The best free experience in South Maui is a sidewalk. The Wailea Beach Path runs a paved mile and a half along the shoreline from Ulua Beach to Polo Beach, past the Grand Wailea, the Four Seasons and their nine-figure landscaping — and thanks to Hawai’i's shoreline-access laws, every step of it belongs to you.
The walk
Start at either end — the free public lot at Ulua Beach on the north or Polo Beach on the south — and simply follow the ocean. The path never leaves the shoreline: lava points, pocket beaches, and resort gardens roll past in a steady, flat, sandal-friendly procession.
Five beaches hang off it like charms on a bracelet: Ulua, Mokapu, Wailea, and Polo, with rocky snorkel points between them. The genius move is walking with a towel: pick your favorite water on the way out, swim it on the way back.
The people-watching is half the show — honeymooners, power-walking retirees at dawn, hotel weddings mid-setup, and the occasional celebrity in a very good hat. The other half is the horizon: Molokini's crescent, Kaho’olawe, Lanai, and the West Maui mountains stacked across the channel.