Surf Lessons for Kaanapali Guests
The Closest Resort Strip to the Break We Teach At
Of everyone booking a surf lesson from a Maui resort this week, you have the easiest morning. The Kaanapali resort strip sits a short run down Honoapiʻilani Highway from Guardrails, the beginner break where every Local Pros Maui lesson happens. Visitors staying in Kihei or Wailea cross the island to get here. You do not. That gap matters more than it sounds, because the calm water is early, and a short drive is the difference between catching it and watching it from the road.
Quick Details
- The drive: Straight down Honoapiʻilani Highway from the Kaanapali resorts to Guardrails, past Mile Marker 19. From Kapalua the whole trip is about 25 minutes.
- The wave: Slow and sloping, breaking close to shore. Built for people who have never stood on a board.
- What’s included: Board, surf shoes, rash guard, and 15 to 30 minutes of land instruction first.
- Prices: $220 private, $280 for two, $360 for three, then $100 per person for four or more, before tax. Every lesson is 1.5 hours.
- After the lesson: Black Rock, Puʻu Kekaʻa, is back at the north end of Kaanapali Beach for an afternoon snorkel.
Our Surf Lessons Near Kaanapali
Private one-on-one surf lessons in West Maui
From
$220
1.5 Hours
All Ages
When you get to Maui, the first thing to do is get some private surf lessons from a local professional! In the bathtub-warm Lahaina waters...
Two-person surf lessons in West Maui
From
$280
1.5 Hours
All Ages
Learning to surf alongside a close friend or significant other in Maui is going to be one of the most memorable things you could do in a lifetime...
3-person group surf lessons in West Maui
From
$360
1.5 Hours
All Ages
These private surf lessons are designed for small groups of three. With just the right amount of people to make this really fun yet personal...
4-17 person group surf lessons in West Maui
From
$400
1.5 Hours
All Ages
It’s time to gather the family for the best activity of the trip: a surf lesson with a professional local surfer! With a big group like this, it’s always a blast to....
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Kaanapali Is the Closest Resort Strip to the Lesson
The whole commute is a stretch of coast road, and you stay on the ocean side of it the entire way.
Head south. From the resorts you stay on Honoapiʻilani Highway the whole way, through Lahaina and about a mile past town, with the ocean on your right for the entire drive and nothing to navigate beyond one beach park and a mile marker. You will pass Puamana Beach Park on your right. Guardrails is roughly 500 yards beyond it, just after Mile Marker 19, and your instructor meets you on the sand — there is no office to check into and no queue. From Kapalua at the north end it runs closer to 25 minutes.
Kaanapali Beach Is Fine to Learn On. Guardrails Is Better
The beach outside your hotel is a genuinely good place to learn. It is just not where we teach, and there is a reason.
It is wide, sandy and reef-protected. Those small easy waves are why Kaanapali Beach turns up on every beginner list for the island, and why plenty of people do learn there. What it does not reliably give you is the same slow roller breaking in the same place, over and over, for ninety minutes. Guardrails does. The waves there slope rather than pitch, they break close in, and you can stand up in the whitewater and walk back out instead of paddling between attempts. Hawaii’s surf swings hard by season — south-facing shores peak in summer, when swells from southern-hemisphere storms reach the islands about once a week, while the west coast gets its size in winter.
What Happens Once You Get There
You start on dry land. The first 15 to 30 minutes are spent learning the pop-up before you ever face a wave.
An instructor walks you through where your feet go, how to hold the board, and what to do if you come off it — which you will, repeatedly, and which is the least important thing that happens all morning. Then a safety briefing, then the water. Boards, surf shoes and rash guards come with the lesson. Anyone in your group who would rather not surf can sit on the beach and watch the whole thing from twenty yards away.
Group Size Is the Real Decision
Pick by how much coaching you want pointed at you, not by price.
A private one-on-one at $220 gets you corrected on every single wave — the fastest way to fix a pop-up that keeps landing you off-balance. Larger formats trade some of that away for the pleasure of doing it together, which is the right trade for a family or a group of friends who came to Maui to share a morning rather than to fix a pop-up. Groups of four or more run at $100 per person, before tax, and a second instructor comes along for bigger crews or when young children are in the mix.Private one-on-one surf lessons
At the other end of the scale, a reunion or a wedding party books the large-group format, which runs from four people up to thirteen.
Your Instructor Grew Up on This Coast
Five of the six instructors learned to surf on this stretch of water, and they read it the way you read your own street.
Kevin Sullivan grew up in Lahaina and has been on the WSL World Tour since 2009. Taylor Vicar caught his first wave at Guardrails when he was eight. They know which corner of the break is working before they get out of the truck. You cannot teach that. That is the part a visiting instructor cannot bring with them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you take surf lessons at Kaanapali Beach?
Not with us. Kaanapali Beach is good beginner water in its own right, but our lessons run at Guardrails, a short drive south down Honoapiʻilani Highway, because the wave there repeats more reliably. Kaanapali is where you go afterwards, for the swim and for Black Rock.
How far is Kaanapali from your surf lesson meeting point?
Five to ten minutes — south through Lahaina on the coast road, then about a mile past town to Mile Marker 19. From Kapalua, allow around 25 minutes.
How much are surf lessons near Kaanapali?
$220 for a private one-on-one, $280 for two people, $360 for three, then $100 per person for groups of four or more, before tax. All are 1.5 hours and include the board, surf shoes and a rash guard.
Do I need my own surfboard?
No. Boards, surf shoes and rash guards are part of every lesson. Bring a swimsuit, reef-safe sunscreen, a towel and water.
Is it worth surfing on Maui if I’ve never tried it?
West Maui is one of the more forgiving places to start, and your instructor picks the session around what the water is doing that morning.
Book Your Lesson
Local Pros Maui · 10 Hoohui Rd #110, Lahaina, HI 96761 · www.localprosmaui.net
Lessons meet on the sand at Guardrails, off Highway 30 south of Lahaina. Reserve online before you leave the resort, and the drive is the only thing left to organize.