What to expect: Winner of numerous prestigious awards, the Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua is located in the midst of the 23,000-acre Kapalua Resort on the quieter, western coast of Maui. Soft golden sands lead to the clear Pacific Ocean. Inland are lush rainforests, a protected marine-life conservation district, a native Hawaiian sacred site, and golf courses that double as wildlife sanctuaries. After a $160 million transformation (January 2008), the resort has achieved a new level of luxury.

Amenity highlights: Two championship golf courses adjoin the resort. The Plantation Course unfurls across island canyons, native vegetation, and panoramic oceanfront plateaus. At the Bay Course, the signature hole extends onto an ocean-framed black-lava peninsula.

The Ritz-Carlton's Waihua Spa offers treatments based on native Hawaiian healing and island plants. Most of the 15 treatment rooms open to private outdoor shower gardens. The resort also features a three-tiered outdoor pool with two spa tubs. The Banyan Tree, the resort's signature seafood restaurant, overlooks the Pacific Ocean and Moloka'i.

Insider tip: Dr. Stephen Leatherman (a.k.a "Dr. Beach") named D.T. Fleming Beach, which fronts the resort, America's Best Beach for 2006. A professor of environmental studies, Leatherman is recognized as one of the nation's foremost authorities on beach quality.

Opened in 1947, this 66-acre coastal resort was fully renovated in 2002. Isolated on the eastern side of Maui's Haleakala mountain, it's accessed by a three-hour drive on a winding, two-lane coast highway, with one-lane bridges over waterfalls. The hotel is set in a working ranch, and horses graze on a bluff overlooking Hana Bay. Honeymooners, eco-adventurers, and vacationing businesspeople come for Hawaiian history, culture, and entertainment, and the many on-site recreational and spa services.

A tree-shaded esplanade curves toward a majestic lobby with an open-air waterfall pond inlaid with mosaics. A meandering network of pools leads to famed Wailea Beach. With immaculate grounds and an extensive art collection, the 40-acre Grand Wailea Resort attracts families, leisure travelers, and celebrating couples.

A majestic, open-air lobby with floor mosaics, vaulted ceilings, and a fountain courtyard leads to serene garden lawns with flowering trees and playful aquatic areas. Adjacent to Polo Beach, this 22-acre, Mediterranean-style resort attracts families, leisure travelers, and celebrating couples.

Flagstone pathways meander through an open-air atrium with palm trees, bromeliads, orchids, and Asian art. Peaceful koi ponds, sparkling waterfalls, and swinging rope bridges dot the lush tropical grounds, and the ocean beckons at the edge of the resort. Families, celebrating couples, conference attendees, and leisure travelers are among the guests who return here year after year.

From an open-air lobby with ocean views, a grand staircase leads past gardens toward pools, terraces, and Wailea’s beach walk with the ocean beyond. Occupying 22 acres, Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa draws families and other leisure travelers who appreciate the proximity to the famed golf courses, shops, and tennis courts of Wailea.

Avid golfers, vacationing families, and extended-stay travelers frequent these privately owned condominiums on Paipu Beach. Although it’s 5 minutes away from the bustling resorts and Shops at Wailea, the gated apartment community feels less crowded and more residential. Buildings were built in 1983 and 1993, and landscaping along walking trails from parking lots to individual units includes hibiscus, bird of paradise, red ginger, and fragrant plumeria trees.

For residential-style accommodations—with the recreation, spa, dining, and shopping of a luxury resort next door—golfers, families, and long-term visitors seek out this 1,600-acre resort on the beach in west Maui.

An inspiring view of the blue Pacific and famed Black Rock greets guests as they enter the copper-trimmed, open-air lobby with vaulted ceiling. Hotel staff offer welcoming leis. Tropical gardens, lagoon pools, sunset bars, classic Hawaiian ambience, and a coveted oceanfront location along the Black Rock promontory draw vacationing families and couples. Golfers appreciate the proximity to Kaanapali’s and Kapalua’s championship courses.

An orchid-filled, open-air lobby opens to tropical gardens with waterfalls, swans and flamingos, and koi ponds. Adjacent to a sandy swimming beach and within a half-mile of Kaanapali's two championship golf courses, the 12-acre Westin Maui Resort and Spa is popular with celebrating couples, golfers, families, and other leisure travelers.