Grand Wailea Resort (also known as Grand Wailea Maui) is a lavish $600-million hotel is styled in the classic manner of the early 1900s. A movie star favorite, Grand Wailea Maui encompasses 40 acres of majestic rolling hills on world-famous Wailea Beach. This area is known for the sunniest and driest climate on Maui.
The grounds is what makes Grand Wailea Resort so incredible - it’s like walking and swimming in paradise. There are 7 different gardens with more than 150 varieties of plants and trees. Stately coconut palms sway gently in the trade winds. The buildings drown in bright bougainvillea, scarlet Poinciana, banana, mango and papaya trees. You will find quite a few secluded spots to sit down and relax.
At night, take a romantic walk around the streams and ponds and look at the gleaming reflection of torches in the water. There is also a beautiful floating wedding chapel, New England style, a great spot for pictures.
Grand Wailea Maui is a 35-min drive from Kahului Airport (OGG). When you arrive, the hotel staff will warmly greet you with flower leis, fresh fruit and cold juice.
2. Rooms
The rooms at Grand Wailea Resort are pretty average in size, 640 ft or larger. There are many nice luxury touches like an overstuffed chaise lounge and a comfortable writing desk.
The bathroom is definitely not your average hotel bathroom - it has marble floors, large framed mirror along with 2 vanity mirrors, a big marble tub and a huge 2-person shower with a seat.
- Beds: 1 king or 2 queens ($20 more per night)
- Air-conditioning
- Ceiling fans
- Private lanai
- 27” color TV with cable and in-room movies
- Mini-bar
- 3 direct-dial phones
- Coffee maker
- Bathrobes and slippers
- In-room safe
- Hair dryer
- 24-hour room service
- Daily maid service
- Nightly turndown service with a flower on your pillow
Napua Tower Rooms
This is an exclusive 100-room “hotel within hotel”. The rooms are larger by 75 sq ft, and have upgraded amenities. You will gave access to a private lounge that serves complimentary continental breakfast each morning and cocktails with hors d’oeuvres in the evening. The food is really good. A private concierge is always there to assist you with any vacation activities.
3. Restaurants
Grand Wailea Maui has 5 on-site restaurants and 4 bars:
1) Bistro Molokini
This place has a relaxing, open-air ambience and breathtaking views of the Pacific and distant islands. Food is a delightful blend of Mediterranean and island cuisine, prepared in an exhibition kitchen with kiawe wood-burning oven. Open for lunch and dinner.
2) Café Kula
Sit down in a terrace set above the flowering Hawaiian gardens, relax and enjoy the view. Café Kula offers light fare with delicious espresso and capuccino, freshly baked pastries, gourmet quiche, salads, Lappert’s ice cream, coffe and desserts. If you are planning a day trip, you can arrange take-out here.
3) Grand Dining Room Maui
Start your morning with their breakfast buffet, or order a la carte. This restaurant has absolutely stunning views of the beautiful Reflecting Pool, the ocean and neighboring islands of Molokini and Kaho’olawe. Open daily for breakfast.
4) Humuhumunukunukuapua'a
This romantic restaurant has the best sunset views. Named after Hawaii’s state fish, it looks like a cluster Polynesian thatch-roofed huts floating on a lagoon filled with tropical fish. Their menu includes delicious Island fish and meat entrees with Polynesian influences. Open nightly for dinner.
5) Kincha
Dine in a traditional Japanese setting surrounded by tranquil gardens, waterfalls, and 800 tons of rocks imported from the base of Mt Fuji. Kincha features creative Japanese cuisine and Maui’s finest sushi bar. For a special occasion, you can request the chef’s 6-course Kaiseki dinner in a private Tatami room. Open for dinner nightly, exc. Tue and Wed.
6) Tsunami Night Club
Hot spot with high-tech sound system, lighting and laser shows. A 14-foot-wide karaoke and music video screen completes the picture.
7) Volcano Bar
Casual poolside place serving salads, sandwiches, tropical drinks and smoothies. Open for lunch daily.
8) Botero Gallery Bar
Enjoy drinks and pups amid the hotel’s prized collection of sculptures by Fernando Botero. This is a great place to get a pre-dinner drink and listen to live music.
9) Grotto Bar
Swim-up bar where you can get a refreshing cocktail without leaving the pool. Prices are kind of steep ($8 and up for a drink) but who cares!
4. Things to do
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- Pools
Hibiscus Pool
This is an adults-only pool named for the beautiful hibiscus mosaic on the bottom. It is made from over 630,000 pieces of Mexican glass mosaic tile. There are also 2 Jacuzzis. You can tan in a very quiet subtle atmosphere while enjoying tranquil views of the Pacific.Wailea Canyon Activity Pool
This pool complex consists of nine free-form pools at 6 levels that are all connected by a river that carries you along at varying speed, from white water rapids to lazy currents. It’s like having a water park right on the grounds of the hotel!Four water slides will remind you of the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” – they are decorated as if you are in rocky hills and forests with rapids, a rope swing and much more. When you need a break, swim under a waterfall up to a poolside bar and order a “lava flow” cocktail, which is explosively tasty.
The most unique feature of this pool complex is the world’s only water elevator. It is built into the side of a huge rock formation. It takes you to the very top where all the water slides start. It’s one of those things that you have to see to believe!
There is a deeper pool where you can take your first scuba diving lesson. If you have never tried scuba, definitely go for it – it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
- Beach
The Grand Wailea Resort fronts the famous Wailea Beach. It is a spectacular long stretch of golden sand, wonderful for walking, swimming, and a great beach for sun bathers. Just off the end of the beach, is an amazing collection of coral in about 15 feet of water where you can spot turtles, manta rays, tons of bright-colored tropical fish, and beautiful underwater plants. You can easily snorkel to this area from the beach. - 3 championship golf courses
Wailea Golf Club is one of the largest and most acclaimed golf facilities in the islands. It consists of 3 courses:Blue Course – the first course ever built in Wailea. The fairways offer views of the ocean (where you can spot humpback whales in winter), several offshore islands, majestic peak of Mt. Haleakala, and some of Wailea's stunning residential communities. It features several fountains and lakes, and an abundance of colorful hibiscus, wiliwili trees, bougainvillea and plumeria.
The Blue was designed to appeal to a broad range of players. While it has challenged some of the finest professional players in the world, it also offers a measure of forgiveness in its wider fairways and large greens.
Emerald Course – designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., it has been rated as one of the best new courses by Golf Magazine and Golf Digest, as well as one of North America's most women-friendly by Golf for Women.
The course looks like a lush tropical playground. Everywhere you look, there are bright tropical flowers and shrubs: plumeria, bird of paradise, allamanda, gazenia, bougainvillea, beach morning glory, "firecracker" plants and more.
This course also has magnificent mountain and ocean views, and has been designed for pure golf enjoyment, regardless of your handicap.
One of the Emerald’s most picturesque spots is a large double green shared by holes #10 and #17. Fronting the green is the only lake on the course.
Gold Course – this is the most challenging course out of 3. It has been ranked among the country's best new courses by Golf Magazine and Golf Digest, and one of the world's best designed by the readers of Conde Nast Traveler.
This course is also designed by Jones Jr., who flavored the Gold with elements of classic golf course design, then finished it with a rugged, natural look. Throughout the course are stark lava rock outcroppings, indigenous Hawaiian grasses, and ancient lava rock walls built by early Hawaiians, so the setting is really spectacular.
The Gold's 200 foot elevation change from top to bottom enhances the numerous ocean and mountain vistas available from virtually every hole. The course has been labeled a "thinking player's" course because it demands strategy and careful club selection to be played well.
There is an upscale hilltop clubhouse that services all 3 courses. Its signature dining spot is SeaWatch, a stunning open-air restaurant cooled by the gentle tradewinds. Try their Miso-Chili Glazed Tiger Prawns and other seafood delicacies – they are exceptional.
As a guest of Grand Wailea Maui, you will receive preferred rates and tee times at all 3 courses.
- Spa Grande
The most dazzling attraction of Grand Wailea Resort is the Spa Grande that offers massages, facials, aromatherapy, body wraps, papaya dips, Japanese needle showers, and loofah scrubs. It looks amazing inside – Italian marble, original artwork, mahogany millwork, and Venetian chandeliers. Facilities include sauna and steam rooms, 42 treatment rooms, a huge roman bath-style Jacuzzi, hot and cold plunge pools, beauty salon, exercise room and even racquetball courts.Looking for a facial? Choose from Hawaiian rose to “Ayuverdic” herb treatment based on Oriental techniques. Want to really treat yourself? Then go for an all-body moisturizing paraffin wrap with eucalyptus and menthol, or indulge in a ground Maui coffee treatment that’s topped off with a mango coconut latte lotion. Full day custom package is available for about $400 and couples can experience a “Romantic Interlude” that includes a duo massage.
You can even have a therapist walk on your back with the “Deep Shiatsu Barefoot Massage”, or have 2 therapists work simultaneously with the “Massage-in Stereo”. The spa’s signature experience is Terme Wailea Hydrotherapy Circuit, the ultimate relaxer. You start with a Roman tub, then move on to a steam, sauna and plunge in the cool pool. After a loofah scrub, a waterfall cascading down from a height of 10 feet massages your neck and shoulders. And that’s not all! Next is a choice of specialty bath, including moor mud, seaweed, aromatherapy, tropical enzyme, or mineral salt. Finally, you take an invigorating needlepoint jet shower, and then a soothing massage.
Just reading this probably makes you want to run to the spa right now :)
- Children's Program
Camp Grande is a program designed for kids 5 to 12 years old. It is a very large facility, over 20,00 sq ft, that is designed to accommodate the whim of every child and his parents. It includes a craft room, computer center, movie theater, outdoors playground, and even a restaurant. In the play area, you will find foosball and ping pong, lego and board games, video arcade, 9-hole putting green, and a whale-shaped wading pool. Your little guys won't want to leave this place when the day is over!There are half-day (about $45) and full-day (about $75) programs available, with activities like nature walks, lei making, ukulele lessons, T-shirt dying, scavenger hunts, sand sculpting and many other cool things. Night session (5pm-10pm) is also available, so the parents can have a nice evening out.
- Art Collection
The art collection at Grand Wailea Resort is valued at over $50 million and consists of 81 original paintings, sculptures, graphics, murals and artifacts by Fernando Botero sculptures, and paintings by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger, Andy Warhol and local Hawaiian artists. It is featured throughout the grounds and public areas, as well as in Napua Gallery. You can even take an organized art tour if you are interested.
- Resort activities (scuba clinics, sunrise walks, aqua fitness, art and botanical tours)
- Complete fitness center
- Sports equipment rentals (bikes, surfboards, kayaks, snorkels, cabanas, etc.)
- Game room
- Activity desk
- Business center
- Shopping arcade
- Upscale Shops at Wailea nearby (Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton, etc.)
- Beauty salon
- Babysitting (fee)
- Laundry and dry-cleaning valet service (fee)
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