A Ziplining experience by Kohala Zipline. Back to all Big Island tours.
Tour Summary: Zip to a cliffside platform, then cross a sky bridge beside a waterfall. Five lines, two bridges, nine guests, and you control your own speed.
One element is Hawaiʻi's only tree-mounted spiral staircase, which you climb yourself. Image credit: Kohala Zipline. 
You control your own braking on every line here, rather than riding through as a passenger. Image credit: Kohala Zipline. The guides work North Kohala and Hawaiian history in between elements rather than reciting it up front. Image credit: Kohala Zipline. Short walks and bridges link the elements, so the day is as much rainforest as ride. Image credit: Kohala Zipline. A zip lands you on a cliffside platform, then this bridge carries you across the gulch beside the falls. Image credit: Kohala Zipline. Top speeds reach 45 MPH once you learn to control your own body position. Image credit: Kohala Zipline. Every departure caps at nine guests with two guides, so a platform never holds a crowd. Image credit: Kohala Zipline. The lines run tree to tree over gulches deep enough to keep the canopy well below your feet. Image credit: Kohala Zipline. The guides shoot the action photos, so you ride with both hands free. Image credit: Kohala Zipline.
5 Tour Highlights:
- A zip to a cliffside platform followed by a sky bridge traverse alongside a waterfall, the signature sequence on the rebuilt course
- Hawaiʻi's only tree-mounted spiral staircase, climbed as part of the route
- The island's only full-participation course: you control your own speed and body position instead of riding through
- Five ziplines and two sky bridges with top speeds to 45 MPH, tree to tree, inside a 2,400-acre private nature reserve
- Two certified guides per tour and a nine-guest cap, with Kohala Coast and clear-day Maui views from the platforms
Important: Participants must be at least 8 years old and weigh between 70 and 270 lbs, with no exceptions (all guests are weighed at check-in, and there is no refund for a guest outside the limit). Anyone 13 or younger must be accompanied by an adult; guests 14 and older may zip on their own. You must be able to walk over uneven terrain and handle short walks. This tour is not suitable for pregnant guests, or for anyone with back or neck problems, recent surgery, or an extreme fear of heights. Guests must wear closed-toe walking shoes and pants, capris, or knee-length shorts. Tank tops, tube tops, and short shorts are not permitted.
Tour Information:
| Price: | Adult | Youth |
|---|---|---|
| (excluding taxes & fees) | $155 | $130 |
Price note: The adult (youth) rate increases to $245 ($220) on September 30, 2026.
Tour Provider: Kohala Zipline
Activity: Ziplining
Tour start time: Several options between 8 am and 2 pm; not all times run every day
Duration: 2 hours
Location: North Kohala
Pick-up available? No
Included: All zipline safety gear, rainwear, and drinking water. Two certified guides on every departure.
Cancellations: Guests will receive a full refund with at least 24 hours notice of cancellation. Cancellations inside 24 hours and no-shows are charged the full amount.
Read more: about ziplining in our Big Island ziplining guide.
Read more about the Kohala Canopy Zipline Adventure
One zipline on the rebuilt Kohala Zipline course ends on a cliffside platform, and the sky bridge you cross next runs alongside a waterfall.
Kohala Zipline tore out its old course and rebuilt it. The new course has five ziplines and two sky bridges, fewer lines than the old one. You pass a small waterfall early on, and the main falls later, at the sky bridge. You also climb Hawaiʻi’s only tree-mounted spiral staircase yourself. The operator estimates it at 35 to 40 feet. Nature trails connect the elements, and the operator built in more walking than the old course had, but no single stretch runs more than 25 to 50 yards. Top speeds reach 45 MPH. It’s the only tree-to-tree canopy tour on the island, and the only one where you learn to control your own braking and body position.
Getting there, tickets, weight limit and dress code
Plan on 2 hours round trip from the Kohala Zipline HQ at 55-515 Hawi Road, the historic yellow former Kohala Sugar Co. building in Hawi. Check in 30 minutes before your start time and park in the area signed “ECO TOURS.” A four-wheel-drive van takes you from there up an old sugarcane access road to the course, about 10 to 15 minutes with some light off-road sections. Every tour runs with two certified guides and caps at nine guests, with a minimum of four to go out. Adult tickets start at $155 and youth ages 8 to 12 at $130. Rainwear, water and all safety gear are included. The guide-operated photo system costs $19.99 plus tax at HQ, and a GoPro rental is $40 plus tax.
You step on a scale at check-in, and the limit is 70 to 270 lbs with no exceptions and no refund if you fall outside it. Weigh yourself at home before you book. Bare skin against the harness isn’t allowed, so no tank tops and no short shorts. Wear closed-toe walking shoes and pants, capris or knee-length shorts. Ages 8 and up, with an adult along for anyone 13 or younger. Guests 14 and older zip on their own. The operator rates the course easy to moderate. Cancel at least 24 hours out for a full refund; inside that window and no-shows are charged in full.
The guides, start times and the drive from Kona
Reviewers praise the guides for unhurried safety briefings and for patience with kids and with adults who go quiet at the first platform. They tell North Kohala and Hawaiian history between elements, and they shoot the action photos. If someone in your group is nervous about ziplining, two guides to nine guests is why we’d send them here over a bigger operation.
Start times run 8:00 to 10:00 am and 12:00 to 2:00 pm in half-hour increments, though not every slot runs every day. The drive is about 60 minutes from Kailua-Kona, 40 from the Waikoloa resorts and 35 from Waimea, and there is no hotel pickup, so a 12:00 pm start still costs you the middle of your day. A morning slot leaves the afternoon open for the Pololū Valley lookout or the King Kamehameha statue in Kapaʻau, both a few miles east on Highway 270.
What your ticket pays for beyond the ride
The course sits on 2,400 acres owned by ʻIole, a North Kohala nonprofit, with Kohala Zipline operating on their land. ʻIole is replanting it with native and endemic species to bring it back to a working ahupuaʻa (a traditional mountain-to-sea land division), and part of what you pay goes directly to that. The operator is also planting native trees along part of the course with Terraformation. Cables and platforms are American-made steel, and the climbing hardware comes from Petzl, Dimos and French Creek. The course is built to Association for Challenge Course Technology standards, and the crew inspects it twice a day, once before opening and once before closing. This is Phase 1 of the rebuild. The operator plans Phase 2 for fall 2026, and it adds a rappel.
If you want the course to yourself, a private buyout runs through the operator’s VIP team and can include lunch and door-to-door transport. For a standard tour, book ahead: each departure has nine seats, and the operator can cancel any slot that doesn’t reach the four-guest minimum.
[Video] Video about the Kohala Canopy Zipline Adventure
About Kohala Zipline
Kohala Zipline was founded in 2011 by the team behind Hawaii Forest & Trail, one of the longest-running guided operators on the Big Island, and that lineage shows in how the course is staffed: two certified guides on every tour, each having passed more than 60 hours of hands-on practical training and testing. It is built to Association for Challenge Course Technology standards on American-made steel, with climbing hardware from Petzl, Dimos and French Creek. They rebuilt the course instead of patching it, and a portion of every ticket goes to the North Kohala nonprofit ʻIole. We list them because the guiding is the product here, not the hardware.
Affiliate Disclaimer
Booking through this page costs you nothing extra and is made directly with Kohala Zipline. We earn a commission from the operator, not from you, and it is what pays for the research that keeps lovebigisland.com free and free of paid placement. We only list operators we would send a friend to. Details on our affiliate links are here.