A magical house of insane ocean views perched on the edge of a 300-foot cliff atop a bay where humpback whales breach, where rainbows float across the sky with amazing regularity, where life really is….better. Huelo Point is a long way from the big hotels and condomania of the more settled parts of Maui and here you’ll share your backcountry bliss with a rag-tag assortment of well-heeled hippies, farmers, and watersports fanatics

Everything grows on the Garden Isle so farm-to-table on a small island is a no brainer. That’s the rationale behind 22North, a restaurant in central Kauai that grows much of its own produce in gardens a stone’s throw from the restaurant. Local farmers and ranchers do the rest with locally-raised pork, beef, rabbit and fish. The menu changes each day …..

You knew that rum was the next boutique vodka, right? I’d been waiting for a bar like this to hit Hawaii for some time. I learned to love sipping rums (akin to single malts) on a trip to Venezuela 20 years ago when we got to sample the local goods — stuff you could never find stateside. With its connection to the sugar biz and its tropical street cred, Hawaii nei is a logical locale for RumFire,

Curator Julie Cline has turned the Four Seasons Wailea into perhaps the leading showspace for contemporary art in Maui and possibly in Hawaii overall. She has a beautiful whitewashed canvas. What’s more, she regularly runs tours of the art exhibits, which are around the property, with the artists themselves. Hint – you don’t have to stay at the hotel to get the tour, though you certainly will wish you could afford to stay!