The Maui Local Guide is a compilation of the best spots to adventure and eat on Maui with an emphasis on supporting local families and respecting cultural sites.
If you want to check off everything on this guide without getting exhausted you’ll need at least a month on Maui - so pick and choose your adventures and make sure to enjoy lazy days just hanging out at the beach like us locals do. It's a reason to come back...and now you have The Maui Local Guide for when you do!
This guide will be updated regularly so consider becoming a member of my online community to support local initiatives and always have access to the most up to date version, when I publish updates. Check out my website and discover how you can help me serve my local and online communities.
This guide is geo tagged with google maps to make your life easier. If you would like a more personalized tour or experience on maui please don’t hesitate to email info@themauilocalguide.com and my network and I will do our best to coordinate a concierge style experience for you while you visit Maui.
Final note, this guide was created by yours truly, Yana, in an effort to be of service to both the visitors and locals who enjoy these beautiful lands and the following statement is a short note from myself on the reason why I created this resource and how your voluntary contribution to support my work will enable me to continue to help my community.
Although I am not Hawaiian, as a non-native tenant of Maui, who has worked in the service industry for over a decade, I have come to realize the immense repercussions of occupation on the Native Hawaiians who have taught and inspired me to truly be a representative of the term Aloha. Aloha is so much more than a greeting or a marketing slogan. Aloha is a way of life which goes hand in hand with the concept of kuleana.
Kuleana emphasizes the idea that each person has a role to play in caring for their community and the land. It's often associated with the viewpoint that people are responsible for giving back to those that helped them. Or as one of America’s favored presidents, John F. Kennedy, famously stated “ask not what your country can do for you, rather what is it that you can do for your country.”
Therefore, if you truly want to enjoy the spoils of Maui, not just like a local, rather as Native, please remember what a privilege it is to be on vacation in an occupied nation. The local and native community will take great care of you, as long as you come here with the intention to return the aloha and respect. While you are here, if you’d like to educate yourself further on Native Hawaiians plight please subscribe to this substack where I’ll continue to create articles and showcase guest writers to showcase what daily life is like on Maui, especially after the Maui fires ravaged these sacred lands.
You can also go one step further, and learn about the Sovereign Nation of Hawaii by visiting the Nation of Hawaii website.
Furthermore, if you truly want to get into the spirit of Aloha, consider devoting a day or two of your vacation to get involved in kuleana work, and volunteering at the multitude of opportunities listed on the Kanu Hawaii website where you can discover unique ways you can give back to the land and the people that live here full time. One of my personal favorite ways to get involved on Maui, especially if you’re an animal lover like myself, and miss your dogs on vacation, is by taking a shelter pup to the beach through the Maui Humane Society dog on demand program.
And finally, thank you, for simply being you and your interest in discovering the local side of Maui. Although this guide is free, as most of the resources that I offer to be of service to others, if you’re able to support my work, any donation you may give when downloading this guide, or after using it on your vacation and finding it to be of service to you, is greatly appreciated as it truly helps me continue to help humans and animals alike that dwell here full-time.