Niihau is one of the few Hawaii experiences where visitors can spend $630 a person and still not get anything close to full access. The helicopter tour gives you a 17-mile aerial flight, a landing on a remote beach, about three hours to swim, snorkel, and beachcomb, and lunch. It does not give you the kind of island visit many readers may assume after seeing claims that “Niihau just opened to visitors for the first time in 100 years.”
Niihau sits under 20 miles southwest of Kauai and remains privately owned by the Robinson family, a kamaaina dynasty that bought the island from the Hawaiian monarchy in 1864 and closed it to outsiders in 1915. Fewer than 200 native Hawaiian residents live there, Hawaiian is the primary language spoken there, and the island still has no running water, no grid electricity, and no cars.
The helicopter tour with Robinson’s Niihau Helicopters is the only visitor option that actually takes you to Niihau. You do get a flight, landing, beach time, and the chance to say you have stepped onto one of the most restricted islands in Hawaii and one of the most remote in the world. You do not get to roam around the island, meet residents, or see daily life there. Period.
If you decide to book, a minimum of 5 people is required for the tour, so you may need to be flexible with the date if your group is smaller or try to recruit others to join you.
What the helicopter tour gives you.
Wildlife is also part of the tour’s attraction. Common sightings include monk seals, dolphins, sharks, seabirds, sheep, and boar. Some of that is seen from the helicopter, and some near shore.
But this is not a tour of Niihau in any way that most visitors would naturally hear that phrase. It is a controlled beach landing on a private island that remains virtually sealed off from visitors.
Niihau did not just open.
A lot of recent coverage made this sound like Niihau suddenly opened to visitors for the first time in 100 years. That is wrong. Helicopter tours, including the landings, have been operating since the 1980s, so this is not a new opening, and it is not the first chance for visitors to get there.
The island is still restricted now in exactly the same way as it has been for decades. What exists is a long-running, tightly controlled visitor experience, not any broad tourism opening. Readers who saw the viral version of this story were given the impression that Niihau had changed overnight, when the actual tour product has been around for decades. Are you paying for a rare Hawaii experience, or mostly for the name Niihau itself?
There is also a hunting safari option for a different kind of visitor. Since 1992, the Robinsons have offered paid hunts on Niihau targeting eland, aoudad, oryx, wild sheep, and boar. Any meat that hunters do not take with them goes to the village. It is a niche within a niche, but it is part of how the family funds the operation. The cost of the hunt runs well into the thousands per day.
The boat option is cheaper and more limited.
There is also a Holo Holo boat tour, and if you’re up for it, the price is much lower, at about $315 per adult and $295 per child, plus tax. The boat does not land on Niihau. You see the island from offshore, which means the main draw of the helicopter trip, actually setting foot there, is not part of this tour.
That boat tour, which can be quite rough depending on conditions, still works for travelers who want scenery, wildlife, and proximity without paying helicopter prices. You can see marine life, seabirds, and the shoreline, and you still get a close look at an island few Hawaii visitors ever approach.
Maybe you can even say that you’ve been to Niihau, sort of. In any event, it is an offshore sightseeing trip, not a landing. The ocean can be rough, and seasickness medication is commonly recommended for the boat tour.
Who this is really intended for.
The helicopter version makes the most sense for a specific kind of traveler. If you follow Hawaii closely, have already seen much of Kauai, and care enough about rare access to justify the cost, this may feel memorable and worthwhile. What you are paying for is remoteness, restriction, and the fact that very few visitors get to partake in even this much of Niihau.
It makes less sense for travelers expecting depth or value in the usual sense of a Hawaii vacation. A family can spend a significant amount of money very fast, and the actual experience is still a half-day trip centered on a beach stop.
This is a premium-priced, limited-access excursion built around one of Hawaii’s most unusual islands, not what is being promoted as some newly opened visitor destination. The helicopter tour is for readers who want the bragging rights and realize exactly how limited the access is. Everyone else should see past the viral hype and save the money.
Are you interested in the tour of Niihau?
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Can anyone answer this question?
– if there are no private beaches in Hawaii, and all beaches are accessible to the public (up to the vegetation line), then are all beaches on Niihau open to the public?
1. If standard rules apply, then they should be accessible.
2. If not, can anyone help me to understand why beaches on Niihau are essentially private?
Thank you!
We did the Holo Holo tour and it was a blast, the weather cooperated and we were able to swim in the channel between Niihau and Lehua. It pretty much took all day, however it was well worth it. We did see a helicopter on the beach in Niihau, you could see people in the distance on the beach. If I ever go back to Kauai, I would like to take the helicopter tour over there. I think that would be a once in a lifetime place to see.
Our family took the Niihau Helicopters tour recently. It’s an amazing experience. A circuit of the entire island, viewing ancient sites, the big lakes (it was wet when we went), crossing herds of eland, sheep, cattle, horses and hogs. Beaches with seals and turtles, and on our visit a massive school of akule off the far shore. And then a couple of hours of remote beachcombing time with a view of nearby Lehua Island. Bring your own lunch. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime. Real money, but not much more than a short vacation on Maui or the Big Island, Memories and photos galore. Save up for it. For us, it was totally worth it.
I’ve done both the helicopter and the boat. When I have told people, including native Hawaiians, that I have been physically on Niihau, many are even unaware you could even do that. So it is kind of rare. The boat ride follows the dinner cruise route along the Na Pali before heading across the channel to the snorkel spot, and yes, sea sickness is common and they do not turn back to port for that. So you may suffer for hours as one poor woman did 30 min. into a 7 hour trip on my tour.
Now if I could just get to Kahoolawe so I can say I have been on all 8 main islands, but I don’t think I’ll live that long.
Johannesl…same here!
Johannes, AFAIK, the 7 hour cruises that sail up the NaPali then advertise their tour as also going to Niihau don’t actually land on Niihau proper. They go to
Lehua Rock which is an outcropping 3/4th of a mile off the north coast of Niihau for a snorkeling spot. While it might technically be part of Niihau it’s not considered Niihau proper and doesn’t have the same rules for being there. I took a 7 hour cruise with Blue Dolphin and
I went on this tour last year…4 years in the making. I am a solo traveler so trying to fit me in with 4 other people was the challenge. Of note, there is also weight restrictions…I think total weight is 1000 pounds including gear. The helicopter is also used by the armed forces which they may commander at a moments notice. We did wave at some locals from the helicopter but we do not interact with them. From what I understand, they do not even speak a dialect regular Hawaiians can understand. For me, it was definitely worth it especially seeing the eland, aoudad, oryx…not something you expect to see in Hawaii.
We took the helicopter tour back in 2011 I think it was and it was pretty awesome! Of course it was only $365 back then but it was like being on the moon because nobody else was there! It was extremely hot however. We did some shell hunting and now we know why they’re so expensive! So hard to find especially the whole shells. The reason the trip is even offered is so one of the Robinson brothers who owns the helicopter, can pay some of the taxes on the island with the money. Great thing to do just to say you’ve been there!
In answer to BOH’s question, No. The actual experience doesn’t justify the cost. I’d rather relish my imagination of what such a remote island and life on it would be like, living off the land and sea, no running water, no electricity, which means virtually no contact with the outside world (that in itself seems almost blissful given the world situation right now). No, I like what I do, look at it from Kauai, maybe from the Kukuiolono golf course, and imagine.