A 5-day itinerary for exploring the best of The Big Island

Having come from the lush island of Kauai it felt like we traveled to an entire part of the world with its volcanic landscape.  That’s not to say the Big Island doesn’t have its green areas, but they are limited in comparison.  The main attraction here is of course the volcanos.  While there are several beaches for relaxing, the volcanos are where to go on this island.  I am still of the opinion that if you want great beaches in Hawaii, go to Maui, or for that matter go to Florida or the Caribbean. 

For those coming to this page directly, this trip to the island of Hawaii (Big Island) was a continuation of Kauai that was a result of a “secret trip” that was planned.  My family had no idea we were making this trip until the morning our flight left.

Logistics

They don’t call it the big island for no reason.  A rental car is mandatory for getting around.  You will not be able to see much of the island otherwise.   While we didn’t have any issues, I heard cars go fast, so plan early. 

If you read a lot of reviews and tips about the Big Island, many will say to localize your trip to one side of the island or the other, given its vast terrain that can take hours to drive.  You will find for our trip we ignored that advice and while it was a fair amount of driving, we found it worth it.  We flew Southwest Airlines from Kauai to Kona, connecting in Oahu.

There were several activities we did on the island that were sold out as we approached the trip.  You will want to schedule your activities early or else you be disappointed as you get closer to your trip or when you arrive.

Airport

If you’ve never been to the big island (Kona Airport), the first thing that will surprise you is the airport.  There are no terminals, no long corridors of buildings with restaurants and shops.  No.  As you exit the plane you will be greeted by an open-air, grass-roofed airport.  Imagine being on the beach without the beach.  When you step off the plane you find yourself on the tarmac facing a grass-roofed tiki-style cabana.  If what you were expecting was a large fancy airport with all the fan fair, you’re on the wrong island.

Lay of the land

There are really only two areas that you will likely want to stay, but I will mention a third should you want to get off the beaten path more, but will be far more driving in the long run.

Kona

If you are looking for what few beaches there are on the island and more of a resort-style accommodation, Kona is likely the side you will choose.  It’s the drier of the two sides and is also where you will find more activities and things like manta ray snorkeling.  I would be so bold to say that this is the side of the island where most people stay in.

Hilo

This is the area we actually stayed in and it felt much more like a rural town compared to the Kona side.  You won’t find a lot of resorts and the town itself feels old, but if that’s what you’re looking for, Hilo will be your location. 

Waimea

This is at the north end of the island and basically out in the middle of farm fields surrounded by a whole lot of nothing.  At one point we actually had a home rental booked in this area on 50 acres, but I decided it was too remote for day-to-day driving to the areas we wanted to visit.  That said, we did have dinner at a ranch (more to come on that) in the area and it was just what you would expect for a farming area in Hawaii.  There were vast green fields overlooking the ocean and it would have been a great retreat.  If your intention is to go and not see a lot of the sites and just want to get off the grid, this was a great spot.

Itinerary

Now that the technicalities are out of the way, onto the itinerary.  As previously noted, we decided to try to do the whole island with our base outside of Hilo.  It was a lot of driving, but at the same time, I think I would have felt like I didn’t really get to see what the island had to offer without exploring more of it.  That said, this will give you a sense of what we were able to pull off in 5 days and unlike Kauai, I didn’t leave feeling like I needed an extra day.

Day 6: 

We actually spent most of our day in Kauai sleeping in, packing up, and having a relaxing lunch before heading to the airport.  We didn’t arrive until about 6 pm on the island of Hawaii.  As such, the day was pretty relaxing and it gave us time to hit the grocery store and settle in at the home we rented.  That is to say, we were gathering our strength for the hiking day we had planned for the next day.

We stayed just north of the town (a 10-minute drive) and found a nice house rental that was quiet, with lots of space and felt like home when we got done with the day’s activities.  Oddly enough it was in what appeared to be an artist community and out our back windows were fantastic sculptures with the ocean behind them. 

For those that read about our Kauai experience, yes, this one had air conditioning which was immensely welcomed.

Day 7:

The day began bright and early to make our way to Volcano National Park — by far THE place to go while on the island.  Be sure to plan ahead, but once there you are met with tons of “volcano” things to do.

We started our morning at the Thurston Lava Tube.  It is a short walk from the road where you park and takes you down underground through what looks like an underground tunnel.  As we hit this first thing in the early morning (it was open 24 hours a day when we were there) it was still pretty dark inside, as the cave lights didn’t turn on until 8 a.m., and no one else was around.  This was definitely the way to experience it and a good warm-up to the rest of the national park.

From there we made our way to Pu’u Huluhulu Trailhead, a 2-to-3-mile hike through old lava fields that seem to go on and on forever.  I wouldn’t say the hike was overly difficult, but it just takes a keen eye to stay on the trail, which we found was marked by small piles of stacked rocks once in the giant lava field.  Otherwise, it is uneven terrain and is by no means a man-made path. 

We ended up hiking to the end where you make your way up the side of a hill to get a view into one of the calderas.  Generally speaking, the end was a bit uneventful because we were expecting to look down into a volcano, but instead found the area completely covered in trees.  I think if I were to do it again, I would make it as far as some of the major lava flows and then head back. 

Unless you plan to spend several days at the park (which for avid hikers and outdoorsy people you certainly could) I think the time spent making it up the last bit of the hill wasn’t really worth it and would have turned around and spent that time elsewhere in the park.

Next, we headed to the coast to see Hōlei Sea Arch.  From what I understand it was recently damaged in bad weather since our visit.  It was a bit of a drive but probably something most people will find worth the time.  It was also a good break from hiking to rest our feet.  Once you arrive you will be greeted with a nice view of the ocean and the arch which is a bit out in the distance off to your right.

There were a few other short hikes we did, such as the one to the Petroglyphs, but ultimately started to make our way to where most people probably went to first, the Kilauea Overlook.

There are two main “attractions” when visiting the Kilauea Overlook.  The overlook itself, but also the Sulphur Banks and steam vents you will pass along your way.  Each was something you don’t want to miss when visiting the national park. 

The Sulphur vents can be seen from the road, but I suggest you take one of the short walks that will take you through some of them.  They are worth the 15min to take a look.

After your leisurely walk, the main attraction in the park awaits and is where you will find everyone else visiting the park, who up until now you thought had stayed home that day.  I can’t decide if I would have gone there first if I were to do it again or leave it to the end as we did.  Certainly, if you’re going to do a lot of hiking, the order we did it was a must as the black lava hikes would have been brutal in the daytime heat.  That said, if you don’t plan on doing much hiking, Kilauea Overlook and the visitor’s center probably would have been the place to be before everyone else showed up.

The Kilauea Overlook itself is easily accessible from the parking lot and you can see active steam venting from the volcano itself.  When we visited you could not see any lava flows, although I hear if you luck off it is amazing to see, especially if you visit at night.  Given that wasn’t the case, the buildup was probably greater than the experience itself.  That said, you will kick yourself if you miss it, so I am not suggesting otherwise, but it wasn’t as much of a wow factor as I had hoped.  We spent maybe 30min there and that was more than enough.

If you do go in the morning, there was a rim hike that would take you around the volcano, and perhaps from other viewpoints there would have been more to see. From what I could tell it looked like it would be a nice walk, but not much of a view change from the initial lookout point.  The hike itself appeared to cater to your average person and was paved, so certainly an option for the unadventurous.

On our way back to the house we stopped by Rainbow Falls.  Compared to Wailua Falls on Kauai, it was still a bit of a tourist trap, but certainly, a better view of a roadside falls.  I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to go see it, but if you’re in the neighborhood it was worth 30 minutes to take a look.

Day 8:

Whew, day 8.  So far, it’s been a very active trip and the occasional downtime has been the only thing that kept us going.  That said, day 8 was going to be a long one.  Our first stop was Punalu’u Beach.  This is at the south end of the island and by far one of the best black sand beaches and another highlight of the trip.  To be clear this is not likely a beach you’re going to set up shop at and spend the day sunbathing and hanging out in the water.  It is very rocky and more for exploring, than putting up an umbrella.  We did see several people doing so, and there is a lifeguard stand, but the beach is best actively explored.

One of the highlights of the beach is the abundance of turtles we saw on the sand and in the water.  Compared to Carlsmith Beach, which we visited on a later day (we saw no turtles), this actually ended up being the best spot for seeing them.  The water was too rough to snorkel, but I could imagine having been able to do it on a calm day (if there was such a day).

After exploring the south coast, we made our way west back to Kona.  Kona was a bit crazy for my liking, but as I’ve stated before it’s where most people stay and is far more hustle and bustle compared to Hilo.  That said, the highlight tour of the island was approaching that night, but was still a half day away.  Given we were hours from the house at this point we decided to splurge a bit and were able to pre-book a day hotel to keep us relaxed while we waited. 

I can’t say we have done this before anywhere we have traveled, but I was pleasantly surprised, especially given the situation of being on the other side of a large island, and making it back to the house would have been unfeasible.  We ended up booking through ResortPass. 

If you haven’t used it before it basically allows you to book day passes at hotels for a number of things.  Some hotels only offer the use of the pool, others offer cabanas, but in our case, the hotel we went to offered us the use of all the pool facilities and gave you one of their rooms by the pool! The day would have been a train wreck had we not done this.  We would have found ourselves feeling “stuck” in the area waiting for the night’s big event with nowhere to go and not enough energy to do it anyways. 

Instead, we ended up getting a large room at the resort where we enjoyed several hours at the pool and the water slide, and then came back to the room to freshen up and relax in the air conditioning before heading to dinner.  If you end up doing what we did and find yourself on one side of the island needing a break, this was a great option.

After spending nearly half the day at the resort, we headed to dinner before heading to what would be the highlight of the island, 9 p.m. night snorkeling with the manta rays.  If you can only do two things on the island, it’s the volcano national part and this.  Clearly, you need to be comfortable in the water but at the same time, it does not take someone that is an experienced snorkeler or swimmer. 

Essentially, they take you by boat for a 5-to-10-minute ride (again remember your seasickness pills as we saw a lot of unhappy people paying the price) out to a spot where all the mantas come.  You hold on to what looks like a giant surfboard that has blue lights shining from the bottom of it.  That’s all you have to do before the show begins.  At this point, you’re half expecting you might not see anything, or if you do it will be like, “Look there’s one 100 feet away at the bottom of the ocean.”  But you would be wrong.

Within a few minutes of everyone arriving at the board, several 14+ foot wide mantas showed up and came right up to you and the board, narrowly missing your belly as they ate the plankton that was illuminated due to the light.  This continued for a solid 30 minutes with other mantas taking turns showing up and little to no breaks in the entertainment.  My wife and I are avid SCUBA divers and have been diving with the sting rays in Grand Cayman (which I also suggest) and this was equally exciting.  For our two kids that do not dive, this was as close to that experience you can get without putting on a tank.

Now you might be thinking — we already had to wait until 9 p.m. before we got to see the mantas and we were still several hours from the house.  Yup, it was a late night, but well worth it.  If you end of staying in hotels during your stay, I would suggest splitting your stay between two of them, one on each side of the island.  That said, we still enjoyed the house experience that let us live like a local and would do the same again.

Day 9:

After a long day/night the prior day, we decided to take it easy more of the day and started with the Kaumana Caves.  I’ll start by saying — these aren’t your normal stalactite/stalagmite-type caves you might find in places like Austin, TX, or Aruba, but a full-fledged lava tube experience.  Oddly enough, if you were just driving by you probably wouldn’t even know they were there unless you were purposefully looking for them.   There is some minimal parking on the street and an unassuming sign, and that is about it.

 As you walk over to the sign you realize there is a staircase that drops you down into the ground where it splits with a cave on each side.  From the looks of it, it was all part of the same cave system and this part of it is where it collapsed and someone threw down a staircase where it imploded. 

From there you can explore both sides, which are extremely impressive.  My daughter, son, and I kept to the main areas and only explored through a few small passages before it seemed like it could be slightly unsafe, although I hear it’s fine.  My wife, on the other hand, took to one of the caves while we waited, and explored for a good 30 minutes farther with another group before returning.  Depending on your comfort level either were great experiences and are not to be missed. 

Given the day before, we decided to do some minimal exploring of Hilo but otherwise went back to the house to relax before heading to the night’s activity, dinner. 

We booked the Paniolo Sunset Dinner at Kahua Ranch.  It is a huge active working ranch where they occasionally put on a dinner and activities and let you explore the ranch.  It was located on the north side of the island where I said we almost ended up staying.  The ranch land itself was gorgeous.  It had rolling green cow pastures and horses with the backdrop of the ocean.

If you’re looking for something like this, it’s certainly worth the trip.  I will say, the activities were catered more to the younger crowd so if you have kids in the 4- to 10-year-old range, I have to think they would love it.  For our teenage kids, it was a bit cheesy, but the view and roaming around were plenty.

The dinner itself was a Texas-style buffet, with your meat and vegetables as one would expect being on a ranch.  So, if you’re looking for luau-type food it’s definitely not the place.   That said, one word, brownies — loved them.  I wish I wasn’t so full and could eat more, but I could have taken a sheet of those home. Shhh — one might have made its way into my pocket.

Needless to say, it was a good excuse to see the north side of the island.  Even if you don’t go to the dinner, I highly suggest making the drive and seeing the countryside as it was picturesque and a nice break from the traditional Hawaiian fair.

Day 10:

This was our last day of fun in the sun.  First up was Carlsmith Beach Park.  After everything I read, it was a bit of a letdown.  Apparently, there are times when you can visit this area and snorkel with the turtles.  Our experience was everything but that. 

The area you snorkel in was fairly shallow and for us Floridians quite cold as it’s fed by a natural spring.  The water gets warmer the farther you go out as the freshwater mixes with the ocean water. It also causes the water to appear distorted and blurry from the fresh mixing with the salt, called a halocline.

We didn’t see any turtles. Perhaps you have to go in the winter or at high tide. We ended up snorkeling for a short period of time before tapping out due to the temperature and not having much to see.  I don’t want to deter you from taking a shot at it on your next trip and perhaps the time of year and weather drive the results but be prepared to not see much.

Next stop, Akaka Falls.  Compared to all the other smaller waterfalls this was my favorite.  There’s clearly no comparison to Jurassic Falls we went to while in Kauai, but as waterfalls go, it was a good one to add to your trip. 

Unlike the other falls that I have mentioned so far on the Big Island and elsewhere, Akaka Falls had a nice little hike through a very lush jungle to go with it and you are able to get pretty close to the falls themselves.  If you’re only able to make it to one of the falls, this would be the one to see.  You will spend a good hour on the walking path, which is equally worth the time with nice man-made paths with rest stops along the way.  Be aware that there is a parking and entrance fee.

Summary:

I am sad to say, but that is it.  The next morning, we drove to the airport for the long trip back to Los Angeles and to Florida.

As you consider a trip to Hawaii, definitely make it a point to go once in your life.  For those that may have been to the standard Maui and Oahu, please consider the other islands as they have a lot to offer with what I believe to be an old-school authentic Hawaiian experience.  That is not to say the others don’t have their pros, but if you have only visited those islands, I think you have missed a lot that Hawaii has to offer.

If I were to do it all again, I think I would pair Kauai and Maui as my two favorites, having been to the others at least once.  If I’d never been to the other islands, I would include it as one of my two to get a greater view of the islands.

I hope this helped those that may be thinking about Hawaii as a vacation and persuade you if not.  Hopefully, this was at least a fun read that gets you thinking about your next vacation, wherever that may be.

Please support our site and purchase something from our store.