Alaska Ice, Hawaiian Fire

Eleven nights from Alaska's glaciers to a Maui beach. Five nights on Kachemak Bay, with a small-plane flight out to the brown bears and a paddle among icebergs below a glacier, then the petroglyph field at Kona Village, a Hawaiian sailing canoe, and a walk through Wailea with the sculptor who is the resort's artist in residence.

Length: 11 nights
Pace: Three stays
Style: Glaciers, wildlife, volcanoes, beach
Route: Kachemak Bay to The Kona coast, Hawaiʻi Island to Wailea, Maui

Kachemak BayFive nights
The Kona coast, Hawaiʻi IslandThree nights
Wailea, MauiThree nights

The lodge and its cabins on a wooded point above a still bay, a floatplane at the dock, with mountains behind. — Photo: Stillpoint Lodge

Days 1 to 6 · five nights

Kachemak Bay

Met in Anchorage, and a naturalist drives you south along Turnagain Arm to Kachemak Bay and the lodge at Halibut Cove, a fishing village turned artists' settlement with one of the only floating post offices in the U.S. A water taxi to Homer for a small-plane flight to watch coastal brown bears, a two-hour helicopter safari that lands on a glacier, and a day paddling among icebergs on a glacier lake, with a picnic beside the ice. On quieter days, the lodge's captain runs out to the seabird rookery on Gull Island, and a guide walks the local Native Trail.

Where you stay

Stillpoint Lodge

Stillpoint sits on a private peninsula in Halibut Cove, a small artist village on Kachemak Bay, 20 minutes by boat from Homer. Private seaside cabins surround the main lodge, kayaks launch from the dock, and stays are all-inclusive, with farm-to-table cooking and local guides for bear viewing and fishing.

A white plume of volcanic gas rising from a glowing crater under a blue sky.

Days 6 to 9 · three nights

The Kona coast, Hawaiʻi Island

A flight from Anchorage to the Big Island. At Kona Village, the Kaʻūpūlehu coast keeps a field of 440 documented petroglyphs, seen on a guided tour from the resort's cultural centre, and at 7 a.m. the Kilo Kai team takes guests out by canoe along the shore. Two hours by private helicopter around the island, an evening watching the sun go down and the night sky come out, and a day in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, which can be spent privately with a volcanologist who explains the forces that shaped the islands.

Where you stay

Kona Village, A Rosewood Resort

Kona Village spreads free-standing, thatch-roofed hale across 81 acres of lava fields above Kahuwai Bay on the Kona coast. Moana, the restaurant, honours the fishing village that once stood here and cooks from the on-site farm. Outrigger canoes go out on the bay at sunrise.

A tall waterfall dropping into a pool in a deep, green jungle gorge.

Days 9 to 12 · three nights

Wailea, Maui

A short inter-island flight to Maui. At Fairmont Kea Lani, the sculptor Dale Zarrella, the resort's artist in residence, walks the grounds telling the Maui legends behind his bronze and rare wood pieces, and the Hawaiian Canoe Experience takes guests onto Wailea's waters to learn the old Polynesian art of wayfaring. A luau on the west side, and a full private day on the road to Hana. On request, a private lesson with a Kumu Hula, a master of the dance, on the stories and history behind it, and one evening a multi-course dinner cooked over an open fire outdoors by a Maui chef who is also a fisherman, spear diver, hunter and sommelier and sources the ingredients himself. On request, an Upcountry morning with ranchers: a horseback ride, cooking outdoors and the tricks of the ranching trade.

Where you stay

Fairmont Kea Lani

Fairmont Kea Lani is set on 22 acres along Polo Beach in Wailea, and every stay is a suite or a villa of up to three bedrooms. There are three outdoor pools and a waterslide, and the spa has 13 treatment rooms, two outdoor cabanas and a pālolo mud bar.

Arranged on request

Brown bears by small plane

From the lodge, a flight out to the coastal brown bear viewing grounds, one of its own excursions alongside glacier flights from the dock.

Icebergs on a glacier lake

A day paddling among icebergs on a glacier lake, with a picnic beside an active glacier.

The petroglyphs of Kaʻūpūlehu

Kona Village keeps 440 documented petroglyphs, most of them visible from the Ala Hele Papa boardwalk, and its Kaʻuluola Cultural Center leads guided tours of the field.

Kīlauea with a volcanologist

A private day in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park with a volcanologist, on the forces that built the islands. Arranged on request.

A sculptor's walk in Wailea

Dale Zarrella, artist in residence at Fairmont Kea Lani, leads a walk through the grounds, telling the Maui myths and legends behind his bronze and rare wood sculptures.

A fireside dinner on Maui

A multi-course dinner cooked over an open flame at an outdoor setting, by a Maui chef who fishes, spear dives and hunts for the ingredients himself and is also a sommelier. Arranged on request.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

A morning watching whales and sea otters on Kachemak Bay, on the lodge's wildlife photo-safari cruise.
Sunrise at the summit of Haleakalā, on a timed reservation for the 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. window, released 60 days ahead.
A first evening in Anchorage before the drive south, with storytelling, traditional games and dance shared by local Inuit culture bearers, arranged privately.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.