Itinerary · Big Island (Hawaiʻi) · United States
One day in Big Island (Hawaiʻi)
A day-by-day plan grouped by neighbourhood, so you spend your time seeing Big Island (Hawaiʻi), not crossing it.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Pictured: Rainbow Falls (Waiānuenue), Big Island (Hawaiʻi) · Photo: Gr0ph0n, CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answer
One day is a taster: the plan below covers the essentials, but most visitors want 8. Day 1: Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park and Kīlauea Iki Trail. Base yourself in Kailua-Kona.
Key facts
- Days
- 1
- Sights covered
- 3
- Day trips
- None
- Best base
- Kailua-Kona
- Book ahead
- Nothing essential
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Day by day
Day 1: Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park and Kīlauea Iki Trail
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park and Kīlauea Iki Trail, then Maunakea in the evening.
Breakfast
Breakfast: Sweet bread
Morning
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
Visit the caldera overlooks after dark if there is an active eruption, when any glow is most visible, and bring a warm layer because the summit is cool at night. Allow A full day.
Late morning
Kīlauea Iki Trail
Start early before tour groups arrive, and walk anticlockwise for the most gradual descent onto the crater floor. Allow 2–3 hours.
Lunch
Lunch: Poke
Fish markets and supermarket poke counters in Kona and Hilo, and casual poke shops across the island.
Evening
Maunakea
Stop at the visitor station for at least 30 minutes to acclimatise before going higher, and do not go to the summit with children under 13, if pregnant, or with heart or lung conditions.
If it rains
- Swap in ʻImiloa Astronomy Center (Hilo): Check the planetarium schedule when you arrive and plan your visit around a show.
- Swap in Pacific Tsunami Museum (Hilo): Pair it with a walk along the bayfront, where open parkland now stands on land cleared after the tsunamis.
- Swap in Huliheʻe Palace (Kailua-Kona): Look across the road at Mokuʻaikaua Church, Hawaiʻi's oldest Christian church, built of lava stone and coral mortar.
Where to stay for this itinerary
$$ · Best for first-timers, budget, families and nightlife
Kailua-Kona
The west side's main town with Aliʻi Drive, snorkel beaches and harbour tours
Pace and daylight
The sights in this plan add up to roughly 11–15 hours of visiting over one day, before meals and getting between them. Daylight runs from about 11 hours in December to 13.3 hours in June.
Getting between stops: Car. Hire a car from Kona or Hilo airport; driving from Kona to Hilo over the Saddle Road takes about 1.5 hours, and Kona to the national park about 2.5 hours via the south.
More or fewer days
Questions travellers ask
+Is one day enough in Big Island (Hawaiʻi)?
One day is a taster: the plan below covers the essentials, but most visitors want 8. How many days Big Island (Hawaiʻi) needs.