The Ultimate Maui Shave Ice Guide
The ultimate
Maui shave ice guide.
Summer's here. You know what to do.
There are things that are universally true about summer on Maui. The water is calm and impossibly blue. The sunsets go on forever. The trade winds disappear just long enough to remind you it's actually a tropical island. And at some point — after the beach, before the sunset, during the farmers market, on the way back from anywhere — you need shave ice.
Not a snow cone. Not a slushie. Shave ice. The real thing. Ice shaved so fine it absorbs the syrup instead of letting it pool at the bottom. A scoop of mac nut ice cream underneath. Fresh mochi on top. A drizzle of local honey. Li hing everything. This is one of Hawaiʻi's great pleasures and Maui does it exceptionally well.
Here's where to go.
This is one of Hawaiʻi's great pleasures. And Maui does it exceptionally well.
— Maui Makai
The Guide
Where to go.
What to order.
Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice
The gold standard · Multiple locations · ululanishawaiianshaveice.com
Let's start here because everyone starts here — and they should. Ululani's has been the benchmark for Maui shave ice since 2008, built on ultra-fine ice, house-made syrups from real fruit, and the kind of consistency that turns first-timers into regulars. Co-owners David and Ululani Yamashiro started in a 65-square-foot space in Lāhainā and have since grown to locations across Maui and beyond. The Lāhainā location was lost in the 2023 fires — a real loss for that town — but the rest of the island still has them and we're grateful.
The order
Anything with li hing. Then add a scoop of Roselani's macadamia nut ice cream at the bottom and fresh mochi on top. This is the move. Don't overthink it.
Locations
📍 Kahului — 333 Dairy Rd
📍 Kīhei — 61 S Kīhei Rd
📍 Wailuku — 50 Maui Lani Pkwy
📍 Māʻalaea — Maui Ocean Center, 192 Māʻalaea Rd (no aquarium admission needed · open 10am–4pm daily · opened January 2026)
Waikomo Shave Ice
All natural. All real. On the beach at the Hyatt. · @waikomo.maui
Waikomo is what you get when someone genuinely obsessed with quality decides to make shave ice. Founded by Thomas Oliver — a former beekeeper from Kauaʻi, which is exactly why local honey tops every single order — Waikomo uses only all-natural syrups made with organic cane sugar and real fruit. No artificial flavors. No artificial colors. Just the actual taste of lychee, guava, haupia, lilikoi, coconut — tasting like the fruit they came from, not the idea of it.
They now have their location right on the Kaʻanapali Beach Walk at the Hyatt Regency Maui. Which means you can get the most naturally made shave ice on the island with your feet essentially in the sand and the West Maui Mountains behind you. Life is good.
The order
Get the haupia cream top. Then lychee and guava for flavors. This is basically healthy. We stand by that.
Location
📍 Hyatt Regency Maui, Kaʻanapali Beach Walk, West Maui
Tasaka Guri Guri
Not shave ice. Better. · Maui Mall, Kahului
Okay technically Tasaka Guri Guri is not shave ice. It's a pineapple-strawberry ice milk — a sherbet-adjacent, creamy-frozen thing that has been made the same way since 1947 and will never change and thank goodness for that. The Tasaka family has been scooping this stuff at Maui Mall since before most of us were born and the line is always worth it.
This is a Maui institution in the truest sense. Visitors discover it and lose their minds. Locals grew up on it. Getting a Tasaka is not a food decision — it's a cultural experience. If you haven't been, go. If you have been, you already know.
The order
Pineapple. Strawberry. Both. Cup or cone. There are no wrong answers.
Location
📍 Maui Mall, Kahului · Cash only, exact change appreciated
A quick note on what makes shave ice the real thing.
Shave ice has Japanese roots — it evolved from kakigori, brought to Hawaiʻi by plantation workers in the early 1900s. It's not a snow cone. Snow cones are made from crushed ice, which is grainy and lets the syrup pool at the bottom. Real shave ice is exactly that — ice shaved on a blade, so fine and soft it melts like snow, soaking the syrup all the way through.
The technique matters. The syrup quality matters. The ice temperature matters. The best spots know all of this. The ones worth going to take it seriously.
The Bottom Line
Summer on Maui is a full sensory experience — the smell of plumeria, the feel of warm pavement under bare feet, the sound of the ocean a block away. Shave ice fits into all of that perfectly. It's a few dollars of pure joy, best eaten outside, best shared, best when the ice is so fine it practically dissolves the moment it hits your mouth.
Get Ululani's with li hing and mac nut ice cream. Get Waikomo with haupia cream and lychee. Get a Tasaka just because. And when someone asks what you did today, say you went to the beach and had shave ice — because that is exactly the right answer. 🍧🤙
"This is one of Hawaiʻi's great pleasures.
Maui does it exceptionally well."
