Maui Family Vacation 2015 + Traveling Tips
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Her’s a glimpse into our Maui family vacation. A week and a half in Maui and every day was ideal weather (77-82˚F, partly cloudy). It was really awesome to escape winter! I miss the soft breezes, rolling waves, toes in the sand, my son’s contagious grin as he mounted his boogie board, blooming trees, swaying palms and warm nights lit up with tiki torches.
I imagine parts of Maui were how the Garden of Eden might have looked. This was our 4th visit and we all enjoyed it the most.
Those of you who follow me on Snapchat (@natashaskitchen) joined me for a few days of our trip, but I’m sharing loads of photos from our trip below along with Maui vacation travel tips (and cost saving secrets). It was a blessing to take a rest in such a beautiful place. If Maui is on your list of places to see, you might pin this post for future travels :).First, a whole bunch of pictures!
Baby D was initially very much afraid of the water, but by the end of Day 2, she was bolting to it :).
Everyone admired these two. That’s baby D’s cousin on the left.
We were on the beach every. single. day. The best!!
Sand everywhere… Oh here’s a quick but helpful tip if you’re spending alot of time on the beach, the little built in mesh underwear inside of boys swimming shorts traps sand and can cause horrible sand rashes. I cut them out of my son’s shorts for Maui.
Tiny foot prints 🙂
Bubba Gump was a cool experience with the waves hitting the building right under our window! Also their kids meal boats are adorable!
See those yummy fish tacos? ? Find my awesome fish tacos copycat recipe here!
We didn’t go out to eat a ton because it’s difficult with babies and the time change made for some grumpy kids in the evening, but the eating was good in Maui.
Here are the things we cooked at the Condo while in Maui:
(1). Steak with salad, potatoes and sauteed mushroom/onions. (2). Burgers
(3). Deruny – potato fritters (4). Poached eggs with bacon, cucumber and fruit
(5) Steel cut oats – seriously our favorite breakfast and our son loves it too. (6) More poached eggs 🙂
We couldn’t get the kids out of the water. It was so warm.
We found this crazy banyan tree that is one tree that looks like 20 trees with a crazy root system.
We went with my sister’s family which was great. The kids had alot of fun together.
Haha those babies
Best Maui Travel Dates:
We prefer to go during off-peak season. We went November 8 -18; just before the holidays. The condos and car rentals are less expensive and it’s not overly crowded.
Where to Stay on your Maui Family Vacation:
When visiting Hawaii, we always go to the island of Maui. It’s quieter, doesn’t feel like city life, but still has great amenities (like Costco!). We always use Vacation Rental By Owner (VRBO) to book the place and have had great success with beautiful properties at lower prices than booking through real estate companies or agents. And, sometimes if it’s off season, they will negotiation with you.
It’s always better to work with the owner and VRBO is just that.
When in Maui, stay in Kihei or Wailea – the weather is dryer than the rest of the island. Even though the forecast showed wind and rain, it wasn’t the case a single day we were there. This time we stayed in Wailea (it’s really pretty there and Wailea beach is one of the best around the entire island). The resort we picked was Wailea Beach Villas (absolutely beautiful!)
It was spendy but we went with my sister and her husband so it worked out well. If you can find a resort with an umbrella and chair service for the beach, it’s really really convenient with kids. Baby D took some great naps on the beach under those umbrellas.
Booking Maui Flights:
We usually book through Alaska airlines directly on their website because they have a price guarantee where they credit you the difference if your flight fare goes down before your trip (which we have taken advantage of twice), but it’s nice because you don’t have to sit and wonder if the fare will go down, you just book it and check back a few times. We also have the Alaska Airlines credit card which gives us an annual $99 companion ticket – That saves us about $400-$500 on flights (that’s huge!).
Maui Car Rentals:
The prices at Discount Hawaii Car Rentals seem too good to be true sometimes, but they are true. We’ve used this website twice to book our cars. You can check back daily and rebook if prices go down.
More Maui Resources for Traveling with a Family:
1. Baby monitor (download “Cloud Baby Monitor” app – it works if you have 2 iphones – use the first as a parent unit and the second as the baby unit).
2. Baby Rentals – Maui has several to choose from if you google it. We made our choice based on price.
3. Maui Revealed Book – the first visit to Maui, we used this extensively (reviews for sightseeing, restaurants – very honest and accurate)
Things to do/ Restaurants to visit:
1. Coconuts Fish Cafe: Famous for their Fish tacos which I recreated on my blog after our last visit!
2. 808 deli: A quick sandwich shop. We were in love with the “southern squealer” sandwich and their “Porkie” panini. Yum!
3. Snorkeling and Bookie boarding (tip: go snorkeling in the morning before waves start) – You can find a snorkeling shop in Kihei when you get there. If you’re staying in a condo, there is a good chance someone has left behind a snorkeling set or boogie board for you to use. Also, if you need a boogie board, it may be cheaper to buy one instead of renting. They are inexpensive at Costco there, but check your condo first!
4. Aquarium (15% discount with Visa – they let us use it on the phone without printing it)
5. Whale watching – only during whale season (here’s a cool whale jump shot form our trip 2 years ago).
6. Parasailing – it’s kid friendly and not terrifying. It’s nice to do it once. We chose UFO Parasail company.
7. Sunsets – the most beautiful things in Maui (thankfully) are free! We tried to make it to every sunset on the beach.
Aloha 🙂
I’d love to hear your travel tips in a comment below!
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I only have to say how lake you are to have all that you have, a prefect family and your beautiful
face and your all the time smile
is lighting all the pictures .Your cooking and your shared recipes are amazing. I’ve ben cooked a lot of your recipes and thy come perfect. Your vacations post pictures stoning. I can go on and on with your perfect life even the I don’t know in person . Enjoy and thank you for posting your recipes.
Thank you for that wonderful compliment, Snezana! You’re so nice!
Just wanna remark that you have a very decent web site, I love the style it actually stands out.
Thank you for sharing that compliment with me Jose!
I am incessantly thought about this, regards for posting.
Beautiful pictures ♥️
Thank you!!
Prevet Natasha! Good to know you had a great time on Maui….I grew up in the islands and each island has its beauty. Oahu, though busy, has some historical places to visit (Iolani Palace, Queen Emma’s Palace, the Pali, as well as hula shows at the shopping center and a band concert by the Royal Hawaiian Band. I think one can fly to Oahu for a day or so, then fly to Maui and leave from there for a little more than round trip to Maui only. Aloha
Thank you for sharing! We just got back into town today. We may be more likely to explore various islands and tourist spots when our children are a little older and our toddler is no longer a toddler 🙂
Beautiful pictures.
Could you let me know what camera are you using for this trip?
or a camera that you can suggest?
Hi Anna, I believe that was our Canon 6D and 50mm lens for most of the photos. Here is a list of all the equipment we use.
do you have a cook book I can buy let me know please
Jo Ann, I don’t have a cook book yet but it is on my to-do list 😬
I can’t believe I haven’t seen this post before!!! We’ve been to Maui once before and it was amazing! So we’re actually going again this year. Actually in about a month! But I wish I saw this post before we booked everything 🙁 we will be going with our 15 month old. How did you get Baby D on a sleeping schedule?
Also did you know that Maui has a black sand beach and there’s a Garden of Eden. It was beautiful!!! Have you been to a Luau? We thought it would have been a waste of 200$ but I was very worth it 🙂 and going there again this time around. 🙂
I love all your recipe and have probably tried half of them!!!
I hope you have an amazing time!! Our little one did well with naps – we rented a crib through a baby gear rental company so she had a designated place to nap. She was pretty young though so it was easier to put her to nap on the beach under the umbrella even. We tried to stick with our home time zone somewhat but she still had to adjust when we got there and when we came back. I hope you have a lovely and memorable trip! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your photos!! Loved it!! May God bless your beautiful family! I’m new to your site and just recently started using your recipes! Thank you!
You are very welcome Nessy, welcome to the site and thank you for such a nice comment 😁.
Looks beautiful!
Can you please share a bit of information on the per night cost in a condo/rental home and what are the cons/pros of renting a place as such?
There is a huge range in prices. I would suggest clicking on the link above for the vacation rentals, finding the location you want and searching by your budget. It also varies by what part of Maui you stay in. We probably stayed in the most expensive part (Wailea), but if you stay in Kihei, prices are better. I enjoyed this trip the most because the place was nice. I kept comparing my previous visits to Maui to our vacations in Mexico where everything is pretty and fancy (and not as spendy as Maui). It was a splurge, but going with the baby and being in a condo near the beach (we didn’t have to drive to the beach), plus having the umbrella service was such a treat with kids on the beach.
Thank you for your beautiful family photos!! Thanks for sharing with us!! Just to skite a little! we have beaches like that all year long, with weather to match, luv Jill from Australiaxxxxx
Thank you Jill! That sounds so nice 🙂
Wow this is awesome, we are planning our next vacation to Hawaii. This helps a lot.
Thank you!
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you find it helpful 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your photos of of your family trip to Maui!! I’ve NEVER been to Hawaii before, so going there will have to be on my bucket list.
Wear that bikini, girlfriend!!!! 🙂
LaTrice, I hope you get to go one day and remember to write me and tell me how much you loved it 😁.
Great photos, Natasha! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you Patty 🙂
I liked those pictures ! and missing my family !
Thank you and I hope you get to see them soon! 🙂
Natasha, how did you handle the cooking thing? Like if you bought food at costco when you got there, how did you figure out how much you’ll need for your stay and what did you do with unused food then?
Anna, we planned the menu when we got there and shopped pretty strictly to our menu. Whatever we couldn’t find at Costco, was purchased at Safeway. By sticking to the menu we had almost nothing leftover. This is important in Maui since food there is more expensive then on the main land. Hope this helps 😀.
What a fun vacation! Last family picture with the sunset is frame worthy!! 😉
Awww thank you so much Vika 🙂
I enjoy your family pictures, they are just wonderful!!! We don’t go to Maui, too far away for a holiday, especially when we have beautiful beaches with sand @sun, etc not far away from home!! in Australia!! Keep the pictures coming, many thanks, Jillxxx
Yeah I probably wouldn’t be going to Maui if I lived in Australia either. I imagine it is beautiful there!!
Your vacation looks amazing! A well deserved vacation for your family, love your blog!
We have a 1 year old baby Daniel, and we faithfully call him “Baby D”.
As I was reading your post started to feel a little “aaawww” connection here. Thought we were the only clever ones out there… Guess not! Love it ❤️
How sweet 🙂 My son calls her baby D too 🙂
Beautiful pictures of a beautiful family in a beautiful place! I especially appreciate the shrimp tacos recipe:)
Thank you so much and I’m so glad you like the tacos. We are pretty crazy about them and they bring back alot of sweet memories 🙂
Natasha, you’ve inspired me that traveling with small kids IS possible and still very enjoyable for all! I’d love for you to make a post on traveling with kids. Tips for the flight, adjusting to a new place, and ways for all to have fun… Maybe mention some things to avoid and some things that work well? I’m a new mom and love the idea of taking our son on an amazing vacation while he’s still little. You make it look very doable! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Olga, I’m happy to have inspired you :). Bring snacks, load phones or ipads with kids cartoons, bring toys for babies, bring pillows for each child. My son had a pillow and used by airplane neck pillow and slept the entire night flight 🙂
How was flying with little kids? I’m a little nervous about that, we have a toddler and almost a year old infant. Already feel sorry for the other passengers on the plane if my kids get out of control lol
It wasn’t too bad. We had a night flight on the way back which was torture for us parents but the kids slept most of the whole way through :). Bring toys for the kids for sure and our son had an ipad with some cartoons loaded on. Our kids did ok on the flights there and back 🙂
Wonderful pictures!
We went to Maiu in 2014, stayed in Lahaina area.
In Feb we’re going to Kauai. booked our vacation through Costco this time, since it was a last minute decision and we couldn’t find any good deals on our own. Costco travel package includes hotel/condo rental, flight and car rental at a very decent price. I was pleasantly surprised
I’ve never looked into Costco, but I’ll definitely check it out next time. Thanks for the tip!
Your trip looks so wonderful! We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and tried to catch the sun setting every evening as well.
Cool tip (about the boy shorts). I will have to remember that for when my son gets older.
It was the same thing last time we went and we went to all kinds of shops trying to find him some body glove type of shorts to keep the sand out and then my mom actually came up with the idea to just cut out the liner. It worked great! 🙂 What a memorable honeymoon in Maui – so romantic!
The pictures are just as gorgeous as all that food – yum! I’ve never been to Hawaii, but I may have to add that to my bucket list. Glad you had a nice time!
Thank you so much Biz :). It was such a blessed trip. I thanked God every day :). I hope you have a chance to go some day!