UPDATE: This page will be in transition and updated for New Year’s Eve 2024/2025 as venues announce what they’re offering. Generally these announcements are not made until November and even into December. We recommend you subscribe to our free newsletter that’s usually issued twice per week and filled with Hawaii travel news, advice and travel inspiration! When we have finalized this page for the upcoming New Year’s Eve on the Big Island, it will be announced in our newsletter. To receive our newsletters, carefully enter your email address at this link. In the meantime, for any entry or event that has been updated for 2024/2025, we will indicate it by placing a bold, red 2024/2025 at the end of the entry.
The Big Island is gearing up for a festive holiday season. It’s a fantastic place to be anytime of year, but the holidays are extra special!
We’ll be searching for public fireworks shows this New Year’s Eve. However, even if there are no organized, public fireworks shows, look to the neighborhoods and you’ll see fireworks.
As events are announced, we’ll update this page. In the meantime, as of October, we’ve found several great ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve on the Big Island. Here are some fun events to enjoy while on Sunday, December 31, 2023 to welcome in 2024:
New Year’s Eve Luaus, Fireworks & Entertainment
– Hilton Waikoloa Village has a specia New Year’s Eve celebration planned for this year. It starts with a luau by the properties beautiful lagoon. A special fireworks show over the lagoon is planned for 9:00 p.m. In addition to the luau, the resort restaurants Nui Italian and Kamuela Provision Company will be open for the special evening. Learn more here and here. Our advice is to book quickly if either the luau or the restaurants are of interest.
– Guests at Mauna Lani can enjoy a special New Year’s Eve dinner at HaLani or CanoeHouse or take in a luau at Hale Ho’aloha Pavilion. to celebrate the night. Afterwards there’s a festive party with a fireworks show. See this link for more information.
– Guests of the Four Seasons Resort Haulalai can take part in a New Year’s Eve Gala with a fireworks display at midnight.
– At Fairmont Orchid enjoy a New Year’s Eve Luau Under the Stars with a special time from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. See this link for booking. This luau is generally open to the public.
– Kona Village Rosewood Resort hosts a family-friendly New Year’s Eve Celebration with dinner, live entertainment, activities and fireworks.
– New Year’s Eve at Waikoloa Beach Marriott hosts Pa’ina Under the Stars at their luau grounds. The evening features a buffet dinner and entertainment by recording artist Kala’e Parish and Friends. See this link for more information.
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Notes:
– We anticipate adding more events.
– Other luxury resorts may be hosting special events, possibly with fireworks. These events are typically not widely advertised so that the venues can reserve the space for guests of the hotels. Check directly with your resort and/or concierge for further information.
– Most Big Island resort restaurants are open on New Year’s Eve. Many will have special menus to celebrate the coming new year. A great place to check for both reservations, reviews and restaurant information is at OpenTable.com. Here’s a link that’s pre-populated with search criteria for two at 7pm on December 31, 2024. Use the dropdown menu at the top, along with the options on the left side to customize the time and size of your party.
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We wish you a Hau’oli Makahiki Hou, which is how you say Happy New Year in Hawaiian!
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Note to journalists, bloggers, etc. – we do ALL our own research with many hours invested in this work. If you are referencing this page for an article you are creating, kindly provide credit to GoVisitHawaii.com
23 comments
Looking for New years eve event for my two sons who will be visiting 21 &25.
Kathleen – we’ll be updating this page in December, when venues announce what they’re offering. Usually the same venues offer very similar New Year’s Eve celebrations year after year, but with a price increase. So, there will likely be the same events this year. If any of these events appeal to your sons, that’s great, but if they are looking for something else, they should pick up a copy of the local newspaper when they’re on the island to check for other events/parties/celebrations.
Sheila, anything happening on the big island near the volcano Kilauea? Maybe a midnight walk to see Kilauea’s glow and a celebration toast? Is there anything going on near volcanos national park?
Not to our knowledge.
You might want to check with the Volcano House hotel to see if they have anything special planned.
Aloha Sheila,
My name is Tammie, I’m the PR Manager at the Sheraton Kona. Thank you for featuring our resort in the Go Visit Hawaii NYE article. I noticed that the above information for our resort is outdated. I’d love the opportunity to send you our holiday and NYE events for 2015/2016. We have an assortment of activities taking place to celebrate the holidays and New Year. I can be reached at tammie.carpenter@sheraton.com. Happy holidays!
Aloha Tammie, what you previous saw hadn’t been updated for this new season. It has now been updated for New Year’s Eve 2015/2016.
How about a general fireworks show for the community? In Kauai they have one at Poipu for everyone free of charge at about 9:30. Does anything like that exist here?
Not to our knowledge this year.
Aloha,is there any firework shows happening in Kailua Kona?
Nothing official that we are aware of.
Hi!
Where are the best New Years’ eve fireworks in Hawaii? We’re planning out our itinerary and are keen to watch the fireworks as our 2 year old daughter loves them!
Please do advise.
It’s difficult to say which fireworks display is best for a number of reasons. At this point, we don’t have confirmation from all the usual venues as to if they will be hosting fireworks this year or not. Sometimes funding for fireworks shows in Hawaii can be iffy even days or weeks in advance. Chances are there will be fireworks somewhere on each island, whether organized or informal. Check back in December when more of the venues will have announced what they plan to offer.
Anything going on on the Hilo side? My boyfriend and I are 30 and want to check what’s happening in the area.
Hilo side is more laid back than the Kona side. There may be special New Year’s Eve events going on on the Hilo side, but we are currently not aware of any big events. Check with your host/concierge and also pick up a copy of the local paper when your on island.
Do you have to attend the parties to enjoy the fireworks? Is there anywhere you can just go to enjoy the fireworks without having to pay for it?
There aren’t any organized, professional fireworks displays planned for the general public for New Year’s Eve this year, unfortunately.
By the way, all beaches in Hawaii are open to the public. Finding parking can sometimes be a big challenge, though.
I like heading up the hill into Waikoloa Highlands where you can watch 3 different displays from the nice hotels up there.
what about new years options for the big island for 2018/2019?
They NYE dinner at the Canoe House and the NYE party and fireworks are not open to the public, it’s for hotel guests only.
Ok, thanks for letting us know. We’ve made a note of it.
Any chance you could please update this list for 31 December 2024/1 January 2025?
We typically begin updating this page in November and into December when the venues announce what they’re hosting. We recommend you subscribe to our free email newsletters so that you will know when this page has been updated. Our newsletters are usually issued twice per week and they’re filled with helpful Hawaii vacation news, deals and travel advice. You can subscribe by carefully entering your email address here: https://govisithawaii.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ff2ac3a235f8da3d2131ef4c7&id=f471f8c491