🌋 Hawaii (Maui & Big Island)

What Makes It Worth It

🏛 Nā Pali Coast

Hawaii is the most geographically isolated island chain in the world, 3,700 kilometres from the nearest continent, yet it contains some of the most diverse ecosystems on earth — from active lava flows to alpine tundra, from coral reefs to cloud forest, across eight main islands shaped by the same volcanic hotspot that has been building the chain for 70 million years. The oldest geological forces and the youngest land on earth coexist here: the active Kilauea volcano on the Big Island has been erupting continuously since 1983, adding acres of new land to the island each year while destroying ancient lava fields with new flows that cool into black coastal shelves.

Maui is the second-largest island and the most visited, combining beach resort infrastructure with dramatic natural landscapes accessible to visitors of all fitness levels. The Road to Hana is the most famous drive in Hawaii — 64 kilometres of two-lane road crossing 59 bridges over cascading waterfalls and traversing the cliffs of the Hana Highway through dense bamboo forest, past black sand beaches, and through communities that have maintained Hawaiian cultural traditions far from the resort corridors. Haleakala National Park rises to 3,055 metres at the summit of its dormant volcano — above the cloud line, a crater 11 kilometres wide holds a landscape of lunar strangeness, and the sunrise watched from the summit (requiring a 3am departure from sea level) ranks among the most spectacular natural events in the Pacific.

Oahu is home to Honolulu, Waikiki Beach, and the Pearl Harbor National Memorial — the most visited site in Hawaii, where the USS Arizona Memorial floats above the sunken battleship that holds the remains of 1,102 crew members lost in the December 7, 1941 attack. The memorial receives 1.6 million visitors annually and remains the most sobering and affecting war memorial in the United States. The North Shore of Oahu transforms from summer swimming beach to world-class surf arena each November, when north swells from Pacific storms produce waves at Banzai Pipeline and Sunset Beach that reach 10 metres and attract the world's best big-wave surfers for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

Kauai, the oldest of the main islands, is the most dramatically eroded — its Na Pali Coast, a 27-kilometre stretch of sea cliffs rising 1,200 metres from the Pacific, is accessible only by sea kayak or helicopter and represents perhaps the most spectacular coastline in the United States. The Waimea Canyon, called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, drops 1,097 metres through layers of red and purple volcanic rock carved by erosion over five million years. The snorkelling at Tunnels Beach and the Poipu reef offers encounters with green sea turtles, spinner dolphins, and Hawaiian monk seals — one of the world's most endangered marine mammals with fewer than 1,500 individuals remaining.

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