Maui LuauConsidering a Maui luau during your vacation? Just scroll down this page to get to the section that matches where you are in your Maui luau decision process:• Maui Luau Reviews includes details (show, cost, schedule, menu, location, parking, pictures and video) on all nine Maui luaus to help you decide which best matches your expectations, budget, and where you are staying on Maui. • Decriptions and links to my pages on how to select the best luau; Maui luau map, pictures and videos; free Maui hula shows; misleading free Maui luau offers; the unique Lahaina show Ulalena; and luau food, music and dance. • I don't sell Maui luau tickets. To get exact pricing, make reservations, or find discounted Maui luau tickets, visit the Barefoot Tours website. 
Maui Luau ReviewsMy Maui Luau Reviews overview page is your first step in discovering the best Maui luau for your expectations and budget. Or go directly to a luau review:
Kaanapali Hotel Luaus Hyatt Westin Royal Lahaina Sheraton
How to Select the Best Maui Luau (for you)Need a single page to help you decide on the best Maui luau for you? Need to organize your own checklist to select a luau? Make your own list of how luaus differ in pricing, entertainment offerings, dining arrangements, what days of the week and months of the year when they are held, and how far in advance you need to make reservations.Maui Luau Videos
Want to hear the pulsating drums and watch the movement of the dancers right now, rather than reading about them?
View my Maui luau videos all on one page, rather than going to each page about a particular luau.
Maui Luau Map
My Maui luau map helps you locate each of the nine luaus at Kaanapali, Lahaina, Kihei, Wailea and Makena. View the Maui luau map with summary luau reviews. You can even print the map and take it with you on your Maui vacation.
Free Maui Hula Luaus?
No matter what timeshare salespeople might imply, there are no free Maui luaus. Do you still want to see a luau show, but not spend any money? There are several free Maui hula shows.
Whalers Village free show at the outdoor stage at Kaanapali is the best.
Ulalena
Ulalena is not exactly a luau, but it is in Lahaina (at the Maui Theatre) and, like a luau, provides an entertaining show that is unique to Hawaii.
Somewhere between Cirque du Soleil, luau, Hawaiian history lesson, myth and pure entertainment, Ulalena is our favorite indoor show with plush theater chairs, air conditioning, surround sound system, and no high winds like outside.
Maui Luau PicturesTired of squinting at small Maui luau pictures that load quickly in your web browser? Try my Maui luau pictures page for some large pictures that blast you with color and detail.
Maui Luau Food Music & Dance
Never been to a luau, and just need an introduction to what you will do and see at a luau? You get a unique combination of food, music and dance that you won't find back home.
You will learn more about Hawaiian culture and food, such as the two types of hula - hula kahiko and hula auana, or how a kalua pig is cooked in an underground imu oven. Luau is the Hawaiian word for feast, and that is exactly what you get - first a gastronomical feast of Hawaiian food, then a visual feast of dance and music on stage.
Luau Food
ImuFirst you feast on traditional Hawaiian foods such as kalua pig roasted in an imu - a sort of natural sand underground steam oven.On the morning of the luau, river rocks are placed over firewood and heated. After several hours the firewood is removed and plants, such as crushed banana stumps saturated with water, are placed on top of the hot rocks to create the steam. Kalua PigThen the kaluau pig is placed in the pit and covered to seal in the steam.
Other foods may also be steamed in the imu along with the kalua pig. The word kalua comes from ka (the) lua (hole) - food that comes from the hole - the imu underground oven. PoiDuring the luau, you will get to taste other Hawaiian staples. Poi is prepared by first steaming or baking the root of the taro plant, then mashing the cooked root until it is a liquid.
Poi is referred to as two finger or three finger, depending on how many fingers are needed to scoop it out of the bowl based on how gooey it is. The poi story is better than the poi taste and appearance - for the normal vacationer, poi looks like purple paste, and a couple spoonfuls is our normal ration. Haupia
Haupia (coconut custard) is a luau staple for dessert.
Haupia is more like a gelatin-based dessert than a custard or pudding. Cut into squares and served alone, it has a smooth texture. Haupia is integrated into all types of desserts - you may be served haupia pie or haupia cake. Even the Hawaii McDonalds replaced the filling in their apple pie turnover with haupia and created a Haupia Pie.
When you place all your luau food such as kalua pig, lomi-lomi salmon, macaroni salad, poi, and haupia on your platter, the end result is visually appealing. Then you get to settle back and enjoy the luau music and dance.
Luau Music and DanceMany luaus offer an hour or so of Hawaiian crafts and Hawaiian activities as guests are arriving, getting their official luau portrait taken (offered for sale after the luau), and wandering around the luau grounds with refreshments. Then after your feast of Hawaiian luau food, you have a visual feast with a show of dance and music. Different luaus have different combinations of Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan, Tahitian, and other types of Polynesian culture. You may see two types of hula at a Hawaiian luau. The first type is hula kahiko - ancient style hula performed to the accompaniment of chants, drums and other percussion instruments.
Depending on which luau you attend, you may be treated to a traditional Hawaiian hula dance, and menacing New Zealand Maoris (the mean looking men that hang their tongues out at you). The grand finale for most luaus is the Samoan fire knife performance. My Other Maui Luau Pages
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After the pig has roasted for several hours in the covered underground pit imu, it is uncovered in a ceremony at the beginning of the luau.
Water is added to get to different levels of mushiness, from liquid to dough-like.
The second type is hula auana - the graceful modern hula performed to the accompaniment of songs and Western syle musical instruments such as the ukulele, double bass, and guitar and steel guitar.
