Has anyone stayed at the Fairmont Kea Lani Hotel in Maui? What was your impression of it? How far is it from Kaanapali?

Tammy,

I stayed at the Kea Lani about 3 weeks ago and loved it. My favorite part of the hotel was that it is all suites. There were 3 pools, all very nice and the beach it is on is great.

It is about 40 minutes away from Kaanapali.

Returned from the Kea Lani a month ago. There's something about that place...I'll probably always stay there when going to Maui. The staff is great, the grounds are perfect, the beach is nice, I could go on and on. Why pay the same price for just a hotel room at other high end Wailea hotels when you could get a suite at the Kea Lani? Even the local turtles turned out to say goodbye on my last walk-in snorkling venture of the week.

Stayed there in May... liked it a lot. Next time in Maui, I will most likely stay there again.

how is the beach there? we have reservations at the Hyatt and they say that kaanapali beach is really nice. is there much to do around the Kea Lani, like shopping restaurants?

Kaanapali beach is OK, but not the best beach on Maui. It tends to get very crowded, it's pretty narrow in parts, and the sand isn't especially soft.
I definitely wouldn't choose the Kaanapali area just for the beach.
But many people prefer that area for the activity, shopping, nightlife etc.

Polo beach is fairly nice, one of those picturesque crescent-shaped beaches. But it does tend to get more non-resort visitors than other beaches in Wailea because there's a public parking right next to the hotel, but it shouldn't be anything to fret about. There's a great beach walkway where a nice 15 min stroll will take you by the 4S and GW over to the elegant Shops at Wailea. I personally dread that place as my wife did some major damage there and justified it by saying she paid less sales tax than in CA!

Polo beach is a classic crescent shaped beach as the above poster mentioned. The beaches in the Wailea area tend to be crescent shaped of varing lengths divided by rocky points (which happen to make for great walk-in snorkling conditions). But all are very wide (distance from water to the 'back' of the sand). True, Kaanapali is long (3 miles?), I found it feels crowded because sometimes it is very narrow. The above mentioned ocean front path is awesome...1 1/2 miles, paved, well maintained, and it runs past two of what I think are a couple of the best developed beaches on Maui; Wailea and Ulua. I wouldn't worry about public access to the beaches. Almost all the beaches have some sort of public access. There's just a few more people there on the weekends. Yes, the mall is very nice and you can do damage there. You can also do damage at the many upscale restaurants in all the hotels. On our last trip, we decided to head for cheaper eats and ended up in Kihea for many meals (5 minute drive) specifically Stella Blues Cafe. Back to beaches...after a while, all the beaches seem to take on an individual feel...definitely not "seen one, seen them all." My personal fav is Big Beach down in Makena (10 min. drive from Kea Lani). It is the largest (almost a mile?) undeveloped beach on Maui. I've never seen finer golden sand than this. And if it's black sand you're after, there's what seems to be little known Makena State Park beach just up the road from Big Beach. I could go on and on... I will always highly recommend the Kea Lani.

Kea Lani is my favorite hotel and Big Beach is only about 10 minutes away which is our favorite spot. At this beach, the combination of the black volcanic cliff as a backrop, the fine golden sand and the aqua blue water can't be beat on Maui - it is gorgeous! Leaving in 3 weeks and can't wait!

My wife and I stayed at the Kea Lani last year for our honeymoon. What a beautiful, gorgeous hotel. The rooms are great, the beach is great, and the pools are great, especially the adult pool. The breakfast buffet, which is very important, was wonderful every morning. I can taste the banana plantation pancakes now as I think of them, mmmmmm. They have my all time favorite restaurant there, Nick's Fishmarket. It was the best service we've ever experienced. The food was outstanding also. I can't say enough great things about the Kea Lani. It is beautiful.

I agree with everything Loungin had to say above.
I was there on my honeymoon last July and it was amazing.
I'm big on value...and if you're going to pay those high end prices for the Maui resorts, you might as well get a suite, a swim-up bar, a pool slide, an adults-only pool, etc.

so are there many restaurants by the Kea Lani?

We were there for 7 days and did not have trouble finding a resturant at all. Nick's Fishmarket and Cafe Ciao are both excellent resturants right at the hotel. We also went to Roy's, and to a resturant on a nearby golf course. We didn't eat at the resturant at the Four Seasons, but it is suppose to be good. Our stay at the Kea Lani last year was so nice that we rebooked it for this July. It is my favorite resort that I've ever been to. I don't even mine the long east coast flight to get there.