Maui, Hawaii

Planning one trip for a 5-year-old, a 7-year-old, and two grandparents in their 70s sounds like a puzzle with no solution. The kids want pools, animals, and snacks. The grandparents want shade, short walks, and a real place to sit down for dinner. We wanted all of that without burning through our savings.

Maui turned out to be our answer. We based ourselves at one resort on Ka'anapali, kept every day to one main outing, and paid for the hotel entirely with Hyatt points. Here's exactly what we did, what we'd change, and what the whole thing cost.

Trip at a glance...

Getting there and getting around

Flights. We flew Delta round trip, nonstop from LAX to Kahului (OGG), with 13,500 SkyMiles used per ticket. Domestic award tickets only carry $5.60 in taxes each way, so the cash side stays tiny.

Rental car. We booked an Avis minivan through Costco Travel. Costco rates were cheaper to booking direct, and one additional driver is included for members, which mattered with us switching and sharing the wheel. At OGG, a short tram takes you from the terminal to the consolidated rental car center, so nobody had to haul luggage across a parking lot. With two kids, two grandparents, and a week of bags, the tram was a small thing that felt like a big one.

Car seats. We brought one travel booster seat and one RideSafer Travel Vest, a wearable harness-style child restraint that packs nearly flat. Between the two, both kids were covered without lugging full car seats through the airport or paying daily rental fees for seats of unknown condition.

Why a van. Six people, a booster, a travel vest, beach gear, and a Costco-sized snack haul. A standard SUV would have been a squeeze. The sliding doors also made in-and-out easy for the grandparents.

Where we stayed: Hyatt Regency Maui, on points

We booked every night at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa with World of Hyatt points, at 20,000 points per room per night. For a beachfront Ka'anapali resort where cash rates regularly run well into the hundreds per night, that's one of the best redemptions we've found for a family trip.

The real win was Guest of Honor. A World of Hyatt Globalist can pass their elite benefits to someone else's award stay, and with it our room received:

• Free parking, which otherwise adds a meaningful daily charge at Ka'anapali resorts

• Free breakfast for the whole group every morning

• Regency Club lounge access, which covered light snacks and drinks in the evening

• A room upgrade on arrival

• No resort fee, since Hyatt waives it on award nights

For a multigenerational trip, the lounge was the quiet MVP. Grandparents had a calm place to sit with coffee, kids had snacks between the pool and dinner, and on the lazy evenings it basically replaced a sit-down meal.

The resort itself is easy with kids: big pools with slides, lagoons, and resident birds and penguins the kids checked on daily. It's also flat and walkable to Whalers Village along the Ka'anapali beach path, which kept the grandparents' step counts reasonable.

Our 5-day Maui itinerary

Our rule: one main outing per day, back at the resort by mid-afternoon for pool time and naps. It kept the kids happy and the grandparents rested.

Day 1: Land, stock up, and pie

• Land at OGG, take the tram to the rental car center, and load up the van.

• Foodland for groceries, snacks, and a first round of poke. Stocking the room saved us on breakfasts-on-the-go and beach snacks all week.

• Leoda's Kitchen and Pie Shop in Olowalu on the drive west. It sits right on the highway between the airport and Ka'anapali, so it's the perfect first stop. Get the sandwiches for lunch and a few mini pies for later.

• Check in at the Hyatt Regency Maui, enjoy the upgrade, and let the kids loose in the pool.

Day 2: Easy beach day and Whalers Village

• Morning at Baby Beach. A reef-protected, calm, shallow beach that's ideal for little swimmers, and grandparents can wade in without fighting waves.

• Afternoon pool and lounge time back at the resort.

• Stroll to Whalers Village along the beach path for shops and ice cream.

• Dinner at Monkeypod Kitchen at Whalers Village. Great pizza for the kids, great cocktails for the adults, and a lively open-air room nobody minds kids in.

Day 3: Upcountry farms

• Surfing Goat Dairy in Kula. The kids fed and petted goats, and the adults tasted the goat cheese. It's a short, easy, mostly flat farm walk. Tip: from December to April, look for their baby goat experience.

• Ocean Vodka Organic Farm & Distillery, also in Kula. Adults 21+ get the tasting; kids can join the farm tour and try raw sugarcane, and there's plenty of open lawn to run around. The views of the West Maui Mountains and the ocean are worth the drive alone, and the open-air café works well for lunch.

• Drive back down the mountain in the afternoon. Upcountry is noticeably cooler, so pack a light layer for everyone.

Day 4: 'Iao Valley and Lahaina

• 'Iao Needle Lookout Trail at 'Iao Valley State Monument. It's a short paved walk with some stairs to the lookout, very manageable for grandparents at their own pace. Out-of-state visitors need an advance reservation: $5 per person plus $10 parking, booked at gostateparks.hawaii.gov.

• Lahaina Cannery Mall for an air-conditioned break and supplies on the way back west.

• Dinner at Star Noodle on Front Street in Lahaina. Order the garlic noodles and pork buns family-style. Book ahead, and aim for sunset: the ocean-view deck is beautiful. Spending here is also a small way to support Lahaina as it rebuilds after the 2023 fire.

Day 5: Resort day and sunset at Duke's

• No driving today. After four days of outings, everyone needed a full day at the resort: breakfast, pools and slides for the kids, and shaded loungers and the club lounge for the grandparents.

• Walk the Ka'anapali beach path in the late afternoon, when it's cooler and the light is best for photos.

• Dinner at Duke's Beach House Maui at Honua Kai on the north end of Ka'anapali, right on the sand. Time it for sunset and ask for an ocean-side table.

Day 6: Slow morning and goodbye

• Last breakfast at the resort and one more swim before checkout.

• Drive back toward Kahului and refuel near OGG, where there are plenty of gas stations, including Costco, within minutes of the airport.

• Return the van and take the tram back to the terminal.

What it actually cost

Our out-of-pocket total for six people was [$X], plus [X] points and miles. Here's where every dollar and point went:

What the points saved us: Paying cash for the same 5 rooms over 5 nights would have cost roughly $5,060 before taxes. Add free breakfast for six and free parking, and the points covered $6,295 of value.

How we earned them: [Fill in: e.g., Chase Ultimate Rewards transferred 1:1 to World of Hyatt, plus the World of Hyatt card's anniversary night and category spending.] For a full walkthrough, see our Points & Miles page.

1. Pick one home base. Unpacking once was the single best decision we made. Ka'anapali put the beach, the pool, and dinner within walking distance.

2. One outing per day, done by mid-afternoon. Upcountry and 'Iao Valley are each a solid drive from Ka'anapali. Doing one per day left time for pool naps and early dinners.

3. Bring booster seats. Hawaii law requires boosters for kids 4 through 7, and rental seats add up fast. Ours flew free as checked items.

4. Share the plan in one app. We used Wanderlog so everyone, grandparents included, could see the day's plan, addresses, and reservation times on their phones.

5. Book the reservation-only stops early. 'Iao Valley requires a timed slot for visitors, and Monkeypod fills up for sunset tables.

6. Treat the club lounge as a meal. On low-energy evenings, lounge snacks plus a Foodland poke run was dinner, and nobody complained.

7. Pack layers for Upcountry. Kula is cooler than the coast, and grandparents will feel it first.

8. Choose calm water. Baby Beach and the resort pools beat big surf beaches for a 5-year-old and for grandparents who want to wade, not swim.

9. Visit Lahaina with care. Stick to open businesses, follow posted signs, and remember that the town is still rebuilding. Your dinner reservation is real support.

10. Stock up at Foodland on day one. Water, reef-safe sunscreen, snacks, and breakfast backups for the room saved time and money all week.

Tips for Maui with kids and grandparents