The 7 Best Luaus on Maui (2024)
Want to know all the best luaus on Maui? We’ve got you covered with everything you need to know!
Best Luaus on Maui
The luaus on Maui are incredibly popular and tend to be sold out weeks in advance. So be sure to pick your favorite luau as soon as possible and book early.
These are the best luaus on Maui:
1. Maui Nui Luau
Location: Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa
At the Maui Nui Luau, you’ll get to enjoy a self-service buffet, the perfect sunset, a Lei greeting and imu ceremony.
This Polynesian dance show includes different dances from across the Polynesian world.
Weather and ocean conditions permitting, you’ll also witness the Cliff Diver at Black Rock.
Parking is free with validation in the parking structure or $5 for valet.
A photo op is included with your ticket to this luau and the full luau experience lasts approximately 3 hours.
The Maui Nui Luau starts at $198 per person.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Maui Nui Luau Experience Today!
2. Te Au Moana Luau
Location: The Wailea Beach Marriott Resort
The Te Au Moana: The Ocean Tide luau tells the story of Polynesian ancestry and culture.
The cultural performances include a fire knife show amongst other entertainment.
Upon arrival, you’ll receive either a fresh flower lei, kukui nut lei, or carved wooden necklace depending on availability.
For dinner you’ll enjoy a Hawaiian self-service buffet.
The full experience lasts for approximately 3-4 hours.
Valet parking is available for $50. Self-parking is free, but validation is required if you’re exiting after 8:30pm.
The Te Au Moana Luau Experience starts at $265 per person.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Te Au Moana: The Ocean Tide Luau Experience Today!
3. Maui Sunset Luau Dinner Cruise
Location: Ma’alaea Harbor onboard the Pride of Maui
Enjoy a sunset cruise near Molokini Crater.
On this luau cruise, you’ll enjoy an open bar including craft beer and blended drinks, plus a generous buffet featuring barbecued ribs, honey-glazed chicken, stir fried vegetables, and more.
The perk of enjoying a luau on a cruise if that you may even see some whales while you’re out.
Parking is across from Carl’s Jr. before the Ocean Center for $2.
Check in is at 4:30 pm at the Harbor North Loading Dock, left of Coast Guard Station.
The Sunset Luau Dinner Cruise starts at $185.40 per person.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Maui Sunset Luau Dinner Cruise Today!
4. Gilligans’ Island Luau
Location: Maui Nui Golf Course in Kihei
Gilligans’ Island Luau is the only luau in Kihei.
This is a small and intimate luau that is about a quarter of the size of the other luaus on Maui.
At Gilligans’ Island Luau you’ll see the traditional Polynesian evolution of Hawaiian, New Zealand, Tahitian Hula Dancers with a Samoan Fire Dancer finale.
The show also includes Hawaiian musicians & drummer amongst other entertainment.
Dinner includes an open bar with tropical well drinks, red or white house wine, beer and all non-alcoholic beverage.
For your meal you’ll have a full Hawaiian all you can eat buffet.
There will be Hawaiian Kalua Pork, Teriyaki Chicken, Panko-crusted Mahi Mahi with Lemon dill cream sauce, Hummus with vegetable crudites, Lomi Lomi Salmon, Mixed Vegetables, Mac Salad, Poi, White Rice, Molokai Sweet Potato, Green Salad w/Pineapple Vinaigrette dressing and Hawaiian Sweet Rolls with honey butter.
For dessert, you’ll have Fresh Pineapple cubes, Chocolate Haupia Pie, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, and Lilikoi Bars.
This luau experience lasts for about 2-3 hours and starts at $165.63 per person.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Gilligans’ Island Luau in Kihai Today!
5. Myths of Maui Luau Dinner and Show
Location: 2780 Kekaa Dr, Lahaina, Maui, HI 96761-1992
Myths of Maui is an oceanfront luau in Lahaina.
The luau includes a Shell Lei Aloha greeting.
Complimentary alcoholic beverages include Mai Tais, Blue Hawaiianss, cocktails, beer, wine, and a variety of non-alcoholic beverages.
You’ll witness an Imu ceremony to unearth the Kalua Pua’a (roast pig) from the imu (in-ground oven)
For dinner you’ll enjoy a delicious all-you-care-to-eat buffet with traditional island fare.
There is also a special Keiki (kids) dinner buffet.
During the luau you’ll enjoy live Hawaiian music, dances from Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa & New Zealand, and a fire knife finale.
There is even a free photo opportunities with the dancers after the show.
If you upgrade to a VIP Reservation, you’ll get guaranteed premium stage front section seating, priority dinner buffet access, and skip the line early entry at 5:30pm.
Upon arrival at the luau, you’ll get a fresh flower Lei for women and Kukui Nut Lei for men. One free lei per paying adult admission is included.
The Myths of Maui luau lasts for approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Tickets start at $203.89 per person.
Additionally, parking is $5.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Myths of Maui Luau Dinner and Show Today!
6. Feast At Mokapu Luau
Location: Andaz Maui, Bumbye Beach Bar, 3550 Wailea Alanui Dr, Wailea, HI 96753
Sit on the grassy lawn and watch a performance that takes you through the Hawaiian history and the Polynesian culture that has created the island.
You can also upgrade to premium seating for a better view of the luau.
Dinner is served as a 3 course meal.
The starter course typically includes dishes like Ahi Poke, Pa’i ‘ai, Shrimp & Pohole, Waipoli Greens Salad, and Grilled Maui Gold Pineapple.
Entrees typically includes dishes like Pulehu Chicken, Pua’a Kalua, Braised Beef Short Rib, Local Caught Fish, Moloka’i Sweet Potato Mash, and Jasmin Rice.
The dessert course typically includes dishes like Traditional Strawberry Coconut Haupia, Lilikoi Custard Tart, and Hana Gold Flourless Chocolate Cake.
The Feast at Mokapu Luau generally lasts for about 2 1/2 hours and starts at $280 per person.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Feast At Mokapu Luau Today!
7. Maui’s Finest Luau (Pai’a Pa’ina Hawaiian Cultural Experience Dinner Show and Polynesian Review)
Location: Hana Hou Surf Club Eatery, 65 Hana Highway, Pai’a, Maui, 96779
Maui’s Finest Luau is a small, family backyard style oceanfront luau.
This luau includes an all you can eat Hawaiian buffet. It’s BYOB, with non-alcoholic drinks included.
The buffet includes dishes like roasted kalua pig, chopped steak with onions and mushrooms, cornbread mahi mahi with butter caper cream sauce, keawe bbq chicken with huli huli sauce, short ribs, vegetarian chow mein, kula green salad with dressing, lomi lomi salmon.
Sides include Molokai sweet potato, chow mein, macaroni salad, white rice, and Hawaiian sweet rolls with butter.
Desserts include coconut haupia pudding, poi mochi doughnut, banana cake with cream cheese frosting, fresh pineapple and watermelon fruits, banana lumpia, haupia, and mochi.
You can get ice, cups, bottled waters, tropical fruit juices, soft drinks, and seltzers, all of which you can get to mix and make your own mixed drinks.
Enjoy live Hawaiian music with a fire dancer finale.
Our Maui Luau Experience
A series of unfortunate events led us to this luau experience, but we are so glad it happened, because we went to one of the best luaus on Maui.
We were originally expecting to attend the Old Lahaina Luau, but due to reduced capacity restrictions there was no availability because our trip was pretty last minute.
We were on Maui during February 2021 at the height of the pandemic restrictions.
Then, we had our resort book a luau for us instead.
We received a confirmation for the Myths of Maui luau to be on the night of our anniversary.
On that day, we happened to talk to a Diamond Resorts rep in Lahaina and she mentioned that they didn’t do luaus that day.
I was very certain that we had reservations since it was on our anniversary, so I checked my emails again.
My confirmation from the resort stated that the luau was in fact that evening.
So I called concierge to confirm and GUESS WHAT!
The luau we were booked for had actually taken place the night before and they sent us the wrong confirmation!
Maui’s Finest Luau at Castaway Cafe
We were surprised that no one had contacted us previously to confirm the luau.
Everything else we had scheduled on our own had sent us reminders about 24 hours in advance, but we never got anything for the luau.
Since this was due to no fault of our own, concierge said they would see what they could do to get us into a luau that night for our anniversary.
We were fine being re-booked, but we also would’ve been okay with a refund and just doing our own thing for dinner.
A couple hours later though we received a call from Castaway Cafe confirming we were booked for their luau.
I tried googling this luau to see if the price was comparable since we had already paid for the other one. But NOTHING came up online.
Before heading to the luau we decided to check with concierge to confirm that we were booked at a real luau.
The guy there had no idea what was booked for us, so he had to call the girl that had booked it for us.
It turns out that it was a private luau being hosted at Castaway Cafe.
They used to use another location, but it was recently moved to this one, which is why the information was not available.
Luckily, this turned out to be a real luau and we weren’t being sent off to some random non-existent location!
Looking back, I’m assuming this was the same Maui’s Finest Luau listed above that is currently in Pu’ia, but happened to be at Castaway Cafe during our visit, probably due to the pandemic.
The description sounds similar, since our luau was on the more intimate side, which was perfect for us.
Castaway Cafe – One Of The Best Luaus On Maui
Castaway Cafe is a cute little place situated on the beach just outside of Lahaina.
It offers a great sunset view and a view of the surrounding islands.
We were offered a comfy high top table, which I actually preferred to the regular dining tables.
Luau Dinner Menu
The luau included 2 drinks each. I only had the one drink since it was pretty large. We had a Mai Tai and I don’t remember what the pineapple drink was called.
To start dinner, we shared a salad and Hawaiian bread rolls.
The entree was pulled pork, mahi mahi, rice, and macaroni salad.
It was all served family style, since buffets were not allowed at the time that we visited.
We also got to have 2 desserts which was awesome!
There was definitely way more food than we needed, but it was nice having various courses to enjoy throughout the show.
Beach Photoshoot
Before the luau began, everyone had the opportunity to have photos taken on the beach.
We had a few done when we first arrived and then a few more as the sun began to set.
There is no obligation to purchase any photos, but we decided to get them just because. We might frame one one day!
Maui’s Finest Luau Show
The luau started as the sun began to set and lasted for a couple of hours.
One thing I enjoyed about the luau is that one of the dances was SO similar to the one I learned when I worked for Trafalgar.
They had a part in the show where they allowed people to come up and learn to hula, but we opted to watch instead.
Maui’s Finest Luau Video
To get the full experience, check out the video we put together of the luau:
More Fun Things To Do On Maui
There are so many great things to do on a vacation on Maui.
Here are the must-do’s on the island.
✅ 5 Night Complete Maui Itinerary
For an all-inclusive look at everything you can do during your stay on Maui, check out our full 6 day, 5 night itinerary.
✅ Haleakala National Park
Catching a sunrise at Haleakala National Park is a must-do on Maui.
When we visited, our sunrise reservation was cancelled due to weather, so if the same happens for you, sunset is also a great time to visit.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Haleakala National Park Sunrise Tour Today!
✅ Cacao Farm Tour + Chocolate Tasting
Visit the largest cacao farm in Hawai’i and enjoy a 9 piece chocolate tasting in a treehouse overlooking the neighboring islands.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Cacao Farm Tour and Chocolate Tasting Today!
✅ Whale Watching
Whale watching is an essential experience on Maui. There are so many tour companies to choose from that it can be overwhelming.
So we took a whale watching tour with the best one in Ma’alaea Harbor and just had to share!
👉 Click Here To Book Your PacWhale Eco-Adventures Whale Watching Tour Today!
✅ Road To Hana Full Loop Drive
I highly recommend driving the full loop route if the weather permits. Most visitors just drive to Hana and back, but there is so much more to do and see!
👉 Click Here To Download Your Self Guided Road To Hana Full Loop Tour Today!
Where To Stay When You’re Visiting Maui
I highly recommend staying at Ka’anapali Beach Club when you’re visiting Maui.
This property is owned by Hilton Vacation Club (who purchased it from Diamond Resorts recently).
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be an owner of this timeshare to stay at this resort.
You can book your stay easily through Hotels.com at the link below.
I recommend this resort specifically because for the same price as a standard hotel room, you’ll get a full kitchen, balcony with ocean views, a jacuzzi tub, separate bedroom and living spaces, and more.
If this room type is available, I recommend trying to book the one bedroom Deluxe Oceanview Suite.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Stay At Ka’anapali Beach Club Today!
Where To Eat On Maui
We spent 6 days on Maui trying all the best restaurants and some of the hidden gems.
We’ve compiled them all into a list of the best restaurants on Maui.
Of course your luau dinner will be one of the best meals you’ll have on Maui too.
Conclusion: Best Luaus on Maui
As you can see, there are so many great luaus to choose from when you visit Maui. You really can’t go wrong with any one of them.
Consider the dates, the price, the menu, and the show experience that’s perfect for what you want and you’ll be sure to end up at one of the best luaus on Maui.
