Traveling to Hawaii has been one of our loves ever since my partner and I started vacationing as a couple. The ease of getting to the islands and the costs have become easier and easier over the years. What we personally have found is that the island of Maui is our home away from home. Our last journey had us experience the lovely Fairmont Kea Lani.
After landing at the Kahului Airport, we boarded our transportation for the brief and beautiful 30-minute ride to Hawaii’s only all-suite and villa luxury oceanfront resort. Situated on Maui's Wailea coast, we knew we were going to enjoy the spectacular sunsets while we enjoyed the legendary Fairmont hospitality.
We settled into our one-bedroom suite, checked out the large private lanai with its spectacular ocean view. The personal slice of paradise would be ours to enjoy for the next few nights.
For our first night, we wanted to celebrate being on Maui. We chose to visit Luana. The venue was the perfect spot start our immersion into Hawaiian modern culture with the view of the ocean and the sun setting. We enjoyed conversing with the mixologists and enjoying their cocktails and spirits along with the great offering of live music and pupus or light fare. We watched as others joined us and celebrated the pau hana, translated to “finished work.” Luana, just open in the evenings after 4 PM, was the perfect choice of places to begin our enjoyment of the Fairmont Kea Lani.
And that is one thing that you should always familiarize yourself with, which eating venues are open for which meals. While enjoying our coffee on our lanai we examined the list of other eateries we would enjoy during our Maui stay.
Kea Lani Restaurant was where we would dine for breakfast during our stay. The offerings consisted of breakfast favorites and fruits of the islands all presented on a wonderful buffet. The open-air dining area was an ideal place to start our days enjoying the comfort breakfast foods, guavas, mountain apples, rambutans, papayas and even some Asian style breakfast foods.
The other best practice we do when on vacation at such a wonderful resort like this is to either book a spa treatment before or as we arrive. Resorts are usually very accommodating and will give you a tour of the spa to entice you even more. No enticement needed here as we’ve spent a good many hours in a spa at the beginning of our stays at resorts as it sets up the relaxation mode right from the beginning. The experience we had at the award winning Willow Stream Spa (recognized as "World's Best Hotel Spa – Hawaii") was full of state-of-the-art, locally inspired, and tried and true relaxation options for guest to experience. Make sure you treat yourself to a spa treatment as we do.
As we let our spa treatments and thiri after effects calm our bodies even more, lunch was in order. Coming to Maui, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you are able to experience more than just Hawaiian culture and cuisine. Kō, the Fairmont Kea Lani’s signature restaurant, embraces its location on Maui as well as the island’s heritage and offers plantation-inspired cuisine featuring Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino, Portuguese, Korean, and Japanese menu items. The recipes used by Executive Chef Tylun Pang are island family recipes that have been passed down for generations, all the way back to the days of sugarcane plantations.
We definitely enjoyed the options Kō offered for lunches and dinners, not only the international cuisine, but we would recommend checking out the Twilight Dinner, a four-course dinner in a private candle lit cabana. On the flip side of the private romantic dinner is the Sunday Night Laulau, a true celebration of food, Hawaiian style.
The Fairmont Kea Lani, with its the spa treatments and food options, truly satisfied our soul and bellies, but now it was time for the poolside cabanas and beach. The pool and beach attendants were very accommodating in assisting us in finding the right spot to continue our relaxation. We found it perfect to enjoy a cabana as it allowed us to go from sun to shade and back again as our hearts and skin desired.
As always, leaving paradise is hard. The ride back to the airport was still beautiful and enjoyable, the fight off the island, breathtaking. We will return Maui to enjoy the award winning Fairmont Kea Lani again. If you need more enticements that the Fairmont Kea Lani is the place to stay, here are some recent accolades of Fairmont Kea Lani as well as link to promotional offers (https://www.fairmont.com/kea-lani-maui/special-offers/hotel-offers/) such as free nights, food and beverage credits, and amazing discounts.
2018 AWARDS
FAIRMONT KEA LANI
TravelPulse.com, Best Destination Wedding Hotel/Resort – Hawaii, Silver
TravelPulse.com, Best Honeymoon Hotel/Resort – Hawaii, Silver
U.S. News Travel, Best Maui Hotels and Best Hawai’i Hotel
2017 AWARDS
FAIRMONT KEA LANI
Travel + Leisure Magazine, The World’s Best Awards, Top 25 in Hawai’i
Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards, Top 25 Best Resorts in Hawai'i
BRIDES, 2017 Best Honeymoon Awards, Top 10 Resorts in Hawai’i
Trip.com, 2017 Family Tribe Best Hotels
Family Vacation Critic, 2017 Family Vacation Critic Favorite
TripAdvisor, 2017 Certificate of Excellence
USA 10Best Awards, Best Waterfront Resort
Travel Weekly, Silver Magellan Award, Beach Resort/Hotel category
KŌ RESTAURANT
Maui No Ka Oi, 'Aipono Award, Best Hawaiian Regional Cuisine, Gold
TripAdvisor, 2017 Certificate of Excellence
Wine Spectator Magazine, 2017 Award of Excellence
Maui Time Weekly, 2017 Best of Maui,Best Kama’aina
The Maui News, 2017 Best of Maui, Best Multinational CuisineLUANA
Maui Time Weekly, 2017 Best of Maui, Best Mixologist – Aaron Alcala-Mosley
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