Big Island Hawaii
Ten days before we left on the trip, Will and I booked a VERY last-minute trip to Hawaii to celebrate his 30th birthday (and my birthday but 29 isn’t as cool 🤪). We usually aren’t very spur of the moment people but decided, why not!
Neither of us had ever been to the big island before and we absolutely LOVED it. There is SO much to explore on the island and although there is a lot of driving involved, we loved doing it with just us so we could chat so much with just each other. Bringing kids on this trip would’ve been hard for that reason. Lots of driving! However, it was all so beautiful so we didn’t mind.
One thing I loved about the big island was all of the amazing BEACHES! In my personal opinion, they are the best out of any island I’ve visited in terms of white sand, clear water, etc. They were incredible! We found a new beach each day of the trip and always said “Okay, now THIS is my new favorite beach.” and then the next one would be even better? They’re amazing!
We stayed on the Kona side about 30 miles north of the airport on the Mauni Lani property. There are so many beautiful resorts around there. We went to the Marriott property after dinner our first night to watch the sunset and it was beyond beautiful!
Hapuna State Beach Park
On our first day, we went to Hapuna State Beach Park which is a very popular beach among both locals and tourists. They have these great big rocks you can sit by to be in the shade but it’s full sun around 10 AM. We could’ve stayed at this beach all day! It’s also located on the Westin property if you stay there.
Captain Cooks Monument
Hiking down to snorkel at Captain Cooks Monument was a huge highlight of the trip! You can only access the monument by hiking down, kayaking, or taking a boat tour. The hike was really overgrown but was a fun adventure. If you do it, I would recommend starting no later than 7 AM. It gets really busy with the boat tours around 9 so it’s fun to be down there before the crowds come and then the hike back up can get hot so that’s why it’s nice to start earlier! Maybe do it on your first day when you’re wide awake at 4 AM 🤪
There are sea urchins EVERYWHERE in the water so be careful! And wear better water shoes than I did! I was stung by a sea urchcin on the right side of my foot where my Teva’s didn’t cover and it hurt like no other. Bring your snorkel gear and some snacks and have fun. It is some of the best snorkeling I’ve ever done!
Rookies in our “water shoes”. Bring shoes like THESE instead 👌🏼
Manini’owali Beach
I loved following along on my friends Our Travel Passport Guide to Hawaii and it helped us navigate the island so well! They recommended we visit Manini’owali Beach and it was unbelievable. The clearest water I’ve ever seen and turtles just casually swimming around below us?! Highly recommend. It’s a pretty small/thin beach so maybe try to get there early if you have a big group. There’s no food around this beach so pack your own lunches.
Kona Hawaii Temple
We love finding temples every time we travel and the Kona one was so beautiful! It’s right in the heart of Kona so you can go walk around the grounds before/after you go to Captain Cook’s!
Polulū Valley
Polulū Valley is INCREDIBLE! You hike down (pretty steep) to a beautiful vallley on a black sand beach. There might be a waterfall you can find once you’re down there but there’s zero phone service so we couldn’t find where it was. So maybe learn from our mistake and load any details prior to hiking down 😎 It is so beautiful though! Highly recommend going to see it.
Night Dive with Manta Rays
Another huge highlight of the trip was doing a night dive with the Manta Rays! We found My Kona Adventures on Groupon and it was great. We obviously haven’t done it before so I don’t know what to compare it to but we had a great time. You put floaties on your legs and hold onto a light board that the Manta Rays come to eat plankton off of. They are endangereed so you cannot touch them but it’s so amazing to see how close they come to you! Most of the ones we saw were about 12 feet wide. Unbelievable expereience!
Mauna Kea Beach
One of the most beautiful beaches we visited was the Mauna Kea beach. You have to get there before 7:30 AM to get a parking spot but waking up early is never a problem in Hawaii 😉 You can grab snacks from their market in the resort and the resort is so fun to just walk around!
Bring your snorkeling gear to this beach. There were tons of fish on each side of the beach. They also have fun rafts you can swim out to and lay out on/jump off etc. That was my favorite part!
Waipo’o Valley
One thing I would recommend everyone see is Waipo’o Valley. It is truly breathtaking and one of my absolute favorite things we did on the trip. You can either just go to the lookout point (still so beautiful!), hike down (it is STEEP! I woulld not recommend doing it with kids or elderly), or even drive down but a lot of rental car companies don’t let you so make sure you check your rental agreement with them. I think there are tour services that can drive you down in a van so maybe look into those if you don’t want to hike down!
View from the lookout point. Breathtaking!
Down at the beach, you can actually get in the water and swim, get in the river, and hike even more to a waterfall. It started raining pretty hard when we got down there so we didn’t go to the waterfall but that’s totally an option if you want to see it.
The FOOD
Good food is a little bit harder to find on the big island but it’s not impossible. We found some great spots:
- Umeke’s
- Fish & The Hog
- Canoehouse
- A Bay’s
- Racha Thai
You can also follow Grubs We Love to see more pictures of the food we found!
All in all it was the BEST trip that I have zero regrets about taking. Happy 3-0, Will!
That’s all for now 🌺
-Liv
The Hilo farmers market iS incredible for pRoduce. Also in HiLo, some of the best Thai Food I’ve ever had at SomBat’s Fresh Thai.
Merriman’s is an exPenzive rest but really amazing. It in Waimea. You may need reservations. You can also get a really good burger in Waimea- I think Village burger is what it’s called.
If you go to the South side oF the island (to volcanos, the black sand beach, or South Point or the green sand beach, all of which are amazing) there is a little bakery called Punalu’u bakeshop. Their passionfruit malasadas (Donuts) are where it at!