Kona Village Resort overview – The Factors Man

Standout options

• Spacious, secluded hales with ocean and lagoon views that really feel like your personal little piece of paradise.
• Photogenic infinity swimming pools with choices for each households and adults and loads of seating and daybeds.
• Scrumptious menus are provisioned with elements from native farms and waters.
• Intriguing cultural actions, together with a tour of centuries-old petroglyphs on the property’s whorling lava flows.
• A tranquil spa providing a spread of locally-inspired physique and pores and skin remedies, together with a pohaku hot-stone therapeutic massage.

Drawbacks

• Nightly charges are excessive, even for luxurious lodgings in Hawaii, and on-property costs for meals and drinks can add up shortly.
• Factors redemption choices are restricted for the reason that lodge doesn’t take part in a serious loyalty program.
• Though the quick and free Wi-Fi enables you to stream no matter you want by yourself gadgets, some vacationers may miss the comfort of a big flat-screen TV, which lodging lack.
• The lodge has all of the required accessibility options, however its sprawling structure and coral-gravel paths may show difficult for some vacationers.

The vibe

Kona Village does certainly really feel like just a little village the place, from the second you step out of your automotive towards the open-air foyer, accepting a welcome orchid lei and an ice-cold mai tai, you are a part of the ohana, or household.

The workers, who’re largely native, will cease no matter they occur to be doing to assist with something you want, or simply to present you a pleasant wave and smile as you go by in your complimentary loaner bike. Servers within the eating places and bars will know your breakfast order and drink choice by your second day and are glad to share tips about one of the best native swimming spots, hikes and eateries.

The dimensions of the resort, all 81 acres of it, signifies that even at capability, you will not really feel crowded. All of the hales are stand-alone and set other than each other, starting from one-bedroom villas designed for romantic sojourns to four-bedroom compounds which are nice for prolonged households, so you may discover all kinds of (high-spending) vacationers vacationing right here.

And is it any surprise? With the crash of the surf, the rustle of swaying palms, the scent of blooming plumeria and the jagged lava-rock formations that striate the property, this really does really feel like one of the best of Hawaii.

The room

Kona Village, a Rosewood Resort has simply 150 hales in quite a lot of classes and settings, so your expertise shall be formed by the backdrop you choose. These of the one-bedroom selection, as an example, embody Backyard View, Mountain View, Lagoon View, Ocean View, Ocean Entrance, Seashore Entrance, Tree High and Ocean Entrance Legacy, the final with their distinctively formed roofs and lava-rock bluff-top perches.

All, nonetheless, have naturally impressed interiors designed by Nicole Hollis and expansive lanais that add as much as 850 sq. toes of mixed indoor-outdoor house. My Seashore Entrance hale was on the southern fringe of the property, a strong 10-minute stroll from reception and the resort’s major eating places.

With a pared-down aesthetic, the principle room had sustainably sourced Douglas fir-timbered flooring, partitions and a peaked ceiling. Unobtrusive island-allusive work dotted the partitions right here and there for a contact of colour.

The king-size mattress — with a subtly textured headboard, satiny white sheets and units of plugs and USB-A ports to both aspect — confronted a small sitting space composed of a gray-upholstered love seat, a wooden and wicker chair and a low, stone-topped espresso desk.

There was additionally a sideboard serving because the minibar with a Nespresso machine, a cocktail package, and loads of native snacks and spirits, together with Hamaku macadamia nuts, Manoa chocolate bars, Kuleana rum and complimentary Mananalu metal-bottled water.

Past, sliding glass doorways led out to the lanai, which had a large daybed and a spherical desk for 4 overlooking a lush garden, plus an overhead fan for when the Pacific breezes weren’t sufficient to maintain issues cool.

Closet house was at a premium between the slender picket work desk, however ample for light-packing vacationers, and held a standard woven palm fan and a loaner seaside bag.

Behind this, the lavatory was a stark distinction (in a great way) to the remainder of the room, with counters, flooring tiles and a dramatic freestanding bathtub all comprised of clean black basalt — a nod to the encompassing lava fields of Hualalai.

There have been two sinks and a single massive mirror between them with full-size bottles of cleaning soap and lotion.

A water closet with a sliding door held the bathroom.

The big glassed-in walk-in bathe had overhead, wall-mounted and handheld bathe heads. A shelf held full-size Wild Orchard rosemary-basil-mint tub merchandise, whereas the bathtub had a loofah, a bar of cleaning soap, tub salts and a leisure pillow.

Essentially the most inviting half, nonetheless, needed to be the out of doors bathe, simply beckoning friends to luxuriate below its regular stream as birds and butterflies flitted overhead within the afternoon solar.

The unique Kona Village hales didn’t have air con or televisions, and whereas these iterations have the previous, you will not discover any screens right here, so put together to unplug. Nevertheless, the Wi-Fi is complimentary and works effectively and shortly all through the grounds, so you’ll be able to keep linked as vital.

Housekeeping serviced the room in the course of the morning and once more for turndown service whereas I used to be out at dinner, remaking the mattress if I would mussed it, changing any used towels, and usually maintaining the house spotless. Then, all I needed to do was place a offered coconut on the bench in my entryway to indicate that I didn’t need to be disturbed to get pleasure from all of the privateness I wished.

Foods and drinks

With two eating places, three bars, a restaurant and round the clock room service, there are many eating and consuming choices at Kona Village, a Rosewood Resort.

Moana

The lodge’s signature restaurant is the open-air Moana, which suggests ocean in Hawaiian. It’s adjoining to the reception space and the principle, family-friendlier pool.

Open for breakfast and dinner, Moana serves up to date takes on Hawaiian and Pacific Rim delicacies. The breakfast menu consists of mouthwatering specialties like caramelized banana and macadamia-nut pancakes ($25) washed down with Kona espresso ($8), in fact.

Dinner is a barely extra formal affair (although flip flops are nonetheless welcome), the place you’ll be able to pattern delicacies like Hawaiian candy shrimp with coconut milk, ginger, lemon, seaweed and candy potato chips ($25); and crispy soft-shell crab with ancho chile, black garlic, charred eggplant, parsnip and inexperienced tomatillo chutney ($27); together with specialty cocktails and an intensive choice of largely U.S. and European wines, all set to the strains of stay music drifting over from Speak Story Bar.

Make sure to lookup whereas eating right here to admire artist Kaili Chun’s dramatic cell, Pe’a, which resembles the sails of historic Polynesian mariners and is comprised of invasive Albizia wooden.

Kahuwai Cookhouse and Market

The resort’s different major restaurant is the Kahuwai Cookhouse, an ode to Hawaii’s paniolo, or cowboy, tradition. It is extra informal than Moana, with seating areas the place you’ll be able to even put your toes within the sand. It serves lunch and dinner, although friends can seize espresso, smoothies and pastries from its cafe and market within the morning.

The common dinner menu at Kahuwai Cookhouse consists of specialties like crispy pork-belly fritters with Massive Island avocado and blue-corn chips ($27); luscious Kona kampachi ceviche with tangy fermented guajillo sauce, Granny Smith apples, roasted corn and inexperienced onion ($31); and numerous kiawe wood-grilled meats like bone-in brief ribs ($54) and meaty ahi tuna with tsirita sauce and charred eggplant ($58).

There are additionally kid-friendly favorites on the keiki menu, together with hen tenders with fries or fruit ($22) and macaroni and cheese ($20). The wine listing just isn’t as complete as Moana’s, but it surely’s well-curated, together with glasses that vary from $20-$40, and there are signature cocktails just like the smoky Outdated-Common with bourbon, amaro and caramelized Kona espresso ($24).

Kahuwai Cookhouse additionally hosts numerous specialty occasions, together with Paniolo Night time on Thursdays the place, for $250 per grownup and $90 per youngster, you’ll be able to have your fill from a choice of fresh-caught fish and seafood, made-to-order grilled meats together with succulent native steaks, a salad bar and downhome classics like a hearty loco moko (burger atop white rice), in addition to limitless beer, glasses of wines and specialty cocktails. The lodge additionally hosts a standard luau on Wednesdays.

Shipwreck Bar and Speak Story Bar

Along with a poolside bar adjoining to Moana, the place you’ll be able to get pleasure from drinks and lightweight bites like poke bowls ($16-$25), the resort is house to 2 oceanfront watering holes.

The primary, Shipwreck Bar, needs to be one of the vital distinctive cocktail lounges in Hawaii. Johnno and Helen Jackson’s yacht, New Moon, really sank, however they’d it dragged up onto the seaside and transformed right into a bar, which has been reconstructed on the resort utilizing scraps from the unique that have been recovered after the tsunami.

It is best to prioritize a robust sundown mai tai with a darkish rum floater ($27) right here, although there are additionally snacks to get pleasure from poolside, like a hearts of palm salad with kombu-cured tomato and cucumber ($26).

Speak Story Bar is a spot of legend at Kona Village, the place of us would come to satisfy and mull over their experiences within the evenings because the tiki torches have been lit after the nightly conch-blowing ceremony. As of late, that spirit of conviviality continues to be going robust … as are the libations, which embody a colourful Blue Hawaii with vodka, native rum, blue curacao and pineapple ($24) and a heady tackle a Vieux Carré referred to as The Providing with bourbon, cognac and Carpano Antico vermouth ($26).

Room service

The lodge gives 24-hour room service. I positioned a late lunch order at round 2:30 p.m. on the day of my arrival, and a scrumptious turkey membership wrap with purple potato chips ($30) arrived at my hale inside 20 minutes.

Facilities and repair

Whether or not you need to whereas away your days by the pool, calm down with a rejuvenating spa remedy, delve into the world’s historical past or get your pulse pounding with any variety of land and water actions, the Rosewood Kona Village has you lined.

Swimming pools and seaside

Like a lot of this stretch of the Island of Hawaii, there’s not an enormous swath of swimmable seaside. Nevertheless, Kona Village does have each an off-the-beaten-path black-sand seaside between a few of its oceanfront hales which you could swim or snorkel at (together with the general public) and just a little spit of sand in entrance of Moana and the water actions middle that is good for a paddle within the light surf.

The lodge additionally has two massive swimming pools with dispensers for sunblock and water close to every. The bigger Moana Pool has an infinity edge that blurs into the Pacific past. It’s surrounded by orange-cushioned loungers and daybeds, which can be found on a first-come-first-serve foundation. There are additionally Jacuzzis and a shallow children splash pool, making it fashionable with households.

The quieter Shipwreck Pool is on the opposite aspect of the Kahuwai Cookhouse from reception and Moana. It, too, has an infinity edge and an embedded sizzling tub and is surrounded by each lounge chairs and cabana-like daybeds. However you do not have to hire these, simply get there early and request an empty one, and the workers shall be glad to set it up with cushion covers, additional towels and ice buckets with complimentary bottles of water.

Just under the infinity edge, there’s additionally a lap pool. In entrance of that could be a sandy strip with umbrella-shaded lounge chairs.

Artwork fanatics ought to get pleasure from Kaili Chun’s sculpture of hand-hammered fish-like shapes alongside the wall to the restrooms entitled ‘Opelu.

Water actions

Though leisure is likely to be the order of the day on a Hawaiian trip, friends can discover the dramatic shoreline with actions courtesy of the Kilo Kai ocean middle.

There is not any higher option to begin the day than with a guided outrigger canoe paddle at dawn ($75 per individual), particularly in the course of the whale-watching season from December to April. You can too e book a extra non-public outrigger sail for 60-90 minutes, or just borrow snorkeling gear to discover the world’s coral reefs.

Asaya Spa

Rosewood’s proprietary spa idea, which is supposed to advertise alignment between the thoughts, physique and spirit, is named Asaya. The outpost at Kona Village is likely one of the model’s most distinctive due to its dramatic location proper in one of many space’s boulder-strewn lava fields.

In actual fact, friends take a picket walkway over the jagged rocks and previous a hearth spout to succeed in the boys’s and girls’s locker areas, which have out of doors showers and swimming pools in addition to saunas and steam rooms.

There’s additionally a coed lounge space with soothing teas and wholesome house-made snacks searching towards Hualalai and a salon in the principle constructing for any glow-ups you may want throughout your keep.

The remedies are regionally impressed and embody the Ho’oli Cocoon, which begins with a sea sponge lymphatic energizer earlier than a lomi-lomi therapeutic massage carried out with sizzling lava stones ($650). Pores and skin remedies function Dr. Barbara Sturm merchandise and embody the signature Sturm Glow facial ($275-$395) with a delicate therapeutic massage and exfoliation, then a hydrating masque and eye gel so that you look positively glowing (and fewer wrinkled) after a couple of days within the solar.

Health middle

Subsequent door to the spa, the health middle features a full set of Technogym weight machines, cardio gear like ellipticals and stationary bikes, and free weights. There’s additionally a yoga and stretching room and an out of doors deck with extra treadmills, rowing machines and Peloton bikes.

Visitors are supplied with headphones to boost the exercise movies on the machines, plus dry and damp chilled towels and bottled water.

There are additionally tennis courts close by for visitor use.

Children Membership

There’s a small exercise membership for youngsters referred to as the Rosewood Explorers Keiki Membership close to the spa and health middle. Though there are amenities for arts and crafts in addition to storytime and an out of doors garden for video games, most actions see the tykes getting out to the pool or seaside as they get to know extra about Hawaii’s legends and landscapes.

Cultural excursions

A part of what makes Kona Village so particular is the truth that it is on an historic Hawaiian settlement whose historical past dates again over 1,000 years. Visitors can expertise that heritage with quite a lot of excursions and experiences on the resort’s Kauluola Cultural Middle.

Maybe essentially the most intriguing is a stroll alongside the picket boardwalks that traverse the otherworldly lava fields, studying concerning the mysterious petroglyphs carved into the rocks depicting each day by day actions and the arrival of Europeans.

There are additionally excursions that element the resort’s 21 archaeological websites, that are nonetheless evident throughout the property, together with a royal bathing spot and the outdated village cooking pit.

Visitors can study concerning the indigenous natural world in addition to conventional Hawaiian arts and crafts on the cultural middle, too.

Boutique

Between reception and the Kahuwai Cookhouse, the lodge fields a small, upscale boutique promoting numerous vacation-skewing sundries like swimsuits, sun shades and jewellery, and stuffed animals, books and youngsters’s toys.

Out and about

The lodge can organize for adventures farther afield, together with visits to Nahuku, or the Thurston lava tube, strolls via the Waimea Farmers Market (Saturday mornings) to satisfy native purveyors, hikes in ‘Akara Falls State Park and rodeos at Parker Ranch, amongst different actions.

Visitors with rental automobiles may need to enterprise north to the spectacular Kohala Coast for excursions like a strenuous hike at Poholu Valley. A day-long journey may embody a helicopter tour of Volcanoes Nationwide Park and a snorkeling session to see the tropical fish at Kealakekua (previously referred to as Captain Cook dinner’s Bay).

Accessibility

Kona Village, a Rosewood Resort has 9 accessible room and villa sorts with options like low-gradient ramps with handrails, wheelchair-accessible doorways, roll-in showers with seize bars and benches in addition to bathrooms with seize bars, tubs with detachable seats and wheelchair-accessible lanais.

There are additionally communication-accessible options like visible fireplace alarms, doorbells with enhanced audio and visible options, Braille plaques, and moveable gear to make telephones TTY and deaf-accessible.

To make sure that your lodging meet your necessities, it is best to e book straight with the lodge and go over the particular options of your room.

The resort’s frequent areas all function ramps and areas accessible by wheelchair, and there are chairlifts into the swimming pools. Visitors can request golf carts for transportation across the property, however a lot of the paths are sandy, so wheelchair customers may must make particular preparations to get round.

Trying out

For practically 5 a long time, Kona Village was certainly one of Hawaii’s most iconic seaside resorts. After a much-anticipated multi-year reimagination by actual property funding firm Kennedy Wilson and an up-market polish by Rosewood, it’s already effectively on its option to re-establishing that repute.

Its excessive value level and atmosphere of higher-touch luxurious are sure to exclude some “legacy friends.” Nevertheless, if the resort’s nightly charges are inside your funds, there are few locations in Hawaii that may present such a dreamy backdrop for a tropical getaway. Simply make sure that your funds additionally permits for a not-to-miss spa remedy and some additional orchid-garnished mai tais at Shipwreck Bar to take full benefit of the expertise.

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