This laid back beach town on the shores of sunny South Maui is a huge draw with visitors, mostly because of its golden beaches and abundance of condos at all price levels.

If you’re staying in the area, here’s a quick rundown of things to do:

Things to Do in Kihei

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Beach Hop the Kams

Kihei has some of the prettiest beaches on Maui and while they’re often crowded from the masses of condos nearby and because they’re so easily accessible, they have their charm.

Kamaole I, II, III are all popular beaches (some with more parking than others), and my favorite thing is to start either at Kam I or Kam III and walk from beach to beach. Each beach is connected with a little path (you don’t need to use the sidewalk up by the road).

Keawakapu Beach is also not to be missed. It sits right on the border between Kihei and Wailea and it’s one of the island’s few truly long stretches of sand.

Read this post for an in depth breakdown of Wailea and Kihei’s best beaches including info on public parking and access points.

South Maui Gardens Hula Show

If you’re semi interested in a luau but not 100% sold on the price tag (a lot of resort luaus are pushing $300 PER PERSON now!!), this is a GREAT option.

This nursery/event space close to the Cove Beach Park is a beautiful outdoor venue that’s home to a food truck park…and a hula show on Wednesday evenings.

The entertainment lasts from 5-7 PM and features live music plus an hour long show with dances from across the Pacific Islands (including Samoan fire knife dancing).

The venue is open seating and while they have some mats, benches, and picnic tables, they encourage you to bring your own beach chairs to set up camp on the lawn.

There are dozens of food trucks on site, but the shining star is Kitoko. The truck is at South Maui Gardens full time, but during the Wednesday night hula show, they have a special menu.

I LOVED the crispy pork belly with okinawan sweet potato gnocchi.

Tickets to the show are about $100/person and sometimes they have a 25% discount available online.

Find more info here.

VIsit the Maui Ocean Center

Located just up the road from north Kihei in Ma’alaea, the Maui Ocean Center is a great spot if you have young kids, or you’re looking for a good rainy day activity. It’s a little pricey and if you have a decent aquarium near your hometown, it’s probably not going to blow you away, but the shark tunnel is pretty cool.

Take Surf Lessons

Kihei is a hot spot for surf lessons on Maui. Most companies work out of Kalama Beach Park on the south side (at the Cove). Try Maui Waveriders or Big Kahuna Adventures and then hit up the Horhito’s truck across the street for the best fish tacos of your life after.

Snorkel Tours from Kihei Boat Ramp

Redline Rafting offers Molokini snorkel tours out of the boat ramp in Kihei. I said earlier that Kai Kanani is my favorite way to do Molokini, but if that’s out of your price range, Redline’s two hour Molokini snorkel is a good option. They have an early morning tour as well so you won’t have to deal with the crowds.

***Want to save major $$$ on your trip to Hawaii? I get asked ALL the time how I’m able to travel so often to Hawaii and stay at really nice resorts. Well, my favorite travel hack is cashing in points to score free airfare and free nights at some of Hawaii’s most high end resorts. Read my full guide on the exact system I use to max out credit card rewards here. Seriously, it’s going to save you soooo much money.

Whale Watching from Ma’alaea Harbor

Most of the big tour operators on the island offer Molokini snorkel tours and whale watching trips (in season) from Ma’alaea, just north of Kihei. While I’ve already told you that I don’t love Molokini trips that leave from Ma’alaea (it’s so far away and you’ll end up snorkeling the crater with everybody else on the island), if you want to go whale watching (December through April), Ma’alaea is a good option if you’re staying on the south side so you don’t have to drive all the way to Lahaina. I think PacWhale Eco Adventures is the best.

Find Horhitos Taco Truck

The very first time I ever came to Maui, we stumbled upon this taco truck the first night and to this day, I still think they’re the best fish tacos on Maui. It’s right across the street from “The Cove” at Kalama Beach Park next to the 76 gas station.

Take your tacos to go and sit on a bench right by the water!

Try WowWow Lemonade

WowWow is always a MUST DO for me. They started as a little lemonade stand by the airport and now they’ve got franchises all over the place and a much bigger menu.

Actually, their acai/smoothie bowls are some of the VERY best in Hawaii and they make each one from scratch.

But you’ve got to try the lemonade. I always love the blackberry lavender one, but trying new ones is part of the fun. And you can get your drink in a mason jar (with a lid and straw) that makes for a great souvenir.

Have Breakfast at the Kihei Caffe

If I only have time for one breakfast on Maui, this is probably the spot. It’s just a little dive, but it’s right across the street from the beach and the food is good, hearty portions, and pretty reasonably priced.

Take cash (there’s an ATM inside) and be prepared to wait in line, but it moves pretty quickly.

P.S. One of the reasons I’m able to travel to Hawaii so often is by using credit card points. And right now my go to travel card has a GREAT limited time sign up offer.

If you sign up for this Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you’ll get 100K bonus points to use on travel.

These are my favorite kind of travel points because they’re so flexible. You could…

Transfer them to Southwest or United to book round trip tickets to Hawaii.

Transfer them to Hyatt to book a stay at the Andaz Maui (such a great luxury resort!)

Transfer them to Marriott for a stay at one of my favorites like the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Royal Hawaiian, or Ritz Carlton Turtle Bay.

Or book a hotel through the Chase travel portal with a cash value of $1250.
The 100K bonus point offer is just for a limited time, so if you’re looking for the best travel card, sign up >> here.

P.P.S. Here’s one more really important thing you need to know before your Hawaii trip…

You’ve got your airfare, hotel, rental car and your big activities booked, so you should be good to go, right? Wrong!

Travel is BOOMING in Hawaii and a lot of state and national parks have instituted reservation systems at some of the island’s most popular spots to help manage the crowds and make things a little more sustainable.

That means that there are now over half a dozen sites (beaches, trailheads, etc.) that require advance reservations. And some sell out well before you arrive on the island so you really need to have some sort of a plan.

I recently saw somebody in a Hawaii travel group post in a panic that they didn’t know they had to make reservations for things in advance…they thought they could just show up and “go with the flow.” I was tempted to say, well, “as long as the flow doesn’t take you somewhere that requires reservations, you can!” ; )

But I don’t want YOU to be that person, so I’ve pulled together a list of all the places you need to reserve entry in advance (plus all the details on booking windows, price, links, etc.) and a handful of popular tourist hotspots that book out really far in advance too.
Get that info >> HERE