1 Hotel Hanalei Bay beckons with a health-conscious call to hearts & minds.
The only hotel in Hawaii to earn a spot on the Conde Nast Traveler Gold List 2024, 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay on Kauai’s north shore is a mission-driven luxury lifestyle resort committed to honoring the beauty of nature through biophilic design and being a driver for change in environmentally-friendly living. Opened last year, it’s the flagship of 1 Hotels and an ultimate bucket-list destination for the most discerning travelers. It’s been named Hawaii’s first Ocean-Friendly Hotel by the Surfrider Foundation, with all its outlets designated Ocean-Friendly Restaurants. Recently awarded a MICHELIN Key, the hotel was founded upon and guided by the concept that those who travel the world should also care about it.
Designed as a global holistic wellness destination, 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay features 18,000 square feet of dedicated wellness space; it has an extensive offering of well-being treatments and therapies and farm-and ocean-to-table meals.
In addition to the sanctuary of the guest rooms and multiple pools, there’s an immense, spectacularly curated menu of enhancements for both the body and the soul that awaits all those who come seeking the very best things they can do for their health (and happiness).
Within Wellbeing is the hotel’s program of unique wellness experiences: multi-day retreats and custom itineraries, an 18-treatment room spa, a boxing terrace, the oceanfront Albizia gym, and an indoor fitness studio. On staff are wellness practitioners, board-certified physicians, renowned nutritionists, and numerous subspecialists. There’s the Bamford Wellness Spa by organic pioneer Carole Bamford; the Anatomy Fitness Center by former NFL player Marc Megna; and functional medicine partner Vitality Kauai. Among the services offered by Vitality Kauai are DEXA scans (which provide insights into bone and body health) and metabolic testing (used to estimate calorie burn at rest to determine an individual caloric need as well as to measure carbohydrate utilization and fat).
Guests who opt for the Within Wellbeing retreat can choose from an array of multi-day “Journeys” geared to achieving holistic balance and personal revitalization. There are touchless therapies, fitness training sessions, mindfulness practices, and advanced therapeutic treatments. These journeys include the Wai-Water Reboot & Recharge, which offers two 80-min Bamford Wellness Spa experiences (facial or body); one 50-min Bamford Wellness Spa experience; two Touchless Therapies (Meditation Pod and Ocean Float); two private sessions with an Anatomy Body Architect (including two of the following – yoga, meditation, personal training, sound journey, Pilates); Immunity IV Therapy with Vitality Kauai; a daily breakfast credit; complimentary valet parking and personalized nightly turndowns.
If the Wai-Water Reboot & Recharge doesn’t appeal, there are other journeys to choose from: Honua-Earth-Terrain for the outdoors enthusiast; the Ahi-Fire-Spark journey, during which guests learn more about their bodies and what lifestyle changes they can make to foster long-term health and happiness; the Makani-Wind-Air journey, which allows guests to craft their own wellness experience and, besides providing IV therapies, has its own specific menu of spa activities. It also offers unlimited beach rentals of kayaks, surfboards, and snorkel gear.
Want to go further down 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay’s road to health? Enter the resort’s Ocean Float Room, which features a zero-gravity environment for a nervous system reset, or the Somadome Meditation Pod, where a merging of ancient healing methods and modern technology handles stress reduction. There’s hyperbaric oxygen therapy, immunity infusions, Lipo Mino injections, botanical scrubs, and facials using not just honey but also the adaptogenic herb tulsi.
The most dedicated seekers of wellbeing practices would be extremely hard put (and likely find it impossible) to find a place that rivals 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay.
Overlooking the spectacular Hanalei Bay, the resort’s views include the equally eye-catching and spectacularly soaring cliffs of Mount Makana. Kauai is Hawaii’s “Garden Island,” with an incomparable lushness and live-life-to-its-fullest spirit. Guest room and suite amenities here are far from the usual and include compression boots, infrared mats, sound therapy, weighted blankets, healing crystals, meditation cushions, and percussion massagers! The options on the path to wellbeing here are incredibly extensive, inviting, and immensely valuable.
A contrast therapy lounge will offer a cryogenic chamber, ice baths, and infrared sauna in 2025.
Of course, that’s not all the hotel offers for your have-the-time-of-your-life stay here.
Nutrition is a key element of wellness at 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay. 1 Kitchen, the hotel’s signature restaurant, serves hyper-local, sustainably sourced breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. The bar at 1 Kitchen also features tropical-inspired handcrafted cocktails using ingredients that support local partners and distilleries that prioritize sustainable practices. Welina Terrace is an oceanfront lounge where you can order Japanese-inspired shared plates as well as Hawaiian rums, Japanese whiskeys, agave spirits, wines, and craft beers. The Sandbox is an oceanfront/poolside restaurant and bar serving lunch and cocktails (until sunset). 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay cocktail menus also offer zero and low ABV cocktails.
For easy grab-and-go, there’s also the counter service Neighbors for coffee, breakfast, and lunch; The Juice Bar for cold-pressed juices and smoothies; the Wai’oli for cold treats (including alcohol-infused syrups and toppings) for pool or beachfront consumption. There’s also the Lobby Farmstand, with healthy snacks stocked with local farm produce, where you can grab something to go as you take off after choosing from a wonderful set of choice excursions and activities off resort grounds that 1 Hotel Hanalei coordinates for you. Among the many off-site places to go are the Princeville Makai Golf Club with tennis courts and pickleball, the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, and the Kilauea Farmers Market.
Guided by its commitment to sustainability, the hotel provides guests daytime give-back opportunities to take part in beach clean-ups, restoration programs, and Kauai Humane Society dog field trips. The commitment to eco-consciousness doesn’t wane when the sun goes down. Integral to 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay’s Dark Sky initiative is the use of wildlife-friendly lighting and neutral earth-tone paint that reduces light pollution and protects young shearwater seabirds who rely on moonlight to find their way to the ocean during their September 15 to December 15 fledging season. In keeping with its overall philosophy, the hotel considers it a vital responsibility to show extra care for such wildlife. Nonessential lighting is turned off at night and guest room curtains are drawn after sundown.
The hotel’s eco-consciousness extends beyond its property lines. A fully electric Audi Q8 e-tron house car is available for excursions to Lydgate Farms, Anaina Hou Community Park, and the Limahuli Garden & Preserve National Tropical Botanical Garden. The electric vehicles are also available for drop-offs and pick-ups in the Princeville area on a first-come, first-served basis from the hotel entrance. Test drives are also offered.
One would be best advised to absorb much of 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay’s website a good while before heading there. There is so much offered by the resort – within it and beyond it – that not a minute of precious time should be spent mulling too long over what you want to partake of once you’ve arrived. This is the apogee of the confluence of hedonism and health, a destination where you’ll joyfully unload the weight of the world, shed the stress, nourish your body, and feed your soul.
NOTE: 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay has a “private club” membership – the only one of its kind on Kauai. Ideal for local residents and popular with frequent visitors, part-time residents, celebrities, and C-suite – the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay’s Within Membership offers year-round, 24/7 access to the resort’s Anatomy gym, use of the steam room and wet sauna in the Bamford Wellness Spa, four fitness assessments by an Anatomy Body Architect, daily fitness classes, and the ability to rent cabanas with access to pools and the outdoor Albizia gym. Members also receive complimentary valet parking, priority dining reservations, discounts on wellbeing services such as training and spa treatments, retail discounts, and reduced guestroom rates. Contact the hotel for membership pricing.
