Facts, Activities & Attractions on the island of Hawaii, also known as the Big Island, Volcano Island and Orchid Isle. Vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii and you will either love it or hate it. I read this in a popular travel book, and having lived here almost 14 years, I don't agree, but I can see where the philosophy may stem from the island's extremes that include one of the world's most active volcanos, miles of moonscape-like, lava rock landscapes and a snow capped mountain. Hawaii Island also has some of the state's and nation's best beaches and much more...
Hawaii Island, nicknamed the Big Island because its land mass is greater than the sum of all Hawaii's eight major islands, and to avoid confusion with the state's name, is the most diverse.of all the Hawaiian islands. In one day, you can drive through just about every climate region you'll find on Earth. The Arctic and Saharan are the only two missing out of the 13. You can experience everything on the Big Island from rainforest to alpine climes!
The island's most popular ecotourism activities include diving, dolphin, whale and turtle viewing, deep sea fishing, hiking, kayaking, sailing, snorkeling, sight seeing, horseback riding, boogie boarding and camping (on a beach or a volcano!). And while Hawaii golf vacations and ecotourism may sound like an oxymoron, the Big Island is home to one of the nation's most eco-sensitive golf courses.
The island's Waimea Community Hospital where Eastern medicine meets Western medicine is world renowned, and the Big Island with its many alternative healing practioners and spas is becoming an increasingly popular WellnessVacation destination
Big Island Facts
Island Flower: Red Lehua Blossom
Island Color: Red
Size: 4,028 square miles. 92 miles long, 72 miles wide. Hawaii is the largest of the Hawaiian Islands with more land than all of the islands put together.
Big Island Population: 117,644,
Average Temperature at Sea Level: 75 to 85° F.
Major Industries: Tourism, anthuriumss, orchids, Hawaiian coffee, astronomy, and agriculture. Agriculture products include: macadamia nuts, papaya, cattle, aquaculture, ag-tourism and scientific technology.
Airports: Kona and Hilo, the Big Island's main airports service direct flights to and from the United States and Canada.
Popular Destinations include Kohala's resorts, but we also have very nice (and interesting) alternative accomodations such as the Volcano House Hotel (closed for renovations), and in Hilo, the Shipman House Bed and Breakfast (its historical guest list includes Hawaii's Queen Liliokalani and writer Jack London).. In Kona, there is King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel located adjacent to what was once King Kamehameha the Great's royal residence and the Ahu'ena Heiau he resurrected, a temple dedicated to Lono, the Hawaiian God of peace, agriculture and prosperity.
Alternative, budget lodging options abound including vacation houses, hostels and camping to be featured in my upcoming ebook:
Airports: Kona and Hilo, the Big Island's main airports service direct flights to and from the United States and Canada.
Shopping: Hilo and Kaiula-Kona, the largest cities on the island, are not the shopper's paradise that Honolulu is, but if you're looking for Aloha wear, Hawaii made items, Hawaiian jewelry, art, orchids, Kona coffee, macadamia nuts, anthuriums, Hawaii grown foods, fine restaurants, Grower's Markets (as well as big as a few big discount stores), you'll be in shopping heaven.
Golf: One of the most environmentally-sensitive courses in the United States, Hapuna Golf Course.
Things to Do on the Big Island
Play and Sightsee at Big Island Beaches
The Big Island offers a Hawaii vacation paradise with stunningly beautiful beaches (80 in all), far less crowded than on the more visited islands of Oahu and Maui. Most beaches on the Windward side(Hilo, Puna and Kau districts) are black sand. My favorite black sand beach is Richardon's just outside of Hilo and Punalu'u south of Volcano and famous for its sea turtle.
The beaches in Kailua-Kona are small pockets of white sand and/or rocky beaches. The best beach on the island is north of Kona on the Kohala Coast : Hapuna. This beach offers 1/2 mile of golden sand, awesome turqoise waters, norkeling and body boarding and a concesson stand.
Surfing isn't the greatest on this island, but surfers who live here know where to catch waves. Pine Trees on Kona is one spot, and when you're driving north out of Hilo at the first bridge outside of town, we always see surfers below at the Honoli'i break. The best beaches on this island are detailed in my Hawaii Budget Vacation guide to the Big Island..
Hiking, waterfall picnics, sightseeing, horseback riding, culture, place of refuge and much more, as you will see in the regional descriptions below!
Hawaii Island Regions
Kona
On the sunny leeward side, and south of Kohala, Kailua - Kona is a popular destination for windward side locals as well as visitors to Hawaii.
Dining, dancing, snorkeling cruises, lots of shops and art galleries, a submarine ride, kayaking, and Kealakekua Bay where you can kayak out in the morning and see dolphins, are just a few of Kona's attractions. Pu`uhonua o Honaunau, or the Place of Refuge is a beautiful lagoon with a recreated Hawaiian village.
Kona was favored by King Kamehameha. In Kona, you can visit Hawaii's first ordained Christian church as well as the summer palace of Hawaii's overthrown monarchy.
Whether you seek fun in the sun, history, culture, and/or nightlight, you can find it in Kona.
One word of warning. The island's volcano does send vog into Kona. If you're sensitive to this, consider booking accommodations elsewhere on the island. The Hilo side of the island gets vog too, but normally its clear on that side and voggy in Kona. My Big Island guide book details of all this.
South Kohala
Up the coast from Kona, you'll find mesquite (keawe) and cactus, golden and white sand beaches, world class resorts and lots of history on the Big Island's spectacular Gold Coast. Known as the most sunny region in all of Hawaii, you can almost always count on a great day at the beach here.
When we lived on Hilo side, we made the trek over early in the day though because late afternoon scattered showers are not unusual. Kohala is where the most luxurious (and fun!) resorts are found. Locals and tourists enjoy the boat rides, lagoon and dolphins and large Chinese art collection at the Waikoloa Hilton. Kohala is also home to one of the best beaches in the U.S., Hapuna.
Many visitors focus on Kona and complain of small beaches, but that's because they didn't make the drive up to this spectacular mile long beach where you can snorkle, boogie board (little ones and us older ones too!) or just bask in the sun and the beauty.
Locals and tourists alike enjoy strolling around the beautiful grounds of the resorts. Kohala is also home to one of the best beaches in the United States, Hapuna State Park. There's also camping nearby at Spencer's and in the cabins at Hapuna.
North Kohala
Continuing up the coast, the terrain changes from mesquite appointed desert to lush green pastures above the sea followed by the small, charming old town of Hawi, and then verdant North Kohala peninsula where the original statue of King Kamehameha the Great that stands sentinel at Kapa'au.
The road here ends at the stunning Polulu Valley Lookout. You can return the way you came from, driving the less than 30 minute drive back down the coast to Kohala or you can take the Kohala Mountain Road, a sort of short cut to Waimea, that winds around horseshoe curves and provides tree lined pastoral views.
Waimea (also called Kamuela)
This old upcountry cow town on the northern road between the Kohala and Hamakua coasts is situated in the heart of paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) country.
Art galleries, B&B's, eateries and a children's playground are back-dropped by rolling green hills. There's a dry side (with barrel cactus!) and a green side to Waimea, and the temperature drops dramatically in its upland mist. Parker Ranch is the main attraction here where you can ride horses, participate in cattle roping, visit the museum and otherwise, place cowboy for the day.
Hamakua Heritage Coast
Driving across the island through Waimea or up from Hilo, you will land on the "Emerald Coast," just a few miles north of Hilo. This cliff-top drive is often compared to the Maui's Hana Highway, only without the wild hairpin curves and narrow lanes. I think Hana has its own incomparable beauty, but Hamakua is a highlight of the island for good reason.
Here you'll find Akaka Falls (the state's longest sheer drop waterfall), which plunges over 400 feet into a pool at the Akaka Falls State Park, numerous waterfalls viewable from the highway, old sugar plantation towns, a sugar train museum, grand vistas of the blue Pacific, green pastures and tropical plants galore.
Hilo
The Hilo side or Windward (east) side is lush and tropical. Hilo is the orchid capital of the world, and botanical garden tours are a major attraction in and around Hilo side. The largest hula festival in the world, the Merry Monarch Festival takes place every spring in Hilo.
One of the most scenic sights in Hilo (there are many) is in the winter when you look up across Hilo Bay and see the snow capped peak of sacred Mauna Kea, home to world class observatories.
In Wailuku River State Park, the morning mists at Rainbow Falls account for its name. Just outside Hilo town, is Richardson's Ocean Park, one of the best beach snorkeling spots on the island.
Hilo is more old Hawaii, more local. I lived here for several years. I love Hilo! And Hilo is the rainiest city in the United States (recording around 130 inches a year near the shore to as much as 200 inches upslope); however daytime termperatures average in the 70's and low 80's, making the rain welcome.
Most of this rain falls at night and in the morning in Hilo. Sometimes it will rain day in an day out for several days. That's when we'd drive over to Hapuna Beach on the Big Island's sunny Kohala Coast to boogie board and build sand castles returning to Hilo, and its fragrant paradise of flowers that the Big Island is so well known for..
Puna
The Puna District includes the small town of Pahoa. This is an interesting town with its Old West wooden storefronts and its predominantly alternative culture residents. There's a nice natural foods store here (although much smaller than its sister in Hilo).
Many of the island's residents live in Puna where land and housing is dirt cheap compared to anywhere else in Hawaii. Puna also is home to the one of the nation's largest subdivisions, Hawaiian Paradise Park, which offers one acre lots located between the ocean cliffs with their ancient trails (one leading to Shipman's Beach, a secluded lagoon) and the main highway leading to Kea'au town to Pahoa, Kapoho and Kalapana. I live in Puna and my Big Island ebook gives lots of info on things to do here.
Just for starters, from Puna's ocean cliffs and beaches, you can be among the first to greet the sunrise of a new day in Hawaii. You'll also find warm ponds along Puna coast in (Kapoho and at Isaac Hale Park) that are warmed by underground springs heated by the volcano.
Lava!
The Kalapana viewing area for the lava that is flowing into the sea is also located in Puna. And this district is the gateway to Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park in Ka`u District.
Puna is also the gateway to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in Kau District.
Ka`u
The main interest of visitors in Kau is Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which features the world's most active volcano, and is the most popular attraction on the Big Island.
The National Park offers a science museum, lodge, walk-through lava tubes, and trails that lead through lush green forest, homes to native songbirds, and across old lava flows and past steam vents.
At the summit, the Halema`uma`u vent (the one you can see from Volcano House's restaurant and from the Jaggar Museum) has been spewing ash and sulfur dioxide since 2008 and for the first time since 1982, lava has bubbled up here. From the National Park's area you can sometimes see the glowing red at night.
Ka'u is also home to one of Dr. Beach's Top 10, Punalu'u, a black sand beach where Hawaiian turtles bask in the sun and lay their eggs. Driving up to the National Park and then down the other side of the mountain, you will pass through the pretty little towns of Pahala and Na`alehu and eventually end up at South Point, the southernmost point of the United States where every day people make the trek to its famous Green Sands Beach.
This vast and often desolate southern region of Volcanoes National Park has attracted many writers (including Mark Twain), photographers and artists. From here you can continue on through the Ocean View homes area, across moonscape terrain and up to verdant South Kona. Or you can return to the Windward side by driving back up the mountain, past the National Park and on down the mountain, through Puna.
Hawaii, the Big Island has an ocean full of fun and eco-friendly things to do and see. Learn more:
