Big Island Travel Guide

Makalawena Beach is one of the Big Island most dreamy hidden white-sand coves, stretching about 1 kilometer with powder-fine sand backed by ancient lava rock and kiawe trees, facing crystalline turquoise water. Reaching it requires a 4WD drive over rough lava road or a roughly 5-kilometer hike from the Kona coast, preserving a pristine, undeveloped escape. The nearshore reef is rich, with snorkeling for green sea turtles, surgeonfish, and butterflyfish in glass-clear water when calm. The Pu\u2018u Kuili cinder cone at the south end can be climbed for sweeping coast views and sight of Hualalai volcano, making this a sanctuary for travelers seeking quiet, raw nature, and the rare blend of white sand, lava, and shade forest.

Isaacs Art Center is housed in the historic Isaacs Hall in Waimea on Hawaii's Big Island, one of North Hawaii's oldest art exhibition spaces. Built in 1845 as a community meeting hall and school by early missionaries, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is itself a precious historical artifact. The center focuses on Hawaiian artists, collecting from 19th-century Hawaiian Kingdom watercolors to contemporary indigenous paintings, sculptures and mixed media. Exhibitions particularly highlight Paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) culture and Native Hawaiian historical narratives, as Waimea is one of America's oldest cowboy towns, predating the Western cowboy tradition by decades. Here you can touch the pulse of Hawaii's lesser-known upland ranch culture.

The Donkey Mill Art Center sits in Holualoa on the Big Island's Kona coffee belt, housed in a former coffee mill and serving as one of Hawaii's most important community art education and exhibition spaces. Operated by the Holualoa Foundation, it runs year-round workshops in ceramics, printmaking, painting, fiber arts, and traditional Hawaiian crafts, with local and visiting artists in residence. The gallery rotates contemporary Big Island art and Hawaiian native cultural themes, from lauhala weaving and kapa bark cloth to modern installation. The building retains the old mill's wooden trusses and stone base, with vintage coffee trees and art installations in the courtyard. It is both an incubator for artists and a quiet corner for visitors to experience Hawaiian creativity and community spirit away from the coastal resorts.

Holualoa is a historic village on the Kona coffee belt of the Big Island, sitting at about 430 m elevation along the old Mamalahoa Highway and rooted in coffee farming since the mid-1800s. Century-old wooden storefronts and lava-rock walls line the slow street, where galleries, coffee estates and craft studios interleave in a laid-back, artful mood. Each November the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, one of Hawaii's oldest festivals, fills the town with parade, cupping competition and hula evoking plantation-era life. Surrounding farms of coffee and macadamia climb toward Hualalai volcano in drifting mist, making the village the best base for tasting "slow Hawaii" and a century of coffee culture.

Located along the Kohala Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii, the Waikoloa Petroglyph Reserve preserves one of the most concentrated collections of ancient Hawaiian rock carvings in the islands. Over ten thousand petroglyphs, known in Hawaiian as k'i'i pohaku or images of stone, are etched into the dark lava fields, recording the daily lives, spiritual beliefs, genealogies, and significant events of early Hawaiian people. Walking along the historic King's Trail, visitors can observe these mysterious symbols up close human figures, animals, canoes, and geometric patterns that transport you back centuries. Set against the blue Pacific and distant mountains, the petroglyph field is both an archaeological treasure and a sacred window into native Hawaiian culture.

Kiholo Bay sits on the Kohala Coast of Hawaii Island's northwest side, a pristine bay formed when lava from the 1837 Maui eruption flowed into the sea. Far from resort development, it preserves Hawaii's raw coastal character, with black volcanic rock contrasting vividly against turquoise water. The bay is a key habitat for Hawaiian green sea turtles, with dozens often basking on shore or gliding underwater. A natural tide pool called Queen's Bath, ringed by volcanic rock into a pool shape, is a hidden summer snorkeling spot. The hike across the coastal lava plain to reach the bay is itself an adventure, making Kiholo a destination for travelers who truly love nature.