I had the wonderful chance to visit Hawaii in May, and boy did it live up to my dreams! We decided to visit the Big Island, also simply known as Hawaii—which makes for a lot of confusion, I know—and spent a week enjoying all the nature and sights. If you’re interested in visiting the Big Island, I can guarantee that Hawaii’s youngest and largest island has no shortage of gorgeous spots to gorge yourself on! And of course, if you want more details, this is our exact one week Hawaii Big Island itinerary.
What to Expect
The Big Island is quite natural and rugged, and doesn’t offer many of the creature comforts of Hawaiian resorts. If you’re looking for the classic beach honeymoon paradise experience, you’re better looking at a trip to Maui or Oahu. Here, much of the land is undeveloped and unoccupied, and a lot of it is untouched volcanic fields.
The Big Island is divided into two main portions: the west side and the east side. The west side definitely has more beaches and accommodation than the east side, though that’s not saying very much. The main town of Kona is quite small to the point that it can practically be explored on foot, but has everything you might need. The east side has more rainforest, Volcanoes National Park, and the larger town of Hilo.
Big Island Weather
Because of the massive volcanoes in the middle of the island, the weather on the west side can be and often is extremely different from the east side. When we were there, the west side was consistently hot (>80 degrees) and dry, but the east side was much cooler (~60 degrees) and rained practically the entire time. Oh, and if you want to visit the mountaintops like Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa, bring warm clothes because it can snow at the peaks, even in summer. Check the forecast and pack accordingly.
Time to get into the itinerary. Note that this itinerary is quite exhaustive and therefore extremely long, so feel free to pick and choose from the various sights. I’ve bolded all the individual attractions.
Want the TL;DR? For the abridged version, check out my list of the Top 10 Most Beautiful Sights on the Big Island. You can hit these even if you don’t have a full week!
1 Week Big Island Itinerary
Day 0
We flew into KOA on the west side of the island, and were even treated to a beautiful rainbow halo during our descent. After landing at the Kailua-Kona airport, we were absolutely starving. On the way to our Airbnb, we stopped at Pau Hana Poke to pick up some delicious raw fish, served the true Hawaiian way—cubes of fish by the pound, with a scoop or two of rice. We drove the few minutes up to our Airbnb, checked in, and scarfed down two pounds of ponzu salmon, Hawaiian-style garlicky ahi tuna, and imitation crab salad.
Then it was finally time for some sightseeing. Since we had already used up a decent part of the day just getting here, we took it easy by driving out to Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. There is no fee necessary and you get to walk around and see the huge huts and beaches without much effort. A little underwhelmed, we decided to head out to Mahaiula Beach, which took a bit more effort to reach.
Honestly, I’m not sure if the beach we went to was Mahaiula or Makalawena beach, but we had to drive over an extremely long stretch of mostly unpaved, sharp volcanic black rocks, and it was definitely a bumpy ride! They call it “unimproved road” on the signs, and unimproved they are indeed…in our little sedan, we were concerned about reaching the end of the road more than once.
However, the beach at the end was more than worth it—there are huge stretches of palm trees, tide pools, and soft sand to enjoy. We even saw chickens and mongooses (mongeese?) wandering about the beach! We stayed to catch the sunset, then drove back up the extremely bumpy and rocky road. As the sun disappeared below the horizon, we were treated to a gorgeous double rainbow!
Day 1
The next day, we headed out first thing to the gorgeous and popular Manini’owali Beach, also known as Mile 88 or Kua Bay. Perfectly clear tide pools, impossibly soft white sand, and bright aqua waves—it’s easy to see why Kua Bay is one of the most popular beaches on the entire Big Island among visitors and locals alike. You can choose to play in the water, lie on the sand, or even climb around the black rocks and explore the numerous little tide pools. We chose to mostly run around in the sand and climb the rocks, and even saw crabs!
After a relaxing morning, we headed out to L&L Hawaiian Barbeque for a Hawaiian staple: the plate lunch. Basically, it’s a heaping pile of protein served with rice and usually a macaroni salad, and there’s really no vegetables to speak of. The portions are also enormous!
The Big Island isn’t exactly renowned for classy sit-down restaurants, and most of the meals we had were simple boxed containers that we devoured in the car. There’s also not that much variety, but the food is delicious!
Next, we headed to the Kona Farmer’s Market. Honestly, I was a little underwhelmed—it felt a bit more touristy than I had expected, and there were definitely more trinkets and souvenirs than the produce-only market I had been expecting. However, the fruit they did have looked tasty.
Since it was blazing hot with the sun out, we stopped at Basik Acai Café. Acai has gained a lot of traction in the past several years for being a “superfruit” as well as being super Instagrammable in acai bowl form, and Basik’s acai bowls are certainly beautiful and tasty enough to make the cut. It was perfect to cool down a bit on a hot day!
As evening approached, we headed out to Anaeho’omalu Beach, actually located on the Hilton Waikoloa property. However, Hawaii does not allow for hotels to make their beaches private property, so you can stroll on over and enjoy the beach just as much as the people staying at the hotel! The sand here wasn’t as soft as at Kua Bay’s, but they had some lovely palm trees and we chose to relax here and watch a stunning sunset.
For dinner, we finally decided to try a sit-down restaurant (pretty much the only one that we went to on this entire trip) at the heavily recommended Umeke’s Fish Market Bar & Grill. Honestly, I thought it was just alright—Hawaiian prices can be a bit daunting, and I personally think the poke that you buy at any Foodland or Safeway is both much cheaper and also tastier overall. But if you’re looking for a place to actually sit and eat, Umeke’s is a good choice.
Day 2
It was an early morning for us the next day, as we headed north to get to Waimea Town Market right around opening time. The market, located right next to a local school, is only open on Saturdays from 7:30 to noon, so we lucked out on visiting on the right day! We were able to find bakery tents, fresh flowers, and honey farm samples in this great market setup that definitely felt more local than the Kona Farmer’s Market.
We also stopped by the KTA market and snagged a few of their fresh baked goods, including malasadas (Hawaiian donuts) and some ube mochi donuts as well.
Next, we drove to Waipio Valley, one of the most stunning sights on the Big Island. The beautiful view from the outlook gazes over the massive green cliffsides, the trees and fields in the valley, and the incredible ocean bordered by a secluded black sand beach. We had booked a horseback riding tour in the valley with this tour company, so we met at the designated meeting spot at 9:30 AM. The woman running the tour packed us into her 4-wheel drive van and we slowly drove down the extremely steep winding hillside into the valley, which was both scary and thrilling. The road down can reach a 45% grade!
At the bottom, we were able to ride beautiful friendly horses and trot around the lush green valley while the tour woman, whose family has lived in the valley her entire life, told us about the history of Waipio Valley and the life of those who own homes there. Many of those houses don’t even use electricity!
After the tour, we were driven back up to the meeting point, where the tour guide let us try some sweet apple bananas, macadamia nuts, and these wonderful fruits that are relatives of the mangosteen.
However, we were really interested in exploring the black sand beach at the bottom of Waipio Valley, so we grabbed some plate lunch for calories and then geared up to hike down to the beach. The steep slope has no railing and is definitely not for the faint of heart (especially on the way back up!), but seeing the beach from the viewpoint had us dying to go see it for ourselves.
The black sand beach at the bottom had the silkiest black sand and even wild horses that came up to us and trotted around the beach! We stayed here for quite some time before begrudgingly starting the painful hike back up the long and ridiculous cliffside.
For dinner, it was more plate lunch (plate dinner) at Pine Trees, which was recommended to us by a local. I thought their macaroni salad was really special—I think there’s chicken in it as well—so for all the mac salad fans, this one’s for you.
Day 3
On our last day on the west side of the island, we started our morning by fueling up at Hico Hawaiian Coffee. They have beautiful donuts as well as coffees and juices. My friend got a blueberry lilikoi (passion fruit) donut, and I tried out their dragonfruit refresher.
Next stop, Pololu Valley, touted as one of the best overlooks on the Big Island. Personally, after spending so much time at the gorgeous Waipio Valley, I thought Pololu was just okay. They also have a short hike down to the beach at the bottom, which we only decided to do halfway before turning around.
After Pololu, I was determined to complete the hike to Lone Palm Beach, which we had already tried and failed to locate once. If you’re interested in finding this hike, definitely check out my dedicated guide, because it was quite the headache to find the correct route here! But I loved the hike—craggy, spiky hills of volcanic black rock that lead to beautiful views of blue water and the incredible, towering lone palm at the very end. There was also a lovely natural blue pool, which was empty when we arrived but slowly began to become more crowded the longer we stayed.
Interested in a pool ourselves, we set out for Rii’s Saltwater Pool, a favorite of the locals. This pool is entirely saltwater and literally set into the rocks next to the ocean. In fact, the waves here crash over the poolside and into the pool, so don’t expect any clear, chlorinated water here! There were even fish in the pool. I guess they got washed into the pool one day and have no way to get back out.
After a hot afternoon, we stopped by Scandinavian Shave Ice, which Hawaiians will be adamant is called shave ice and not shaved ice. It’s basically just a very large snow cone, but you get to try interesting flavors like coconut cake and li-hing-mui (a kind of plum). The portions are also ridiculously large—we had no trouble splitting a medium between two people.
For the daily sunset viewing ritual, we drove to the Sheraton Kona (remember what I said about no private beaches?) Actually, the Sheraton doesn’t even really have a beach, but they have beautiful cliffsides and tropical flowers on their grounds. I took a ton of photos here.
Day 4
The next day, we left our beloved westside Airbnb and drove to the east side of the island via the southern coastline, making stops along the way. Of course, we just had to grab more poke at Safeway, which had quickly become one of my favorite places to buy poke—super cheap and fresh, especially their ponzu salmon. Who needs an overpriced poke bowl at a restaurant when you can just buy straight fish for $10.99 a pound and eat that until your stomach is satisfied?
On our driving route, we stopped at Papakolea green sand beach. It is one of the only 4 green sand beaches in the entire world, and well-worth a stop. However, reaching here does take some effort—either via a 3-mile hike in the unforgiving sun, or by catching a ride from one of the locals. We were originally going to do the hike, but about half a mile in a local truck carrying some adventurers stopped for us and let us get on for free!
It’s worth noting that you cannot make the drive down to the beach yourself—you need a 4×4 vehicle, and it’s technically illegal to do so anyway. But if you’re interested in getting down to the green sand beach one way or the other, check out my guide here.
The sand gets its green color from the mineral olivine, and is definitely more olive green than bright green. Its color also doesn’t show very well on camera, but I thought it was enchanting. There’s not much to do here besides enjoy the beach, however, so we only spent an hour or so before hopping on the truck on the way back (this time we paid the local driver).
The only other stop for the day was Punalu’u black sand beach, which is located at the very southern point of the Big Island. You need only simply drive up and boom, you’re walking on black sand. It’s totally in contrast to the Waipio Valley black sand beach with its arduous steep hike. I loved how picturesque this beach was—the contrast between the black sand, blue water, and the tall green palm trees framing the beach is just beautiful! However, because it’s so easy to reach, you will certainly be sharing the beach with others.
After Punalu’u, we drove over to our Airbnb and simply rested for the rest of the day. It had been a long drive!
Day 5
In the morning, our first spot for the day was Suisan Fish Market, for—you guessed it—more poke. Suisan instantly became our favorite poke stop on the entire island; however, they only have one location on the east coast, so you can’t get it if you’re on the Kona side. The market has some of the cheapest and freshest poke around, and you can even see the fresh-caught whole fish sitting on the ice by the counter. They also have a great variety of fish and side choices—we were able to try Hamachi (yellowtail) poke, which became my absolute favorite.
Other fish options include familiar mainstays like wasabi salmon and several types of ahi, but also more creative choices like lobster salad and giant prawns. They also have a ton of great sides, ranging from the ever-popular seaweed salad and kimchi cucumber to spicy crab salad and purple sweet potatoes. I can’t even choose a favorite out of the sides because I loved them all.
After brunch, it was finally time to explore Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Volcanoes National Park is the only U.S. National Park that features active volcanoes! Depending on when you visit, you may or may not be able to see active lava—since this changes continuously, you’ll want to ask a park ranger during your visit.
Our park ranger told us that unfortunately, there was no visible lava from publicly accessible areas at the time. No problem, we still had other spots to visit. We took the short path that overlooked the Kilauea Iki Trail, a long trail across an ancient lava field, and headed over to walk the Thurston Lava Tube. However, it began to rain in earnest, and we hadn’t come prepared, so we ran back to the car and got soaked in the process. With no signs of the rain letting up, we drove home.
That evening, we had planned to drive up Mauna Kea, the tallest (note: not highest) mountain in the world, to watch the sunset from above the clouds. After a lengthy drive and passing several signs that warned us about the possibility of altitude sickness, we reached the visitor’s center where the road was blocked off. Turns out there was a snowstorm brewing at the top of the mountain (yes, it’s that high—snow in Hawaii!) and rangers were only letting cars with a proper 4-wheel drive through, which…once again…we did not have.
I suppose my only advice here is to get a 4-wheel drive if you want to thoroughly explore any of the old volcanoes like Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa. You can also technically hike up from the visitor’s center, but it’s a long trail that you would need to start at 8am to finish before the dark settles in (and you need to register with the rangers in case anything goes wrong).
Well, plans thwarted once again. We drove back down, slightly disheartened, but nothing that more Safeway poke couldn’t fix.
Day 6
The following day, I was determined to explore Volcanoes National Park no matter what the weather said. Even though it was windy and drizzling somewhat, we made the drive out and hiked the Sulphur Banks Trail, a beautiful and partially paved path that winds through sulfurous vents with beautiful colors. Luckily for us, the sky cleared up just for a bit so we could see the lovely steam blowing in the wind! You can definitely smell the distinctive rotten-egg smell of the sulfur, but it’s not terribly smelly in the way Yellowstone National Park is (check out my ranking of U.S. National Parks here).
From the same trail area as the Sulphur Banks Trail, you can also walk the Steam Vents path, which is a short stretch of cliffside with billowing steam overlooking more ancient lava fields. There is also a path split where you can visit the Jaggar Museum (or used to, it is currently closed and I’m not sure if they’re ever going to reopen).
It started to rain again, so we left and drove into town to try Le Umu Samoan Food, a surprising change from the endless poke that I had been happily consuming. The food here was absolutely delicious and once again in massive, heaping portions—by the time I had eaten my fill, it looked like I hadn’t even touched my plate! They had wonderful options including turkey’s tail, mackerel in coconut milk, corned beef, roasted pork, purple yam salad, and some kind of coconut milk collard greens that were creamy and delicious.
Despite the rain not letting up, we drove undeterred to Rainbow Falls, a beautiful little waterfall located very close to the large town of Hilo, Hawaii. It gets its name from the distinctive rainbow that forms at the bottom of the waterfall on sunny days due to the mist. Obviously, because the rain refused to stop, we did not get to see a rainbow, but it was a nice stop nonetheless.
What else to do when it’s raining but drink alcohol? We ended up driving to Volcano Winery for a wine tasting, which was nicely priced at $12 for 7 or 8 different kinds of wine. They have many interesting kinds, from red wines to tea wine to mead. Even if you don’t drink, the winery is a nice place to visit as they also have a tea tasting, which is what I got!
If you have extra time like we did, consider adding in a tour or activity! It’s a really cool way to experience the local culture.
That night, we drove back out to Volcanoes National Park to see the Halema’uma’u Crater. Even though you cannot see active lava, it’s possible to see the glow of the active caldera. However, it’s best to come very late at night because the glow is extremely faint during the day. We drove out at midnight to ensure it would be pitch black, and the bright orange-red glow of the crater was beautiful! We were also treated to some great stargazing. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Day 7
On our last day in Hawaii, we started off the morning right by going to our favorite place, Suisan Fish Market. After grabbing more poke plates, we drove to the beautiful Akaka Falls State Park. Akaka Falls is a towering waterfall twice as tall as Niagara Falls, thundering down into a lush green valley that looks straight out of the jungle. The state park charges $5 to enter, but not only do you get to stare at this mesmerizing waterfall, you also get to walk through the beautiful rainforest and see other, smaller waterfalls, tropical greenery, and flowers on a short paved loop.
Then, we stopped by Makani’s Magic Pineapple Shack to cool ourselves off from the hot day. I absolutely loved this place! The shop is adorable and has cute decorations, and I was tempted to order half their menu. Not only do they have delicious ice cream (I recommend the ube and Thai tea!), they also have plenty of acai bowls and smoothies to go around. You can even get your ice cream in a mini pineapple if you so choose!
Then it was time to drive back to the west side of the island to get to the airport. We still had some time to kill, so we went back to Kua Bay (Manini’owali Beach) to enjoy the beautiful clear water there. To our surprise, we saw a pair of sea turtles feeding on the rocks as well! I love turtles and we spent a good half an hour trying to get as close to them as possible without disturbing them as it’s illegal to touch the sea turtles in Hawaii. This was definitely a special surprise moment for me as I had been disappointed that we hadn’t seen any sea turtles on the trip.
Right before returning to the airport, we made a pit stop at Obisic at Waikoloa Beach Marriott. Halo halo isn’t a Hawaiian food—it’s actually a Filipino dessert—but it looked so good here, we decided to get one anyway! If you’ve never had halo halo, it’s a milky ice dessert with ube ice cream, various jellies and beans, fruits, and flan. The one at Obisic wasn’t exactly a faithful replica, but it still tasted great on a hot day.
Then it was time to head back to KOA and say good-bye to the Big Island. I had a lovely time here and I would definitely come back in the future, especially if there are active visible lava flows!
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