Explore The Islands: Maui

Big Island (Hawaii) | Kauai | Maui | Oahu (Honolulu) | Lanai

The slightly upscale image that's been carefully crafted in travel annals IS what you'll find when you arrive on second largest Hawaiian Island - Maui. Those who live here say, Maui no ka oi- Maui is the best. Those who visit-this home of almost 100,000 residents-will be transfixed by the beaches, hidden valleys, a majestic volcano and the cuisine.

The "Valley Isle" is actually two islands created by two volcanoes and connected by a fertile isthmus. West Maui, formed by the Puu Kukui volcano, is remarkably different from the south side. It features the 19th Century whaling town of Lahaina, Kaanapali-Hawaii's first planned resort-and the sprawling Kapalua Resort, where Kapalua Villas Maui sets the standard for villa accommodations in Hawaii.

South Maui's Kihei and Wailea are set at the base of the world's largest dormant (not extinct) volcano, Haleakula ("House of the Sun"), which reaches over 10,000 feet to the sky. In 1911, Jack London observed: "It [Haleakula] was a scene of vast bleakness and desolation, stern, forbidding, fascinating… a place of fire and earthquake, a workshop of nature still cluttered with the raw beginnings of world-making… It was all unreal and unbelievable."
It still is!