Napili Kai Beach Resort: A Pleasant Surprise in Maui

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One Day in Maui, I Slept Here…

Napili Kai Beach Resort was the big, wonderful surprise of my Maui vacation. I wasn’t expecting much — it was the last stay after a bevy of 5-star hotels around the island and I figured it would be nice, but couldn’t possibly compare. Instead, Napili Kai ended up offering a level of relaxation we didn’t find elsewhere on the island.

Napili Kai is located on Napili Bay, the golden sand providing a narrow curve to the coastline and which is easy and fast to access no matter where your room is located.

View of the living area of my Napili Kai suite seen from the balcony.

Our room — a spacious one-bedroom suite — was located at the far end of the resort and had ample space with a separate living area and kitchen from the bedroom.

Suite Bedroom at Napili Kai — Suite Bedroom

Suite Bathroom at Napili Kai — Suite Bathroom

The suite’s location provided privacy along with gorgeous ocean views from the large terrace.

Ocean views from my suite at Napili Kai in Maui. — Ocean views from my suite at Napili Kai.

Our room had a full kitchen, which is convenient if you’re traveling with kids or simply don’t want to eat out every night — food in Maui is expensive. The suites at Napili Kai are part of a vacation ownership club, but are rented out as part of the hotel when available. These suites are located within small building clusters, each of which has its own small pool. There is a seaside walking path to get from the suites to the main part of Napili Kai Beach Resort.

Walking path from Napili Kai suite. — Walking path from suite.

Napili Kai also has a larger pool by the main part of the hotel with some of the standard hotel rooms encircling it on the perimeter of the resort.

The main pool is nothing fancy — there’s no infinity edge or terraced patio or fountains framing the pool; it’s simply surrounded by grass and a few haphazardly placed lawn chairs. But that’s just fine because the water of the pool isn’t where you want to spend your time anyway. If you’re like us, it was hard to get ourselves out of the ocean water lapping gently against the shores of Napili Bay.

The bay was by far the highlight of our stay at Napili Kai and ended up being our favorite beach of the entire Maui trip. Napili Kai makes it easy for you to experience the ocean as it provides water sport rentals. Our favorite activity, though, was free: snorkeling. We simply had to go to the rental spot located next to the pool and check out snorkel equipment for the day. Then we could snorkel as much as we wanted in the bay.

Napili Kai is home to two sea turtles that are often swimming around the bay. We were told about them when we checked in, but didn’t really think we’d see them much. We saw them multiple times! It was so cool and since the people who work at the resort even have names for them, it was like swimming with a couple of local celebrities.

Napili Kai also has an excellent onsite restaurant called Sea House with ocean views and a variety of seafood.

Sea House Restaurant at Napili Kai — Sea House Restaurant

A short walk down the beach is also a great restaurant for breakfast: Gazebo known for its Macadamia Nut Pancakes. Gazebo often has a long line so we ordered our pancakes to go and enjoyed them on our large patio table — another plus of staying in a suite at Napili Kai.

Napili Kai Beach Resort is located at 5900 Lower Honoapiilani Road in Lahaina. You can see the different room types and make a reservation here.

I was a guest of Napili Kai and received complimentary accommodation, but — as always — views are completely my own.