Hello, Hawaii! We flew into Oahu on a Friday afternoon (traveling from L.A. you gain three hours). Our hotel was in Waikiki, so we had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and then spent the afternoon shopping at the huge Ala Moana mall. Ironically, it was really the only shopping we did the whole trip since there wasn’t much on Maui.
I wore this easy outfit while we shopped and walked around Waikiki! Daniel and I always describe Waikiki as Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade along the water! It’s so similar, street performers and all 😉
Dress (runs small), Very Similar (more sizes available) | Shoes | Necklace | Link Bracelet | Bangle | Lipstick (in “Rio”)
Later that afternoon we headed up to our room to change for dinner. I literally could barely even wait to get to Hawaii to wear this dress, so it was no question that I was wearing it the first night! We had dinner at Yardhouse did more shopping!
The next day we headed out bright and early for Maui. The flight is only like 40 minutes, so we were there early! We rented a Jeep (highly recommend doing this if you’re headed to Hawaii! SO worth the extra money!), drove to our hotel, and as you can see I wasted no time getting down to the pool! We stayed at the Marriott Maui Ocean Club on Ka’anapali Beach. I can’t say enough how much we loved the hotel, beach, and pools! When it comes to the beach, I love to look at it, but not touch it 😉 I’m just not a sand person! This hotel was perfect for that because you could lay out at the pool under an umbrella with your chair facing the beach (see the pic below!).
Our first night, we went to dinner in Lahaina which is about a 5-10 minute drive from the resorts on Ka’anapali Beach. The whole little town of Lahaina is pretty much on one street…well at least the shops and restaurants! We ate at Fleetwood’s on Front St. up on their top deck, and let me just say, the view is unmatched! If you visit, you need to go up there for a drink and to listen to the live music at sunset! But, don’t waste your money on the food! Okay, I usually like every dish I order at a restaurant, but somehow neither Daniel or I liked our food at all. And, it wasn’t cheap…so save your money and just enjoy the music and sunset from up there!
The next day we ventured out to Wailea to see the iconic Grand Wailea hotel that everyone was telling us we had to see while we were there! We found out that there are pretty much two towns on Maui that you can stay in: Ka’anapai (where we stayed) & Wailea. They’re about an hour apart, but there’s really nothing in between. Visiting Wailea & the hotel was super fun, but I wasn’t impressed by the restaurants at the hotel. We had purposely shown up at lunch time so we could eat there, but nothing really caught our eye so we ended up just eating at their pool restaurant! Overall, it was neat to see, but I definitely wouldn’t make a whole day of it. There was also a mini mall with some shops, but we weren’t really in the mood [I know, shocking right ;)] so we didn’t stay long!
And I quickly ended up back at the pool 😉
This was taken right on Ka’anapali Beach next to our hotel! The beach was never really busy the whole time we were there. It is a public beach, but I would say we say at most 10 people at a time along the whole stretch of beach we could see from our hotel. I’m not sure if it just wasn’t a busy travel time or what, but it was so nice!
Headed to dinner at Leilani’s on the Beach! Highly recommend if you are staying in Ka’anapali! They have both a “Beachside Grill” and a nicer, more upscale dining room. We ate at both, and loved them! If you visit, and you eat in the nicer dining area, make sure you get a seat on the upper patio…best sunset views! Our other favorite restaurant in Ka’anapali was the Ka’anapali Grille & Tap Room, and was right at our hotel. We loved it so much we ate there like 3 times!
A little shot from the Grand Wailea! Such beautiful grounds!
In the middle of the week, we did the Road to Hana. Originally I was the one who wanted to make sure we did the whole entire thing (they told us it would be about 10 hours round-trip from our hotel), and Daniel was skeptical saying that we would start it and see how long we wanted to go. The Road to Hana is basically a two-lane road that leads to a city called Hana, however Hana isn’t anything special at all. It’s all the little stops along the way that make the road so pretty! You stop off about every mile or so to see pretty waterfalls, gorgeous beaches, arboretums, and so many other things! Anyways, long story short, about 2 hours in, I was ready to turn around and Daniel was loving it! We ended up doing the whole road, and even taking the backside around to make the complete loop.
Here are some tips we learned from doing it in case you want to go: 1) Absolutely download the Road to Hana App! It is worth ten times the $5 investment you will make. Without it we would have missed so many cool spots! 2) Make sure you’re in a Jeep or off-roading car. There were so many cool things we got to see because we could take our car down to them. This includes driving the backside after you make it through Hana! 3) Leave early! We left our hotel around 9:30AM, and it was perfect because we got to see the sunset as we were driving along the backside, but if we would have left an hour earlier it would have been better! We would have got to spend more time at certain spots we really liked. & 4) If you’re not really loving it about an hour or two in, turn around. You get a really good feel for what the rest of the next 8 hours are going to look like by then, so if you enjoyed it but aren’t really wanting more, just turn back! You still got to experience part of it!
While I am so glad we did it, if we went again, I would probably do a couple hours and then head back to the pool 😉
We had breakfast one morning at Longhi’s in Lahaina, and if we had gone earlier in the week, I’m sure we would have ended up going more than once! Such amazing breakfast and the cutest atmosphere. You totally feel like you’re at a European café…in Hawaii 😉 Their homemade toast and jam is incredible!
Hat | Kimono | Bathing Suit Top & Bottom | Sunglasses ($16!) | Earrings | Similar Bead Bracelet | Bangle
Full Blog Post HERE
I lived in this little sweatshirt while we were there…just ask Daniel 😉 No joke I think I wore this exact outfit 3-4 times within eight days! Wild fox sweatshirts are so cozy (nothing softer!), but they’re pretty pricey! Saks Off 5th sells them for such an amazing deal though…check them all out HERE, and snag a few for summer!
This is the view I was telling you about from our pool chairs!!! We found this spot on like Day 3, and rushed down every morning to save these chairs 😉 While we were there I read the book Eligible. It’s described as a “modern day Pride & Prejudice” (I’ve never read Pride & Prejudice so I can’t comment to that…haha I know, ridiculous!), but it’s about the cutest family of 5 sisters and how they find love! Such a light and fun pool read for the summer; I highly recommend it!
Tank | Shorts | Sandals | Sunglasses (similar for $16) | Link Bracelet | Bangle | Lipstick (shades “Soft Lilac” & “Rio” mixed)
Full Blog Post HERE
Full Blog Post HERE
By the last day in Hawaii, I was feeling the 7 nights of amazing dinners and not so much feeling all the SoulCycle I had put in before we left 😉 This one piece totally fit the bill. It has the perfect amount of coverage to make you feel comfortable, but has the most flattering cutouts! It runs a bit on the larger size for swimsuits (when does swimwear ever run large?!), so order your usual dress size!
Have any of you been to Maui?! What were your favorite places to eat, and did you try the Road to Hana?
