Hawaiian Paradise

My magical trip to the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on Hawaii Island

To put an end to summer, I traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii for a weekend of pure bliss and spontaneity with one of my best friends. I have been to Maui numerous times, but the Big Island has always been somewhere intriguing to me! The spirit of the Big Island is much more laid back than Maui and I immediately felt a sense of inner peace upon arriving to the breathtakingly beautiful Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. With tasty food, beautiful pools, and an indoor/outdoor shower, I never wanted to leave the resort! However, I do want to share with you every detail of my amazing four days in Kona, so let's start from the beginning...

Day 1

We landed around noon and got to the hotel around 1pm. We were then given a tour of the hotel grounds and even shown their cultural center which I found very interesting. The cultural center offers a variety of lessons and activities where families can go to learn about Hawaiian culture and history. The Hualalai property is the only Four Seasons in the world with a cultural center. Pretty cool! After touring the ins and outs of the place, we went to eat some poke for lunch at the Beach Tree Restaurant. The poke was delicious and so fresh! Once we checked into our room, we changed and immediately went to lay out at the Beach Tree Pool (pictured). We chilled and watched the sunset and then went to the Resident's Club House Restaurant for dinner. Their PB & J a la mode is a MUST for dessert!

Hawaii Julia Friedman Kona Hualalai Four Seasons

Day 2

On our first official full day in Hawaii, we rented a Jeep Wrangler from the Hertz office at the Four Seasons. We took the Jeep up to Waipio Valley. The view was insane. The drive was about an 90 minutes each way, but it was beautiful. On the Kona side of the island, it is literally a volcanic dessert, but as we drove up and to the other side on Highway 19, we came across thirty minutes of heavy rain, huge plains with cattle, and then a gorgeous forest just before the last coastal stretch where we would eventually run into the Waipio Valley. We then drove back to the hotel and took the top of the Jeep off to let a little wind and sunshine in! It was a blast! We got back around 3pm, went to the beach, got shaved ice from the Snack Shack and then had dinner at the Grille restaurant, their bone marrow was so delicious!

Hawaiian Magic | Julia Friedman's trip to Kona, Big Island Hawaii | Waipio Valley from a DJI Mavic.

Day 3

We started our last full day early. We woke up at 5AM to watch the sunrise, which was absolutely beautiful, and then we ate breakfast at the 'Ulu Ocean Grill. Their Lemon Ricotta Pancakes melted in my mouth! I also got the ripe papaya with lime which literally melted in my mouth as well! I highly recommend the Huevos Rancheros too! Honestly everything at breakfast was so good, it would be hard to go wrong. We still were able to use the Jeep since our rental was for 24 hours, so we took it to Kahoiawa Bay, just 5 minutes from the hotel. It was a beautiful white sandy beach with crystal blue water and nearly empty at 9AM. After spending about an hour on the beach, we had to go back to return the car and then went for a swim in their King's Pond. King's Pond is a very unique pool at the hotel which has tons of different fish species in it, even an Eagle Ray. I will admit I was a tad scared and went on a yellow raft that I was able to look through and see what was under me. We spent the remainder of the morning at the beach and then went over to the spa to use the facilities and lay in the shade. The outdoor area of the spa was so serene, we stayed there for a while. For dinner we watched the sunset while enjoying sushi at 'Ulu Restaurant. It was so yummy and their chocolate soufflé was off the hook!

Day 4

This was my favorite day! We woke up early, ate breakfast at 'Ulu because it was just THAT good and then met in the lobby for the Ribcraft Adventure! We left at 7:30 on a raft-like boat that took us to swim at coral reefs, a white sand beach, and we even were lucky enough so see a pod of over 100 dolphins right as the tour began. We saw two species: Hawaiian Spinners and Porpoises. Since dolphins are super social, we were able to swim besides them. I was truly in awe of their beautiful and gentleness. It was an amazing experience for me. We also snorkeled at a very much alive coral reef and got to see all sorts of bright and colorful fish! This was definitely my favorite part of the trip. The water was warm and calm and it was such a great day! I highly would recommend this activity to anyone visiting the Kona area of Big Island, it was so amazing.

Thank you to the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai for the amazing trip, I'm so grateful and I hope to visit again soon.