Your weekend, handed to you before it starts.
Maui Weekend Guide is a free weekly email for people who live here: what's on this weekend, where to eat, what's opening or closing, and the kamaʻāina deals worth the drive — in your inbox Thursday morning, while there's still time to make plans, invite people, and book the table.
Free for readers, always. The first edition is being prepared now — join before it sends and you're in from Issue #1. Five-minute read, one email a week, unsubscribe anytime.
What's inside, every Thursday
Five fixed sections, in the same order every week, so you can scan it the way you scan the fridge door:
1 · This Weekend
The top picks, Thursday night through Sunday: events, live music, markets, one family pick, one free pick. Dated, timed, placed — and re-checked before the send.
2 · Eat & Drink
One opening or new menu worth knowing about, one happy hour or standing deal, one reliable pick for the week. No pay-to-play picks, ever.
3 · New & Noted
Openings, closings, moves, and changes around the island. The section residents repeat to each other over the fence.
4 · Kamaʻāina Deals
Resident discounts and local specials worth the drive — what the deal is, who it's for, and what you'll need to show to get it.
5 · One More Thing
One leftover delight: a reader photo, a beach or surf note, a tip that didn't fit anywhere else. The personality section.
The promise under all five
Every listing is verified against the organizer's own page before it sends. A wrong date that costs a reader a wasted drive is the one error this letter cannot afford — so it checks, re-checks Thursday morning, and owns corrections at the top of the next issue.
Built for residents. Not visitors, not headlines.
News tells you what happened
Maui has good news outlets and their daily digests. This is a different job: not what happened yesterday, but what you can still do this weekend — picked, timed, and priced.
Visitor guides sell trips
The visitor letters write for people planning a vacation. You already live here. This letter assumes you know where Kīhei is and writes for your actual life: work weeks, kids, budgets, traffic.
Residents are the whole count
When this letter grows up and talks to sponsors, the only subscriber number quoted is residents. Visitors who find the site get their own separate material — they never inflate the number a local business is paying to reach.
Start with your town
Every town page carries the same deal: what's on there this week, the guide's standing picks there, and the subscribe form. Orientation first — the weekly layer opens with Issue #1.
Kīhei
South Maui's beach-town strip: miles of sand, sunset-facing shores, and the island's everyday front porch.
Lāhainā
The historic West Maui town — whaling port, former capital, and a community rebuilding on its own terms.
Pāia
The North Shore's old plantation town: surf culture, boutiques, and the beach where the turtles haul out.
Upcountry
Makawao, Pukalani, Kula: cool air, farms, and paniolo country on the slopes of Haleakalā.
Wailuku & Kahului
Central Maui: the county seat, the airport, the harbor — the working heart of the island.
The whole island
One page for the full weekend, all towns together, refreshed every week. How it works →
Or skip town entirely: fishing and hiking
Not every Maui weekend happens at a restaurant or a market. Two standing pages cover the outdoor half of resident life — written for the people who fish these waters and walk these trails all year, not the ones doing it once on vacation:
Fishing
Shoreline, boat, and kayak fishing the resident way: the seasons in general terms, the state rules that actually apply to residents (and the license your visiting guests now need), and — once the first edition runs — conditions notes, tournament dates, and charter listings, all from named sources. Your spot stays your spot.
Hiking
Summit and crater, stream valleys, coast, and Upcountry forest — with the part that actually matters: who manages each trail, which reservations apply, and the safety short list. Trail conditions come from the agencies — NPS, State Parks, Nā Ala Hele — never from last month's memory.
Get Thursday's issue
One email a week, Thursday morning Maui time: the weekend's events, the food worth knowing about, the openings and closings, and the resident deals. Free — businesses that want your attention pay for placement later; readers never do.
Run a Maui business?
Your listing in the calendar and the guides is free — forever. The letter sends you customers; in return, partners put a small card on the counter: "Get Maui's weekend guide — free." Paid featured placement and sponsorships come later, and only once the letter can show you proven resident open rates. See the partner ladder →