Kihei isn't much of a resort. It's a lot of homes and condos available for vacation rental. If you go south from there, you do hit the resorts in Wailea and Makena. The northwest coast, Lahaina, Kaanapali, and Kapalua are tourist destinations for sure. In Kihei, the stores aren't full of trinkets aimed at tourists. In Lahaina, especially downtown, it's almost all trinket stores, restaurants, and art galleries.
I like being able to walk to restaurants, bars and shopping which is why i liked staying in Lahaina. My hotel was like 99 a night hah
In college I was on a coed flag football my freshman year. We played the Hawaiian/Samoan team for the championship. Those dudes were huge and loved to hit, if you've ever played flag football you know the deal, "Oops, did I just tackle you while going for the flag? My bad!". The girls on their team were great linemen. Typical rainy November day, absolute mud fest. Finally started moving side to side, lots of lateral pitches then throws. Anything to take away their size and use our speed in the mud. Pulled it out in the 4th for the victory. One of my most favorite personal sports memories ever. A cute girl had come to watch her girlfriend on our team play. When the game was over everyone was covered head to toe in mud while she was there on the sidelines perfectly clean. For some reason I ran over and dragged her into the mud with the rest of us. We wrestled around in the mud for a while... and she ends up being my girlfriend for 3 years. Good times.
I've stayed in Kihei a couple times. Not a bad little area. Kind of in the middle between Lahaina and Wailea geographically.
