bring the poo poos. Now, we're going to take you off the beaten path, but in a good way. This is the stuff that the concier don't usually

5:35 recommend. These are farm tours. We love farm tours. We because you just see like you learn a little culture, a little experience, what it's like to live on Maui, how they're trying to make a living. The farm tours help subsidize what they're growing. So our favorite one is a farmtotable experience. Oo

5:52 Farms. It's in Maui up country. So most of these I mean if you want farm tour experience, you go to Maui up country. So O Farms. Why do you like it? Oh my goodness. I just thought it was such a beautiful blend of like a farm tour and seeing like an actual working farm and then like this gourmet

6:08 farmtotable experience which I don't know I don't do often or ever. You can bring your own Bob and the chef's there. He talks about everything he's making and how he makes it and where he got the food from. And it's nice. You can either do it as a romantic date or bring your kids and they can run

6:24 around the farm and taste the food right off the trees. It's it's wonderful. Yeah. So, at O Farms, if you see a flower, you just eat it. If you are a chocolate fan and you are on West Maui, make sure you stop by Kua Estates, because they have a chocolate farm, Cacao Farm, and then they make

6:44 their own chocolate and you can do a chocolate tasting. Yeah. So, it's right at their factory. So, you see how the factory works and they take you upstairs and they you can taste it and like, boy, you can really tell a difference between it. Their chocolate maker is so he has so much

6:58 knowledge and it's it's wonderful. During the the Mali fires of strong winds, it literally blew the leaves off all their cacao. So, they used to have a wonderful cacao farm tour and that's on hold right now. Stay tuned. Probably if you're watching this, it might be open already. We don't know. So, but anyways,

7:11 but try their chocolate tasting. That's wonderful. Fresh cacao. It is sweet. There's a nice little bit of mango in there. Thank you. Mhm. And I'm just going to mention this because we do hope that they are able to open again by the time you're watching this video. It's Puna Palms.

7:30 Oh, Puna Palms. Yeah. Yeah. Coconuts are fascinating. They are. I'm laughing cuz cuz when we first heard about it's a coconut farm tour. Like it's coconuts. What's there to know about it? A lot of things. And you have more of appreciation for this lifegiving plant that goes across the Pacific. You

7:44 get water from it. You get all this food from it. Depends on the stage the coconut's growing. and Kai who runs a farm and owns a farm. He's he's a wealth of knowledge. Plus, he has a little coffee bar up there, too. And like really good food. So, same thing. It's in West Maui. It's Alania Poco. Drive up

8:00 there. It's pretty cool. We have an article down below on all our favorite Maui farm tours, but we'll just we'll leave those right there for you. Coconut custard. We call this spoon meat or jelly meat. Coconut. You can just spoon it right out of there. Wa! Look at that. Does look like custard.

8:14 All right, let's head back to the water for two more water experiences. Oh, we have a lot more water experiences actually. I was mistaken. All right. We have a lot more water experiences. Number one is Maui Surfer Girls. Yeah, they're nice. They're just bunch of women who run a great surf school and

8:28 they take you to a really nice surf spots and and like we it's just a nice thing to do, right? You're in Hawaii, take some surf lessons, do private, do group. They'll make it very comfortable for you out there. Yeah. This one's my favorite. This is going on with Red. It's Maui Adventure Tours. He

8:42 leaves from Olawalu Beach. And the Olow Reef is one of the most pristine reefs in all of Maui. It's just it's gorgeous. You can swim with sea turtles there. And also during whale season, you can kayak out there and have the whales. You have a really good chance to have close encounters. I just really enjoyed the

8:57 tour. So whale season is December to March and we'll go more into that later. But that was a beautiful reef kayaking experience. Yeah. Should we talk about whale season now? Yeah. Okay. All right. So whale season in Maui is December through March and it is in our opinion the greatest

9:13 place to go whale watching is Maui. And the data backs it up. The most whales come to that channel there to make give birth and raise their calves. So the season goes later there cuz they have so many mothers and calves and they want to make sure that the babies are ready to swim back up to Alaska. So they hang out

9:28 kind of through April. So it depends on the season. It's just gorgeous. We've been out on over 12 whale watching tours in general around the Hawaiian Islands and it's just like you see so many. Sure, you can see them from shore, but boy, getting those close encounters, being out there in the water with them

9:42 is a really magical experience. No one's ever said, "Boy, I wish I didn't do that." So, the whale watching is spectacular on Maui. We do have our favorite whale watching tours in an article linked because there are so many good ones. There's a lot of good ones. A lot of two more for you. This one, we always

9:57 say it's not for everybody, but we've done it three times and it's absolutely amazing. And it's the Maui Custom Charters. It's a custom It's a charter sailing, so it's private sailing. You rent the boat for as long as you want. Two hours to all day. They'll do whatever you like. Go fishing. They'll

10:11 teach you how to sail. Great way to get proposed. They've done, I think, 30 proposals on the boat. You got the family with you. Take the whole family out like the grandparents. We've done that before. You go snorkeling. It's just a beautiful experience. They have two boats now. They have a monoaul and

10:25 now they have a new catamaran boat. And it's just like we afterwards we just feel so nice and great. We got 5% off on that tour. So, click the link below. But we know it's expensive tour, but for for it's not it's not for everyone. It's not for every vacation. But if you are looking for that like one special thing,

10:44 go big. Go big. Go home. It's it was it's special. Let's just we'll say that. And the last one, this isn't a tour, per se, but it was a very fun experience. It really exceeded my expectations, and it is the Hoola Show at South Maui Gardens. So, and this is in Kihei. Yes. Thank you. So, they have a food

11:05 truck oasis there. It is. It's It's an oasis cuz it's a garden. This literally a landscape garden and they have like butterfly gardens. But there there's food there. They got the coffee like a coffee booth and and pizza and kokos which is and then all the food trucks on and then all the food trucks on the

11:23 other side which is kind of is newer this year. And in the middle on one day a week they do a hoola show and it's great cuz it's not a full luau. It's more like an authentic like just hool hoola show. Yeah, it's wonderful cuz you can get food from any of the fine dining places there like

11:36 the food trucks, bring your own drinks, sit at the picnic tables, and just watch a really quality hoola show. Yeah, it is. It is. It's really nice. Yeah. So, anyways, those are our favorite tours on Maui. Click the links down below. We got lots of articles down there to talk about the reviews and see what's right

11:49 for you on them. Like I said, they are affiliate links, so we earn a small commission, no cost to you. Not all of them, though. Not all of them. Yeah. Yeah. And if you have a favorite tour out there that we have missed because we are always looking for more tours to go on and we've done a lot of tours that people

12:04 have recommended to us. Yes, we sure have. So, let us know. Drop them. Drop them down below in the comments. Thanks so much for watching. Have a wonderful trip to Maui. Great place to go out with sea turtles. And during whale season, they have excellent whale watching. Did I say during sea turtle season?

12:20 I don't know. Same. Okay. All right. All right. I'll start over. [Music]