Frommer’s EasyGuide to the Big Island of Hawaii. Jeanne Cooper
Your Trip to Hawaii
Getting There
Internet or Apps for Hawaii Hotel Discounts
Getting Around Hawaii
Special-Interest Trips & Tours
Fast Facts: Hawaii
Akaka Falls in Hilo
Larger than all the other Hawaiian Islands combined, the Big Island truly deserves its nickname. Its 4,029 square miles—a figure that has grown recently, thanks to one of its three active volcanoes—contain 10 of the world’s 13 climate zones. In less than a day, a visitor can easily traverse tropical rainforest, lava desert, verdant pastures, misty uplands, and chilly tundra, the last near the summit of Mauna Kea, almost 14,000 feet above sea level. The shoreline also boasts diversity, from golden beaches to enchanting coves with black, salt-and-pepper, even olivine sand. Above all, the island home of Kamehameha the Great and Pele, the volcano goddess, is big in mana: power and spirituality.
Essentials
Arriving
The Big Island has two major airports for interisland and trans-Pacific jet traffic: Kona and Hilo.
Most people arrive at Kona International Airport (KOA; hawaii.gov/koa) in Keahole, the island’s westernmost point, and can be forgiven for wondering if there’s really a runway among all the crinkly black lava and golden fountain grass. Leaving the airport, the ritzy Kohala Coast is to the left (north) and the town of Kailua-Kona—often just called “Kona,” as is the airport—is to the right (south).
U.S. carriers offering nonstop service to Kona, in alphabetical order, are Alaska Airlines (www.alaskaair.com;
Air Canada (www.aircanada.com;
For connecting flights or island-hopping, Hawaiian and Southwest (see above) are the only carriers offering inter-island jet service. Hawaiian flies several times a day from Honolulu and Kahului, Maui, to both Kona and Hilo airports; it also flies daily nonstop between Kauai and Kona Hawaiian’s Ohana by Hawaiian subsidiary flies from Kona and Hilo to Kahului on 48-passenger, twin-engine turboprops. Mokulele Airlines (www.mokuleleairlines.com;
Visitor Information
The Big Island Visitors Bureau (www.gohawaii.com/big-island;
This Week (www.thisweekhawaii.com/big-island) and 101 Things to Do: Big Island (www.101thingstodo.com/big-island) are free publications that offer good, useful information amid the advertisements, as well as discount coupons for a variety of island adventures. Copies are easy to find all around the island.
Kona Coast
Puuhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park
Konaweb.com has an extensive event calendar and handy links to sites and services around the island, not just the Kona side. Those fascinated by the island’s active volcanoes—including Kilauea, which saw dramatic eruptions at its summit and in lower Puna between May and September 2018—should check out the updates, maps, photos, videos, and webcams on the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website (hvo.wr.usgs.gov), which also tracks the island’s frequent but usually minor earthquake activity.
The Island in Brief
The Kona Coast
Kona means “leeward side” in Hawaiian—and that means hot, dry weather virtually every day of the year on the 70-mile stretch of black lava shoreline encompassing the North and South Kona districts.
North Kona With the exception of the sumptuous but serenely low-key Four Seasons Resort Hualalai