My wife I recently stayed at the Maui Retreat, and had mixed feelings about the week we spent there.

Location
The Maui Retreat is located on the east shore of Maui, and a good distance from most popular sites. If you’re looking for peace, quiet and solitude, then this is your place. However, consider it’s still a decent drive to the grocery store in Haiku, or Mana Foods in Paia. We did a few night events over in Lahaina, and found that the long ride back on the dark two lane roads (and even worse the curvy dirt pot-holed road to the property) wasn’t fun.

Several resident interns beautifully landscape the property, and it’s nice to explore the grounds.

Services
As you check in and pay your deposit balance, you are asked to sign a two-page waiver that removes any liability by the owners if you hurt yourself on the property – say making the muddy trek to the waterfall. Nothing says aloha like a little legal reading just before relaxing.

We were told there was a beach you could hike to, but it was un-swimmable, and you’d have to pass through other properties to get there. There is no TV or radio, just spotty wi-fi that is okay for checking emails, but difficult to stream videos etc. if you get bored.

Since the property is “off the grid,” guests are asked to take short showers, recycle, conserve electricity, and use “green” products. This is okay, but the owners also request that NO toilet paper be flushed, so you will accumulate a trashcan of soiled tp over your stay.

There is a washer/dryer on the property, but not available to guests at the Opua House. Your bath towels can get a little funky by the end of the week. We found a decent laundry in Haiku if you want clean clothes for the trip home. There are two guest rooms in the house – Dolphin being the best with a private bathroom/stall shower, although one day the water pressure was very weak. There’s also a partial view of the ocean from this room, and a man-made fresh water pond. The pond has a few fish in it, and some noisy bullfrogs (although they only croaked one night we were there).

I found the bed a bit uncomfortable, the furniture old, and the walls in need of a paint job.

There is a third room upstairs for a resident housekeeper. Most of the time we had to share the kitchen with this person, which was a little awkward and competitive at times. Guest are required to do their own dishes by hand, and put food waste in a compost bin. If you forget some of the many rules, look around, more than likely there is a written reminder posted.

The interior décor of the house is filled with spiritual statues, photos, and paintings. I found it a bit over the top after a few days of looking at spiritual leaders I have no connection to. Take a look at their website and you’ll see what I mean.

For the best experience, I’d recommend a short stay (two – three days). It’s also best if you’ve been to the island before and aren’t that eager to do a lot of driving because that bumpy road in gets old real fast. Glad we had a Jeep!

We found the Maui Retreat quite by accident, simply by surfing the internet. We had never been to maui before and had no idea about the differences between one side of the island or another. We so lucked out, I still cannot believe it. Rather than staying at one of those beach resorts that looks exactly like beach resorts around the world, we stayed at the most beautiful setting imaginable. We were on the side of the island where, at least in march, it rained a lot--but if we were in search of sun and beach, we just got in the car and drove to a beach on the other side of the island. But staying in the middle of the rain forest landscape, in a room (the Lotus room) that looked out on a lotus pond (with full privacy for us), where we could go walking about the property to waterfalls and fresh water ponds and around the cliff tops to look out on the ocean--this was heaven. And, by the way, it was also significantly cheaper than any of the internationally owned artificial beach resorts! Significantly! The house staff were volunteers with whom we quickly made friends. And then there was the great massage...and Kutira's and Rafael's music...

The Maui Retreat is a paradise. Our stay was inspiring, the beautiful setting of the land, the character of the Eco Thai Hale cottage and the attention to the details were a delight for all the family.Finally we found a real fully furnished kitchen. The morning yoga looking at the ocean was inspiring.
Our teenage kids loved it too, and enjoyed very much the walk to the fresh water pools, and the adventure on the trail to the ocean.
We all relaxed and felt pampered by the beautiful nature.
we , as a couple, enjoyed the romantic setting of our cozy bedroom, the space for meditation, and the possibility of enjoying a romantic walk.
Kutira is a wonderful host.

This is a great place to stay for anyone who wants truly experience the beauty and fundamental nature of being on a tropical island. As you approach the retreat, you get hit with a positive flow of energy and you begin to feel your hear charka open. We stayed at the bamboo temple and the dolphin room, both of which were very relaxing. Hiking to the top of the waterfall was something one can only dream of. It's a blessing for such wonderful people, Kutira and Raphael, to allow us in their space that they so delicately created out of love and peace!