The big island of Hawaii was the last of the major islands in the chain we had yet to visit. And at least one of us feels we saved the best for last.
In May 2019 we spent one week on the island, exploring all sides. Below is our itinerary with highlights and lowlights, probably most useful for those who travel like we do: long on self-directed cheap experiences and short on fancy dinners and excursions.
The Itinerary
You can’t drive around the big island in one (enjoyable) day. So we planned our trip to leave time to circle the perimeter in a clockwise direction. We stayed our first two nights south of Kona on the west side of the island at a lovely Airbnb, our third and fourth nights on the east side of the island in another (more secluded) Airbnb south of Pohoa, and our final three nights back in Kona at the Courtyard by Marriott in town, using hotel points. With our lodging centered around the two main hubs of Kona and Hilo, which occupy opposite sides of the island, it allowed for a natural circuit that alternated travel adventure days with beach relaxation days.
It also allowed us to fly in and out of one airport and rent a car (a must) that we could pick up and drop off in one location. While some try to fly into one side of the island, rent a car, and then drop it off on the other side of the island when they fly out, this is usually considerably more expensive and makes it harder to find time to drive both the northern and southern routes.
Day 1: Land in Kona, rent a car (which they free upgraded to a convertible!), hit the grocery store (in our case Safeway), and settle into our Airbnb.
Day 2: snorkel at Two-Step, breakfast at The Coffee Shack, and spend the afternoon at Magic Sands beach.
Day 3: travel day to the north of the island with stops at Tex Drive-In, Aka’a Falls, the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens, Hilo Farmer’s Market, and then settling into our Airbnb south of Pohoa.
Day 4: beach at Kehena Black Sand Beach, lunch in Pohoa town at Luquin’s Mexican, grab some more groceries at the lovely Island Naturals Pohoa Market, and explore a bit of the lava flows on the drive out to Isaac Hale Park.
Day 5: travel day to the south of the island with stops at Volcanos National Park, Punalu’u Black Sands Beach, Punalu’u Bake Shop, Ka Lae Coffee Shop, and Indian dinner at Kamana Kitchen.
Day 6: pool day!
Day 7: coffee at Daylight Mind Coffee Shop followed by a beach day at Hapuna Beach State Park, and happy hour dinner at On The Rocks restaurant.
Day 8: lunch to go at Loko Wraps and fly out of Kona.
Top 5 Things To Do
Below is our Top 5 Things To Do on the Island of Hawai’i, part of the Just Carrying On – Top 5 Things To Do series. These lists are favorite activities, eats, and drinks from our travels around the world—in no particular order.
- Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens: we’ve been to a lot of botanical gardens on our travels and in terms of breathtaking beauty, this was the best of them all. Many of the flowers are not native to Hawaii, and other gardens can boast better architecture and curation, but none has come close to the density of floral attraction as we saw here. A must visit in our opinion and well worth the $20 per person entry fee.
- The Coffee Shack: some places just hit the mark, island vibe-y, good coffee and food, with a gorgeous view. Combine it with an early morning snorkel at Two-step just south and it is the perfect start to a day.
- Kehena Black Sands Beach: while Punalu’u Black Sands is far more accessible (and therefore popular) we liked Kehena better. It is a clothing optional beach and requires a climb down to reach, but has a sweet secluded and local feel. Be sure to drive north from the beach all the way to Isaac Hale Park. The road will take you in and out of recent lava flows and show just how powerful and devastating they can be.
- Coffee: Kona coffee can be a bit sweet for our tastes but we had several really good cups. The best was at Daylight Mind Coffee Company. We’d recommend avoiding their sit down breakfast which left a lot to be desired. Instead, grab coffee and a pastry from their counter up front and seat yourself on their lanai overlooking the ocean. The setting at Ka Lae Coffee in the south was also lovely, where they serve Ku’u coffee.
- Malasadas at Tex Drive-In: in the north of the island and full of locals, this place serves delicious Malasadas. If you’ve never had one, or never from here, you should definitely make the trip.
The Hilo Farmer’s Market: while it didn’t make our Top 5, we would definitely recommend going if you are in Hilo on a Wednesday or Saturday. With local produce and crafts, it is worth the time.
Experiences we could have done without
Volcanos National Park: while perhaps landing in the category of “obligatory sights to see”, we were quite unimpressed. The island has visible lava everywhere and the large craters seen in the national park struck us a literally dry and experientially boring.
Punalu’u Bake Shop: a quintessential tourist experience, with poor quality food and white sweet bread galore that just isn’t our jam.
Aka’a Falls: mostly serving as an opportunity to stretch the legs, the falls were underwhelming. If you don’t have time to see it, you won’t be missing much.
Olivia loved the big island. Jason loved it. It’ll definitely be high on the list of go-to sunny domestic destinations in the future.
