Aerial view of a tall waterfall cutting through dense green valley forest — Manawaiopuna Falls, Kauaʻi, from the air, 2012. Julian Fong · CC BY-SA 2.0

00Kauaʻi · Oʻahu · 1992–93 · fence live

The island
is real.

Isla Nublar was stitched together from real ground: a waterfall you can only fly to, fig roots in a garden, a ranch valley on Oʻahu. Even the storm was real.

Steven Spielberg at the Venice Film Festival, September 1993, the summer Jurassic Park opened. GianAngelo Pistoia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Steven Spielbergdirector · Venice, 1993
Jeff Goldblum at the Academy Awards, March 1990. Alan Light · CC BY 2.0
Jeff GoldblumIan Malcolm · 1990

01Arrival · Hanapēpē Valley, South Shore

You arrive
by air.

Island Helicopters calls Manawaiopuna the 400-foot waterfall made famous in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.

High · Over Hanapēpē Valley

Field notes

Island Helicopters

Jurassic Falls landing tour

Līhuʻe Airport, Kauaʻi · 75–80 minutes · $449.30

A round-island flight that lands at the foot of Manawaiopuna Falls: the operator says it is the only way to land there.

See the tour

02Field guide · specimens of the set

A field guide
to the island.

Three plates. Each is drawn as a naturalist would, and turns over to the place as it is.

Plate I

Ficus macrophylla

Moreton Bay fig, Allerton Garden

Habitat · Lāwaʻi valley, Kauaʻi

The garden’s guided tour shows the towering roots of the Moreton Bay fig trees featured in Jurassic Park.

Guided tours only, from 4425 Lāwaʻi Road, Kōloa: about 2.5 hours on select Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, adults $65. Arrive 30 minutes early.

Field notes

Plate II

Sea cliff, fluted

Nāpali Coast

Habitat · North Shore, Kauaʻi

Hawaiʻi’s tourism authority lists the Nāpali Coast as a location for The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Seen from the sea or the air: boat tours leave Port Allen, kayak trips run in summer, air tours fly from Līhuʻe.

Field notes

Plate III

Valley, open grass

Kaʻaʻawa Valley, Kualoa Ranch

Habitat · Windward Oʻahu

The original Jurassic Park was shot on Kauaʻi and Oʻahu in 1992.

A working ranch seen on its own guided tours, from 49-560 Kamehameha Highway. The Jurassic Adventure Tour is 2.5 hours, adults $149.95; the Movie Sites & Ranch Tour is 1.5 hours, $59.95.

Field notes

National Tropical Botanical Garden

Allerton Garden guided tour

Kōloa, Kauaʻi · About 2.5 hours · adults $65

The only way into the garden: the walk passes the roots of the Moreton Bay figs featured in Jurassic Park.

Book the tour

Viator · Ad / affiliate

Nāpali Coast boat tours

Port Allen, Kauaʻi

Live marketplace results for boat trips along the Nāpali Coast, the Lost World cliffs. Check each itinerary.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

03Perimeter · Kauaʻi

Throw the breakers.
Light the fence.

The island in the film had a fence round it. On Kauaʻi each sector is a real place; the fence itself was a canyon rim you can only land on by helicopter.

0/6 sectors on line

Board idle. Pick a sector.

Drawn map. Olokele and Valley House are private and carry no pin.

Field notes: the fence and the estate

Safari Helicopters via Kauai.com

Canyon landing tour

Līhuʻe heliport, Kauaʻi · 90 minutes · $369

A helicopter tour with a 30-minute stop at the Kauai Wildlife Refuge above Olokele Canyon, ground made famous by the fence scene. (Photograph: the Kauaʻi coast, not the canyon.)

See the tour

04Weather · Līhuʻe, east Kauaʻi

The storm
was real.

Run the barograph

Run-up · Waves and rain are filmed along Nāwiliwili Bay as the storm approaches.

Video of the waves and torrential rain along Nāwiliwili Bay, shot as Hurricane Iniki approached, was used in the film’s evacuation scene. Iniki, a Category 4 storm, crossed Kauaʻi on 11 September 1992, when the crew were in their final days of filming.

Field notes

A rock breakwater with a small light tower in a grey-blue bay — The breakwater, Nāwiliwili Bay, 2015. Bob Linsdell · CC BY 3.0

Royal Sonesta

Royal Sonesta Kauaʻi Resort Līhuʻe

Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi

On Kalapaki Beach in Līhuʻe, two miles from the airport where the helicopter tours leave; Nāwiliwili Bay is the harbour the Iniki footage was shot along.

View the resort

Green slopes rising into the dark ridges of Kaʻaʻawa Valley under cloud — Kaʻaʻawa Valley, Oʻahu, 2021. Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0

05Oʻahu · Kualoa, Hakipuʻu and Kaʻaʻawa valleys

The field
where they ran.

The field is quiet.

The original Jurassic Park was shot on Kauaʻi and Oʻahu in 1992. The ranch’s Jurassic Adventure Tour visits locations from the original Jurassic Park and locations and sets from Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom, across the Kualoa, Hakipuʻu and Kaʻaʻawa valleys.

The tour takes in the Indominus rex paddock with its 60-foot walls and the field where the gallimimus flock.

The ranch calls Kaʻaʻawa its “Jurassic” valley: over 250 films and shows have been made there, and its movie tour shows the Jurassic World bunker.

Sam Neill smiling, in black tie — Sam Neill, 2022 New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General · CC BY 4.0

Laura Dern smiling, with long wavy hair — Laura Dern, 2025 Raph_PH · CC BY 4.0

Field notes

Kualoa Ranch

Jurassic Adventure Tour

Kualoa, Oʻahu · 2.5 hours · $149.95 adults, $74.95 ages 3–12

Open-air vehicles through three valleys: the gallimimus field, the Indominus rex paddock and the bunkers.

Book the tour

Kualoa Ranch

Movie Sites & Ranch Tour

Kualoa, Oʻahu · 1.5 hours · $59.95 adults

The shorter tour of Kaʻaʻawa, the ranch’s “Jurassic” valley, with the Jurassic World bunker.

See the tour

06Containment failure · four theme parks

The island,
rebuilt as rides.

84 ft · water drop · Jurassic World—The Ride, Hollywood

Field notes: the drops

Visitors walking under a tall stone-effect gateway into a jungle-themed ride — The entrance to Jurassic World—The Ride, Universal Studios Hollywood, 2022. Troutfarm27 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Universal Studios Hollywood, Los Angeles

Jurassic World—The Ride

Jurassic Park—The Ride closed on 3 September 2018 to be reimagined with a Jurassic World theme, reopening in 2019.

Inside Universal Studios Hollywood: a park ticket is needed. Expect to be soaked at the bottom.

Field notes

A yellow raft full of riders floating through a jungle-themed river — Jurassic Park River Adventure, Islands of Adventure, 2012. Jeremy Thompson · CC BY 2.0

Universal Orlando Resort, Florida

Jurassic Park, Islands of Adventure

Jurassic Park River Adventure begins as a gentle tour of the herbivore area and ends in an 85-foot plunge, which Universal says was the largest theme-park water descent ever built.

Inside Universal Islands of Adventure: a park ticket is needed. River Adventure minimum height 42 inches; VelociCoaster 51 inches.

Field notes

Visitors passing through a large gate flanked by stone pillars and palms — The Jurassic Park gate in The Lost World, Universal Studios Singapore, 2013. 玄史生 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Sentosa, Singapore

The Lost World, Universal Studios Singapore

Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure is an outdoor river-raft ride in The Lost World zone.

Inside Universal Studios Singapore on Sentosa: a park ticket is needed. Riders under 107 cm may not ride the rapids.

Field notes

A glass-domed building with jungle rock work at its entrance — The Aviary in Jurassic World Isla Nublar, Universal Studios Beijing, 2024. Owen3droblox · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tongzhou, Beijing

Jurassic World Isla Nublar, Universal Studios Beijing

Universal Studios Beijing opened on 20 September 2021 with the first Jurassic World Isla Nublar themed land.

Inside Universal Studios Beijing: a park ticket is needed.

Field notes

Longtail boats moored on a pale beach below limestone cliffs — West Railay, Krabi, 2015. Krzysztof Golik · CC BY-SA 4.0

07Rebirth · southern Thailand

In 2025 the island moved to Thailand.

Jurassic World Rebirth was filmed across Krabi, Phang-Nga and Trang. At a 2025 media event for the film, the Tourism Authority of Thailand took guests rappelling down the cliffs at Railay Beach.

A public beach under limestone cliffs. No single filming spot is published; the film’s ground spreads across three provinces.

Field notes

Loews Hotels

Loews Sapphire Falls Resort

Universal Orlando Resort

A Universal Orlando hotel with a water taxi and shuttle to the parks, and Early Park Admission up to an hour before opening.

View the resort

Koloa Landing Resort

Kōloa, Kauaʻi

A south-shore resort on Poipu Road, Kōloa: the same shore as Allerton Garden’s fig grove.

View the resort

∞Specimen · origin

It started
on paper.

A drop of amber. Hold it to the light.

Michael Crichton smiling, in glasses and a dark suit — Michael Crichton, 2002 Jon Chase photo/Harvard News Office · CC BY-SA 3.0

Steven Spielberg, bearded, in round glasses and a bow tie — Steven Spielberg, 1993 GianAngelo Pistoia · CC BY-SA 3.0

08The guide

Where it is now

10 places you can visit, by island and park. Olokele Canyon and the Valley House estate are private and are not pinned: the canyon is reached only on the helicopter tour.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Air tour only. Island Helicopters lands at the foot of the falls five days a week from Līhuʻe Airport: 75–80 minutes, $449.30.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Guided tours only, from 4425 Lāwaʻi Road, Kōloa: about 2.5 hours on select Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, adults $65. Arrive 30 minutes early.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Seen from the sea or the air: boat tours leave Port Allen, kayak trips run in summer, air tours fly from Līhuʻe.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Līhuʻe’s working harbour. The bay shore is public; the breakwater is easiest to see from the beach park.

Manawaiopuna Falls from the helicopter landing area, 2015. Cyril Fluck · CC BY 2.0
Kauaʻi · Hanapēpē Valley, South Shore, Kauaʻi
1 · Manawaiopuna Falls
Island Helicopters calls Manawaiopuna the 400-foot waterfall made famous in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.
Air tour only. Island Helicopters lands at the foot of the falls five days a week from Līhuʻe Airport: 75–80 minutes, $449.30.
Field notes
The Moreton Bay figs at Allerton Garden, 2018. Payton Walton · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kauaʻi · Lāwaʻi valley, South Shore, Kauaʻi
2 · Allerton Garden
The garden’s guided tour shows the towering roots of the Moreton Bay fig trees featured in Jurassic Park.
Guided tours only, from 4425 Lāwaʻi Road, Kōloa: about 2.5 hours on select Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, adults $65. Arrive 30 minutes early.
Field notes
The Nāpali Coast from the sea, 2015. Christian Joudrey cjoudrey · CC0
Kauaʻi · North Shore, Kauaʻi
3 · Nāpali Coast
Hawaiʻi’s tourism authority lists the Nāpali Coast as a location for The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
Seen from the sea or the air: boat tours leave Port Allen, kayak trips run in summer, air tours fly from Līhuʻe.
Field notes
The breakwater at Nāwiliwili Bay, Līhuʻe. Bob Linsdell · CC BY 3.0
Kauaʻi · Līhuʻe, east Kauaʻi
4 · Nāwiliwili Bay
Video of the waves and torrential rain along Nāwiliwili Bay, shot as Hurricane Iniki approached, was used in the film’s evacuation scene.
Līhuʻe’s working harbour. The bay shore is public; the breakwater is easiest to see from the beach park.
Field notes

Stay

Sleep inside the perimeter.

A harbour resort in Līhuʻe, a south-shore resort near the fig grove, and a hotel beside the Orlando ride.

Royal Sonesta

Royal Sonesta Kauaʻi Resort Līhuʻe

Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi

On Kalapaki Beach in Līhuʻe, two miles from the airport where the helicopter tours leave; Nāwiliwili Bay is the harbour the Iniki footage was shot along.

View the resort

Koloa Landing Resort

Kōloa, Kauaʻi

A south-shore resort on Poipu Road, Kōloa: the same shore as Allerton Garden’s fig grove.

View the resort

Loews Hotels

Loews Sapphire Falls Resort

Universal Orlando Resort

A Universal Orlando hotel with a water taxi and shuttle to the parks, and Early Park Admission up to an hour before opening.

View the resort

Book a way in