Whoo hoo! Ten days on the Big Island late April. What should we not miss?

[FrannyFrogs]

We went to a seahorse farm and an octopus farm in Kona and enjoyed them both!
My Big Island tip is, when you’re driving around, and Google maps tells you which road to take, but you can see a different route that’s more direct, DON’T! It’s a rutted dirt road straight down the side of a mountain. Lol. Exciting times!

 

[SueInBoston]

We had a death in our family since our return so I haven't had time to put together a thorough document, below are my loose thoughts, feel free to ask questions. * is my rating from 1-4.

We spent 7 days on the big island, 3 in Hilo and 4 in Kona

Waikoloa Marriott* - Nice resort area with walk along the beach

• A-Bay Grill at Waikoloa – Do not go here, they were the only one opened late (past 8pm), I’m so sorry I had my first Hawaiian meal at this place.
• Hapuna Beach** – very nice and busy beach, good for family
• Pu’ukohola Heiau** – visitor center, history, spencer’s beach – we saw whales at a distance.
• Pololu Valley**** – Short hike down to black sand beach
• Fairmont Orchid***- had a very nice lunch in their beach side restaurant. 3 turtles made appearances. Lots of snorkelers but waves were rough.
• Mauna Kea**** - need 4 wheel drive to drive up to summit but so worth it to be above the clouds. You can also just drive halfway to the VIS (Visitor Information Service).
• The Rim Restaurant at Volcano House*** - has view point to see activity at Kilauea Crater. The restaurant décor is very tired and could use a good cleaning, but the food was surprisingly good.
• Kilauea Crater**** – we saw glow at dinner so after dinner we drove out and walk to view point to watch the lava glow in the dark, very cool.
• Kilauea Visitor Center**- there were cruise ships in port so VNP was very busy. There was also a hula demonstration, you couldn’t even get into the parking lot.
• Kilauea Iki Trail (4 miles)****- This was our favorite activity in VNP. Park in the Thurston Lava Tube parking lot, the lava tube activity is short so more of a chance of a space. It is recommended to do the hike counter clock wise and we agree.
• Thurston Lava Tube**-nice short activity
• Drive on Chain of Craters Road to various crater view points, don’t need to stop at all of them. If you have GuideAlong, he tells you the good spots to stop.
• Pu’uloa Petroglyphs – this was my least favorite hike, maybe it was late in the day and I was tired, but I didn’t feel the view was worth it.
• Hilo - Liliuokalani Gardens- very pretty island downtown Hilo, grab a cup of coffee for a short walk.
• Banyan Drive – short drive next to the Liliuokalani Gardens, worth the time to admire the majestic Banyan trees.
• Issac Hale Park****-a bit of drive but very worth it to see the devastation/new beach from 2018 eruption.
• Punalu Beach Park (Black Sand)***-on way back to Kona
• Punalu Bakery** – Good stop for a treat
• Papakolea Green Sand Beach****- must do in my opinion. take a ride with the locals, not worth the hike.
• Most Southern Point** – right next to Green sand beach so it’s a quick stop but there is no signage or anything, very under whelming.
• Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park*** – Nice short hike to water, kwown for turtles but we didn’t see any.
• Honaunau Bay (Two Step Beach) – Heard it is a very good snorkel spot but waves were rough when we were there. Even the locals didn’t go into the water.
• Greenwell Farm****- We had a different Coffee farm tour planned, but we saw this driving by and decided to try. Very nice tour, tour guide Matt was excellent in giving history and detail. Definitely recommend.
• Kealakekua Bay****- Hike to Captain Cook monument and snorkel. This was the only place where we had a great snorkel experience. All the other beaches/snorkel spots were very rough with winter waves.
• Because of the winter swells/waves, we decided against the evening manta ray swim.
• Some final thoughts…definitely get the GuideAlong App, it was very helpful and gives interesting history/story.
  • Everybody says The big Island is big and they are 100% correct. I had 2x as much stuff on my itinerary but because it takes so long to drive from one place to next, we did only half. But we hit all the ones that we really wanted so that was good.
  • Paradise Bakery has the best malasadas.
  • we had the best 2 hour massage at mamalahoa-hottubs, if you have the time and enjoy a nice massage, this is a great spot.

 

[KarenB]

Thank you for taking the time to share this. I like your rating system, very helpful!