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The newly renovated Grand Wailea resort hotel and spa is the ultimate Hawaiian playground.
THERE’S A CERTAIN MAGIC ABOUT MAUI. An extraordinary alchemy of natural elements — the melody of tropical birds floating on an island breeze, a parrot-green landscape set against a turquoise sea — renders the setting truly paradisiacal. Halea kala, a volcano that forms 75 percent of the island, further adds to Maui’s mystical allure.
Sitting in Haleakala’s shadow, the Grand Wailea stretches over 40 acres of shorefront property. A member of The Waldorf Astoria Collection, it is one of the jewels in Hawaii’s luxury-hotel crown. And it sparkles brighter than ever. The hotel recently completed a $50 million upgrade to its restaurants, lounges, pools, beach, spa, salon, fitness center, guestrooms — all 780 of them — and landscaping. Also freshly remodeled, the Grand Suite sprawls 5,500 square feet and boasts panoramic ocean views.
At a nightly rate of $15,000, it’s occupied 80 percent of the year by foreign dignitaries, royalty, celebrities and the super-rich. Like Janet Jackson, who reserved the über-suite (before her brother Michael’s recent death) to throw a party for friends and family.
But you don’t have to book the Grand Suite to feel like an A-lister. I’m staying in the exclusive Napua Tower, a 100-room hotel-within-the-hotel with upgraded rooms ranging from 715 to 1,300 square feet, private check-in and dedicated concierge staff. (It’s also where the Grand Suite is located.) The tower rooms’ best features, though, are the daily complimentary breakfast buffet and Happy Hour in the private lounge.
Fueled by a gourmet breakfast, we start the day at the Wailea Canyon Activity Pool. It’s more of a water park, with nine separate pools, seven water slides, whirlpools, waterfalls, caves, grottos and a river. The pools are such a popular attraction, registered guests have to wear plastic ID bands — a different color each day — so hotel staff can tell if anyone’s poaching. A group of teenagers, each wearing a half-dozen wrist bracelets, is in line for the Tarzan swing. That little piece of plastic is a big status symbol.
The river, flowing as a gentle current in some spots and rushing rapids in others, snakes around the pool area, in front of “baby beach”— a small, sandy strip where little ones can splash around at shallow depths — and beneath cascading waterfalls. Instead of leaving the water to climb the stairs to the water slide lines (the pool area is spread over six levels), I crawl into the water elevator. It’s almost as cool as another water feature — the grotto bar. You can swim up to the bar, sit chest-deep in the water on an underwater barstool and sip your mai tai as Jimmy Buffett tunes blast from overhead speakers. Or, cocktail in hand, be swept away by the river’s current. Guests can also take scuba-diving lessons in a deep pool designed for instruction, or relax beside the adults-only Hibiscus Pool, named for the huge mosaic flower inlaid on its floor.
I’m eager to experience Maui’s legendary beaches. The resort fronts Wailea Beach, a two-minute stroll from the pool. The attendant in the gear-rental hut, an Orange County transplant, raves about the snorkeling. The beach is protected on each side by black lava mounds, and when the visibility’s good, you can see an array of exotic fish zipping in and out of the coral reef, and green sea turtles, or honu, an important symbol in Hawaiian culture. But it’s late afternoon, and choppy seas prevent us from viewing much sea life. For now. Dinner at the resort’s over-water sea food restaurant, Humu humunu ku nu kua pua‘a (or Humu, an abbreviated version of the name of Hawaii’s state fish), offers another kind of encounter with what lurks below. The eatery, a cluster of thatched-roof Polynesian-style huts, sits above a saltwater lagoon brimming with tropical fish. Beside our table, jumping fish break the glassy surface. The honeymooners lobbing bread chunks into the water fuel the frenzy. The menu takes a cue from Polynesian and Hawaiian cuisines, with an emphasis on the local catch. Tonight’s dinner is a huge, succulent lobster, hand-picked from a cage in the restaurant lagoon. The waitress uses a pulley system to raise the cage above the surface; I select the lobster I want, and it arrives on a steaming platter minutes later.
As the sun sinks into the ocean, there’s no better vantage point than tableside at Humu. The stark silhouettes of skinny palm trees piercing the sunset-streaked sky and the amber flames of tiki torches paint the Maui landscape at its most postcard-perfect.
THE NEXT MORNING, an early run along the Wailea coastal walk affords panoramic views of the south Maui shoreline and the islands in the distance. The 1.5-mile path starts at the north end of Wailea and passes by luxury resorts and condo complexes. In a couple of months, the path will be packed with people hoping to glimpse humpback whales that migrate to the area, typically from December through March, to give birth. On the route, the Wailea Historical Interpretive Site provides an introduction to local history and native plant and animal life.
A visit to the world-renowned Spa Grande at the Grand Wailea permits another kind of insight into Hawaiian culture. The largest spa in Hawaii at 50,000 square feet, Spa Grande offers the Pala‘au Journey, a healing treatment utilizing techniques and products cultivated by native Hawaiian healers and invoking centuries of indigenous wisdom. The 80-minute treatment begins with a lomi lomi massage using an oil blend of awapuhi (ginger), Hawaiian nioi (chili pepper), wapine (lemongrass) and pepamina (peppermint). The massage is followed by a full-body wrap, scalp treatment and hydrating pohaku foot ritual using heated stones.
The spa embraces beauty and wellness philosophies from around the world, blending Hawaiian modalities with Eastern practices and thalassotherapy, a treatment process rooted in ancient Greece that uses seawater to heal and beautify. The spa’s Terme Wailea Hydrotherapy, a series of water therapies, features a Roman tub, saunas, waterfalls, Swiss jet showers, a Japanese furo and five baths — mud, seaweed, aromatherapy, papaya enzyme and Hawaiian mineral salt. Spa guests are invited to sample the Terme before their full-body loofah scrub, a complimentary service preceding each treatment.
For devotees of retail therapy, The Shops at Wailea can’t be beat. A short walk from the Grand Wailea, the upscale outdoor mall includes 70 boutiques and restaurants. The shopping is eclectic, from Billabong’s beach gear to Tiffany & Co.’s bling. Break for lunch on the lanai at Tommy Bahama’s Tropical Café, where the bartender mixes a mean mojito.
If you prefer to mix your own mojito in your home bar, the Ho’olei at Grand Wailea luxury vacation rentals offer guests all the comforts of home with access to resort amenities (yes, the pools). The three-bedroom townhomes range from 3,200 to 4,000 square feet and feature a great room with vaulted ceilings, an elevator, floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding glass doors that open onto a private lanai with views of the ocean and Wailea Old Blue golf course.
But it’s easy to soak in Maui’s striking beauty from any perspective. This is paradise, pure and simple.
If You Go
Hawaiian Airlines offers direct flights from San Diego to Honolulu, with a short connecting flight to Maui’s Kahului Airport. The Grand Wailea is a 35-minute drive from the airport. Go to hawaiianairlines.com or call 800-367-5320 for flight schedules and reservations. For room rates at Grand Wailea, visit grandwailea.com or call 800-888-6100.
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