Kona Coast
If what you're after is an almost deserted, postcard-perfect scoop of soft, white-sand beach cupping brilliant blue-green waters, head to 'Maks.' Although…
Must-see attractions in Kona Coast
Kona Coast
This sublime crescent-shaped white-sand beach is fronted by sparkling waters in alternating bands of pale cyan, deeper turquoise, and rich blue. Kua Bay…
Puʻuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park
South Kona Coast
This awesome park is an ancient place of refuge – or puʻuhonua, a sanctuary where kapu (taboo)-breakers could have their lives spared. A half-mile walking…
Kona Coast
The water is usually too cloudy for snorkeling at this beautiful hook-shaped beach with a mix of black lava, white coral and wave-tossed shells, but just…
South Kona Coast
This modest, charcoal-colored beach is backed by a steep green hillside. When calm, the bay's waters are good for swimming, kayaking and snorkeling …
Kailua-Kona
About 4 miles south of central Kailua-Kona, this small beach (also called White Sands and, officially, Laʻaloa Beach) has turquoise water, great sunsets,…
Kona Coffee Living History Farm
South Kona Coast
Many coffee-farm tours are perfunctory 15-minute affairs. This tour, run by the Kona Historical Society, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute, is…
South Kona Coast
The top sight in Miloliʻi is about a mile's walk south of the town itself. Honomalino Bay is simply gorgeous; with sand the color of all Big Island…
South Kona Coast
A pulpit with a view, gravestones cradled by tropical blooms and a little chapel with floor-to-ceiling 'outsider art' make this church a picturesque side…
Kona Coast
With its pristine turquoise waters and shoreline fringed with coconut trees, Kiholo Bay is an off-the-beaten-track Big Island beauty. It’s more of a…
Kona Coast
Whether young or old, triathlete or couch potato, everyone appreciates the island's most easy-to-access (and admittedly busy) snorkeling spot. Protected…
Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park
Kona Coast
Just north of Honokohau Harbor, on the ocean side of Hwy 19, this 1160-acre national park may be the Kona Coast's most underappreciated ancient Hawaiian…
Kona Coast
The gorgeous beaches of Kekaha Kai are all the more memorable for being tucked on the far side of a vast desert of unforgiving black lava. This 1600-acre…
Kona Coast
Though obviously artificial (a thin layer of sand laid over concrete is hard on the feet), the beach at Kikaua Point Park is also effortlessly beautiful…
Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park
South Kona Coast
Beautiful, historic Kealakekua Bay is scalloped out of the mountains, a deep-blue half moon set against a low lava point to the north, tall reddish pali …
Kona Coast
This Mordor-esque lava plain of jagged ʻaʻa rock that crinkles to the deep blue coast then drops steeply into the ocean, lives up to its name. To get here…
Kona Coast
The Holualoa Foundation for Arts & Culture created this community art center in 2002. There are free exhibits, a plethora of locally made art, plus…
Three Ring Ranch Exotic Animal Sanctuary
Kailua-Kona
Dr Ann Goody runs this animal sanctuary on five lovely acres in upland Kona. This isn't a zoo, or even a conventional sanctuary; instead, Dr Goody cares…
Kona Coast
Kona Leʻa Plantation does not use pesticides or herbicides on its small organic-certified farm, less than 2 miles south of Holualoa. As you drive up,…
Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation
Kona Coast
This award-winning farm lies in lush Kaloko Mauka upland, a 20-minute drive from downtown Kailua-Kona or Holualoa village.You can visit on an hourly tour…
Kailua-Kona
This palace is a fascinating study in the rapid shift the Hawaiian royal family made from Polynesian god-kings to Westernized monarchs. Here’s the skinny:…
Kona Coast
Kekaha Kai (Kona Coast) State Park's largest beach has salt-and-pepper sand, rocky tide pools, shaded picnic tables and pit toilets. Swimming usually isn…
Kailua-Kona
After uniting the Hawaiian Islands in 1810, Kamehameha the Great established the kingdom's royal court in Lahaina on Maui, but he continued to return to…
Kona Coast
The scalloped, palm-fringed coves of Kukio Bay are officially part of the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. The sand is soft, the swimming is good (even for…
Kona Coast
At the makai (seaward) end of the access road to the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, this quiet locals' beach is perfectly positioned for…
Old Kona Airport State Recreation Area
Kailua-Kona
Visitors often overlook this quiet park, located a mile from downtown. It's a grand spot for picnicking, jogging and fishing. The beach area is studded…
Kailua-Kona
Completed in 1836, this church is a handsome building with walls of lava rock held together by sand and coral-lime mortar. The posts and beams, hewn with…
Kona Coast
Above 3000ft on the slopes of Mt Hualalai, the Kaloko Mauka subdivision is the home of this spectacular 70-acre sanctuary. For the record, a cloud forest…
Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority
Kona Coast
That funny-looking building with the gigantic solar panels is the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), a 'zero-net-energy facility' that…
Kona Coast
Inside the Four Season's Hawaiian cultural center is a small, museum-quality exhibit organized around a collection of 11 original paintings by Herb…
Kona Coast
At the northern end of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, this fishpond is especially fascinating because its massive rock retaining wall has been…
South Kona Coast
Just south of Kealakekua Bay, Keʻei Beach is an attractive cove that's mostly too rough and rocky for swimming, except for a very narrow sandy stretch at…
Kona Coast
Amazingly, what with all the other great beaches around, this secluded black-sand beach also belongs to Kekaha Kai (Kona Coast) State Park. Although there…
Kailua-Kona
Step inside King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel, just next to to Ahuʻena Heiau, to view historical paintings and a mural by legendary artist and Hawaiian…
South Kona Coast
The first building you see when entering Honalo from the north resembles a cross between a low-slung red barn, a white-roofed villa and a Japanese shrine…
South Kona Coast
Just south of the park’s central village area, an oceanfront palm-tree grove holds one of South Kona’s choicest picnic areas. Parking, picnic tables and…
Kailua-Kona
If you're an avid bodyboarder, Honl's, also known as Waiʻaha ('Gathering Water'), may feel like a historical pilgrimage. It was here, in 1971, that Tom…
Kona Coast
Keawaiki is as isolated as Big Island beaches get, mainly because the quickest way here is via a 15 to 20 minute walk over an ʻaʻa lava trail that looks…
South Kona Coast
'The temple on the point of the cove,' located a few hundred yards past the main park entrance, was built around 1650 and contains the bones of 23 chiefs…
South Kona Coast
Above Kealakekua Bay, the 'sacred cliffs of Keoua' were named for a chief and rival of Kamehameha I. Several high, inaccessible caves in these cliffs…
