Inside Elvis Presley’s favourite holiday destination
When Elvis Presley floated down a tropical lagoon at the Coco Palms Resort, serenading his new island bride, in the 1960s film Blue Hawaii, it forever sealed the resort as the most romantic destination for couple’s all over the world.
The luxury resort of Kauaʻi which included a 17-acre coconut grove had already been marked a paradise hotpot when movie Miss Sadie Thompson, starring Rita Hayworth, was filmed there, but then came Elvis…
As the romantic destination for the on-screen wedding of Elvis Presley and his co-star Joan Blackman for Blue Hawaii, Coco Palms quickly became the place to tie the knot, for honeymooners keen to recreate the iconic lagoon scene or for anyone wanting a piece of Elvis’s paradise.
Elvis himself even stayed the resort, at the number 56 cottage, with then wife Priscilla.
For decades, the resort reaped the benefits of the film’s success and the Elvis association. Even up to its closure, Coco Palms was the location for around 500 weddings a year.
But when a massive hurricane hit the island in 1992, the resort was flattened and even Elvis’s monumental legacy couldn’t save it.
Now the once grand Coco Palms stands in tatters, a far cry from the paradise it was in its heyday. Scroll through the gallery to look back at the grandeur of a now forgotten Coco Palms.
Related links:
Aerial tour of beautiful flower field in the Netherlands
10 breathtaking photos of New Zealand’s beautiful roads
10 incredible things to do in Tokyo