Maui is a leading whale-watching center due to humpback whales wintering in the sheltered 'Au'au Channel between the islands of Maui county. The whales migrate approximately 3,500 miles (5,600 km) from Alaskan waters each autumn and spend the winter months mating and birthing in the warm waters off Maui's coast.

The stacking of stones--one on top of the other--is not a traditional practice. Hawaiians did build ahu (altars) or cairns for ceremonial purposes and as markers, but they tended to be more substantial and carefully constructed. The rock piles that litter the beaches today were stacked by tourists to commemorate their visit to the island and are considered a form of graffiti by many native Hawaiians.

Dubbed "Science City," the Haleakalā High Altitude Observatory was erected in 1958 due to the optimal viewing conditions the shield volcano possesses, where a near-absence of light pollution, as well as the high-altitude air and the mountain's tremendous height, render it one of the most superb and valuable planetariums in the world.

Originally a small fishing village, Lahaina ("Cruel Sun") was chosen as the royal capital in 1820 by King Kamehameha II. It remained the capital until 1845, when the capital was moved back to Honolulu.

Spanning 1.94 acres--over the length of a city block--and rising more than 60 feet in the air, Lahaina's famed banyan tree is a quarter of a mile in circumference and possesses 16 trunks, making it the largest banyan tree not only in Hawaii but also in the United States. The tree, called paniana in Hawaiian, was a mere 8-foot sapling when Lahaina's then-mayor William Owen Smith planted it in the heart of the village in 1873.

The Maui parrotbill or kiwikiu (Pseudonestor xanthophrys) is a species of Hawaiian honeycreeper that can only be found in 50 square kilometres of wet forests on the windward slopes of Haleakalā. The "kiwi" part of the name refers to the bird's sickle-shaped bill. "Kiu" has a double meaning, referring both to the bird's secretive ways and to a cold, chilly wind, such as the breezes in the bird's habitat.