The view from Beach Tree Pool at Four Seasons Resort Hualālai. Kim Westerman Hualālai, on Hawai’i’s Kona-Kohala Coast and a short drive north of the Kona airport, has long been ground zero for travelers looking for peaceful luxury. Four Seasons Resort Hualālai anchors the hotel space with its consistently perfect hospitality, embracing all guests as ‘ohana (family). People who are staying at the resort come from all over the island to dine at the Beach Tree restaurant on Kukio Beach, where families gather around a beloved heliotrope tree and pause for the sunset. This sets the tone for all of one’s time in this magically immersive place, which also happens to be the most desirable place on the island for real estate. The beloved heliotrope tree on the lawn of Beach Tree restaurant, Kukio Beach, at Hualālai Resort. Kim Westerman On the south side of the property adjacent to the hotel is a gorgeous collection of custom homes and villas that leave no dream unanswered. With sales of almost $4B since the community was launched in 1996, Hualālai Resort continues to break sales records while quietly offering residents, whether full- or part-time, true community, with opportunities to participate in island life. A custom home with pool and ocean views at Hualālai Resort on Hawai'i Island. Hualālai Resort If you’re interested in buying (or building) a home, you might wonder why there are never many listings on the site of the one realty company in Hualālai. It’s because you’ll find most of the properties on the “recently sold” page: According to Rob Kildow, principal broker and director of sales, Hualālai Resort has not listed any homes on its website or on the MLS in the last five years, and it only takes an average of three days to sell a home once it becomes available. Ergo, you’ll need to get on the team’s radar so they can let you know when something you might be interested in becomes available. Kildow and his wife, Barbara, walk the talk — they’ve lived in Hualālai since 2001 and call it home. Island living is all about the lānai, an open-sided patio that no Hawaiian home is complete without. Hualālai Resort Local mahi-mahi tacos at Beach Tree restaurant, Hualālai Resort. Kim Westerman While Hualālai is a small community on a large island, and while the residential side of Hualālai Resort has its own amenties via club membership — including complimentary golf, water activities, fitness center access and members-only dining — residents and hotel guests commingle at the Hualālai Trading Company, the spa, and the hotel’s destination restaurants, Beach Tree, ‘Ulu and Miller & Lux Hualālai. Hualālai Trading Company, where residents hang out for coffee and commingle with hotel guests. Kim Westerman One of the ways in which residents can participate in being there is through the Hualālai ‘Ohana Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has quietly helped island residents with education and medical expense needs that would have otherwise gone unmet. (I spent the morning with a young woman who works at the resort who credits her health and her ability to continue surfing to the foundation, which paid for her medical care after a serious surfing accident.) In case you’re wondering about family-friendliness, Hualālai Resort and neighboring Four Seasons Resort Hualālai have got the market cornered on helping kids express their curiosity and explore nature and culture deeply and safely. The resort employs several full-time biologists that protect the land and its creatures and educate all ages about the flora and fauna of the place. I got to feed kainalu, the resident eagle ray who loves in King’s Pond and whom my kids bonded with when they last visited. Ocean kayaking is one of the many water sports you can do at Hualālai Resort. Hualālai Resort If you’re already in love with Hawai’i Island and hope to buy a home there, or if you love Hawai’i more generally and want to immerse yourself in a sublime experience of island living, look no further than Hualālai Resort, which opens doors to a world of satiating, embedded luxury. Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions