How about a Maui vacation at Kihei Vacation Condo?

E Komo Mai and welcome to Kihei on Maui,

Our today's post is a sequel of our last post where we listed 3 reasons why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation. 'Keihei Vacation Condos' are HERE for everybody who loves a Maui vacation on the white sand beaches in sunny Kihei on West Maui. The Kihei Condos we talk about are located in 'Kihei Garden Estate', the best kept secret among the many ocean front and ocean view Kihei vacation condo complexes.

We love the laid back Hawaiian ambiance of Kihei Garden Estate: low 2-storey buildings in a peaceful tropical garden setting, away from the traffic noise of South Kihei Rd, and only steps to a quiet white sand beach. Enjoy this beach for tranquil early morning beach walks, a dip in the ocean, watching Maui's magnificent sunsets or our gentle giants, the humpback whales, during the winter months. Serenity NOW at one of the 1Bd/1Ba or 2Bd/2ba Kihei Condos on your Maui vacation at Kihei Garden Estate!

The special 'makai' (ocean side) location of 'Kihei Garden Estate' does not only allow easy access to the ocean, but at the same time convenient shopping at Azeka Shopping Center and Star Super Market. Plenty of Kihei restaurants from fine dining to affordable nationality restaurants or fast food add to your comfort when staying at a Kihei Garden Estates condo. It's only a short 5-minute drive to the wonderful Kamaole Beaches and Charlie Young beach making these Maui vacation condos in South Kihei an ideal vacation home away from home.

The 1bd/1ba Kihei Vacation Condos are ground floor condos with a comfortable 640 sqft vacation space with garden views and peeka-boo views of Haleakala from your lanai at Maui's most desired location. The covered lanais are perfect for enjoying the tropical Hawaiian atmosphere with your meals. Cool tile flooring greets your feet as you enter the condo from the nearby parking lot. No climbing stairs with your shopping bags or beach equipment! A wall mounted A/C unit keeps the condo cool during hot summer days. Most of the time, a nice cross ventilation and ceiling fans throughout the condo, does not make the running of AC necessary.

Kihei condos at Kihei Garden Estates offer everything you need for your home-away-from-home for your Maui vacation: fully equipped kitchen, high quality mattresses for a good night's sleep, flat screen TVs w/DVD players for your entertainment at night, Hawaiian style sleeper couch for additional guests, lanai furniture for sitting outdoors, high speed Internet WiFi, beach equipment and so much more.


There is no need to venture out far from your Maui condo home, if you don't want to. You may relax right there. Kihei Garden Estate has a beautiful big enclosed gated swimming pool. This ground floor unit makes going to the pool a fun activity. In addition, a relaxing hot tub, two gas barbeques, a large picnic area will make your Kihei condo experience one to tell your friends about.

How about a Maui vacation at a Kihei Condo? Kick back and enjoy a relaxing Maui vacation at Kihei Garden Estates Vacation Condo at affordable nightly rates, depending on length of stay + # of people:

$79 - $99/nt.(2 - 4 people) for value season (NOW - 12/15/09) and $125/nt. - $135/nt. for high season (12/16 - 4/15/10). NO cleaning fee applies when staying 6 or more nights. Please, inquire for 2bd/2ba condo rates. Just write me an email with your travel dates and number of people in travel party and I will respond asap. Aloha from Keoki from sunny Kihei Maui

Kihei Condo Reservation & Rates

Deposit of $200 is required within 10 days of confirmation to secure reservation.
Full prepayment is due 30 days prior to arrival.
All rates are subject to 12.42% Hawaii State Tax.
Minimum stay is 4 nights. Cleaning fee for 5 nights or less is $85 per stay.
NO cleaning fee when booking 6 nights and more.
CHECK-IN time is 2:00 PM. CHECK-OUT time is 11:00 AM.
A 1/2 day charge is required to guarantee a late check-out.
Special rates available for 8 days stays or longer.
All rates and taxes are subject to change.


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Best Flight offers from Seattle to Maui

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Tags: Maui condo in Kihei, Kihei condo, Maui vacation, South Kihei condo, affordable maui condo

Is Kihei a Good Place for a Maui Vacation?

After we had published or most recent post 'Our Maui condo vacation in Kihei' on our Best Hawaii Vacation Blog , not only our Hawaii friends were wondering whether Kihei is really such a good place for a Hawaii Maui vacation. Most of our friends figured from our enthusiastic blog writing that we must have liked our Maui vacation in Kihei a lot. We are happy to share with all our blog visitors our best reasons why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation.

3 Best Reasons why Kihei is a good place for Maui vacation

1. Kihei Maui has a beach for everyone

North Kihei offers great surfing beaches for wind- and kite surfers because of frequent wind activity. Wailea / Kahena area in South Kihei invites snorkelers and scuba-divers for some great ocean adventures. And all of the Kamaole Beaches, I, II, II together with Charlie Young Beach are 'displaying' Hawaii the way the Mainlander is dreaming of when he thinks of a Hawaii vacation: soft white sand beaches, blue skies and swaying palm trees.

2. Kihei has a condo for everybody + every budget

Naturally, when we searched for the, our, best place to stay in Kihei Maui, we cruised hundreds of websites and Kihei condo listings allowed for vacation rentals. Decision making was tough! You can choose from high end ocean front condos like Kauhale Makai, the more medium priced ocean view condos of Kihei Kai Nani or the more affordable vacation condos at Kihei Garden Estates, which we loved for its mellow Hawaiian ambience with its 2-story buildings in a tropical garden setting.


Be aware that you will always pay extra, double or triple, for ocean front or ocean view condos but again, there is a Kihei condo for everybody. Make sure that your Kihei vacation rental condo complex has a decent size pool for those days when the huge winter surf waves hit the Hawaiian Islands + Kihei during the winter months.

3. Kihei offers plenty of things to do

...in addition to beach walks, ocean swimming, snorkeling, board surfing, board paddling, boogie boarding + sun bathing on the beach. We love to play tennis. There are plenty of public tennis courts at the Kihei Beach Parks, like Kalama Beach Park and Waipuilani Park. Kalama Beach Park offers tons of fun things to do besides the tennis (4 hard courts with lights!) for Kihei visitors and residents alike. The park provides excellent facilities for picnicking and family outings with picnic tables + pavilions, BBQ grills, showers for those who played volleyball, basketball, baseball and soccer. I also noticed a great playground for little kids and a skate board facility which was busy with young skate boarders.


When we visited Kalama Beach Park, we also noticed a lot of weekend fishermen having several fishing rods with baits out in the ocean, staring at the ocean patiently waiting for the fish to bite and telling us all these angler stories about how many fish they caught the other day!

South Kihei offers paved trails along the ocean for biking and jogging, which we actually both like. For those who stay longer on their Kihei vacation and don't want to miss their daily workout with free weights and machines, Kihei offers 2 gym or fitness centers with daily and monthly rates.

Kihei's restaurant choices are from affordable to luxury, from fine dining to fast food. Kihei offers a restaurant for everybody's taste and budget. Nationality restaurants like Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese are favorites of visitors in Kihei. Another good reason why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation.


Honestly, we were kind of overwhelmed by all the dining and shopping options in Kihei. Our favorite place to shop was the 'Farmer's Market' in north Kihei with its daily fresh tropical fruits. Not cheap but who can resist tasty apple bananas, juicy strawberry papayas or sweet Hayden mangos?! Interestingly, no white pineapples. Those are really a speciality of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Last but not least, it is Kihei where you find the best weather for your Maui vacation. Kihei offers nice sunny weather all year round with our Hawaiian trade winds working as natural AC. Tell us what you think why Kihei is a good place for a Maui vacation. A hui hou. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

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Tags: Kihei condos, Best Maui vacation, Kihei condo vacation

Our Maui condo vacation in Kihei

Wow, Keoki and Pua spent a Maui condo vacation in Kihei? Really, Maui? Big surprise for all of our Best Hawaii vacation blog visitors who know that our favorite place is the Kohala Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii. After writing two Maui vacation blog posts recently: Best Flight offers from Seattle to Maui and Is it a good time to buy a Maui Condo NOW, not to forget our most recent post about Cheap Hawaiian Interisland flights, we decided it's time to reunite with Maui by spending a Kihei condo vacation there.

We took advantage of one of the Maui Vacation condo bargain offers and the most affordable air fares + Maui car rentals in years. Guess what. We got rewarded with a week of sunshine + blue skies, mellow trade winds, perfect ocean conditions for swimming and stretches of empty white sand Kihei beaches for those early morning beach walks!

Finally, we were able to visit all those Maui beaches in South Kihei, Hawaii visitors and residents rave about, and tell you what Kihei beach became our favorite beach. However, let us tell you first where we stayed in Kihei. We had booked a nice ground floor 1Bd/1Ba condo at Kihei Garden Estates. Kihei Garden condos are not ocean front like Kauhale Makai but they are a few 2-story buildings in a beautiful Hawaiian garden setting meeting our expectation for a peaceful Maui vacation. And the price was right for our Maui condo vacation!

We felt sorry for all the Maui condo owners who did not have any visitors. September is usually a slow month in Hawaii. I keep recommending this month because the weather is beautiful (not as hot as summer), travel to Hawaii is cheap, and beaches and restaurants are empty. This year, September seemed even having less visitors than in the past. We mostly had the swimming pool and the jacuzzi at Kihei Garden Estates to ourselves. As we are not big BBQ-ers, but we enjoyed the closeness of Star Market and a huge number of affordable restaurants (Thai restaurant was our favorite), all in walking distance from our Kihei condo.

From our Kihei Garden Estate condo it was just a short walk to the beach - wonderful for beach walks and cooling off dips in the ocean. As Charley Young Beach was only a short 5-min. drive down S.Kihei Rd, it became our favorite S.Kihei beach. In the mornings, we hopped in our car equipped with beach chairs, towels, books and camera to enjoy the most splendid Hawaii mornings by the ocean. Heavy winds are not really blowing in S. Kihei as they do on the northern coast. It was also fun to watch the board paddlers!

All in all, Keoki and I had a wonderful Maui vacation in Kihei. Affordable condos in Kihei, Kamaole Beaches and Charlie Young Beach are worth a Maui visit. Hope you like our Maui condo vacation photos. Where did you spend your Maui condo vacation in Kihei? Aloha, Pua Hawaii Maui Vacation

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Tags: Maui Condo Vacation, Maui Vacation, best Maui condo, favorite Maui beach

Fly cheap between Hawaiian Islands NOW

We just island hopped virtually yesterday from Maui to the Big Island. But this is much better. Here is our Best Hawaii Vacation blog Interisland Flight Special Alert for everybody who is visiting Hawaii in September. Hawaiian Airlines offers Island Hop Hawaiian Style at $24.99 Interisland Fare One Way, which includes tax!

Hawaii Traveler Alert:

Sign-Up by 8/31/2009 + get this Hawaii Interisland
Flight Special for 9/1 - 9/30/09

- The $24.99* Interisland fare inclusive of U.S. tax is applicable to one way routing
- You'll get unlimited Interisland trips at this low fare
- Reservations must be booked via HawaiianAirlines.com from 08/24/2009 - 09/30/2009
- Travel must be completed by 09/30/2009
- The $24.99* Interisland fare inclusive of U.S. tax is good for coach class travel booking class 1
- Discount cannot be applied to tickets purchased before sign-up
- Interisland flights booked with this special promotion are eligible for HawaiianMiles Mainland Madness credits.

Read more about this Cheap Hawaii flight between Hawaiian Islands in September 2009. Hawaiian island hopping as cheap as it gets! Don't miss the deadline on 8/31/09 for your September Interisland travel for this Hawaiian Airlines flight special. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Tags: Best Interisland Hawaii flight, cheap Hawaii Island hopping

Big Island Places to Visit - City of Refuge

It's time to island hop back to the Big Island after we spend some time on Maui dealing with the current abundance of Kihei condo short sales and the question 'Is it a good time to buy a Maui condo?' Maui condos are also getting some special attention this fall because condo vacation rental rates are lower than ever for the 2009 fall season. One reason for us to share with our Best Hawaii vacation blog visitors Best Fall Airfares from Seattle to Maui. After Labor Day, flight tickets are outrageously low. It's time for a Maui Beach vacation in Kihei!

If you are not a beach bum but prefer adventure, the Big Island is right for you as we pointed out in many previous posts such as 'Which Hawaiian island is your favorite island?' My favorite saying about a Big Island vacation is this Hawaiian island offers 'adventure beyond the ordinary'! Where else can you see a live volcano or go ski in the morning on a snow covered mountain and swim in the warm waters of the Pacific in the afternoon. Those who plan their Big Island vacation now, might want to peruse our previous Big Island vacation articles.


Here is another of those special Big Island adventures, which actually allows you to combine learning more about ancient Hawaiian traditions and culture with having the best Hawaii snorkel experience. It's a visit to the City of Refuge or Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, National Historic Park. The park is located on the southern Kona Coast. Take Hwy 11 to Hwy 160 and continue downhill 4 miles to the entrance of the park.


The visitors Center is open 8am - 5:30pm. A self guiding tour takes you through the grounds: The Royal Grounds and the Place of Refuge. With Honaunau Bay offering an easy canoe landing place + the availability of drinking water, it was the perfect place for the ali'i (Roayals) to build one of their major residences there. The Royal grounds were separated from the pu'uhonua, place of refuge, by a massive stone wall built about 1550 - 10 feet high + 17 feet thick! - and still standing today. Can you believe that?!


So, what's the story behind the City of Refuge? In ancient Hawaiian life, activities were regulated by 'Kapu'. If a 'kapu' was broking, Hawaiians feared that their gods would get mad at them with an earth quake, volcano eruption or tidal wave. To 'prevent' that they tried everything to catch the kapu breaker. A kapu breaker was sentenced to death, unless he/she managed to reach pu'uhonua, which meant absolution by a priest and a safe return home. Tough times, I'd say.


See for yourselves how ancient Hawaiian ali'i lived. When you walk those ancient sacred Hawaiian grounds, you might get transported into the past and feel the spirit of old Hawaii. We did not feel any goose bumps as some visitors report when visiting ancient heiaus in Hawaii. Get back into the presence by swimming and snorkeling in the ocean waters of Honaunau Bay. Don't forget your snorkel gear, as Honaunau Bay is one of the best snorkel spots on the Big Island. It is also a great place to see the Hawaiian green sea turtles.


You want to share your personal City of Refuge experience, we'd love to hear from you. Have a wonderful time on your Big island vacation. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Tags: Best Places Hawaii, Big Island vacation, Best Things to do on Big Island

Best Flight Offers from Seattle to Maui

Aloha to everybody who loves a Maui Hawaii vacation,

Let's stay for today's Best Hawaii blog post kind of within the topic we talked about 'Is it a good time to buy a Maui condo NOW?' We heard from Maui realtors in the South Kihei condo area that the months January through April 2009 had been really slow with interested buyers in Maui condos. Summer 2009 showed a big slowdown in vacation rental requests but on the other hand, more "Mainlanders" showed up interested in buying Kihei condos at 'bargain' prices as investment and as a vacation rental and a place to stay warm during cold winter months!

For all those, who are still looking into buying a Maui condo now or are getting ready for a Maui vacation during fall season, there is great news out there for Maui travel, especially for travelers from the Pacific Northwest, from Seattle and Portland. I came across those new best flight offers from Seattle to Maui through a Maui Twitter friend whose tweet I actually retweeted for our best Maui vacation visitors yesterday:

RT @MCIMaui New Direct Alaska Airlines Flight from Portland to #Maui: Will more competition mean more affordable... http://bit.ly/17sif9

It's pretty amazing how things come and go around through social networks like twitter. Anyways, my Maui Twitter friend had picked up the good Maui travel news from the Maui Real Estate Directory Blog, which wrote on a post 'Will more competition mean more affordable flights to Maui?': "As of July 3rd, a convenient new flight via Alaska Airlines is taking passengers direct from Portland, Oregon to Maui, Hawaii. Alaska offered three flights weekly at first, but as of August 7th, service will expand to daily flights." I definitely recommend Maui visitors to read the entire post New Direct Alaska Airlines Flights from Portland to Maui.

As we all know affordable air fares to Hawaii can and will give the Hawaii Tourism Industry a big boost. That's why we were happy to see our friends from Beat of Hawaii on the same track when they are talking about Hawaii Fall Airfare predictions, referring to Hawaiian Airlines, on one of their recent posts:

"Pacific Northwest will be the hottest market. In just the past week the cost to fly from Seattle to Honolulu has dropped by 25% and is now at $298 round-trip on Hawaiian. I expect to see Seattle and Portland fares continue to drop, especially on service to Honolulu and nonstop flights to the outer islands. Likely we will again see round-trip fares for as little as $200 (plus tax of about $20), from time to time, as we saw last year." Again, we recommend to read the entire article about the best flight offers from the Pacific Northwest to Hawaii.

Here is a copy of part of my comment in case you missed that:

"Much mahalo, Jeff, for making our Hawaii visitors from the Pacific Northwest aware of those special air fares from Seattle and Portland to the islands. I've checked on Hawaiian and found the special rates you mentioned Seattle - Honolulu and Seattle Maui for RT $298.

However, I noticed with Maui, that travelers might want to leave a little more time between now and their departing flights to Maui in September. As the direct flights to Maui leave only once a day, the planes get filled up fast and then Hawaiian asks more money for their seats, whether Wednesday or weekend flying, it does not matter."

So guys check Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines for those special fall airfares from the Pacific Northwest or San Francisco to Hawaii. Find your best flight special from Seattle to Maui or Honolulu Hawaii. Hop on the plane and have a great Hawaii Vacation. Aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacation
p.s.
We chose beautiful Hawaiian girl Sara from WahineStyle.com as our Hawaii post girl today.

Tags: best fall airfares to maui, maui vacation, seattle to maui, best price

Is it a good time to buy a Maui Condo NOW?

Aloha to all our Hawaii blog visitors, our regulars and the drop-ins,

The Sharks, Rays and Whales on the most wanted Youtube Video post took off right from the start. It was fun writing the post and sharing this spectacular video with everybody. Best Hawaii Vacation blog visitors and our Hawaii friends liked it a lot. I am sure Jon got quite some extra traffic for his video from our blog, and he deserved it.

As mentioned before, visiting other Hawaii blogs and Hawaii twitter friends is a steady source and pool for new ideas. A recent post by our friend Julie from 'Maui Vacation Guide' about Short Sales of Maui Condos got my special attention this time. Reading Julie's article on low price short sale offers for Maui condos for sale, triggered my curiosity to that extend that I thought Maui condo short sales will hit a nerve and attract the attention by a lot of our Hawaii blog visitors. It seems time to talk 'Hawaii Real Estate' again. This time specifically about 'Is it a good time to buy a Maui condo NOW?'

My first action to prepare this post was a Google search for Maui condos for Sale and peruse a big number of those top search result sites for Maui condos. Bottom line, there is quite a number of Maui real estate sites which focus on Maui condo for sale real estate market trying to lure the 'Mainlanders' hungry for Hawaii sun to buy a Maui condo now.

I liked those sites which provided in addition to the basic condo info like:

- Asking price

- Maui condo resort location

- condo bedroom + bathroom number

additional detailed condo info like:

- Is the condo zoned for vacation rental?

- Condo monthly maintenance fee

- Annual Taxes

- Sales history

The prices for Maui condo short sales are really tempting but be aware of that the banks take their time to 'collect' a number of offers for a certain short sale condo and decide for the highest offer after 3 - 4 months or even longer. If you are not in a hurry, try your luck. Maybe your nice cash offer will be accepted by the bank. In any case, that's probably the lowest price for Maui condos, not just short sales, I have seen in a long time. So, is it a good time to buy now?

Believe me, not just us regular folks wonder whether the Hawaii Real Estate market has reached the bottom or will even further slow down, meaning Maui condo prices will even come down more. The following article about reaching the bottom and about current trends in Hawaii Real Estate market by Michael Gallagher shows you that Hawaii realtors can't guarantee either whether this is now the best time to buy a Maui condo. One thing is for certain though, Hawaii real estate market will recover as it always has. There is no place like Hawaii! The decision is yours. Before you buy a Maui condo, here are 3 facts you need to know when buying a Maui condo NOW.

3 Facts to know for buying a Maui Condo

1. Maui Condo Vacation rental zoned

If you don't want to move to the island of Maui permanently and consider spending 2 - 3 months on Maui in winter, you want to rent out your Maui condo for the rest of the year at the best rate you can get. Lots of things have changed recently in the Maui vacation rental scene recently. Make sure that the condo you buy is in a vacation rental zoned condo resort or complex. If the complex got 'grandfathered' in, make sure the condo complex bylaws state 'short term rental allowed'. BTW, Maui legislature is still dealing with making more vacation rentals legal.

2. Maui Vacation Rental business Slowdown

Remember the economic slowdown has a big effect on family's capability to go and spend some extra money on vacation. Hawaii vacations got postponed by many families this summer. Summer 2009 in Hawaii was one of the slowest high season summer months for vacation rentals in years. Hawaii visitors who stuck with their travel plans to the islands, received deals they had never dreamed of. Good for them. However, vacation condo rates did often not cover the expenses Maui condo owners have like high monthly maintenance and annual taxes. Good news: Winter months look much better for Maui vacation condos!

3. Maui condo Property Management

Be aware that renting your Maui condo as a vacation rental requires knowledge, business skills and means to advertise it. That's why the majority of Maui condo owners rely on property management companies. Maui property rental managements charge for booking and renting you condo fees between 20 - 25%. You might want to check and compare. I even found out that one of the biggest Maui management company charges a monthly fee whether they book your condo or not.

BTW, when you are not a permanent Hawaii resident, you need a Hawaii agent to act on your behalf which is another reason that Maui condo owners decide for a Maui property management company. Lots to think about when you want to make some money from your Maui vacation condo.

Do you think 'It's a good time to buy a Maui condo NOW?' Our Best Hawaii blog visitors and we'd love to hear from everybody, whether Hawaii realtor or lay people like us. Mahalo and aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

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Tags: condos for sale Maui, Maui condos Short sales, Hawaii real estate market, trends prices Maui condos