I was lucky enough to go on a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii at the beginning of February 2019 with my partner, Philip, and his parents. Here is my 4 day itinerary for the Big Island of Hawaii.
Where to Stay on the Big Island of Hawaii
My recommendation is to stay in Kona which is on the western side of the island. Kona has tons of restaurants, bars, and attractions for visitors making it the most popular area to stay.
If resorts suite you, there are incredible resorts north of Kona which can be another good option. We stayed at the Hilton in Waikoloa Village thanks to a great hotel deal. The resort itself is massive and has just about everything you need. In fact, some Hilton guests don’t leave the resort at all. The only down side of the resorts is their distance from Kona with a 40 minute drive.
Day 1 Big Island of Hawaii
We flew in on a Friday night and landed in time for a late dinner. For our first full day we maintained a good balance between adventure and relaxing. We started by exploring the resort admiring the many pools, ocean views, and private lagoon.
Pololu Valley
Later we drove up to Hawi, on the northern part of the island, via the 19 to the 270. I watched as the climate completely changed going from an arid desert (where the Hilton is) to a lush jungle (Hawi). We grabbed lunch at Bamboo Restaurant before driving another 20 minutes through the jungle to Pololu Valley. You can park your car along the road and have an incredible view of the valley and coastline. The hike down to the valley floor is not long and is overall moderate, but can be really muddy.
Exploring Pololu Valley was one of the highlights of the trip, and I would consider it a must. At the bottom there is a black sand beach, a river flowing into the ocean, and a forest. Note that there are no bathrooms in this area other than nature ;]
Driving Highway 250
After hiking Pololu Valley we drove back to the resort and opted to take a different route via the 250. This was an incredible beautiful drive! It was hard to know whether I was in Ireland or Hawaii with cattle grazing in the rolling green hills and the ocean in the distance.
Dinner at Lava Lava
Later that night we had dinner at Lava Lava, a really fun restaurant adjacent to the Hilton. The restaurant is literally right on the beach! I absolutely recommend getting dinner and drinks here, the ambience is A+ and there is usually live music.
Day 2 Big Island of Hawaii
Snorkeling at Kahalu’u Beach
The second day of our trip happened to be Super Bowl Sunday with the Rams vs Patriots. We didn’t care much about the game so we drove down to Kahalu’u Beach to snorkel. This beach is conveniently located in Kona making it easy to rent snorkel gear in town and drive just a few minutes to the beach; we got our gear at Boss Frogs Snorkel. It took me some time to get used to breathing through the snorkel and walking in flippers, but it was worth it after seeing hundreds of colorful fish.
After about an hour of snorkeling we headed back into town for lunch and to catch some of the game. Of course I also bought some chocolate covered macadamia nuts at Donkey Balls!
Mahai’ula beach
On our drive back north we stopped at Mahai’ula beach for the sunset. It’s not that I wouldn’t recommend this beach, but be warned that it requires a very bumpy 20 minute drive through a lava field.
Day 3 Big Island of Hawaii
I’m going to start out by saying this was a very aggressive day – our drive around the entire island.
We left the resort in the morning and headed northeast on the 19 to Honokaa. Our first stop was Tex Drive-In where we ate malasadas (Portuguese donuts) which where much bigger than I expected! I also ordered a spam loco moco which I did not love.
Akaka Falls, Rainbow Falls, and Peepee Falls
We continued on to waterfall number one, Akaka Falls, which is just north of Hilo. Akaka has a very well kept, accessible path that does a nice loop through the jungle and has views of the river below. The path is less than a mile long, and is high above the waterfall, so don’t expect to go swimming. This was my favorite of the three falls we went to.
Next we went to Peepee falls (yes there were tons of pee pee jokes ;] ). This was the first let down. I had it in my mind that we would be hiking and climbing things, but the reality was that all you can do is park your car, walk 20 steps, have a nice view of the falls and 100 signs that warn against trespassing/ swimming/ diving/ doing anything other than looking.
Our third and final waterfall was rainbow falls which was really beautiful, but similar to PeePee, there are no trespassing signs everywhere. This waterfall did have a couple vantage points at least, one of which led into this awesome forest but you couldn’t venture very far.
Lunch in Hilo
Three water falls later and we were ready for lunch. I was excited to finally explore Hilo, I had pictured it like Kona but greener. It was greener, but it wasn’t like Kona. My takeaway is that Hilo doesn’t cater as much to tourists. We ate lunch at Poke N Sides, which was very different from the LA style poke I am used to and not in a good way. The best part was the delicious shave ice adjacent to Poke N Sides where we got a mango shave ice to share.
Volcanoes National Park
From Hilo we drove to Volcanoes National Park (yup, back in the car getting further from Kona). It was a foggy, drizzly day which I think is pretty common there. Many of the paths were closed but we took advantage of what we could do. We saw the steam vents, tried to peak at the caldera, and my highlight was the sulfur banks – who doesn’t love the smell of sulfur.
Once we had done all we could at Volcanoes National Park the sun was starting to set and we were three hours away from home. We opted for the southern route so we could A) Say we drove around the entire island and B) Stop at Kona Brewery for dinner. We eventually made it and enjoyed a nice dinner, though I will say their pizza may as well just be bread, but good tasting bread.
Was driving around the entire island worth it? I’m still undecided. With the big island, I think it is important to realize the size, it’s not as small as you might think.
Day 4 Big Island of Hawaii
After many hours in the car the previous day, we made a point to stay out of the car for our fourth day in Hawaii. We spent the morning hanging out at the resort’s private lagoon, and enjoyed a resort lunch with a view. One neat thing about the Hilton is that there are paths that take you from the hotel to public beaches, one of which we took to get to ‘A- Bay’ (Anaeho’omalu Beach). Once at A-Bay we rented standup paddle boards which was a lot of fun and easier than it looks (when in a bay with no waves…).
Day 5 on the Big Island of Hawaii
The final hours – on day five our flight was at 2pm so we had a couple hours to find some final Hawaiian shave ice. We ended up at One Aloha Shave Ice which was a quirky place but it tasted good. We wandered around the town for a bit then went to the airport.
Final Thoughts
There are endless things to do on the Big Island and I think there are options for everyone whether you want to do more hiking, eating, tours, boating, whatever floats your boat. I would certainly make a trip back to the big island but would like to see the other islands first.
- Notes:
- The airport is all outdoor which I thought was unique
- Uber does and has existed in Hawaii for a few years now
- Check the weather before going to Volcanos National Park
- Hilo is not so glam
- Spam loco mocos are not great
- There is a Walmart & Target in Kona to get familiar items
- You can find Ube ice cream at some of the grocery stores
- A lot of land on the Big Island is private which sometimes forces less direct routes
Other Things To Do
- Hike Waipi’o
- Snorkeling at Kahalu’u Beach
- Flumin’ Kohala (kayak tour)
- Zip-lining in Hawi
- Manta ray night tour
- Mauna Loa Observatory
- Botanical garden
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