Aloha! We just came back from beautiful Maui. I wanted to do a few posts on Maui with a toddler as I had a really hard time finding information specifically aimed at the toddler set.
It was our first time to Maui and we stayed a night by the airport since we got in late at night and wanted to get our little one to bed as soon as possible. There is a Courtyard by Marriott hotel that is about 3 min away from the airport. They offer a free airport pickup on arrival in a private hotel van. I had called ahead and asked for a crib/pack and it was all set in our room when we arrived which was great.
The hotel is in a great location, right across the street from Costco and Kmart if you need to pick up some essentials that you’ve forgotten. Costco also has some great fresh poke. The Limu one was especially delicious! There is also a Walmart and Target nearby but not within walking distance. Both the Kmart and Costco had rash guards, swim suits and sand/water toys if you forgot your own or didn’t have space in your luggage!
After we picked up our rental car, we headed to the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa (aka the Sheraton at Black Rock) in Ka’anapali. The resort is enormous with over 500 hotel rooms. We were upgraded to a beautiful ocean view room on the 5th floor in tower 2. The room was definitely large enough for a crib.
On the side of the pool nearest to tower 2 (by the lawn), there is a great little section which is only knee deep, meaning that my 2.5 year old could stand and play without worry that it would get too deep. It’s not too big so it can get crowded if there are a lot of kids playing. You can see in the picture below that there is a barrier between the shallow section and the rest of the pool so the kids can’t wander off to deeper waters unknowingly. The Sheraton can also provide a microwave for $30 (for your entire stay) if you need to heat up food for your kids.
The beach at the Sheraton is nice and wide, though it was a little windy when we were there. We had fun digging in the sand and flying a Frozen themed kite we bought at Kmart. For a $3 kite, it worked really well!!! My husband got the hang of it really quickly and was able to fly it quite high! The Sheraton had beach chairs for rental for around $40 for the day. We knew we would only be there an hour at most, so we brought our own beach mat to sit on.
The town of Lahaina has a nice long pedestrian stretch of stores and restaurants along Front Street. There is a giant banyan tree park at one end of Front Street. I read that it is over 150 years old and is the oldest banyan tree on Maui. My little one loved chasing the pigeons around the branches. It was a little tricky trying to make sure she didn’t run off, since the branches are only tall enough for little toddlers!
While we were there, it happened to be Prince Kuhio’s birthday celebration and there was a free festival in the park with entertainment and vendors. We watched an incredibly talented family consisting of a singing/drumming Father and 4 dancing kids. My little one loved watching the kids dance! There was also some food for purchase and lots of handmade arts and crafts items for sale in the park.