Best Beaches on Maui
No matter what side of the island you find yourself on during your stay here, you’ll always be met with sunshine and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
If you’re driving up the west side from another part of the island, the first beach you should stop at is Launiupoko. Launis is a fun beach to see small waves and surfers out in the water! As well as the sandy beach, the beach park also offers lots of grassy and shady areas, and beach showers and restrooms! While I love the beauty of this beach, I don’t recommend swimming here unless it’s in the tide pool. There’s lots of wana on the reef here – a sea urchin that will stick you!
Slaughterhouse Beach is the next beach on the way up the west side. Once you park on the side of the road, you’ll take the stairway with the green railing down about 100 stairs to a rocky path to the beach. Since it’s down from the cliffside, this beach is ideal to visit mid-day, when the sun hits just right from above, illuminating the blue water and the grassy cliffs surrounding you on each side!
Just up the road from Slaughterhouse is Honolua Bay. Honolua Bay is the most popular place on the west side to snorkel! Some of the boat snorkel tours that go out of the Lahaina Harbor will stop at Honolua Bay for snorkeling. But if you’re wanting a more chill beach day with the option to snorkel, I would definitely check out Honolua Bay Beach! When you get to the location, you’ll typically see other cars parked there on the road. You can park anywhere that doesn’t have a ‘no parking’ sign! Then, follow the path through the beautiful trees and you’ll find your way to the beach. Honestly, the trees you walk under to get there might be even more magical than the beach itself.
If you’re looking for a beach on the south side of Maui (Kihei / Wailea), you’ll have endless options! One of my favorite beaches on the south side is Keawakapu Beach.
Driving down south, the next place I recommend is Maluaka Beach or Makena Landing. Makena Landing offers a beautiful sandy beach with the ease of hopping in and out of the water if you want to do some snorkeling.
On the very south end of Wailea, you’ll find Big Beach. Makena Beach / Big Beach, or “Bigs” as locals call it, is one of the longest and biggest beaches on Maui, which makes it a great place to walk, play in the water, set up a volleyball court or play other beach games. In the summer, the shore break waves can be pretty intense – some of the breaking at 10 feet on the shore. While the waves are so fun to play in, be careful of the big shore break!
