Kona Travel Guide
For details of what to do and see in Kona check out our Kona guide to car hire in Kona.
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Lying on the stunning west coast of Hawaii's Big Island, a holiday in Kona provides tourists with an opportunity to enjoy spectacular surfing on the beautiful beaches, stay in some absolutely fantastic hotels, and enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable, as well as many of the most important historic attractions in the United States of America's Pacific island state.
Offering a combination of climates, from the baking heat of the beach, to the cooler, more temperate weather on the nearby mountains where coffee is grown: Kona is something of a paradise for people looking to indulge their sporting side, with surfing and other water sports such as sailing, deep sea fishing, and kayaking joining mountain biking, rock climbing and hill running, amongst the activities on offer locally.
On the north coast of the so-called Big Island, the main access point for visitors arriving into Hawaii is Hilo. The ideal gateway to seeing some of the most incredible attractions in the state before travelling onwards to one of the other islands where the tourism industry is more developed.
The main natural attractions for most people who come to the whole island can be found within the confines of the incredible Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, where you can witness the spectacle of red hot globs of molten lava exploding into the air from the constantly active Kilauea -the best time to arrive at the crater is at dust, when you will be able to enjoy perhaps the most impressive natural lightshow anywhere, and certainly one of the best photographic opportunities of your life. The giant volcano, Mauna Loa, is the engine that has created the whole island, and is the largest single mountain mass on the surface of the earth. Despite the tropical climate of the island as a whole, since the peak of the volcano is around 4000m above sea level, it is important to dress appropriately for a trip to the top, because the weather is incredibly cold. Aside from the volcanic cones, and occasional explosions and eruptions, fans of extreme geo thermal activity will no doubt be cock a hoop with the myriad smaller natural attractions such as bubbling pools of hot mud and geysers.
Much of Hawaii, which is geologically the youngest island in the archipelago is covered in lush areas of pristine rainforest, and at the lower coastal latitudes, the island is popular for visitors wanting to hike and camp in the great outdoors.
