Resolved: Megaresorts and paradise don't mix. Deborah Dunn dives into the fiftieth state and turns up 20 intimate hotels that put the Goliaths to shame

In Hawaii, size matters: a volcano taller than Mount Everest (Mauna Kea), a crater the depth of two Empire State Buildings (Haleakala), and megaresorts to match—Waikiki's Hilton Hawaiian Village, for example, has a whopping 2,545 rooms and four swimming pools. But to really live large, think small. Hidden on each island are tiny treasures: cottages high on a hill, butlered manses with private pools, red-shingled bungalows on volcanic slopes. These are the state's unsung properties, under-the-radar roosts often too intimate to warrant guidebook attention and too wonderfully idiosyncratic to be dubbed mere B&Bs.

On Kauai's north shore, for instance, just above a secluded beach, there's the aptly named Secret Beach Hideaway, three exquisitely furnished rental cottages surrounded by 71 lush acres. And in Upcountry Maui, you'll find (with detailed directions) a Thai-style tree house and a Balinese bungalow, both with prize views. Fancy a full-fledged resort instead? No place does intimate on a grander scale than the 66-room Hotel Hana-Maui, where the dining room is among the islands' best and where the seaside swimming pool rarely draws a crowd. Then there's the modest Molokai Sheraton, a gussied-up ranch with 22 cozy rooms and 40 solar-powered tents. Even those drawn to the throngs along Waikiki's busy strip can stake out a patch of sanity, at the 49-room W Honolulu, just down the beach.

Of course, opting for something more intimate may require a few sacrifices. Some of the 20 featured properties don't have room service, others tidy up the rooms just once a week. More than a few are sans restaurant, although a number have fully equipped in-room kitchens as recompense—and that's not the only upside. At Olinda Country Cottages, in Maui's cow country, your breakfast table is set with the pink proteas that bloom outside your bedroom window and the tangerines and bananas that grow on-site. At the Big Island's Palms Cliff House, you can arrange for private yoga instruction in the garden, a local farm tour followed by a cooking class, or a massage on your sea-view lanai—not bad for a place with only eight rooms.

I visited every publicly accessible island in the chain, leaving no palm frond unturned in my quest for the best properties with fewer than 100 rooms (with one notable exception). The result: Ten extraordinary places and ten honorable mentions—from $95 to $5,600 a night, each one an oasis. It's nice to know that even in sometimes overwrought Hawaii, good things still come in small packages.

BIG ISLAND
Twice the size of all the other islands in the chain combined, the Big Island runs hot and cold—literally. The Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes have rendered the southeast coast a barren moonscape, punctuated by black-sand beaches and lush rain forests, while to the northeast lie wide expanses of grassland and Mauna Kea, the snowcapped behemoth that is home to the world's largest observatory.