Maui
The Valley Isle, rebuilding after the 2023 Lahaina fire
Maui is two volcanoes joined by a valley. The massive dome of Haleakalā, rising 10,023 feet (3,055 m), forms the eastern three quarters of the island, and the older, deeply eroded West Maui Mountains form the rest, linked by a low isthmus about six miles wide that gives Maui its nickname, the Valley Isle. At 727 square miles (1,883 km²), it is the second-largest Hawaiian island, home to 154,100 people in the 2020 census. Hawaiian tradition holds that the navigator Hawaiʻiloa named it for his son, who was named for the demigod Māui.
Lahaina, on the west coast, was a royal center and early capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, then a busy whaling port in the mid-1800s. On August 8, 2023, a wind-driven wildfire swept through the town, killing 102 people in the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century and destroying more than 2,000 structures, including much of historic Front Street. The loss fell hardest on Native Hawaiian and longtime local families, many of whom were displaced for years. The fire also scorched the town's famous banyan tree, planted in 1873, which arborists have since nursed back into leaf.
Recovery has been slow and deliberate. By August 2026, more than 500 homes had been rebuilt in Lahaina and Front Street reopened to traffic for the first time since the fire, though many lots remain empty and hundreds of households still depend on temporary housing aid. Elsewhere, the Road to Hāna, the upcountry ranches of Kula and the summit of Haleakalā National Park continue to draw visitors and sustain the island's economy.