Perfect Days on Maui
Perfect Days #17- #19: Ka’anapali to Honokowai
The area between Lahaina and Honokowai Beach, centered on the Ka’anapali Resort, provides more than enough to do for at least three Perfect Days. Enjoy the amenities of a world-class beach resort, outstanding golf courses, snorkeling offshore and snorkeling or scuba diving instruction, sailing excursions to other West Coast destinations and Lana’i, and ample shopping and dining choices.
From Hanakao’o (Canoe Beach) to Honokowai Beach, Ka’anapali Beach has some of the cleanest waters and sand on Maui and in Hawaii. The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa, at the southern end of Ka’anapali Beach, and the Royal Ka’anapali Golf Courses are only two miles from the start of Lahaina’s shopping areas at the Lahaina CanneryMall. In other words, when you stay at a vacation rental or resort hotel anywhere in Ka’anapali or between Ka’anapali and Lahaina, you can view Lahaina and Ka’anapali as part of the same vacation destination and experience.
Beach Access & Parking
Head north past Lahaina on Hwy. 30 to the Ka’anapali Beach Resort and look for parking at several public parking spaces provided by hotels: access #209, Hyatt Regency; access #210, Marriott; access #211, Ka’anapali Ali’i; access #212, Westin; and access #213, Sheraton Maui and the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel. At the Whalers Village Shopping Center you have to spend at least $10 for 3-hours of validated parking. (Restaurants and eateries count.) You can park at Hanakao’o Beach Park at the south end of Ka’anapali and walk just a short distance to the beachwalk that starts in front of the Hyatt Regency Resort.
Like the beachwalk in Wailea, Ka’anapali’s paved beachwalk from the Hyatt Regency to Black Rock and the Sheraton Maui provides all the ingredients for a Perfect Day. Only golfers have to leave Ka’anapali’s beachfront for the North Course or South Course.
Whalers Village Shopping Center
Some of the 60 Shops at Whalers Village are described in “Shopping, Browsing & Eating” in PART II and compared with the Shops at Wailea. With the Whale Center and restaurants, Whalers Village is a complete shopping and browsing experience in scale with Ka’anapali Resort and the interior scale, flow and design of open-air shopping also feels very good. Whalers Village is trying to draw more visitors and have them stay longer by providing entertainment and whale exhibits and programs. Hawaiian artisans display their crafts daily and hula dancers perform on an outdoor stage weeknights from 7-8pm.
A huge metal sculpture of a mother whale and two nursing calves greets you in Whalers Village and, in a few more steps, the bleached-white bony skeleton of a 40-foot sperm whale. On the second floor of the mall, visit the Whale Center of the Pacific, a museum dedicated to the "Golden Era of Whaling" (1825-60). On display are harpoons, scrimshaw, other whaling artifacts, photomurals and other graphics, and even the cramped quarters of a whaler's seagoing vessel. A free slide show about whales and other marine life is shown Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7pm. (Open during mall hours, daily -- 9:30am-10pm; admission free, 661-5992).
The food court in Whalers Village might include more excellent eateries, but restaurants on the beachside of Whalers Village are just right:
- Peter Merriman’s Hula Grill serves delicious dim sum, pupus, salads, sandwiches, and other lunch and dinner menu items on the beachfront.
- Leilani’s on the Beach upstairs serves full fish and meat dinners (5-10pm) and downstairs, steps from the beach, the Beachside Grill on its cocktail lanai serves burgers, sandwiches, salads, pupus and cocktails from 11 am – midnight
- The Rusty Harpoon, part sportsbar, part beach hangout serves breakfast, lunch and dinner
In combination with these restaurants and food court eateries at Whalers Village, and other restaurants scattered around Ka’anapali Resort, guests at hotels in the Ka’anapali Resort and visitors to the resort have enough restaurants to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner choices for several Perfect Weeks without dining in the same place twice:
- Hyatt Regency – Son’z at Swan Court, Spats Trattoria and Cascades Grille & Sushi Bar
- Maui Marriott Resort & Ocean Club – Va Bene, Nalu Sunset Bar & Sushi and Beachwalk Marketplace & Pantry
- Westin Maui – tropica, OnO Surf Bar & Grill and Ko’Ala Hawaiian Seafood and Barbeque Buffet
- Ka’anapali Beach Hotel – Tiki Terrace and Ka’anapali Mixed Plate Restaurant
- Sheraton Maui – Keka’a Terrace and Teppan-Yaki Dan
Elsewhere on the resort, you need to drive to: Giovani’s Tomato Pie above Jonny’s Burger Joint, Basil Tomatoes Italian Grille, Castaway Café, and Royal Ocean Terrace.
Vacation Rentals
Ka’anapali and Honokowai offer visitors many good values in a wide range of affordable and comfortable condo vacation rentals:
- Ka’anapali: Ka’anapali Ali’i, Ka’anapali Plantation, Ka’anapali Shores, Maui Eldorado and The Whaler
- Honokowai: Hale Mahina, Hale Maui, Hale Ono Loa, Hoyochi Nikko, Lokelani, Mahana at Ka’anapali, Maui Kai and Makani Sands.
Further up the coast, but still within 10 minutes drive from Ka’anapali, are a great many additional choices of vacation rentals that offer good values:
- Kahana: Hololani, Kahana Village, Kahana Sunset, Maui Sands, Noelani Condominium Resort, Nohonani, Papakea Oceanfront, Pikake, Polynesian Shores and Sands of Kahana
- Napili: Mauian on Napili Bay, Napili Bay, Napili Kai Beach Resort and Napili Village.
Ka’anapali Hotels
The hotels of Ka’anapali are excellent places to stay and play as they try to provide more value and amenities, including excellent health and spa facilities, and more family- and kid-friendly facilities and activities such as huge aquatic playgrounds. (Keiki programs are described in PART II) Visitors are welcome to enjoy all these hotels and their landscaped grounds.
Compare Ka’anapali hotel properties with vacation rental units available within the Ka’anapali Resort. As lodgings for a family compare hotel units in Ka’anapali with vacation rentals in, for example, the Ka’anapali Royal: a 2000 sq.ft. 2-bedroom, ground floor apartment, with two full bathrooms, double private lanai with gas barbeque, bikes, surfboard and boogie-boards rents for $180 to $250 per night.
Ka’anapali Beach Hotel
The Ka’anapali Beach Hotel is older and less luxurious than other Ka’anapali hotels, but boasts a much more local, low-key, festive Hawaiian atmosphere and style and especially friendly service. Beachfront rooms are as close to the water as you can get. Tiki torches, Hawaiian music and hula enliven the courtyard each night. (If it’s too noisy, you’re in the wrong hotel.) Take a class in hula, lei-making or ‘ukulele playing. This is a really comfortable family-style hotel, especially good if you can find a very good discount rate.
Royal Lahaina Resort
One of the 122 cottages (with kitchenettes) at the Royal Lahaina Resort can be a pretty good deal in the right package. For example compare $200-$260 for a 1-bedroom garden or oceanfront cottage available online to a comparable room at other Ka’anapali resort properties.
Ka’anapali Ali’i
The Ka’anapali Ali’i looks and is maintained like a hotel but isn’t one. Rent from owners to get the daily or weekly rate down and search for a 1-or 2-bedroom oceanfront unit. Even owner-direct and discounted, these units can be expensive, for example: 1-bedroom, 2-bath $331 oceanview (instead of $425); and 2-bedroom, 2-bath, oceanview, $442 per night (instead of $560).
Sheraton Maui
The Sheraton Maui is as close to Ka’anapali Beach and Black Rock as you can get. Book online and you can get a “free car” but rates vary from $247-$280 per night depending on the type of car. Ocean views cost about $100 more than garden views. At various times during the year specials for a free 5th or 6th night (reduces the per night cost by $50 for 5 nights) plus free buffet breakfast for two (worth $30) are offered by companies that book the Sheraton online.
The Whaler
Try to find an oceanfront studio or a 1-bedroom, 2-bathroom rented directly from an owner at The Whaler, a wonderfully luxurious, relaxing place to stay in which every unit has great ocean views. Fronting on Ka’anapali Beach, next door is Whaler’s Village and across the street The Ka’anapali Golf Club. When you look at The Whaler’s vacation rentals, it’s clear that studios, 1-bedrooms and 2-bedrooms are not inexpensive but discounted room prices are competitive with hotels and the value is greater.
The Westin Maui
The beach and pools are outstanding at The Westin Maui. Imagine yourself staying in a room at an aquatic park with a tropical setting and a lovely adjoining beach. If you have two children, the Westin Maui Family Splash package is a bargain because it includes Keiki Camp for your children (value $90), daily breakfast buffet for the family (value $50) and removes an $8 resort fee which takes $148 off your $429 ocean view room, bringing it down to $280 per night. See if you can do better online with a packager and it’s a good deal.
Romance is not neglected at the Westin which even has a “Director of Romance” to mentor weddings and other special romantic events. AARP members get hefty discounts from Starwood at the Westin so be sure to ask for these rates. Otherwise a garden room will cost about $265 and an oceanview over $400 per night purchased from an online packager.
Marriott Resort and Ocean Club
More guestroom renovation took place at the Marriott Resort and Ocean Club from May to October 2003. After an extensive renovation, rooms at the Marriott do look and feel much better. Families with kids really enjoy this hotel. The pools and activities for kids are terrific. Families with kids rave about the Pirate Ship in the lagoon, the turtles and dolphins. They love the restaurants, with some complaints about prices, and the resort’s staff gets high marks. But there are other better lodging values around Ka’anapali Beach and northward to Honokowai and Kahana.
The Hyatt Regency Maui
The Hyatt Regency Maui is a classic “tropical fantasy” resort that manages to combine warmth with opulence. The huge property has two large water playgrounds and an expensive Keiki Program. Rooms are nicely furnished but quite expensive, even as part of a package deal. A partial ocean view room starts at $395 per night.
Aston Maui Ka’anapali Villas
The Aston Maui Ka’anapali Villas is not very exciting inside or outside. The beach is good for swimming, but you can visit.
Embassy Vacation Resort
Families with children especially should consider heading north to the all-suite Embassy Vacation Resort in Honokowai. The suites are large, with kitchenettes, bathrooms include an oversized soaking tub, and your stay includes a full buffet breakfast that conveniently and economically takes care of that meal for the whole family. The hotel operates a free shuttle service to Lahaina which solves the inevitable parking problem in Old Lahaina Town.
Golf Courses
The 18-hole Tournament North designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., and the 18-hole Resort South, designed by Arthur Jack Snyder (866-454-4653) lie in the midst of the Ka’anapali Beach Resort. Now you can book tee-times online at either of these renowned courses.
Snorkeling & Diving
Visitors to Ka’anapali Beach for the first time see a fabulous beach and think snorkeling but the beach is better for people-watching and swimming in the morning. Most visitors also know of legendary Black Rock but although it doesn’t have much coral snorkelers will be happy with the variety and tameness of fish. The major challenge snorkeling at Black Rock is finding a nearby parking spot. (The Sheraton only provides a small part of its parking structure for the public.) Head early for public parking at the Sheraton, but don’t be disappointed if you have to park at Whaler’s Village where buying just a small gift or lunch in the food court covers 3-hours of validated parking.
For a Perfect Morning make your base at either Black Rock or Hanakao’o Beach Park (sometimes called “cemetery beach” because it’s next to Hanakao’o Cemetery), on the south end of Ka’anapali. Novice snorkelers especially will like the south end of Hanakao’o Beach Park. Hanakao’o also provides parking, lifeguards, restrooms, showers, grass and shade trees. (No snorkel equipment rental here.) Snorkel through shallow waters southward close to shore past colorful coral and fish toward and about halfway to Wahikuli Wayside Park.
Beginning snorkelers also will like Kahekili Beach (Old Airport Beach), just north of Black Rock. (At the intersection of Hwy. 30 and Pu’ukali’i Rd. turn left to the parking lot. Open only until 6:30pm)
Black Rock also is good for beginning and intermediate divers even though coral is minimal. Maximum depth is about 35ft. Night dives can be great fun. You might see eagle and manta rays. The reef is much more extensive at Hanakao’o Beach Park where you’ll see turtles use the “cleaning station” out on the reef, parrot fish, Hawaiian turkey fish, moorish idols, sergeant majors and other colorful fish. Hanakao’o Beach Park also is the best place near Ka’anapali to launch a kayak or canoe. Water entrance and exit are easy and you can park your car close to the water.
Ka’anapali Ocean Activities
- Learn to dive and take certification requirements with Island Scuba in pool sessions at the Maui Marriott and in nearby ocean sites. (See http://www.tombarefoot.com/maui/island_scuba.html)
- Trilogy Catamarans’ 50’ Trilogy IV serves a tasty breakfast as it leaves from in front of the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel on Tues., Thurs. and Sat. for Honolua and then a second site before returning after lunch at 2:45pm. (See http://www.tombarefoot.com/maui/trilogy_kaanapali.html). Trilogy Excursions offers many options for seeing Lana’i’s coastal waters and the island itself by kayak, around the island by jeep, a scuba dive and others.
- Turtle Reef Divers take small groups of beginners and more experienced divers from Kahekili Beach for instruction, ocean and night diving.