Most evenings at 6:30 PM. Call 808-661-0011 for information. You can watch this show free from some seats around the edges of the audience, or you can sit at the tables in the center of the audience. There is no charge to sit at the tables, but the waitress will expect you to order drinks or snacks if you sit there.
SINGERS SUNDAY AT KAANAPALI BEACH HOTEL
Sunday mornings behind the buffet brunch room, outside and in back of the Kaanapali Beach hotel, sit at the round tables and listen to live music. 808-661-0011
Walk along this boardwalk with the ocean on one side and the wetlands on the other side. On Route 31 in Maalaea.
A volunteer from the Pacific Whale Foundation will answer your questions, give you brochures, and lend you binoculars to watch the whales (winter only) at Papawai (McGregor) Point Lookout on the Pali portion of Honoapiilani Highway (Route 30) on the west side of Maalaea Bay, from 8 AM to 2 PM. If you're here between November 15. and April 30., you should see Humpback whales in action, so we definitely recommend to reserve one of the few
whale watching tours.
In Lahaina, relax and watch the tourists and the locals any day. People-watching here is one of my favorite free things to do in Maui. You can also see art and meet artists on weekends here from 9 AM to 5 PM.
In Lahaina, behind Banyan Tree. Includes Lahaina Visitors Center (open every day 9-5), art gallery, and old jail.
ART
— Friday night is art night in Lahaina. That evening, or any day, walk through the numerous galleries there. The Lahaina Visitors Center (in the Old Courthouse behind the Banyan Tree) has a flyer with a map of Lahaina’s art galleries with names of the artists featured in each.
— Wailea On Wednesdays. Wednesday evening, or any day, see the art in galleries at the Shops at Waileashopping center.
— Schaefer International Gallery at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center in Kahului, open 11 AM to 5 PM daily, with rotating art exhibits.
— You can also see beautiful art in the major hotels in the resort areas of Wailea, Kaanapali, and Kapalua. The best is the art at the Four Seasons hotel in Wailea. There’s a free art tour twice per week at the Grand Wailea.
MUSEUMS
A few of Maui’s museums are free:
— Whalers Village Museum in Kaanapali
— Printing Museum at Lahainaluna High School in Lahaina
— Hale Paahao (Irons House at Old Lahaina Prison) on Prison Street in Lahaina
— Lahaina Heritage Museum in the Old Lahaina Courthouse
— Plantation Museum in the Wharf Cinema Center.
OUTDOOR CONCERT IN LAHAINA
Call Lahaina Restoration Foundation 808-661-3262 or see their online calendar Lahaina Restoration Events to get the latest schedule for their monthly free concert on the lawn in front of the Baldwin Home on Front Street in Lahaina (usually at 6 PM on the last Thursday of the month).
LIVE MUSIC IN WAILEA
At the courtyard in the Wailea Gateway shopping center every Wednesday 6:30 to 8 PM. For this to be one of the free things to do in Maui, you’ll have to get your parking card stamped at one of the shops so you won’t have to pay for parking.
UKULELE LESSON
In the Lahaina Cannery Mall every Tuesday at 5:45 PM.
HUI
The Hui Noeau Visual Arts Center just outside of Makawao has art and artists’ studios in and around a beautiful old mansion.
Drive across the wide lava field created 200 years ago by Maui’s last volcano eruption, to get to the black beach at LaPerouse Bay. This is one of the most unusual free things to do in Maui. There is only one tour which can bring you very close to LaPerouse Bay - the Private Segway tour so you can experience great Segway gliding through Makena ocean shore with no sweat, with ocean breeze.
Fridays at 10 AM, see a video about the Hawaiian people, with a discussion by Hawaiian Cultural Advisor Clifford Naeole, called “Sense of Place.” Call him at the Ritz 808-669-6200 to verify day and time.
RAINBOWS
Watch for rainbows over the ocean the first two hours after sunrise, and in the mountains the last two hours before sunset. They are most likely on days with some mist in the air, or days with light rain showers, when the sun is visible in the opposite direction from where you look for the rainbows. They are most commonly seen from West Maui (the Kaanapali side of the island).
MOONSET
For a beautiful sight, watch a nearly-full moon setting into the ocean, in a dark sky, with white moonlight reflected across the ocean towards you. The only time you can see this, is 1-3 days before a full moon, at 1-3 hours before sunrise. Look in the western sky, at about the same position that the sun has been setting. Details, photo, and links to look up the dates and times for any particular month are at Maui Moonset.
NIGHT SKY
Look up at Maui’s clear skies any night, and see more stars and a different perspective than at home.
Garden, buildings, and statues, about the people who settled in Maui from other countries, on the road into Iao Valley.
Walk around these quiet and peaceful wetlands in the south part of Maui’s central valley, looking at the birds and maybe some turtles. Enter at mile marker 6 on Maui Veterans Highway (route 311) (formerly called Mokulele Highway, just north of North Kihei Road (route 310). Daytime only; closed weekends. Call 808-875-1582 for further information.
Beautiful small forest of wide variety of trees (pine, spruce, cedar and eucalyptus imported from all over the world). At the 7000-foot elevation, just below the entrance to Haleakala National Park. Camping and hiking, but can be chilly.
Tour of Maui’s only winery, including free wine tasting. In Upcountry. Call 808-878-6058 for schedule.
LOBBIES AND GROUNDS OF LUXURY RESORTS
Walk around and look at the beautiful pools, lobbies, and grounds of the big resort hotels in Kaanapali and Wailea. This is one of the free things to do in Maui that you won’t find in most tour books.
PETROGLYPHS
In Olowalu (west Maui, Honoapiilani Highway south of Lahaina). Ask directions to petroglyphs at the General Store. About a mile walk back into the fields, to see ancient rock carvings on a cliff.
About 5000 humpback whales come to Maui every winter. Watch them from the beach or from your lanai. January through March are the peak months, when you can see whales every day.
If you're here between November 15. and April 30., you should see Humpback whales in action, so we definitely recommend to reserve one of the few whale watching tours.
