The standard advice has always been: land at OGG, pick up your rental car, and don’t let it go until you’re back at the airport. For decades, that was correct.
It may no longer be.
Between 2021 and 2023, Maui rental car prices hit numbers that genuinely shocked visitors, regularly above $150 per day, sometimes far higher during peak weeks. Resort parking added another $50 to $65 per night on top of that. A two-week trip could cost $2,000 or more just for a car that mostly sat in a parking lot.
At the same time, quietly and without much press coverage, the island’s transport options improved. Shuttle networks expanded. The Maui Bus modernized its fleet and added real-time tracking. Ride-share coverage thickened in resort corridors. And travelers started noticing that Maui’s most popular areas were, in fact, surprisingly easy to navigate on foot.
A car-free Maui trip is not just possible; for the right traveler, it’s genuinely better.