Flagship
Kohala Coast
Four Seasons Resort Hualalai
The barefoot-luxury benchmark, low-rise bungalows and seven pools including the snorkel-stocked King's Pond.
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Hawaii · Big Island
One island, every landscape.
An active volcano, the clearest night skies on Earth, manta rays after dark and the coast where Hawaii grows its own. We plan the whole of it.
The destination, curated
The Big Island is still being built. You can hike a crater floor, snorkel with manta rays after dark, and stand near the summit of the tallest sea mountain on Earth, all in a single week.
Ways to experience Big Island
Six trips, one place.
Start with the version of Big Island you came for. Each is designed end to end, with the activities and stays that fit.
For two
Luxury Honeymoon
The Big Island delivers more firsts in a week than most islands manage in a lifetime. We string the best of them together.
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For families
Private Family Villa
Space to spread out, calm water to swim, and a week that flexes around nap times and teenagers alike.
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Active and restorative
Adventure & Wellness
The most varied terrain in Hawaii, met with the spa days you will have earned.
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For groups
Private Group Retreat
Reunions, milestones and company offsites, on an island built for a turnkey high-end week.
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For food lovers
Food & Chef Experience
The only US soil growing commercial coffee and cacao at scale, served by the kitchens that started a movement.
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Comfortable and inclusive
Accessible Luxury Travel
The island's biggest scenery, planned around real mobility needs without losing an ounce of the luxury.
ExploreWhere to stay
Resorts on the sunny Kohala Coast.
The west side is the dry, reliably sunny coast where the island keeps its great resorts, strung along white-sand bays and black lava fields.
Storied reopening
Kohala Coast
Kona Village, A Rosewood Resort
The reimagined 1965 retreat, 150 standalone thatched hales on Kahuwai Bay, deeply cultural and serene.
Visit official siteCultural luxe
Kohala Coast
Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts Collection
Oceanfront contemporary luxury set among ancient fishponds and petroglyphs, with the standout Auberge Spa.
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Kohala Coast
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel
The pioneering 1965 Rockefeller resort on the white-sand crescent of Kauna'oa Bay.
Visit official sitePolished resort
Kohala Coast
The Fairmont Orchid
Refined, family-friendly grandeur on a sheltered turquoise cove, home to the Spa Without Walls.
Visit official siteBest beach
Kohala Coast
The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort
Sits above Hapuna Beach, regularly ranked among the best stretches of sand in America.
Visit official siteWhere to eat
The birthplace of Hawaii Regional Cuisine.
The island grows more of its own food than anywhere in the state, and the kitchens show it, from Waimea ranch country to oceanfront tasting menus.
Farm-to-table origin
Waimea
Merriman's Waimea
Peter Merriman's original 1988 restaurant, a birthplace of the farm-to-table movement in Hawaii.
Visit official siteSunset tasting menu
Kohala Coast
CanoeHouse at Mauna Lani
Oceanfront modern-Hawaiian tasting menus built almost entirely from island ingredients.
Visit official siteOceanfront fine dining
Kohala Coast
ULU Ocean Grill
Four Seasons Hualalai's seafood-forward room, drawing about three quarters of its ingredients from island farms.
Visit official siteRomance benchmark
Kohala Coast
Brown's Beach House
The Fairmont Orchid's signature room, long considered the island's romance benchmark.
Visit official siteSushi institution
Waikoloa
Sansei Seafood & Sushi
An award-winning institution for contemporary sushi and Pacific Rim small plates at Waikoloa.
Visit official siteOn and under the water
Manta rays after dark, dolphins by day.
Kona's calm, clear water is the island's headline act, home to the world-famous manta ray night snorkel and the sheltered reefs of Kealakekua Bay.
Manta sightings are wild and never guaranteed, but Kona hosts a resident population and the night snorkel runs year-round.
Manta night snorkel
Kailua-Kona
Manta Ray Night Snorkel Hawaii
A top-rated small-group specialist for the once-in-a-lifetime Kona manta ray night snorkel.
Visit official sitePremier dive op
Kailua-Kona
Kona Honu Divers
Among the most-reviewed dive operators in the Pacific, the gold standard for the manta night dive.
Visit official siteKealakekua catamaran
Keauhou
Fair Wind Cruises
Family-run since 1971, the flagship morning catamaran to Kealakekua Bay and the Captain Cook Monument.
Visit official siteSighting guarantee
Keauhou
Sea Paradise
Two manta tours nightly with a sighting guarantee, a free re-book if no manta appears.
Visit official siteEco shore-entry
Kailua-Kona
Manta Ray Advocates
A conservation-led shore-entry manta snorkel guided by marine biologists.
Visit official siteFrom the air
Over an active volcano.
No island makes a stronger case for a helicopter. Lava fields, the Kilauea caldera and remote Kohala waterfalls only fully reveal themselves from the air.
Largest fleet
Hilo / Waikoloa / Kona
Blue Hawaiian Helicopters
Hawaii's largest operator, flying the quieter EC130 on Kilauea volcano and Kohala-waterfall routes.
Visit official siteDoors-off option
Hilo / Kona
Paradise Helicopters
The largest locally owned operator, with Lava and Rainforest flights and an optional doors-off experience.
Visit official siteSpa and stillness
Lomilomi by the water.
The resort spas lean into place, with volcanic-stone rituals, open-air waterfall hales and a serious commitment to Hawaiian healing traditions.
Five-star ritual
Kohala Coast
Hualalai Spa
Five-star oceanfront treatment rooms and the signature volcanic-stone Hualalai Ritual at Four Seasons.
Visit official siteHolistic Hawaiian
Kohala Coast
Auberge Spa at Mauna Lani
Holistic, Hawaiian-rooted wellness with lomilomi massage and a strong cultural program.
Visit official siteWaterfall hales
Kohala Coast
Spa Without Walls
The Fairmont Orchid's award-winning open-air treatments in waterfall hales and oceanfront cabanas.
Visit official siteOn the course
Lava-field links and an over-the-ocean par 3.
Four championship courses sit within minutes of one another on the Kohala Coast, carved through black lava with the Pacific in constant view.
Legendary par-3
Kohala Coast
Mauna Kea Golf Course
A 1964 Robert Trent Jones Sr. classic with the iconic over-the-ocean par-3 third hole.
Visit official siteNicklaus resort play
Kohala Coast
Hualalai Golf Course
Jack Nicklaus's first design on Hawaii Island, reserved for Four Seasons guests and members.
Visit official siteLava-field drama
Kohala Coast
Mauna Lani (North & South)
Two dramatic lava-field courses, home to the famous over-the-bay South 15th.
Visit official siteElevated links
Kohala Coast
Hapuna Golf Course
An Arnold Palmer links course with ocean views from every one of its holes.
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An imu opening at sunset.
The island's luaus pair a traditional imu ceremony with a polished Polynesian revue, set on resort lawns and Kona's oceanfront.
Resort luau
Kohala Coast
Hawai'iloa Luau
The Fairmont Orchid's upscale Kohala Coast luau, a lavish buffet and a high-caliber Polynesian show.
Visit official siteKona oceanfront
Kailua-Kona
Voyagers of the Pacific Luau
A reliable Kona-side oceanfront luau at the Royal Kona, with imu ceremony and Polynesian revue.
Visit official siteBayfront sunset
Waikoloa
Sunset Luau at Waikoloa
Set on Anaeho'omalu Bay at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott, with a classic sunset backdrop.
Visit official siteBig game
The billfish capital of the world.
The seabed plunges to 6,000 feet within a mile of Honokohau Harbor, putting blue marlin, ahi and ono within an easy morning's run.
Marlin specialist
Kailua-Kona
Humdinger Sportfishing
A long-running, well-reviewed private charter known for marlin out of Honokohau Harbor.
Visit official sitePrivate charter
Kailua-Kona
Fire Hatt Sportfishing
An established Kona charter targeting blue marlin, ahi and ono on private trips.
Visit official siteOn foot
Across a crater floor.
This is the island for walking on a volcano, then chasing waterfalls down the lush Hamakua Coast on the same trip.
Kilauea's eruption status changes often, so verify trail and park access live with the National Park Service before you go.
Volcanic trails
Volcano
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
World-class volcanic hiking, from the Kilauea Iki crater loop to the Thurston Lava Tube.
Visit official siteCoastal cliff hike
North Kohala
Pololu Valley Lookout & Trail
A jaw-dropping North Kohala overlook with a steep descent to a wild black-sand beach.
Visit official siteEasy waterfall loop
Hamakua
Akaka Falls State Park
A short paved loop to the 442-foot Akaka Falls through dense rainforest on the Hamakua Coast.
Visit official siteLookout only
Hamakua
Waipi'o Valley Lookout
The iconic Valley of the Kings overlook, with valley-floor access currently restricted, lookout only.
Visit official siteThe signature days
Stargazing on Mauna Kea, coffee in Kona.
Only here can you stand near the summit of the tallest sea mountain on Earth for the stars, then tour a working Kona coffee estate by afternoon.
Summit + stargazing
Departs Waimea
Mauna Kea Summit & Stars
Hawaii Forest & Trail's permitted 4WD summit sunset and stargazing tour with telescopes.
Visit official siteEstate Kona coffee
Captain Cook
Hala Tree Coffee
A family 100 percent Kona estate with farm tours and tastings under an ocean-view pergola.
Visit official siteOrganic cloud-forest
Kailua-Kona
Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation
USDA-organic coffee in a cloud forest of lava tubes, with free tours and roast tastings.
Visit official siteWaterfall ziplining
Hamakua
Umauma Experience
Nine zip lines over fourteen waterfalls on the Hamakua Coast, plus a guest-only falls viewpoint.
Visit official siteCanopy adventure
North Kohala
Kohala Zipline
A canopy course with sky bridges and a rappel, with resort transport on offer.
Visit official siteWhen to go
Timing is the whole trip.
Whale season (Dec to Apr)
Humpbacks move through the channel from mid-December into April, best seen from Kohala Coast boats and resorts.
Two coasts, one island
Kona and Kohala on the west are reliably sunny and dry, the resort coast; Hilo and the east are lush, green and wetter.
Manta rays, year-round
The Kona night snorkel runs all year thanks to a resident population, so it never depends on a single season.
Volcano and stars
Kilauea's activity fluctuates, so verify live with the Park Service; Mauna Kea stargazing is excellent year-round, weather and ranger access permitting.
Your Big Island
Let us build the Big Island you came for.
Tell us the shape of the trip you can already picture. A concierge fills in everything still open and sends back a plan, not a quote.