Where can you find five major award-winning resort hotels, six condominium resorts, a world class shopping village with over 60 shops and restaurants, an oceanfront beach walk that connects all of the condominiums, hotels and shopping village, two championship golf courses, tennis courts for day or night play, a Sugar-Cane Train and free trolley service within the resort?
The answer is the Kaʻanapali Beach Resort on what is widely considered to be the best beach on the best island in the world!
Ancient Times at Kāʻanapali :
In ancient times, the rulers of Maui savored Kāʻanapali as their royal retreat and playground. They liked the perfect stretch of white sand beach, the gentle waves, the ideal weather, and the broad swath of green that swept up the slopes of the rainbow-laced Kahalawai, the West Maui Mountains.
Maui's "royals" surfed, raced their canoes, feasted at luʻau lasting for weeks, and, where the Kaʻanapali Golf Courses now blanket the land, they played ulu maika, a form of lawn bowling using stones.
A Planned Resort:
Today's visitors can enjoy many of the same activities. Kāʻanapali was Hawaii's first planned resort and still serves as a model for resorts around the world.
Many of the hotels have undergone major reconstruction in recent years to keep up with the demands of today's traveler.
The Kaʻanapali Resort properties cover over 1200 acres of land and are carefully landscaped so that in most places you will never sense that you are in the middle of a huge resort area.
Top Vacation Destination:
With over 3500 hotel rooms and suites and over 1000 condominium units, Kāʻanapali is one of Hawaii's and the world's top vacation destinations.
The hotels at Kāʻanapali feature gourmet dining, lagoons with swans and flamingos, art treasures, vast landscapes and waterscapes with mega-pools, cascades and thrill slides.
Ocean activities include catamaran cruises, outrigger canoes, boogie boarding and surfboarding, aqua bikes, snorkeling and diving, rafting, windsurfing and sail boating.
World Championship Golf Courses:
Kāʻanapali's two championship golf courses are open to all. One is the creation of the eminent Robert Trent Jones, Sr., the other designed by Arthur Jack Snyder.
The way the courses are laid out, both duffers and pros get a good game. The only problem is whales. If they're jumping offshore in their fantastic gymnastics, nobody seems to make par. The magnificent vistas of sea and mountains are distracting enough to be considered outright hazards on the links.
Cliff Diving Ceremony:
Every evening Kāʻanapali honors its history and traditions. At sundown, cliff divers reenact the feat of Maui's revered King Kahekili, who bravely dove from the cliff at Puʻu Kekaʻa, or Black Rock, into the churning sea, at a time when the spot was considered to be the jumping off place for the soul to enter the nether world.
Tikii torches are lit along the shore as the ancient pahu drums and triton shell horns call the hula dancers and revelers to the beachside luaus at many of the resorts.
Whalers Village Shopping and Dining:
In the center of the resort is the Whalers Village, an open-air, world class shopping complex that also includes a wonderful whaling museum that is free to the public. There are also over 70 shops and restaurants. Many evenings also feature free entertainment.
Nearby Lahaina:
Kāʻanapali is also convenient to the historic whaling town of Lahaina, once capital of the Hawaiian Islands.
Trolley service to and from Lahaina makes several stops at various places throughout the resort area. Lahaina is well known for its vast array of restaurants and shops as well as its cultural and historic center.
Sugar Cane Train:
The Kāʻanapali Resort area is also home to the Lahaina-Kāʻanapali and Pacific Railroad, a restored sugarcane train pulled by a vintage steam locomotive that travels between the resort and Lahaina through what were once West Maui's sugar plantation fields.
Additional Activities:
If you still can't find enough to do, Kāʻanapali Beach has numerous activities available to you such as sailing, scuba diving, snorkeling and whale watching with Beach Activities of Maui and Teralani Sailing Adventures and the chance to soar above the ocean for a bird's eye view of the resort with UFO Parasail Maui.
Honoring the Past and Celebrating Aloha
To preserve the unique culture and Maui way of life, some Kāʻanapali properties have adopted innovative cultural programs that encourage employees to share their heritage with guests. They do this in large and small ways, such as greeting them with genuine aloha, sharing music and family lore, and in colorful programs during Aloha Festivals, Lei Day and Kamehameha Day, in honor of Hawaii's greatest king.
Even with the amenities that have grown with time, Kaʻanapali has retained its core of natural beauty and gracious, royal Hawaiian hospitality - two of the many qualities that made it the choice of king
Additional Resources:
More Profiles of Maui
Profile of Maui - Hawaii's Valley Isle
Profile of Central Maui - A Bridge for Many Cultures
Profile of Haleakalā National Park Kīpahulu Area
Profile of Haleakalā National Park Summit Area - A Visit to the House of the Sun
Profile of Hana, Maui - Maui's Last Hawaiian Place
Profile of the Kapalua Resort Area
Profile of Kihei, Maui - Maui's Sunny South Shore
Profile of Lahaina, Maui - Where History and Playfulness Meet
Profile of Māʻalaea, Maui - Now a Destination of Its Own - Not Just a Stop Along the Highway
Profile of Makena - Maui Untamed and Wild
Profile of Wailea - A Sanctuary of Beauty on Maui's South Shore
