Wailea Family Portrait Locations
If you’re considering Wailea family portrait locations for your family photography session – then you’re probably looking for golden sand beaches, palm trees, and lava rocks! Wailea is on Maui’s North Shore, about 35 minutes from the airport. We always highly recommend this location for families who want a sunset photo session.
If you’re considering a Wailea family portrait session, this is what you should know:
- Evenings are the best in Wailea
- We do NOT recommend mornings on the South Shore. The light does not look great and tends to be really harsh! However, we will do mornings in Wailea if families are unable to travel to places such as Paia
- Wailea is known for its idyllic Hawaii scenes – palm trees, lava rocks, and wide stretches of golden sand beaches.
1. Po’olenalena Beach
Po’olenalena is located on Maui’s south shore and has palm trees, lava rocks, and wide beaches. There are actually two sides to this beach. The main entrance is great for families with older member or with young children. For our families with older kids, we typically go to the other side of the beach for even more privacy. Po’olenalnea Beach is our most popular beach location for sunset family portraits.
Pros: wide beaches, awesome sunsets, easy parking, diversity, palm trees, lava rocks
Cons: waves can be large at times, multiple weddings can happen here, sometimes there’s naked people on the secret side
Recommended for: large families and small families
Examples: Everly and Family
*This location DOES NOT have fresh water, though there is a porta potty!
2. White Rock Beach
Po’olenalena is located on Maui’s south shore and has palm trees, lava rocks, and some woods to take photos. We love it for sunset portraits, though sometimes it can be busy with a few weddings happening.
Above, the first two images were taken during sunset and the second two images were taken in the morning.
Pros: golden sand beach, awesome sunsets, easy parking, woods to take photos in, lots of chickens (which is fun for the kiddos!)
Cons: large swells can take some sand from the beach during the summers, can be crowded sometimes, can have big waves
Recommended for: small families
Examples: Extended Family Photo Session in Wailea
*This location DOES NOT have fresh water, though there is a portapotty!
3. Maluaka Beach
Maluaka Beach is located on Maui’s south shore and a wide open beach as well as some greenery for your family photos. We love it for sunset portraits! The light at this beach is beautiful!
Pros: golden sand beach, awesome sunsets, large trees, some palms, views of Molokini Crater and Kaho’olawe
Cons: large swells can take some sand from the beach during the summers, a bit of a walk to the beach
Recommended for: small families and large families
*This location has fresh water and public bathrooms!
4. Kealia Boardwalk
Kealia Boardwalk technically is not Wailea. It’s located in Maalaea between North Kihei and West Maui. This location is great for really expansive beach shots and for large families! There are some great views of the West Maui mountains too!
This location can be very windy, but if wind doesn’t bother you, you’ll love that you’ll have the beach to yourself! It’s great for both mornings and evenings.
Pros: wide beach, awesome views of the West Mauis, some greenery
Cons: windy, sometimes the sand can blow and sting your legs
Recommended for: small families and large families
*This location has NO fresh water or public bathrooms!
Ready to book your Wailea family portrait session?