Hawaiʻi, Day by Day

Out the door, left on Kalākaua, keep the ocean on your right. The beach walk runs into Kapiʻolani Park, past the banyans and the aquarium, then climbs gently along Diamond Head Road to the surf-break lookouts. Turn around whenever you like; a rideshare from Diamond Head Road is ten minutes back.

Hawaiian music on the sand every day from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, first-come bar seats, and the whole beach walks past. 0.4 miles from the Surfjack.

Up the inside of the crater on a 1908 military trail, with stairs and a tunnel at the top and all of Honolulu below. Ten minutes from the hotel by car; rideshares drop at the gate inside the crater. Arrive inside the first 30 minutes of your slot. $5, card only.

Pickup in Waikīkī, the film and exhibits at the visitor center at your own pace, and the Navy boat out to the memorial over the sunken Arizona. Admission to the grounds is free; the tour's value is the boat ticket and the ride. Bring only your phone, wallet and water; no bags of any kind are allowed, and paid bag storage is at the entrance.

A flooded volcanic crater with the most approachable reef on the island. Open Wednesday to Sunday. Snorkel gear rents on site. The Roberts Hawaiʻi shuttle from Waikīkī includes the admission and the required video.

The only royal palace on American soil, built in 1882 and wired for electricity before the White House. Self-led audio tour, $28, 60 minutes. Tickets online only; no walk-ups. Fifteen minutes from Waikīkī by car.

Across the street from the palace, the 1821 frame house the missionaries shipped from Boston, and the printing house where Hawaiian first went to type. $15 at 65 and over. Kawaiahaʻo Church, the coral-block church of 1842, is next door.

A paved trail to the island's southeast point, with the lighthouse below and the windward coast beyond. Free, open 7:00 am to 6:45 pm. No shade or water on the trail. Humpback whales start arriving this month; a sighting is a bonus. About 35 minutes from Waikīkī by car; the trailhead lot is on Kalanianaʻole Highway just past Hanauma Bay.

Two hundred acres of the University of Hawaiʻi's tropical garden at the top of Mānoa Road, beside the falls trailhead. Free with a $10 suggested donation. Sign in at the visitor center.

Hawaiian Hall is the deepest cultural stop on the island: three floors of feather cloaks, voyaging canoes and the gods. About $31 to $36 at 65 and over, 20% off online with code MAHALO20. Twenty minutes from Waikīkī by car.

A rainforest valley with a 150 foot waterfall at the end of a muddy mile. Free. Twenty minutes from Waikīkī by car to the end of Mānoa Road; parking at Paradise Park is $7. The trail closes for maintenance on short notice; the state trail site shows the status.

Island fruit, fresh poke, Portuguese sausage on a stick, coffee, and half of Honolulu talking in line, at the community college under Diamond Head. Ten minutes from the hotel by car.

Buyers bidding on whole ahi off the boats in a 48 degree auction hall. $35, reservation only, closed-toe shoes. A rideshare is the way there at that hour.

A 24 acre Japanese garden on the bay, five minutes from the inn, with a footbridge to Moku Ola, a small island that was a place of healing. Mauna Kea shows itself across the water when the clouds allow.

An open-air corner a block from the farmers market, with a full bar and live music most evenings. The best bar stool in Hilo on a Saturday. Open 11:00 am to 9:00 pm; a call tells you when the music starts.

Fifty minutes from Hilo. Kīlauea is in an active phase, and the park has closed the Keanakākoʻi side and the trails down to the caldera floor this fall; the park's alerts page has the day's closures. The visitor center is under renovation, so rangers and maps are at the Welcome Center inside Kīlauea Military Camp, a mile past the gate, 9:00 am to 4:45 pm. Parking lots fill by 10:00 am.

The best hike in the park. You drop through rainforest onto a crater floor that was a lake of molten lava in 1959, walk a mile across it while it steams through the cracks under your boots, and climb out the far wall. Counterclockwise from the overlook is the easier way round, and the lot fills by 10:00 am.

A paved path through the cinder that buried the forest in 1959. Puʻupuaʻi overlook at the far end looks down into Kīlauea Iki.

Across the 1969 to 1974 flows of Mauna Ulu, past tree molds and lava trees, to the top of a forested cinder cone with the shield below and the east rift beyond. The trailhead is a short spur off Chain of Craters Road, a few miles below Crater Rim Drive. The best stand-in for Kīlauea Iki, and on the way to the sea arch.

The western stretch only: along the rim from Kīlauea Military Camp out to Uēkahuna and back, with the caldera on one side the whole way. Flat and open. The eastern stretch toward Keanakākoʻi is closed for volcanic unrest, and the trails that drop to the caldera floor are closed for rockfall.

A 500 year old lava tube you walk through standing up, next to the Kīlauea Iki lot. Twenty minutes.

The park's 1941 hotel on the rim. The Rim serves lunch; Uncle George's Lounge next to it has bar seats and is open 11:00 am to 9:30 pm.

The overlooks that reopened in August, with the full caldera in front of you and any activity from the vents. The Welcome Center is on this stretch.

The road drops 3,700 feet through old flows to where lava met the sea. The sea arch is a short walk from the end-of-road lot. The Puʻuloa petroglyphs, the largest field in Hawaiʻi, are a 1.4 mile boardwalk on the way down.

A commercial orchid grower's showroom and greenhouse right on the highway, with an orchid maze. Twenty minutes, no detour.

A fenced acre of old ʻōhiʻa and tree ferns two minutes off the highway in Volcano Village, with a short self-guided loop through the trees. The gallery and the free guided walks are weekdays only, so on a Sunday the loop is the visit. Fifteen minutes.

Rainbow Falls earns its name in morning light, five minutes from the inn. Boiling Pots is ten minutes further up the same river. $5 plus $10 parking, card only, and one payment covers both.

A 442 foot waterfall at the end of a paved loop through bamboo and ginger, 25 minutes north of Hilo. Pay online before you go, $5 plus $10 parking. Fallen trees have part of the loop closed this fall; the state park notices page has the current word.

On the four mile scenic route north of Hilo, a garden that runs down a valley to the sea. About $30.

Poke bowls to take away, across from Liliʻuokalani Gardens.

Two doors from the inn: volcanology, shells, and the 1839 mission house. $5 at 65 and over. About an hour.

A black sand pocket beach ten minutes east of town with a lava breakwater, easy snorkeling, and green sea turtles that haul out on the sand most afternoons. Stay ten feet back; they are napping. Lifeguard, showers, free lot.

A lava tube from the 1881 Mauna Loa flow, ten minutes up Saddle Road, and as far in as your headlamp and nerve take you. Slippery; wear real shoes.

A fenced island of old koa forest on a cinder cone in the middle of the 1935 lava flow, directly across the highway from the Maunakea Access Road. Loops to the top total about 1.3 miles, steep for the first few minutes, with Mauna Kea on one side and Mauna Loa on the other. Native birds in the trees. The best free sunset perch on the road; sunset is 5:46 pm.

Six paved miles up from the mile 28 junction, about 45 minutes from Hilo. Sunset from the pullouts; staff talks after dark when weather and staffing allow. In the 30s with wind. The road above the station is gravel and off limits to rental cars. From the station down to the Marriott is about an hour in the dark.

Fully paved two-lane highway with passing lanes and wide shoulders, and no lights, gas or services for 50 miles. Fog is routine on the Hilo side, nene and cattle cross near Waikiʻi. The only restroom between Hilo and the coast is Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area at mile 35. Repaving between miles 10 and 28 was scheduled to finish in October; the state road page has the current word.

A 12 minute walk across Waikoloa Beach Drive to the Coronation Pavilion. Free.

The reef under the Captain Cook Monument by catamaran, for anyone who would rather skip the Kaʻawaloa Trail's 1,300 feet down and back up. Three hours from the Keauhou pier, an hour in the clearest water on the coast, and back to the same pier the manta boats use.

The best wildlife encounter in Hawaiʻi, and it happens after dark. The boat anchors where the mantas feed, lights go in the water, and animals 10 to 14 feet across rise out of the black to barrel-roll inches under your mask. You float on a lit raft beside the boat in a wetsuit, warm drink waiting on deck whenever you want out. Check in at the Keauhou Bay pier at the time on your booking, 40 minutes from the Marriott.

The best shore snorkeling on the island, off a lava shelf just outside the park gate. Parking is roadside and tight by 10:00 am.

Down loose rock in full sun to the white obelisk where Cook died in 1779, and the clearest water on the coast in front of it. The climb out is the price. Only permitted guided kayaks may land at the monument; the trail is the way in on your own. Trailhead is a pull-off on Nāpōʻopoʻo Road just below Highway 11. Free.

Break a sacred law in old Hawaiʻi and your life was forfeit, unless you reached this wall. Inside it: the royal grounds, the carved kiʻi standing guard over the temple, canoes on the sand, and craftspeople at work most days. The most atmospheric place on the island, on a lava point beside the best snorkeling. $20 a car, or free on the Senior pass. Card only.

A 1920s Japanese coffee homestead kept the way it ran, with costumed interpreters. Tuesdays and Fridays only. The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival runs all week; its $10 button gets the $15 festival rate here and free tours at other farms.

Four generations of Kona coffee, with free walking tours through the orchard and the mill.

Hundreds of figures carved into the lava along the King's Trail from the 1500s on. A signposted path behind Kings' Shops, 0.4 miles from the hotel.

Your beach. Lava Lava Beach Club is 0.7 miles down the sand with music every night, and the hotel is behind you.

Imu ceremony at sunset, open bar, dinner, then the show. Your room is a short walk, so the bar is yours.

The temple Kamehameha built in 1791 to win the islands, and did. A stone platform 224 feet long, with walls up to 20 feet high, above Kawaihae Bay, with a drowned shark temple in the water below; go at opening and the blacktip reef sharks are still circling over it. Half a mile on foot with the audio tour. Twenty minutes north of the hotel, free.

Where the road ends in North Kohala, the land drops into a valley that was farmed for a thousand years, and a steep trail takes you down to its black-sand beach in twenty minutes. Free, with volunteer stewards at the top. About an hour from the hotel; roadside parking fills early. Hāwī, 15 minutes back down the road, has lunch.

The island's big white-sand beach: half a mile of it, with real surf, lifeguards and cold showers. Fifteen minutes from the hotel. $5 plus $10 parking, card only.

The old coastal trail runs south from the temple past Mauʻumae and Mauna Kea Beach to Hāpuna. Swim at the end. Getting back to the car is the puzzle: walk it both ways, or a short rideshare.

The hotel gatehouse at mile marker 68 hands out about 40 free public passes a day. Be early or try at noon. Or walk 15 to 20 minutes north from Hāpuna on the coastal trail.

An hour on the King's Trail with someone who can read the carvings. Meets at Kings' Shops.

Ancient fishponds and a stone fish trap beside the airport, and at dusk green sea turtles haul out onto Honokōhau Beach to sleep. Free. The visitor center lot closes at 4:00 pm; after that, enter from Honokōhau Harbor: Kealakehe Parkway, first right, park by the sailing club, and walk a few minutes to the beach. Hot and exposed; bring water.

The royal summer house on the seawall. $12 at 65 and over. Mokuaikaua Church, the oldest Christian church in Hawaiʻi, is across the street, and Ahuʻena Heiau, Kamehameha's last temple, sits on the beach by the pier.

Fruit, coffee and crafts on Aliʻi Drive at Hualālai Road, a few blocks from the palace.

A last swim and a cold outdoor shower, 30 minutes from the airport. $5 plus $10 parking, card only.