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We just got back from 9 days on the Big Island of Hawaii and since I’ve spent the last few months researching for our trip, I thought I’d share with you some of the amazing things about the Big Island.

When I say Hawaii, what do you think? Do you think about Waikiki or Pearl Harbor or Honolulu? Most people do.

But today we’re going to talk about Hawaii, also known as the Big Island.

Hawaii as a whole is an archipelago, which basically means that there are a lot of islands that make up Hawaii. In fact, there are 132 islands that make up Hawaii, though only 7 are inhabited. Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Niihau and Hawaii - the Big Island.

Waikiki, Pearl Harbor and Honolulu are all on Oahu, which is a beautiful island, but a very busy island.

If you’re like us and like things to be a little calmer, the Big Island is perfect for you!

The Big Island has been in the news lately because one of its volcanoes, Mauna Loa, erupted. Mauna Loa hasn’t erupted since the 80’s. People flocked to the Island to see this rare sight. It erupted for about 12 days and has now gone back to sleep along with Kilauea that has been slowly erupting for years!

Fun fact, Kilauea started erupting again about a week after we were there!

The Big Island, along with all of the other Hawaiian islands, was formed by volcanoes. It is the youngest in the archipelago and has one of the most active volcanoes - Kilauea.

It is an amazing place to go with kids. There is so much to do and see! But a word of warning. The Hawaiian Islands are not a cheap place to go. While we as a family don’t always worry about that, it is something to keep in mind.

The Big Island has two very distinct sides to it. There is the Hilo side, which is wetter and cooler, and the Kona side, which is much drier and warmer.

In fact, Hilo and the surrounding areas can get quite cool, especially if you are expecting tropical weather so throw in an extra layer to keep you warm on those cooler days.

It takes about 2-½ hours to drive from one side of the Island to the other, so it is definitely a much bigger island than Oahu, which only takes about ½ hour to drive from one side to the other.

While Hilo is a bigger city, Kona has the island’s only Costco, so if rotisserie chicken is often on your menu, you’ll be in the right place.

We chose to stay on the Kona side of the island this time because we stayed in Hawaii Volcano National Park quite a few years ago and we wanted to see the other side of the island.

Here’s a travel tip for traveling with your family, whether it’s your children or your parents - get a vacation rental! Having a kitchen, multiple bedrooms and multiple bathrooms makes for a much more enjoyable trip!

We spent our vacation in a beautiful AirBNB on the water near Kona. It was perfect for my family and my parents, Papa and Lala!

I’d be happy to share with you which AirBNB we stayed in! Just let me know!

While we did spend a lot of our time on the Kona side of the island, we also made it over to the Hilo side one day to go to Hawaii Volcano National Park, but more on that later.

As I said, there are so many fun things to do when you’re on the Big Island. Even though we were there for 9 days, we didn’t get to do everything that looked fun, so here are the highlights from our trip, and some things that we will do the next time.

I’ll talk about it more in later podcasts, but I love National Parks and Trooper loves the junior ranger program, so that’s one of the first things I look for when we’re going somewhere.

The Big Island has 5 areas run by the national park service. I say that because there is a National Park, plus National Historic Sites, a National Trail, and a National Historical Park.

All are focused on preserving nature, history, culture or all three.

Now, I’m going to try to read the names of these national parks but all but one of them are Hawaiian names so I apologize if they aren’t said correctly. Take a look at the show notes for links to the different parks.

The first park we went to was Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park. 

Here are our highlights of our visit to Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park:

• Listening to the park ranger play the ukulele in the breezeway of the visitor center

• Seeing sea turtles, or honu in Hawaiian. They were resting in the shallows of Honokohau Beach. Afterwards, we heard that there are often babies that hang out there as well so keep your eyes open. Do not harass honu, give them plenty of space!

• Dipping our toes in the cool water after the hike over uneven ground

• The restored village on the water. Even with all of the other visitors, it was a quiet place that we enjoyed.

• Hiking to the Ki’i Pohaku or petroglyph path. The path is short, but there are quite a few petroglyphs along the way.

Here’s a travel tip: If you are not up for hiking about 1-½ miles roundtrip to the beach, you can go back out onto Highway 19, turn right (south), and then turn right on Kealakehe Parkway. As soon as you can turn right, do it and follow the road around to where it ends (you may go past some big boats) and park there. Then you’ll see a white gate to the right of the parking lot. That’s the park. Follow the trail for about 0.2 miles to get to the fishtrap and just a little farther to the beach.

An unusual park is the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail. It is a 175 mile trail that encompasses culturally significant and historically important trails. We walked a very small portion of the trail when we went to the petroglyph trail, but you can walk all of it, if you so choose.

Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park is on the Kona side of the island as well. 

Here’s what we loved about Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park:

• The tikis are very impressive to see.

• Walking through the Royal Grounds, you can feel the sacredness of the place.

• The self guided tour was interesting.

• Sitting on the benches watching the geckos and anoles walk on the mural was funny.

• If you like palm trees, you’ll love this place!

• We saw a honu or sea turtle.

• We learned how to play Hawaiian checkers on a centuries old rock.

Our favorite of the smaller parks was Pu’ukohola Heiau because there were actual ruins there from the time of King Kamehameha.

We loved that:

• The trail was steep but interesting, especially seeing the wall that ran down to the ocean.

• Seeing this huge fortress built without mortar was awe inspiring.

• The visitor center was small but so interesting! Definitely try lifting the ironwood spear!

• There are A LOT of cats and mongoose around the visitor center.

Travel Tip: If you’re looking for a nice beach that isn’t super busy, below the Heiau is a beach called Sam’s Beach. There are some snorkeling places and big trees for shade. It made for a nice beach day without as many neighbors.

The biggest and best national park on the Big Island is Hawaii Volcanoes National Park just outside of Hilo. 

If you’re staying in Kona, it’s about a 2-½ hour drive to the park, but it is well worth it. We would recommend purchasing the Shaka Tour (this is an affiliate like) for the park because not only will you see the best stuff, you’ll hear some really great stories.

The highlights of our trip were:

• It didn’t rain that day! They mentioned that it had been really rainy lately but we had clear weather.

• The Kilauea Caldera is a must - if you can. When we were there, it was just steaming but a week later, it was filled with lava! So definitely check at the ranger station to see how close you can get. If you can, go to the Kilauea Overlook to get the best view inside the caldera.

• While you’re on the way back from the Overlook, stop at the steam vents. It’s hilarious to stand in the steam!

• Be on the lookout for interesting birds. We have seen nene there, which are the Hawaiian State Bird, and this time around we saw a Kalij Pheasant.

• The Thurston Lava tubes are a must BUT hard to find a parking space for. There is an overflow parking lot so watch for that.

• The Holei Sea Arch is the perfect end to the Chain of Craters road.

Travel Tip for Volcano National Park: Bring a jacket because it does get chilly!

Now, I have a question for you. Have you ever wanted to pet a sea horse? How about play with an octopus? If so, you can do both of these things on the Big Island!

We, unfortunately, weren’t able to play with any octopus this time around because I waited too long to make the reservation and they were sold out, but from what I can see the Kanaloa Octopus Farm looks pretty great!

We did however get to hold seahorses at the Ocean Rider Seahorse farm. They raise seahorses to sell as pets so that wild seahorses won’t be taken for the pet trade. 

Our favorite parts were:

• The tour of the facilities. They explained what seahorses eat and how difficult it is to raise them in captivity and how many things they had to learn to be successful at it.

• Eating the seaweed they grow for the seahorses.

• Watching the “seahorse race” to the food at breakneck speed - which isn’t that fast because they only use their back fin to move.

• Having curious seahorses come up and see us during the tour.

• Holding seahorses was by far the best part! We didn’t hold them as much as they held us, but it was fun to have them wrap around our fingers and just sort of hang out. 

Travel Tip for the Sea horses: try to stay as still as possible. If you move, they’ll swim off. 

When you’re on the island, don’t forget to head north to the Waipio Valley. This is another great Shaka Tour! (This is an affiliate link) You’ll see the statue of King Kamehameha that was lost at sea, replaced, and then found. You’ll see a beautiful overlook where you could hike straight down to the water, but then you’d have to hike back up! Plus rolling farms, wild turkeys, and not a lot of people. It was beautiful!

There is so much to do on the island, this is just scratching the surface. There are black sand beaches and the southern most point of the US, and ATVing, just to name a few, but at least this time around, we weren’t able to do all of those things.

But we were able to go stargazing on Mauna Kea. 

This is one of the preeminent places in the world for scientists to study the heavens. We went to the Visitor’s Center and watched the stars appear from there. If you have a 4 wheel drive, and no one in your group who is under 13 or has any lung conditions, you can go to the very top, where there is often snow.