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Aloha

ISLAND OF HAWAII

Aloha and welcome to the Hawaiian island which is the largest of the Hawaiian islands, and also the largest island in the United States with a population of 186,738, but the island has only 13 % of Hawaii’s people. The Big Island is 4,028 square miles and is the third most visited by tourists each year. It is the third-largest island in Polynesia, behind the two main islands of New Zealand.

The Big Island of Hawaii has two areas, first is Hilo, which is the major city on the coast, surrounded by an abundance of tropical greenery, dramatic waterfalls, rain forests, and blooming gardens, and Kailua-Kona, which is the dry side of the island, with many small towns and villages. The island is unique and famous for its stunning beauty, natural views, and diverse activity, so you can never be bored!

ATTRACTIONS

Hawaii volcanoes

The Big Island has five distinct volcanoes: Kohala, Mauna Kea, Hualalai, Mauna Loa, and Kilauea. The molten lava from Mt.Kilauea ranks among the world’s most active volcanoes. Mauna Loa is considered to be the tallest mountain in the world, and Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, and both of them are active. It’s not advised or allowed to get to close to the volcano, but if you have a drone with good range with you you might be able to take amazing photos. One of the best things to do when on the Big Island is to witness how these volcanoes continuously change the Hawaiian landscape. The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has been declared a national heritage site and there you can see an exciting mix of volcanic pools, flows, and craters, rain forests and burned deserts, a daunting lava tube, as well as a museum and petroglyphs and destructive paths of Mauna Loa’s last eruption.

At the park, you will go through two roads; the Crater Rim Drive and the Chain of Craters Road. The Crater Rim Drive takes you through many of the park’s natural attractions, like Kilauea Iki Crater and Kilauea overlooks, the Devastation Trail, Halemaumau Crater, and the Thurston Lava Tube. You can take a ride through the Chain of Craters Road, and the journey is ended by lava flow where you can see Puu Ooo Vent where lava flows out of the Kilauea and into the sea.

Beaches

It is also home to over one hundred diverse beaches with four unique types of sand beaches: black sand beaches, green sand beaches, white sand beaches and “salt and pepper”. The most popular beaches are Hapuna beach which is popular because of its white sand, good facilities and easy parking, great for swimming, snorkeling, and hiking, and Mauna Kea beach, and the two of the most beautiful beaches in Hawaii are Kua Bay and Makalawena beach. The Big Island has the best snorkeling in Hawaii because the water off the Kona is very clear.

Kolekole Beach Park is probably one of the most beautiful beach parks around because of its sandy shores, blue ocean, the jungle that is close to the sea, where you can find a waterfall, lava rocks, and a flowing stream. Onekahakaha Beach Park is a beach park with lots of picnic tables, clean public restrooms, and showers.

Sunset in Hawaii

The Hawaiian sunset offers a unique and inspirational view with extraordinary colors: gorgeous red, orange, pink, blue, and the sunshine is providing 12 hours of life-giving light and beach outdoor sinks. Make sure to have your cameras, phones, and drones ready because you don’t get to make such stunning photos and videos like during sunset in Hawaii.

HOLUALOA VILLAGE

Holualoa is a tiny village located on the western coast of the Big Island, on the slopes of the Hualalai volcano, just south of Kailua-Kona, famous for its delicious coffee and its cultural heritage. Holualoa got its name from the famous Hawaiian practice of sledding the long mountain slopes with wooden sleds. It has a population of 8,538 (2010.)

This charming village with a windy two-lane road is famous for its coffee shops, friendly villagers and art galleries. The climate is perfect for growing the bean, and coffee orchards offer public tours that can learn about how coffee is grown, harvested and processed. We are sure that after one sip you will be hooked up, and just wish for more. But beyond coffee, Holualoa is famous for its fields of sugar cane. The Magic Sands Beach Park nearby provides a beautiful oasis that is perfect to begin or end your day of exploring the coffee industry in the area. Beyond the town center, there are many farms located on the slopes of Mount Hualalai. The climate is comfortable and most pleasant in terms of heat and humidity, from February to March, while the hottest month is July, through October.

THINGS TO DO IN HOLUALOA VILLAGE

Mauka Meadows

Mauka Meadows is a coffee farm located on the Kona Coffee Belt, that is offering a tour to its visitors around a working farm to see how coffee is made. You can take a picture of yourself, and enjoy walking through the botanical garden. Mauka Meadows charges $5 per person and shares a beautiful view from its location, so people can savor a heady variety of java in one place during November’s annual Holualoa Village Coffee & Art Stroll, which is part of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival. Talking of tours, we recently spoken to foreign people who started their own day tours agency here on the island. Thing is, they moved in from Europe where they owned and operated first Croatian travel agency (at least, that’s what they told us), recently they sold their business and moved to Hawaii to enjoy their retirement I’d guess. Tours I’m talking about are something like this: Split to Hvar day trip is a good example of one day tour, these tours are pretty popular in Europe actually.

Hula Daddy Kona Coffee

You can take a tour through Kona Coffee property where some of the freshest Hawaiian organic coffee is grown. Kona Coffee Hawaii tour itself is amazing but in the end, you get free coffee tasting, and to finish the tour properly you have Kona Coffee shop where you can get a bag or two (maybe even more) of their finest coffee.

Holuakoa Cafe & Gardens

This farm to table concept offers the best that flavors of Pacific Rim can offer. Their dishes are focused on local availability, and everything is served fresh. Some of their signature dishes are Braised Pork Belly, Apple Salad, and Pan Roasted Mahi Mahi. If you don’t want to wait for dinner to enjoy this lovely place you can always stop by to try their freshest juices, local coffee, or homemade treats with sounds of cheerful local musicians.

Music & Light Festival

The galleries along Mamalahoa Highway, which is the main road through town, contains some fine art, including handmade woodwork and jewelry, sculptures and posters. If you are staying in the Village it’s easy to visit most of these galleries, everything is so relatively close so you are even able to take a tour with a long range electric scooter. Standouts include Dovetail Gallery, Studio 7 Fine Arts, and Glyph Art Gallery. The famous and unique Holualoa Ukulele Gallery has some stunning examples of Hawaii’s four-stringed instrument which is created by great ukulele makers. The visitors can play a few bars, chat with the owner and maybe even participate in a ukulele – building workshop.