The Best Places to Eat and Stay in Wailea

The adults-only serenity pool, where you float with a spicy hibiscus margarita while staring at Lanai, is the one that matters most. This Forbes Five Star resort on Maui's sunny Wailea coast is where the first season of White Lotus was filmed, so yes, you will recognize the lobby. Multiple pools, oceanview restaurants, and an outdoor gym that at least lets you feel the trade winds while you suffer. A Michelin Key holder.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. Michelin Guide 1 Key
3. The 50 2025 · Most Admired Hotel Group Award

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. AAA Four Diamonds

Nine pools connected by a lazy river, a grotto bar you swim up to and order a mai tai while watching sports on TV, and a separate adults-only pool for those who did not come to Maui to dodge pool noodles. This sprawling Waldorf Astoria resort on the Wailea beachfront also runs seven restaurants and bars, a 40-treatment-room spa, outrigger canoe tours, and access to nearby golf and tennis.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended

Wedged between two uncrowded sandy beaches on Maui's south shore, this full-scale Marriott resort runs 22 acres of pools, restaurants, and a nearly 10,000-square-foot spa. Three championship golf courses sit next door, and the dining runs from a poke-and-shave-ice food truck to a proper fine dining room. Humpback whales pass offshore in season, which saves you the trouble of planning an excursion.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended

1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
2. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Maui

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Maui

The coffee here is grown and roasted entirely on Maui, which you'll notice before you finish the first sip. Akamai is a specialty coffee shop with baristas who take the technical side seriously, turning out foamy cappuccinos and cold brew done New Orleans-style with chicory alongside seasonal espresso drinks. Avocado toast and Belgian waffles round out the menu for anyone who needs something to eat. Two drive-up windows serve the island if you're moving fast.

1. Eater The 25 Best Maui Restaurants

The design riffs on the 1930s luxury steamship that once ran between the Hawaiian Islands, all sleek curves and amber light, which is a lot of scene-setting for a sushi bar but somehow earns it. Chef Kiyo Ikeda works the counter with fresh-grated wasabi and Hokkaido scallops topped with caviar. Dessert arrives in a Jewel Box, and you leave with a daruma doll for good luck, because of course you do.

1. Eater The 25 Best Maui Restaurants

1. Eater The 25 Best Maui Restaurants

Sea urchin lanterns and hand-painted wallpaper set the tone for what turns out to be a serious cocktail bar tucked inside an easy-to-miss strip of shops in Wailea. The drinks lean into the island without becoming kitsch, and the zero-proof menu gets the same care as everything else. Bar snacks lean toward candied macadamia nuts and Chamorro-style shrimp cups. A 2026 Spirited Awards Regional Top 10 Honoree for Best U.S. Cocktail Bar.

1. Eater The 25 Best Maui Restaurants
2. Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. West
3. Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West