Lahaina, Maui:
The Little Town That Could!

Lahaina, Maui could do what, you ask? Let me tell you...but first, the back story...

This historic whaling town is nestled between the ocean and the West Maui Mountains. You can't really miss it, especially if you stay in West Maui like we did.

Not knowing any better, when we first noticed this town, we avoided it, as we preferred to spend our Maui vacation searching out hiking and beachy ocean activities instead! Sure, we'd heard that it was a big tourist draw, and that we should check it out, but we just didn't believe that we'd find anything of interest to us in this town. I mean, it's not like we could go hiking there, right? Consequently, our initial exposures to Lahaina were via quick drives past it on the highway.

But we ended up in Lahaina for a few boating excursions from its harbour...

And then that Shell station at the intersection of Kapunakea St and the highway made for a convenient spot to fuel up our rental car...

We'd signed up for the Old Lahaina Luau, which brought us into town yet again... (this was a FANTASTIC luau by the way)

This little town was getting tougher and tougher to avoid!

Despite our intentions to completely avoid exploring this town, it drew us in...

Click here to share with us your Lahaina story!

During our brief stops here, we'd seen a few things that piqued our interest enough to pull us back: the hustle and bustle of Front Street, numerous restaurants and the Courthouse Square banyan tree.

Have you heard about this banyan tree?

This tree is a banyan that takes up an entire city block and we just had to check it out. It's not like we'd be seeing trees like this back home, that's for sure! This amazing tree provided a tranquil shady oasis in the center of town!

Front Street, Lahaina, Maui on the other hand is decidedly NOT tranquil!... But in a good way! I'm not into shopping while on vacation, but Front Street is just so colourful and has such a variety of shops, that I couldn't resist...

We even discovered some nice restaurants here, and based on what we've seen and heard, there are still LOTS of other Maui restaurants that will be worth the trip.

For us, this was indeed the little town that could...

...keep us coming back, even though we planned on doing just the opposite...

...keep us entertained with a luau, shopping, strolling its beautiful streets, and excursions from its bustling harbour...

...keep us amazed at the foresight of its residents who turned what could have been just another banyan tree, into an arboreal masterpiece covering the whole block...

...keep us wanting more...

Now that we've gotten a taste of what Lahaina, Maui has to offer, we know we'll be back for sure!

So... What Brought You to Lahaina?

Do you have any special stories about your time here? What great spots did you find in Lahaina? A museam? A great restaurant? Do tell!

Click on the links below to see the stories that other visitors have shared about Lahaina.

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