Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook

by Andrew Doughty

This all new fourth edition is the most comprehensive guidebook ever written for Maui. Hawai’i resident and best-selling author, Andrew Doughty, actually hikes all the trails, rides the boats, scuba dives the reefs, dines in the restaurants, reviews all the resorts, snorkels the coastline, explores the hidden waterfalls and shares all the secrets that he finds. Everything is reviewed anonymously. This book and a rental car are all you need to discover what makes Maui so exciting. • Easy-to-use; no thumbing through every page looking for what you want • Driving tours of the island let you structure your trip your way • Fascinating sections on Hawaii’s history, culture, language and legends • 22 specially created maps in an easy-to-follow format with mile markers—so you’ll always know where you are on the island • Clear, concise directions to those hard-to-find places such as deserted beaches, hidden waterfalls, pristine rain forests, spectacular coastlines, natural lava pools and scores of other hidden gems listed nowhere else • 24 pages dedicated to Maui’s beaches with detailed descriptions including water safety • Unique Adventures chapter and over 60 pages of exciting activities from ATVs to ziplines • More than 100 spectacular color photographs • Revealing chapter on hidden sights along the Hana Highway • Includes information on the offshore islands of Lana‘i, Moloka‘i and Kaho‘olawe • Frank, brutally honest reviews of restaurants, hotels and activities show you which companies really are the best…and which to avoid—no advertisements • Web site with links to every business, last minute updates, nearly 150 resort reviews complete with aerial photos—so you’ll know if oceanfront really means oceanfront Maui Revealed covers it all—from the wind-swept top of Haleakala to the sparkling underwater reefs. This is the best investment you can make for your Maui vacation. Whether you’re a first time visitor or a long time kama'aina, you’ll find out more about Maui from this book than from any other source. Discover the island of your dreams with Maui Revealed.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, Guidebook, Collections, Unfinished, Own

311 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has to be the all time best travel book for Maui!!! Not only did we find all the best snorkel spots and places to eat, but the book was so entertaining that even the kids were reading it. Great investment. (I've heard that the older versions include some places to go not in the newer versions. The authors were pretty generous about devulging secret places to go that were on private property or were environmentally sensitive to more folks exploring. These places were removed from later editions.)

[cardulelia carduelis · Rating 4 out of 5]

We spent 5 (non-travel) days in Maui in Summer 2022 and borrowed this from a friend. Suffice to say it guided most of our trip. We used the 8th edition, which is the newest one currently.

Some notes:
- It is pre-pandemic. So some activities/restaurants no longer exist - and some are new (like the Waikiki brewery tavern in Lahaina, fantastic pulled-pork sandwiches!)
- There was a terrific landslide in the Southern tip of the island in May '22, since this edition was written, and you literally cannot drive all the way around Haleakala's base anymore (several miles after the 7 gulches). The road no longer exists in places.
- We ended up completing close to all of the guidebook's suggested activities in the Upcountry, South, and West Maui and agree with all of their assessments.
- Their restaurant recommendations were a bit generous, but I might be biased by experience with NorCal food which is similar in origin, price, and quality.
- Their Haleakala and Road to Hana section made for excellent reading aloud to the driver during the drive (and in the case of Haleakala whilst waiting for Sunset in the very windy parking lot).

Overall this is probably the best travel guide i've ever had. Easy to read, frank, with lot's of off-the-beaten path stuff (Acid Warzone, Warren & Annabelle's ) that I wouldn't otherwise have tried.
Highly recommended! Get whatever the latest edition is!

[Vonette · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are going to Maui, you need this book! The author writes with such entertaining and informative style, that it is truly fun to read. As a guidebook, it is invaluable! Because of this book, we were able to enjoy nearly empty beaches unknown to the average tourist and see sights that most visitors miss because they have no idea they exist. Avoid the tour buses and explore Maui on your own with the help of this excellent book.

[Jon Higashi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I spent a few childhood years on Maui, and returned with a friend recently, and she brought this book along. I wanted to like it, and I understand that many people do, but I found it a poor choice in several ways. First, the book oversells certain places that aren't that great (the bamboo forest is one example), an the result is that many people and rental jam into one spot. It seems all the tourists on Maui were following each other around! Secondly, the authors criticizes places (beaches, gardens, restaurants, etc.) that I think are pretty cool, so I don't trust the judgement very much. And thirdly, this book just plain doesn't have a lot of the great places to visist on Maui--just mainly the top stuff, plus some of the over-sold "gems" that I mentioned earlier. (Maybe I should thank the author for that!)

What also annoyed me was the authors attitude in places. His humor to me came across as kind of a know-it-all sarcasm, which isn't part of the Aloha spirit that I grew up with. This book does have a lot of good information on which tour compainies to deal with, if you're interested in that. I can understand how many visitors woud like following along with Revealed, but I'm sorry to say it wasn't for me--or my friend, as it turned out.

[Sheena Perron · Rating 5 out of 5]

We lived on Maui for 2 years and without this book there would have been so many things we wouldn't have gotten to see. If you are planning a visit to one of Hawaii's islands definitely get one of these books (they have one for each island).
What I liked most about this book is the author was truthful. He didn't get paid to say positive things about a certain restaurant or attraction. If he felt it wasn't worth it he let you know. He shares secrets that only locals know about and he actually visits every place that is talked about in the book.
Do NOT buy any other guide/tour book! If you only buy this one you'll be set!

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never did I imagine reading a guidebook cover to cover, but that’s exactly what happened here! The writing has the perfect balance of passion for the area and just a touch of sass that made planning for our trip to Maui extra fun. Will definitely check out other books for future trips!

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book lead to being a bit of an obsession for my husband and I on our recent trip to Maui. Not only is the tip content superb, but hilarious as well. We had excellent self guided tours of the North and Road to Hana, found great beaches, eats, and so much more.

[Katri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of the Revealed series by this author. I use them whenever I visit Hawaii. This one helped immensely on my recent trip to Maui. I'm not normally a guidebook person, but this book helped find hidden gems on the island that the typical tourist would be less inclined to visit.

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came highly recommended from trusted and experienced (local) sources and wound up being head and shoulders above any of the other Hawaii guidebooks we looked at.

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written a guide book to Maui (Hawaii).
Highly recommend!

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insider's guide to Maui. We've bought each of the available guides, and found every single one of them to be very helpful on our vacations to the Big Island, Kauai and Maui.
If you are going to any island in Hawaii, don't hesitate to buy any of the guides by this author. It'll save you your precious vacation time, and money. This guy is ruthless on the vendors who take advantage of tourists. You'll be glad you bought it.

[Jen Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

We started calling it "the oracle"

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maui Revealed is a must-read for anyone traveling to Maui - for the first time or repeat visits. (There's a reason why the Maui Costco has a pallet of these books for sale.) The only hard part is narrowing down what to do and see!

For our trip this year I also purchased the Maui Revealed app for use on my iPhone and iPad. You can save your favorites, link to directions for a location, and search for locations by clicking on the interactive map. This is so much easier to use on-the-go!

My only complaint about using both the book and the app this time was that when we were on the road and trying to look up information for a location, I would have to read through several paragraphs of information to find the detail I was looking for. For instance, for a hike, the description for how to find the trailhead was not clearly marked (or bolded). The descriptions are very detailed, but there could be some improvement with the organization of the details.

[Katie (TheKatieLibrary) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great recommendations for exploring Maui!

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most thorough travel book I have read in quite a while. Feel really prepared for our upcoming trip to Maui, and would seek out another of the authors books for another island in the future.

[Faith Moddrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by a friend who had visited Maui a few months before my trip. Some of the information was helpful for the author’s opinion. It was important for me to remind myself that these are opinions, which means I may not always agree. I thought the book was difficult to find the information that I was looking. The description could be in different parts of the book versus all in one spot. I really struggled with the author’s opinion on Hawaiian history. I felt the author was saying the Hawaiian’s lost control of the islands because they wanted too. That they were looking for leadership and westerners provided that. I strongly disagree with the author! I would not buy another book from this company.

The book has an app to use around the island as well. I knew of a different app by a different company that we had used in the past. I am so glad we used the other app that doesn’t go with the book. It gave use great tips, beautiful history and legends of the island and culture of Hawaii.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent guidebook if you want to do lots of exploring while visiting Maui. The directions are very accurate, and the book is arranged logically so that the traveler does not have to do a lot of work organizing an itinerary. Also has lots of detail about specific beaches if you are interested in that. Not much on lodging, and not the best restaurant reviews, but otherwise a very useful guide.

[Mindex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up before a all too brief trip to Maui. It was a great help. From advice on how to get around (rent a car) to where to go off the beaten path. I only wish I had more time to explore the various places that were listed.

Make sure you bring your hiking shoes everywhere you go, because this book can direct you to side trips everywhere.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never been one to buy tour guide books but my husband bought this one. I read it cover to cover and it was with us throughout our trip. The tips were perfect! We were able to find those private waterfall pools by hiking up a muddy hill like they explained. (walk across the aquaduct kind of directions!) Totally keeping this book for when we go back!

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Painful information organization! So bad!

But still, a fun book to both flip through and to read. Lots of helpful knowledge embedded in a populist outlook. It's not like Maui can suck; but this book gives some tips on how to make it more fun.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of hidden gems and detailed mile marker info. Very well organized.

[Darlene Karalash · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never visited any of the Hawaiian islands, so I’m starting from scratch to plan my first trip. To assist me with this, a family who spends two weeks in Maui every winter lent me a number of guidebooks and tourist magazines, including an older edition of Andrew Doughty’s Maui Revealed. I was intrigued by the frank manner in which the information was presented—so much so that I purchased a copy of the latest paperback edition for myself.
These are my impressions...
-This book was an excellent starting point for planning an upcoming winter vacation in Maui. The Introduction is basically “Maui for Dummies”. If the shoe fits...LOL! In The Basics chapter, I particularly enjoyed reading the pronunciation guide and vocabulary lists for Hawaiian and Hawaiian Pidgin words. (I already know that the place names of Maui are going to present challenges to my husband and myself!)
-I liked the detailed descriptions of the features of every beach, hiking trail and waterfall on Maui (and on the nearby surrounding islands)—although Doughty’s book promotes the less frequented, hidden gems, he is very upfront about the physical challenges of these places, geared for the adventurous, physically fit tourist. However, because of my severe arthritis and ensuing mobility issues, I will be giving the majority of those places a hard pass, in favour of more accessible locales and I now know which ones will serve me well (and keep me safe).
-I’ve gleaned lots of ideas for planning sightseeing excursions in each of the main districts of Maui and have been able to cross-reference those suggested activities, points of interest and best places to eat with other guidebooks. On advisement from this guide, I’ve even made some advance bookings for the most popular activities. (I probably would not have thought to do this on my own.)
-Changes wrought by the pandemic, the most recent storms and landslides are not much covered in this book. However, several apps created by Doughty’s team are available via Apple and Google Play stores, giving daily updates—I intend to take advantage of these Smartphone apps as well as regularly visit the official Maui Revealed website and blogs.
-The organization of this guidebook was rather organic. This might not appeal to logical/sequential thinkers, but because I treated the volume like a novel, reading it from cover-to-cover...this worked perfectly for me. I bookmarked key bits of information and rearranged it on lists of my own, to be revisited closer to my trip.

Kudos to Andrew Doughty who wrote this book as a heads-up for its intended audience, first-time visitors to Maui. Doughty does not suck up to local business owners or whitewash facts to appease elected officials. I totally appreciate that!

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems weird to say this, but I have read a handful of travel guides in my life. I have always found them to be somewhat helpful in both the planning and execution of my vacations. And I feel like this is also the case for this book, but the organization of the chapters leaves a little to be desired, at least for the way my brain likes to break down and compartmentalize things. Does this writer know his stuff? Absolutely! He is a resident of the island and it shows in the detail he provides.

So here's my issue: the book begins with sights in Maui divided into regions (south, west, Hana, etc.). The sights are briefly gone over, but not always in a ton of depth. The reason for this is that the sections following the breakdown of Maui into its various regions are about places to stay, hiking, adventures, and dining. So the author goes into more detail on those things in the subsequent sections. However, as a traveler who intends to stay in West Maui, it would have been more helpful to have all things west Maui in one section. I don't want to have to flip to the "Adventures" chapter, hunt down what's in west Maui and then flip to the "Dining" chapter and try to locate something nearby. It would have been helpful to have all of that in one section. Yes, the section would be long, but if it were broken down correctly, it would have been handy to just flip to the section you need for the day rather than by hunting everything down piecemeal. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of options, as far as guidebooks go, for Maui. So I do recommend this on that account alone. Also, the writing itself is not bad. The author has a delightful corny streak to him. Just jot down all the information you need in whatever organizational schematic you choose before you leave.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having lived in Hawaii for several years I own the entire Hawaii Revealed series in both paperback and on Kindle. I literally don't think there is a better guidebook out there. The author and his wife live in Hawaii and update the books every few years to ensure you are always operating off the latest information. For updates in between publications they have a website with "breaking changes." Their standard format is to go over the island systematically in the first half of the book to put all the attractions in context. They then go through specific types of attractions to make it easier to compare all the hiking trails, the snorkeling spots, the adventure activities, and the dining opportunities. The paperbacks are more user friendly than the kindle editions so this nets an easy five stars. Also, check out the associated website for the latest updates and the geo-location apps to provide on-the-go guide services for many of the main attractions. Don't visit Hawaii without getting the relevant guide book(s) for the island(s) you are visiting.

[Billie Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most amazing and entertaining guidebook ever! Never had a bad meal when picking from their Ono rated restaurants. Got to find a lot of out of the way places to visit, which given how much Maui has built up in the 20 years since our last trip was greatly appreciated. The author does a great job reminding the reader often that activities are of your own risk per Hawaiian law and offers very amazing directions to non-commercial beaches and landscape. Mile markers were about .5 mile off a few times, but detailed enough to find the random pull out parking to find the 'trailhead' to climb down to sites like the blowhole, Olivine pools, and the red sand beach. No matter what type of vacation you are looking for in Maui (beach, culinary, adventure, hiking, kid friendly) this guidebook has you covered and entertained. FYI even if you don't plan to go to Pa'ia read its description....my daughter (high school aged) happened across when she was looking something up and she had to read it to the car for all to enjoy.

[Rayfes Mondal · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far the best guidebook for Maui. I picked up the 6th edition from the library but there are newer ones. Some complain about the organization and I can see how grouping by physical location would be useful. That brings me to the app. It's a great companion and that's a place where the information could be organized in different ways.

I spent a lot of time with this book before and during my trip and it was indispensable. I also appreciated it telling me things that were not the best instead of just leaving negative things out.

Maui is incredible and if you want to get the most out of it then pick up this book and the app. It's clear that Andew lives there and has in-depth knowledge of the island.

[JSL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful guide book for Maui. Great layout, easy to read, chock full of information. Includes maps, activities, adventures, where to eat (where NOT to eat), where to stay, and much more. Also includes an app with a GPS for the hikes that are in the book. I especially like that the author does NOT announce to restaurants or other places that he is there as an evaluator of their place of business. He tells it like it is with no pressure or obligation to the business. Highly recommend this book.

[Pavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was skeptical about Travel books assuming they are usually biased information to make some profits , but this book changed that. Extremely detailed information of almost every point in the Maui island. Without this book I would have missed a ton of places around Kahului / Road to Hana.
Definitely recommend this book for anyone visiting Maui and Kindle version would be easier so that you search / skip / save a lot of things.

[Joshua Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great. I’ve been to Maui with my wife, but now we are returning with our two kids. This book gives great reviews and provides input on areas and activities that are appropriate for families as well as serious adventure seekers. The author’s injection of humor makes the book entertaining as well as informative. And information on places that are overrated or to be missed is invaluable on vacations where you have a limited amount of time available.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great ultimate guidebook from this author. I hope he wrote more other than just for Hawaii because these are the best guidebooks I’ve ever come across. You really don’t need another guidebook when planning a trip when you have these. It’s got everything you’ll care to see, and honest reviews about what’s worth your time and what isn’t. Where to eat, stay, what to do and details about how to get there and where to park. THE best.