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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For two
A honeymoon of firsts.
The Big Island delivers more firsts in a week than most islands manage in a lifetime. We string the best of them together.
Design This TripBase on the Kohala Coast at Four Seasons Hualalai or the reborn Kona Village, where a private hale opens steps from a calm bay and the day asks nothing of you.
From there we build around the moments only this island offers: a sunset tasting at CanoeHouse or Brown's Beach House, a couples' lomilomi in a Spa Without Walls waterfall hale, and the once-in-a-lifetime Kona manta ray night snorkel.
The nights are the headline.
A doors-off helicopter traces the Kilauea caldera by day, and a Mauna Kea summit sunset hands you some of the clearest night skies on Earth. We hold the reservations, the guides and the timing so the two of you simply arrive.
What’s inside
- A secluded Kohala Coast hale at Four Seasons Hualalai or Kona Village
- Private sunset tasting menu at CanoeHouse or Brown's Beach House
- The Kona manta ray night snorkel with a top small-group operator
- A doors-off helicopter flight over Kilauea
- A Mauna Kea summit sunset and stargazing evening
A sample rhythm
- 01
Arrive and settle
A private transfer to your Kohala Coast hale, a quiet first dinner, nowhere to be.
- 02
Water and stars
A lazy reef morning, then the manta night snorkel after dark.
- 03
Volcano day
A doors-off Kilauea flight, then a Mauna Kea summit sunset under the telescopes.
- 04
Slow goodbye
A couples' spa ritual and a final oceanfront tasting menu before you fly.
The Big Islandwe’d build in
The pieces that fit this trip.
Where 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.
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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.
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Kohala Coast
The Fairmont Orchid
Refined, family-friendly grandeur on a sheltered turquoise cove, home to the Spa Without Walls.
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Kohala Coast
The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort
Sits above Hapuna Beach, regularly ranked among the best stretches of sand in America.
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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.
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Kohala Coast
ULU Ocean Grill
Four Seasons Hualalai's seafood-forward room, drawing about three quarters of its ingredients from island farms.
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Kohala Coast
Brown's Beach House
The Fairmont Orchid's signature room, long considered the island's romance benchmark.
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Waikoloa
Sansei Seafood & Sushi
An award-winning institution for contemporary sushi and Pacific Rim small plates at Waikoloa.
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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.
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Kailua-Kona
Kona Honu Divers
Among the most-reviewed dive operators in the Pacific, the gold standard for the manta night dive.
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Keauhou
Fair Wind Cruises
Family-run since 1971, the flagship morning catamaran to Kealakekua Bay and the Captain Cook Monument.
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Keauhou
Sea Paradise
Two manta tours nightly with a sighting guarantee, a free re-book if no manta appears.
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Kailua-Kona
Manta Ray Advocates
A conservation-led shore-entry manta snorkel guided by marine biologists.
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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 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.
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Captain Cook
Hala Tree Coffee
A family 100 percent Kona estate with farm tours and tastings under an ocean-view pergola.
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Kailua-Kona
Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation
USDA-organic coffee in a cloud forest of lava tubes, with free tours and roast tastings.
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Hamakua
Umauma Experience
Nine zip lines over fourteen waterfalls on the Hamakua Coast, plus a guest-only falls viewpoint.
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North Kohala
Kohala Zipline
A canopy course with sky bridges and a rappel, with resort transport on offer.
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Luxury Honeymoon
Let’s design it around you.
Share what you can already picture. A concierge fills in everything still open and sends back a plan, not a quote.