[Bigtime]

I've been to Maui the most out of all the islands I've visited there (Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii).

The sheer amount of different variety of climates in Maui can be very cool to experience. From the lushness of the Road to Hana, to the very desolate and dry south side of the island (yes you can drive around it, and even see some interesting historical locations like the grave of Charles Lindbergh), windswept Paia and its quaint (but very busy) main street, and the eerie otherworldly feeling on the top of Haleakala, looking like a landscape out of another planet (you might even see one of our intrepid CP bike riders actually riding from sea level up to 10,000' and then ride all the way back down!).

Beaches abound for all types. Small and secluded, giant stretches of sand (Big Beach), easy to access (all the beaches along Kihei), and ones that can surprise the early riser with view of many sea turtles hanging out until they venture back into the ocean for the day (north side of Kihei).

While I have not been back since the fires, family members have multiple times and things in the Kihei/Wailea area are pretty much operating normally and they want those tourists coming in and spending.

Almost all of my stays have been in the Kihei/Wailea area, so that is where I would be most comfortable. Lots of options for places to stay, although I always liked having a condo with a kitchen, so you could do the Costco/Safeway shop and make some meals there, saving some money to hit up nice restaurants for dinners and such.

A rental car would almost be a necessity, so you can easily get around to all the parts of the island you want to take in.

If time allows I would recommend hopping over to the Big Island and spending a few nights to check it out. We did a 3 night trip there and had an AirBnB in the town of Volcano just outside the National Park. While we were there the volcano was active (Kilauea) and we made trips in the night and early morning to see the lava erupting in the caldera, it was incredible to see. Flew into Kona from Maui and then took a small Cessna Caravan from Hilo back to Kahului with Mokulele Airways, giving us a stunning low level view of the east side of the island and its many waterfalls dropping hundreds of feet into the Pacific, amazing to see.