the secluded honeymoon destination on Maui’s eastern tip

the secluded honeymoon destination on Maui’s eastern tip In the late 1800s, Paia was an important sugar townNFL Jerseys in Hawaii. But by the 1950s, with the sugar cane industry weakening, Paia had turned into a sleepy wisp of a village, making it a prime destination for hippies, artists and anyone looking for a quieter life.

This being Hawaii, Paia also has all the dramatic beauty you would expect from the South Pacific — dense greenery, powdery beaches and world famous waves. But it has almost none of the tourist crush that plagues bigger destinations like Lahaina and Wailea, just an hour away by car.

Paia is still surrounded by sugar cane fields and is pretty much the only village on the quieter, northern side of Maui. For decades, it was mainly a way station to the rest of the island. Tourists stopped here for gas and water, before driving into the upcountry, Maui’s lush inland region. Or it was where just-married couples picked up the windy road to Hana, the secluded honeymoon destination on Maui’s eastern tip.

But otherwise, visitors steered clear of Paia’s narrow main streets and roads, all lined with tropical plantation houses — small, wooden and painted in adorable Lucky Charms colors. Even as the rest of the island welcomed a Four Seasons, a Ritz-Carlton and other 750-room megaresorts, Paia has resisted modernity and held true to its weird little vibe. Just outside town, a rusty old mill stands as a vestige of its past.

Paia is also tiny. It’s about as small as a town can be while still being called a town. Ask for directions, and you soon find that everything in Paia is either on “Hana Highway, opposite Baldwin” or on “Baldwin Avenue at the corner of Hana Highway.” Or drop by Charley’s, the town’s greasy spoon, for dinner, and the evening’s entertainment may well be Willie Nelson.

“Paia is what Maui used to be about,” Mr. Goya said. NFL Jerseys“It’s not where you come to get massaged in a fancy hotel.”