Forbes, July 24, 2026
There is absolutely nothing wrong with traveling to Maui and lying on a Wailea beach for a week. Or at the pool, if it has a view of the ocean. After all, you are in paradise, and this is your time. But trying some of the activities Wailea has to offer, from outrigger canoeing to making local cuisine like poke, will enrich your experience.
Wailea, about 35 minutes south of Maui’s Kahului Airport (OGG,) boasts 1,500 acres of beaches, luxurious resorts and attractions. The average temperature in the summer is 82°F, in the winter 70°F. Wailea gets over 270 days of sunshine a year, with trade winds keeping temperatures cooler near the coast.
On the southwest coast of Maui, Wailea offers five beautiful, crescent-shaped beaches. The sand is warm and golden, and sunsets are a tropical delight. Whale season is November through April, when the big humpbacks come to put on a show.
The beaches of Wailea stretch along a 1.2-mile path for walking, jogging or golf cart vehicles, are open to all. I overcame my tropical indolence and forced myself to go jogging.
Wailea is also known for its luxury hotels and resorts that offer five-star hospitality, spectacular pools, fine dining, spas and championship golf courses. Each of the hotels has its own personality.
The Andaz Maui at Wailea, a Hyatt property, is one of the more intimate hotels, nestled along spectacular Mōkapu Beach. Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort offers 320 guest rooms including 30 villas and 35 suites, cascading outdoor pools, a full-service spa and salon, award-winning dining and access to championship golf.
Sunset over Wailea Beach, July 14, 2025. The area is home to several luxury hotels, here the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, where the first season of the White Lotus was filmed. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
The first season of The White Lotus was filmed at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, during the height of the pandemic in 2020. The Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, the largest hotel in the area, has over 700 rooms and boasts Botero sculptures, the largest spa in Hawaii and a wedding chapel with artist-created stained-glass windows. The Fairmont Kea Lani is Hawaii’s only all-suite and villa luxury resort.
The Andaz Maui is popular for business meetings and intimate groups, where participants can go from “board shorts to board meetings.” The Andaz has 13,500 square feet of indoor space and over 43,500 feet of outdoor space. This includes a front lawn with sunset views, perfect for the scores of destination weddings the hotel hosts each year.
The hotel also offers some intriguing activities from canoeing to cooking to lei-making, hula classes, stand-up paddleboard lessons, artistic creation and a theatrical luau presentation.
While the beach is gorgeous, an outrigger canoe or kayaking experience is highly recommended. The perspective from the sea is very different from the land. As you look back towards Wailea, you can see why Maui is called the Valley Isle. A valley lies between the two cloud-covered volcano mountain ranges, Haleakalā and the West Maui Mountains.
You’re also sure to see a big green sea turtle, or some colorful fish. Our 6-passenger outrigger canoe was surprisingly easy to paddle, even though I am, shall we say, a big kahuna. Our sturdy boatmen made it easy by putting the canoe on foam rollers to push-launch us through the waves.
Whether you’re swimming, canoeing or just wading from the beach in Wailea, you may well see a turtle peering at you in the ocean.
Going with a guide enriches the experience. Many, like our guide from the Andaz, have grown up in Hawaii and are very knowledgeable. Our guide seemingly had paddled everywhere, including circling the Statue of Liberty. But he said the channel between Hawaii and Maui was one of the roughest in the world. In Maui, he said, families grow up paddling like their voyaging Polynesian ancestors.
Other activities can be done without leaving one’s hotel, giving you a chance to appreciate the distinctive sense of place that makes Wailea special.
For example, the Andaz offers ukulele lessons with Uncle Ron. The Hawaii native is an expert on the four-string uke. Ukulele means “jumping flea” in Hawaiian, as one’s fingers move quickly over the strings. The popular ukulele is also one of the easiest instruments to play; all you need is one finger to get started. Uncle Ron also teaches how to make Hawaiian grass hats and boats using coconut leaves.
Another hands-on experience is a private poke making class. The chef prepares the kitchen with beautiful examples of tuna, salmon, and I-don’t-want-to-to-touch-that-thing octopus. Best of all, after one’s first poke, you can eat the evidence.
Prepping for poke: the fish and ingredients for preparing the perfect Hawaiian poke.
The Andaz also offers other cooking experiences, like a plant-based cooking demo where you can learn how to make amazing vegetarian food from the beautiful produce grown on the island.
Guests in Andaz suites have kitchens and long dining tables, even a pair of bunk beds for families with children who want to climb up and away. A bedroom at the Andaz had a design of paddles above the headboard, with the nautical theme reinforced by light fixtures suspended by hemp like rope.
The hotel is full of such details. The Andaz offers lomi lomi and other relaxing massages in the spa, where the elegance extends to the wooden lockers in the locker-room. A trifecta of sauna, steam bath, and jacuzzi may leave you feeling fully relaxed with water in every pore.
Most of the Wailea-area hotels boast exquisite restaurants such as Ferrarro’s, KOMO and Wolfgang Puck’s Spago at the Four Seasons. Nobu at Grand Wailea features dishes like its famed yellowtail jalapeno and black cod with miso.
The Andaz offers Morimoto Maui, led by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Its design is inspired by a modern Japanese beach house, a great place to show off Japanese culinary techniques and a long sake menu. Morimoto Maui offers Japanese and American fusion cuisine and specialty cocktails made with local ingredients.
The Morimoto Maui restaurant, led by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, is known for its Japanese culinary techniques. Its design is inspired by a modern Japanese beach house.
In Wailea, there are also gourmet restaurants outside the hotels, like Aurum Maui at The Shops at Wailea nearby. The Shops at Wailea features luxury brands like Gucci, Tourneau, Tiffany, Prada, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Banana Republic, and Bottega Veneta.
Many of the Wailea hotels offer luaus with authentic Hawaiian storytelling and performance. The Andaz entry is its Feast at Mōkapu Lū’au . This luxury luau, curated by Tihati Productions and shaped with guidance from Cultural Advisor Kaliko Storer is a celebration of Hawaiian culture as well as cuisine. The experience honors Polynesian history, cultural storytelling, and Hawaiian values rooted in kuleana (responsibility) to the land.
The evening features traditional songs, hula, live music and Polynesian performance inspired by the legends of Maui and the peoples of the South Pacific. It also includes a multi-course tasting of traditional Hawaiian cuisine, including fish and kalua pig.
The experience, with hula dancers, musicians and storytellers, plays out in three acts. The first act explores the ancient ties between Hawaiʻi and the South Pacific, with an emphasis on Tahiti and the brilliance of Polynesian outrigger navigation.
The second honors the legacy of Maui’s great chiefs, Piʻilani and the demi-god Māui through traditional chant and song. The final act offers a light-hearted tribute to the paniolo, Hawaiian cowboys, and closes with an amazing Samoan fire knife dance.
“Submerged,” an artwork by ANDAZ Artist in Residence artist Welzie. Welzie works in surfboard foam, fiberglass, and resin. The Welzie Art Gallery at the Andaz Maui also gives art lessons to children and adults.
Maui offers many other festivals and performances. At the Seed to Cup Festival (Aug 1) coffee experts, farmers, roasters, and live music performers gather for the 19th annual festival hosted by the Maui Coffee Association. Located at the Maui Tropical Plantation, the day-long festival will feature cooking and mocktail demos, food trucks and educational workshops.
Maui Calls (Aug 22) is the Maui Arts & Cultural Gala featuring award-winning wines and culinary creations from Maui chefs. Concerts happening around Wailea can be found here.
The Andaz is decorated in sculptures of whales, surfboards and sharks, made by the artist Welzie from surfboard foam, fiberglass and resin. At the Welzie Art Gallery, children and adults can take their island inspiration and turn it into their own piece of 8” x 10” artwork using paint pens and Welzie’s graphite transfer method.
Wailea is a magical place of swaying palms, sea creatures, green grass, dark lava rocks, white clouds, and a light blue sky resting against the darker sea. Art is one way to capture your Maui experience and keep Hawaii with you, even when you are far away.
Will you dream of paddling in the Pacific outside your window in this ocean front villa bedroom at the Andaz Maui?