hawaii: the big island
Hands-down my favorite place in the world. The Big Island is my favorite of the Hawaiian islands. It has incredibly diverse landscape, and active volcano (like wow), nice people, and enough to do without being crowded. If I ever move, I hope this is where I’ll be.
West Side of the Island
There are two main airports on the big island, in Kona and in Hilo. Kona seems to have the most flights, and is the one I’ve used when visiting. Renting a car on the island is a must, because there is so much to do all across the island and things are very spread out (the big island has as much land area as all the other main Hawaiian islands combined).
On the Kona side, we visited Heavenly Hawaiian Kona Coffee for a coffee farm tour and some samples. This space was very cool, and had a pool in the middle of the “dining area.” It is a long and steep drive up the mountain to get there, but there are amazing views of the ocean from the top. There are lots of coffee farm tours on the island, this is the one that was recommended by a friend so I don’t know how it compares to other options.
Two Step beach in Captain Cook south of Kona is an amazing spot for snorkeling. We saw SO many yellow fish right off the rocks and could explore without going too far out into the water. There were tons of sea urchins in the rocks when we visited, so look out! It feels like you’re driving into the middle of nowhere to get there, but once you arrive it’s totally worth it!
We spent our last night in Hawaii on our first visit at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, north of Kona. The parking was expensive and confusing, and I wish I had known ahead of time that I would need to wait for a (rather slow-moving) tram to get from the main lobby to the actual hotel I was staying in. The sheer size of the resort takes up a good deal of time to traverse, and there are surprisingly not a ton of food options without leaving the property, so be sure to plan ahead. However, the many pools were SO fun, and the sunset view was possibly the best we saw in the islands! They also have dolphins onsite and guests can book a swim with dolphin adventure for an added fee.
There are lots of nice beaches all along the west coast of the island! I haven’t spent much time at any of them, but I hope to check them out on a future trip.
Across the Center
Regardless of your plans for the big island, I highly recommend you take a day to drive across the middle of the island and visit Mauna Kea. This is the tallest peak in the world measured from the ocean floor, and it’s kinda amazing to drive above the clouds and look out below you. You must have a 4-wheel drive vehicle to take the dirt road all the way to the summit. We did not do this, but you can go to the visitor’s center in a regular vehicle which is still most of the way to the top.
During this drive we saw SO many different types of terrains. Some areas looked like Kentucky, others like Texas, and of course other areas are rainforest or ocean. I did NOT expect this in Hawaii. Eight of the nine worldwide climate zones are represented on the big island alone. This alone is enough to put this island on your bucket list!
During our drive we also saw little “dirt devils” or small tornados of dust across the plains. This was very cool to witness, and also another example of the incredibly diverse climate. You will also encounter lava across right by the road from previous eruptions. When my brain said “I’m in Hawaii” and my eyes saw a tumbleweed blow across the road, I thought I just might be in the Twilight Zone.
On the East Side
East Side best side. So many amazing places are contained on this portion of the island. First, you can visit Volcanoes National Park and see LAVA! Amazing! It’s cool during the day, but you really need to plan to go at night to witness the orange glow we think of. You can visit the national park webcams here to see what conditions are like at any time: https://www.nps.gov/havo/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm
Within the park we visited the Thurston Lava tube, which is an easy walk through a cave tunnel created by a previous lava eruption. We also spent most of our viewing time at the Kilauea overlook, which is very easy to access from the parking lot. It was windy and rather chilly the day we visited, but totally worth the trip.
I would recommend making the visitor’s center your first stop when you arrive to get information about the best viewing spots for that day. There is also a delicious restaurant inside the lodge, just across from the visitor’s center!
In Pahoa and Keeau there is a restaurant called Kaleo’s, which I discovered on my first trip to the island and visited three additional times on my next trip. It’s a relatively standard American-food menu, but their pasta is AMAZING! I have had several different things there, and have never been disappointed.
Hilo Area
Hilo area is one my favorite places in the whole state of Hawaii. The most amazing is the Hilo Farmer’s market, which is open everyday, but has additional vendors on Wednesdays and Saturdays (I strongly recommend going one of these days). We saw HUGE avocados, lots of fruit and veggies I could not identify, baked goods, handmade local products, and we got some bleach-printed tees and tanks.
Also right in downtown Hilo is Rainbow Falls. This is a smaller waterfall, and the sun comes through in the morning to make rainbows around the water. The falls is very easy to access from the road and is free, so it’s worth a quick stop even if you’re not there in the morning. Be sure to take the trail up the stairs off the parking lot to find some HUGE trees in a very magical-feeling forest, still right along the road.
On my second stay, we booked what is now possibly my favorite AirBnb. The hosts live upstairs, and have created a beautiful private apartment in the lower rear part of the house. It’s complete with an outdoor kitchen, laundry, indoor and outdoor showers, and all the appliances you could imagine. The yard is beautiful and has a waterfall feature, along with an outdoor covered living room, and a clean hot tub. The hosts, Dana and Gregory, were very kind and pleasant to talk with. They list on AirBnb and VRBO, and I would definitely recommend booking this place as your stay for two people in the Hilo area!
A few miles to the north is Akaka Falls State Park, which is a pleasant rainforest walk to see a waterfall that is twice the height of Niagara falls! There are lots of smaller falls of water along the walk and it’s a good way to spend a couple hours. There is a fee to enter as well as to park.
On my second visit to the Big Island, I enjoyed visiting the Honomu Goat Dairy, which boasts, “There are always baby goats to play with - free of charge!” It really is free, and the staff were all very kind. They only ask that you sanitize your hands before going to play with their goats, and if you want to buy treats for the goats it’s $1 - cash only. When we visited they also had some little babies - a 3-week old goat and lamb that were rescued on the island. They were SO cute!
Carlsmith Beach Park is a bit south of Hilo, and is a very unique beach area. It’s more of a lagoon with lava rocks, grassy space, and a small island you can swim to. It’s definitely not a sandy beach, but it was a very pretty place to spend an afternoon, take a dip in the perfectly clear water, see a rainbow, and watch a storm roll in (ya know, typical Hawaii). There were also several large sea turtles around the coves!
I discovered that much of the east coast is covered in these rocky lagoon-paradise parks. We visited Reeds Bay Beach Park, Richardson Ocean Park, and several similar spots between the two. At each place we say a cove of turtles, and rainbows over the water as storms rolled in during the late afternoon.
North East Region
On a day trip from Hilo, we drove Route 19 (Mamalahoa Highway/Hawaii Belt Road) to the North. There was no real agenda for the day, but we discovered some interesting places. One of them was Laupahoehoe Beach Park, a rocky but beautiful ocean-front area. I’m told that on a calm day you can kayak around and swim in the lagoons, but the day we visited the waves were very rough.
Moving further north, we encountered several forests of tall, skinny trees which looked very cool and required a stop to take a few pictures. I later learned they’re old Eucalyptus planations that have been abandoned. They were very pretty and unexpected for a tropical island.
Continuing north we passed through the small town Honokaa and landed at the Waipo’o Valley Lookout, where you can see a serene black sand beach and look across the ocean. We weren’t able to go beyond this as a storm several months earlier closed the road to all but locals who live in the valley.
There were several fruit stands along the route, and we stopped at the colorful Waipo’o Fruit Shack for some fresh-pressed juice and rest time in their outdoor hammocks.
As is typical for Hawaii, we passed a full double rainbow as we drove south along Hawaii belt road from Waipo’o back toward Hilo.
The Most Magical Place on Earth
The Big Island also contains millions of these tiny frogs. The chirp like birds all night long, and were so loud from our AirBnb in the rainforest. They’re not on the other islands (let’s keep it that way). They were kinda cute, and didn’t seem to mind us being around.
My new dream is to have a tiny house or condo near Hilo on the island of Hawaii. I’ll let you know if I ever make it.