Mauna Kea Beach Hotel

A half-mile crescent of white sand, with open coast beyond it both ways.

The hotel stands directly behind the sand at Kauna'oa Bay, a half-mile crescent with a soft, gently sloping bottom: walk in and swim. Reef fringes both ends, with the better snorkelling over the southern rocks, and the hotel keeps a floating dock in the bay. The mouth is wide open, no marina and no boat channel anywhere near it, and in calm conditions the swim carries on along the coast, south around the point to Hapuna, roughly a kilometre and a half, or north along the lava shore. The water holds at 24 to 27°C (75 to 81°F) all year. The honest warning is winter: swell builds a pounding shorebreak with strong rip currents, and between October and April the swim can be off for days at a time. This is the original 1965 Rockefeller resort, recently renovated, and the beach is ranked among the best in the United States.