Name: Nalu Kai Lodge
Address: 18 Nalu Place, Paia, HI 96779, United States of America, Paia, Paia, Paia, HI 96779, United States of America
Rating: 8

Smoke-free property

Garden

Terrace

Private check-in/check-out

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

General

Non-smoking rooms

Rooms

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Internet access

Internet

Barbecue grill(s)

Sun Deck

Recreation

No parking

Parking

Massage

Beauty and wellness

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the resort

Paia Bay

H.A. Baldwin Beach State Park

Baldwin Beach

One Love Farmers Market

Kahului Airport

Kapalua Airport

Hana Airport

Nalu Kai Lodge

Paia

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Amazing place... It’s not a big resort with concierge or a beachfront but it was perfect for the vibes of Paia. Exceeded my expectations with bonus touches like access to laundry, borrowing left behind beach toys/chairs/mats and a cozy shared space.   

Location is AMAZING. Minutes to Ululani’s shaved ice, Paia Fish Market and seconds to a gelato shop or great coffee/dinner/breakfast at Paia Bay.

Parking is not the easiest BUT they have a great map and directions to show you where and where not to park. We had no issues.

One of the best boutique stays I’ve been at.

Our experience as a couple was PERFECT! If you look for the REAL Maui experience, in a little town by amazing beaches, being relaxed and down to earth THIS IS THE PLACE!!! Great staff, Darcy, Patti and all the others are extremely kind, helpful and the aloha spirit is alive and well here! It’s very international as other tourists and that adds up. If ever back in Maui we will DEF BOOK THERE AGAIN! - It’s the perfect spot and I liked the lodge-like style: clean, simple and welcoming. — I am pretty shocked to read poor reviews as seriously nothing was bad or out of order. Charming little place with the center garden with the fall a huge plus: we felt like in our garden at home. Best atmosphere. I can only think whoever wrote bad review was looking for corporate style “Marriot like” hotels..... boring!!!! This is a unique bohemian place very much in the spirit of Maui, so if you look for fancy, boring, all the same hotels.....go to a Hilton. This is so much better than those corporates sad hotels. Thank you Nalu Kai Lodge staff!!!!

Perfect Bohemian down to earth place! Great staff !!!!

Great space for couples, families or very good and close friends. The bathroom has only a curtain as divider so it’s better if you are close. The lodge is in an amazing location, next to everything one needs for a relaxing and chill vacation. We used the outdoor little garden with hammock, fountain a lot, it feels like being almost in a private garden of someone’s home. The ladies (owners? Or workers ?) who work there are super nice and helpful and the aloha spirit is well felt. Rooms are perfect to chill and store your luggage: you are in Hawaii do you need to stay lock inside a room a lot??? We came here to explore and go around, not to be inside an hotel !!! This fed almost like an air bnb - perfect for the bohemian aloha feel the whole town of Paia has. We are perfectly happy with location, way it’s set and built and people around us. We also chit chat in the common garden with few other customers, a plus on the experience. Meeting people from everywhere and getting extra tips on what to do where to visit.... we suggest this lodge if you are down to earth, like simple but fictional things, and want to really feel Maui. Otherwise maybe a hotel in Honolulu it’s better for you- it you want impersonal, cold and nothing original (corporate style) this is not the place for you! I would def come back here!!

Great stay!! Love the atmosphere!!

Five stars for sure. This is your basic no frills small quiet great place to stay. If you are a mani/pedi uptight resort person.... look elsewhere. Clean. Could see a little sliver of ocean from out room. Geckos running around. Coffee shop 10 steps from room. Perfect perfect perfect. Aloha. 

Perfect

We stayed here for 7 nights in June. A cool little place with a great vibe. Great location with the coffee shop next door. Rooms are functional. En-suite is separated with a curtain. The ceiling fan rotates but doesn’t do any more than that ... if you want to cool down open your door and hope the sea breeze comes in. A hammock in the communal area is a nice place to hang in the afternoon. There is a box of stuff you can can borrow eg masks, snorkels, fins etc that is handy if you haven’t got your own - we used them when we went snorkeling with the turtles at nearby Ho’okipa beach

Cool Vibe. Hot Room

Loved the vibe but not the room. The room was clean, basic and a little shabby. However, the place is unique and rich with character. The entry way patio area is covered in green something. I don't know if it's natural or not, but the sprinklers went off at daybreak  (5:30), when I was up and out and I got sprayed a little. There's a funky little rock alcove shower to get sand off you before heading to the room. Washer and dryer were free. The outdoor coffee shop wall shares the lodge patio wall so the music from 6-8pm  nights a week, was like you were sitting in the coffee shop. I loved sitting on the Nalu Kai open air second floor patio listening to the great music (one night a Joni Mitcel style singer, another night Cat Stevens/Dylan type), and looking down into the coffee shop watching the performer. By the way, No tv, spotty internet, no AC. The Ceiling fan helped a lot. Shower curtain separate s the bathroom from the bedroom. Small Frigidaire worked well. Hammock in the patio area. 8 parking spots for 11 rooms, but plenty of street parking 1 minute walk away.
Read the other reviews about the cute town of Paia. It's a great place to stop on the road to Hana. 
The lodge is in the middle of this 5 block long town, but it is off the street and I barely noticed the traffic noise. My room was on the second floor facing the ocean. When I stepped outside the room on the outside walkway I could spot the ocean in a few places between the buildings. The lodge is about 1/2 block from the beach but there is no direct route to the beach. You have to walk West on the main street sidewalk for about 3-5 minutes to gain beach entry. There are three beaches in a row. Each has a unique character. They are all part of Baldwin Bay.
I hope you find this info helpful.
HAPPY TRAVELS

2 1/2 star lodge with a 4 star vibe

Wanted to stay downtown Paia, so we could walk around and enjoy the area. This place is perfect for that located right next to a coffee shop/bar that has excellent food and coffee. We walked to several places around there easy walking. The room was very clean with a comfortable bed and reasonable shower. There was no TV; but you could get the live music right next-door. So awesome!!!  Limited parking but so great to be downtown! Beach access is a quick five minute walk from the hotel.

Clean room, great location 

I think this lodge is beautiful at the entrance and the rooms are nicely decorated but I did not like that the bathroom does not have a door, so it is a place for one person, which is pricey. And that some of the rooms don't have a proper room with ventilation. Some of the ones that have, receive almost all day an annoying fried food smell. It's also next to the Paia cafe which has music every night, so goodbye to sleeping, specially with jet lag. Also tried to use washer and drier and door was closed at the times it was supposed to be open.

Not sure I'll go back

A bit overpriced for what you get. I cannot stress how small the rooms are. You may be OK as a solo traveler but if you have two people, forget about it! You will be on top of each other just moving around the room. Also only a curtain separating the restroom/shower from the sleeping area.

The noise level from the coffee shop next door and the road noise is very loud. The property owners do mention this at booking. They are not joking. Please take this seriously if you need a quiet environment to sleep in. The noise levels do not go down until about midnight and start back up at 7 in the morning. For a bit more money than this place will run you, you could get a very nice room in an oceanfront resort on the west or south shore. This is not a corporate hotel, I think most people would understand that. However, the cost of this hotel and the actual value are way out of line.

Very small 

Massively overpriced "Boutique Doss House"

This is billed in some places as a "boutique hotel", but doesn't meet that description in any way, shape or form. Yes, it's tiny to the point of being poky, but that's about it.

Our room was absolutely miniscule - about 1-2ft around the bed, with no storage for cases. The toilet is not so much as "en suite" as "dans chambre", next to the head of the bed separated by a thin curtain. I have seen more decorous arrangements in prison cells.

There is zero service. The "housekeeping service" happens only after your stay, presumably because they can't legally get away with not changing the linen before the next guests arrive. Nevertheless there's a long list of dos and don'ts on the bed when you arrive, to try and absolutely minimise any effort the staff might possibly have to make. When we arrived a woman sitting outside the office gave us our keys and showed us vaguely to the room, and then literally ran to avoid any further interaction. My wife asked someone who appeared to work there to try and sort out a problem with the bedding, but no-one ever got back to us. Otherwise we didn't see or speak to any other staff in the entirety of our stay. How you can aim to run a "hotel" if you don't actually want to deal with people?

The descriptions claim that there is a garden where you can sit. This is also very small, and there's only one chair which can be positioned in the sun - all the others are under cover. Otherwise we had one hard chair by the door of the apartment.

It turned out to be very noisy. We had only just arrived from the mainland, and before that the UK, so we could really have done with a decent night's sleep. However our night was interrupted by pillow problems from the odd bedding (who needs a heavy quilt in Hawaii?), what appeared to be a loud lecture in Dutch at about 1 am, and a literal cat fight at about 4am.

This is only one stop short of a doss house, but they charge full price. They take full payment in advance, presumably so they can keep your money once you see what you're getting for it. In the end we wasted the payment for the second night of our stay and went 10 miles down the road to a proper hotel with full maid service, big rooms and a pool overlooking the sea. For the same price.

Nalu Kai Lodge

Main amenities of the hotel

Location

Available rooms

Location

Description of the hotel

What other amenities are there?

General

Rooms

Services and amenities

Internet

Recreation

Parking

Beauty and wellness

Pets

Policies

Check-in terms and conditions

Additional information

Payment