SuperCharge your Big Island of Hawaii Vacation Planning; Hawaii Big Island Revealed Review
Filed under: Big Island, Big Island Activities, Big Island Areas, Big Island Beaches, Big Island Hotels, Big Island Rentals, Hawaii - general, Hawaii Revealed Guides, Hawaii Volcanoes, Prices, Vacation Planning
If you are planning a trip to the Big Island I highly recommend you get the book Hawaii the Big Island Revealed
I have lived in Hawaii for well over a decade, I’ve done just about every activity and hike I care to do, and I still refer to this book when someone asks me something I’m not sure about or just don’t know. I have each one they wrote. I don’t know who the authors are personally, but I have talked with many businesses and hear how they have been ’shopped’ by the authors.
The authors don’t put their pictures on the book and they don’t talk about who they are. When they go to research an activity or hotel they don’t try to get a free room or good service, they try to be treated like anybody else so they can give honest, accurate reports on just about everything there is to do on every island. They are even funny. And they are, really, brutally honest. If something is a dump they call it a dump. If something really rung their bells, you can tell.
The book is broken down well in categories like Activities and Adventures and Beaches and also by location. The index is very thorough. There are lots of spectacular pictures and area maps and complete driving directions. AND, maybe best of all, they provide aerial pictures of the hotels showing how close (or not) the hotel is to the ocean and which building is which (so you can request what building you want to have a room in).
Get the book, you will not regret it. Hawaii the Big Island Revealed
Big Island Itinerary
Filed under: Big Island, Big Island Activities, Big Island Areas, Hawaii Volcanoes, Vacation Planning
Itinerary
Fri PM leave Oakland 3:30pm
EVE arrive Hilo 7:05; drive to Honaka’a
Hotel Hotel Honaka’aSat AM Mamane Bakery; HAWAIIAN MACADAMIA PLANTATION, INC., Waipi’o Valley; drive down Valley Rd, Kahuahine Falls & Waiulili Falls
PM take Rt 19 west to Kawaihae; Pu’ukohola Heiau; Hapuna Beach swimming and snorkeling; Malama Petrograph Trail
EVE check in at hotel and relax (die) or go to ukulele entertainers, Kings Shops at the Waikoloa Resort. Call (808) 886-8811
Hotel Kona Seaside HotelSun AM Hulihe’e Palace; Mokuaikauna Church; Cloud Forest
PM Kahalu’u Beach, snorkeling
EVE open
Hotel Kona Seaside HotelMon AM snorkeling/whalewatching
PM open
EVE open
Hotel Kona Seaside HotelTues AM Keauhou Sea Cave Adventure (kayaking/snorkeling)
PM open
EVE open
Hotel Kona Seaside HotelWed AM check out; Captain Cook; Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden; Holualoa Kona Coffee Company tour; Ho’okena, Green Sand Beach; Punalu’u Black Sand Beach
PM continue drive to Volcanos National Park
EVE open
Hotel Volcano CabinsThurs AM Visitor Center, Jagger Museum, Crater Rim Drive, walk Devastation Trail and Thurston Lava Tube walk
PM Chain of Craters Road
EVE picnic lunch at End of Chain of Craters Road
Hotel Volcano CabinsFri AM check out, leave park 5:30am, depart Hilo Airport 8:30am
PM arrive Chicagois this reasonable? I’m I getting at the good stuff or did I miss alot?
It looks good to me - let me talk about a few things here:
To drive down in Waipio Valley you need a four wheel drive. It’s not an easy drive. Have you found directions to the falls? Doing all this plus swimming at Hapuna beach will be quite a packed day.
You’ll need a 4 wheel drive to get to the green sand beach too unless you plan on hiking a couple of miles each way.
Don’t stress if you aren’t at the Hilo airport 2 hours before you fly out. ATA is the only airlines that goes to the mainland from Hilo. We just flew that flight to Oakland last week. We left our house at 7 am, got there at 7:15, and had NO problems. There were no lines - nothing. That’s just how the Hilo airport is usually. I’m not saying to plan to get there with only 1 hour and 15 minutes to spare like we did, but don’t stress about it.
I think you covered about as much as possible in the time you have. Cool.
Have fun! Lisa
Flight departure to Kona, Big Island of Hawaii
Monday
Flight departure to Kona, Big Island of Hawaii
Drive: for 3 to 4hrs to the Town of Volcano (See map) and stop at supermarket for groceries for the Bungalow Check-in: Kate’s Bungalow Address: 19-4039 Hapu Ln, Volcano Ph: (877) 967-7990 Evening: At leisure (Pack lunches for tomorrow’s Volcano National Park excursion) Tuesday
Morning: Hawaii Volcano National Park Visit: The Visitor Center and obtain information about Volcano and the latest info and location of lava flow also ask about directions in and around the park. (There are two scenic drives with a wealth of volcano views An 11-mile drive, called Crater Rim, passes by many rising steam vents) Visit: Steam Sulphur Banks Vents, Kilauea Overlook, Jaggar Museum, Halemaumau Crater, Devastation Trail (45min hike) Afternoon: Thurston Lava Tube (20min hike), Kilauea Iki Overlook, Kilauea Iki Trail (Little Kilauea), Hilina Pali Overlook, Holei Sea Arch (end of road where lava flowed) Evening: Return to see the lava flow after dark, (take a flashlight, water bottle, and jacket) Wednesday
Morning: (Check-out) Wake up early and drive to Hilo Airport (1hour drive-See map to Hilo Airport) Tour: (1010hrs) Blue Hawaiian Helicopter (Circle of Fire plus Waterfalls Tour) #1963497799 Ph: (800) 786-2583 Afternoon/Lunch: Lunch at Kuhio Grille 111 East Puainako Street, #A106, Hilo (Located at Prince Kuhio Shopping Plaza) Drive: Richardson Beach Park (walk around and take a look at the black sand beach and scenery), Rainbow Falls State Park (at the edge of Hilo town and view the falls), North to scenic drive detour at Onomea Bay along the Hamakua Coast, Visit: Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens and Onomea Bay Trail (Stop at What’s Shakin Smoothie Stand near the Botanical Gardens for refreshments) Drive: north to Akaka Falls State Park (Hike short trail-loop and view Kahuna Falls and Akaka Falls) Drive: North to the Waipio Valley Overlook, Drive: from Waimea, descending down to Kona Check-in: Surf & Racquet Club Address: 78-6800 Alii Drive, Kailua-Kona Ph: (808) 331-8878 Evening: At Leisure Morning: At Leisure Afternoon/Evening: (1320hrs) Mauna Kea Summit Adventures Tour (tour pick-up: Buns in the Sun 75-5675 Palani RD) Ph: (808) 322-2366
regarding the Big Island - which way are you driving to Volcano? The southern route or the northern route? The southern route may be your best bet, and it should only take 2 to 2.5 hours unless you stop a lot, which you may.
And groceries? There are no major grocery stores along the southern route. It’d be best to stop in Kona. There is one in Naalehu but it’s small with very high prices.
There’s a lot of things to do in Kona - go to Kahaluu Beach to snorkel and see turtles. Go to the Puuhonua National Park - I think your pass from the Volcanoes National Park might get you in. Check with them. Go on the Fairwinds boat tour - go on a glass bottom boat and or the atlantis submarine.
related: Multiple island itinerary
Tour the Volcano From Maui - How to Get to the Big Island
Filed under: Big Island, Big Island Activities, Hawaii - general, Hawaii Volcanoes, Maui, Maui Activities, Vacation Planning
If I spend 10 nights in Maui is it easy to do a day trip to the big island to see the volcano or would you recommend something different. I am traveling with a 15 and 12 year old boys.
Well, you have four options, really. The first three will take *all day*. The last one will not but will be the most expensive. If you really want to see the volcano then go for it - just realize it could be doing *nothing* when you come (it could be in a pause or all the lava could be flowing underground)
- arrange your own flight to hilo, rent your own car, and drive up to the national park, see as much as you can in one day, drive back and fly back to maui. Not a bad choice - probably your cheapest option. I would say it is possible to do this for $100 per person for the flight (if you book early enough to get the lowest rates on the flight) plus $35 to $60 for the rental car. Drive to the national park from Hilo will take 30 minutes. (Do NOT fly to Kona- that will take you over two hours to drive to the Volcano.) Bad thing is, the lava flow is currently (nov 07) viewable only by air so you may not get to see active lava - but you will get to see all the other stuff.
- Arrange your own flight to Hilo, then take a tour bus to the National Park. http://www.hawaiiactive.com/activities/bigisland-volcano-tour.html or arrange your own flight to Hilo or Kona, then take a small plane or helicopter flyover tour of the volcano: http://www.hilowings.com/ , http://www.bluehawaiian.com/bigisland/tours/, http://www.safarihelicopters.com/bigislandtours.html (web booking price is $151 per person when I wrote this)
- Arrange a bus tour to the volcano, starting from Maui - http://www.hawaiiactive.com/activities/maui-volcano-adventure.html - have all the legwork done for you by the tour company
- Do a flyover of the volcano from Maui: http://www.volcanoairtours.com/index.html, http://www.hawaiiactivities.com/us/hawaii/maui/sg/1258/ag/6382/
have a great time!
How to Best See the Volcano from Oahu
Filed under: Big Island, Big Island Activities, Hawaii - general, Hawaii Volcanoes, Oahu
answer
Thanks 
The volcano is on the Big Island, so the first thing you will need to do is get a flight to the big island - or you could look around for a tour company that would do an island tour for you, like this one.
However, you are correct that right now the best viewing is from the air. You might just want to catch an inter-island flight to the Hilo airport and just walk over to the helicopter and small plane departures and take one of them, like Hilo Wings.
If you do take a helicopter or small plane tour, here’s some pics of what you may see: my friend was up just last week and took these pictures.
Now, as for the park being closed - everything is currently open except for some pretty advanced hiking trails near the current flow. The closures only lasted for a short time after the earthquakes around mid-June. There’s lot’s of interesting stuff to see and a huge crater that is easy to get to, but the flowing lava is only visible from the air right now. Check the absolute latest information with the National Park or my volcano blog.
Have fun! Lisa
question
First, what a great website! I find the information very interesting. My wife and I are planning a trip to Oahu next week and wanted to include a tour of the Volcanoes National Park. With all the current activity going on and based on their website, it appears that a good portion of the park is closed. We were really hoping to see some neat things, including lava, etc. With these developments, does it make more sense to tour from the air instead of the ground? If we still elected to tour from the ground, what is still open that would be worth seeing?