Hawaii Travel Guide
My family used to live in California up until I was in third grade. While we lived out west, we went to Hawaii on four different trips where we visited Maui, Kauai and O’ahu. I was pretty young, but I do recall most of the trips and I remembered just how beautiful islands were. So when the perfect opportunity came about for my family to take a trip back to the Islands nearly 15 years later, we jumped at the opportunity and traveled all the way from Charlotte, NC to Hawaii for the week of the 4th of July in 2019! This trip was not really planned and kind of just happened. I called Hilton’s customer service line for some help in altering a different trip that I was going on. At the end of the call they asked if I wanted to listen to their Hilton Vacations promotion for 500 points and I did not even have to buy anything, just had to listen for a few minutes. I will do about anything for some free points, so I said yes….well 2 hours later I had a trip to Hawaii to their Waikoloa Village for 6 days and 5 nights that was good for 18 months. Traveling with a family of five means that you pretty much need two bedrooms in order to be comfortable for a stay that long and with the deal that I got through Hilton Grand Vacations we had a 2 bedroom condo in their Kings Land property with a pool and golf course view, a 6 day rental car (SUV size), a $200 “spend the night on us” credit to use at a Hilton property after our stay and 5,000 bonus Hilton Honor points all for about $1,800. We all thought this was an amazing deal to be able to spend the week with each other in one of the most sought after destinations in the United States. I mean look at the views from the property!
View from our room at Kings Land
We bought a good bit of groceries to easily make lunches to take to the beach during the day since we were staying in a condo that had a full kitchen (very convenient) because my family likes to save a little bit of money that way and then eat out for dinner. So, for our first night’s dinner we had to do it Hawaiian style and go to a Luau! We had researched a couple of the Luaus near Waikoloa Village and decided to make a reservation at the Mauna Kea beach hotel. They only do this twice a week and spots do fill up, so it is best to book in advance. The price is $117 per adult but we all agreed that the experience and food made it worth it. The moment that you walk into the Mauna Kea you are in awe of the beauty of the grounds and then met with a kukui nut lei to wear and a Mai Tai to sip while you get seated. From the hula and fire dancers to the expansive food buffet, it was a perfect night. You had the option of trying poke, kalua pig (this was slow cooked underground with lava rocks and we were able to watch them remove it and prepare it for dinner), laulau, lomi-lomi salmon, chicken long rice, and so many other dishes and dessert options. I wish I had taken more pictures of the food but I was so caught up in just experiencing it all. The most memorable part of the night was when I was pulled up on stage to dance with some of the fire dancers after trying to point at my sister and get them to pull her up on stage…not me! Luckily my mom quickly pulled out her phone and captured the whole thing on video for your enjoyment.
Of course the next thing you have to know about Hawaii are the beaches to go to. I mean why else are you flying across the Pacific Ocean? The first beach that we went to was on my bucket list to see. I have always wanted to see a black sand beach in person. Something about them is just fascinating to me. We took a trip over to the Pololu Valley (about an hour drive from Waikoloa Village) to do just that. Although it’s pretty breath taking, this is not the type of beach where you can easily get out of your car and set out your beach towel. There is about a 15 minute hike down the mountain that you have to do (wear tennis shoes for sure) in order to get down to the coast. This is also not the type of water that you can easily wade into and swim around. The water is a bit rougher over here, so I have other recommendations for that kind of beach where you can easily get to it and enjoy the water. We were all glad that we did go see this though and spent probably 2 hours exploring the valley and the coast, just know what you are getting into.
The other beaches that are more swim friendly that we really enjoyed were the Mauna Kea (same place where we went to the Luau), Waialea (also called Beach 69) and Hapuna public beaches. There are a few things to note about each one.
Mauna Kea: There is public parking here but there are only about 20-25 spots. You can let the guard know at the gate that you are just going to the public beach area and he will let you in to see if you can find a spot (get there earlier so that you don’t have too much trouble finding one). From there its a short walk from your car to the beach.
Waialea: This beach is great for snorkeling! Lots of fishes as there are a couple reefs off the shore. Although it’s a public beach, parking is $5 with a self service payment machine.
Hapuna: This beach also has a $5 parking fee that will be taken from an attendant when you enter. They have a good amount of parking and it was pretty full when we arrived. There is a snack bar called Three Frogs Cafe where you can get fish tacos, tropical smoothies and shaved ice and its reasonably priced. So don’t worry about going hungry at this beach!
If you are looking for something else to do besides going to the beach, easily our favorite experience from the entire trip was going deep sea fishing. We chartered a fishing boat to take our family out for ¾ of the day. We did this through Kona Deep Sea Charter and were on the boat High Noon. Our crew was so friendly and knew exactly what they were doing. They showed us exactly what to do as only my dad had previously been deep sea fishing before. We arrived at the boat around 6am and after a few hours of nothing we were getting worried that we had spent all this money to not even see any fish. Soon after that thought the reels started spinning and we sprung into action and my brother and I caught two 50 pound skipjacks! Let me just say, I thought my arms were in decent shape until I tried to fight this fish for 10 minutes…they were definitely sore the next day. About half an hour later though the reels started spinning again and this time it was my sisters turn. We were expecting a similar fish, but after 20 minutes of her fighting we realized it must be a lot bigger. Whales started coming towards our boat as they wanted a little piece of the action of the fish that we had not been able to reel in yet. The captain told my sister to get the fish in the boat right then otherwise he was going to have to cut it loose so that the whales did not get too close to us. She then won the battle against a 110 pound yellowfin tuna! Talk about an exciting (and exhausting) day. A trip like this does not come cheep though, it was about $800 to charter the boat and worth every penny for that experience.
After working up an appetite deep sea fishing, you will need a good place to grab some poke and fish tacos! Two of our favorite restaurants from the trip were Umekes Fish Market and The Fish and The Hog. Umekes is down in Kona by the marina where we went fishing and The Fish and The Hog is up in Waimea. I definitely recommend adding these two to your list of places to dine at. Things to note at each place:
Umekes: The poke bowl was one of the best things that I have ever eaten. The tuna was so fresh and tossed in a sauce that was not overpowering but it gave it great flavor. I am also a big fan of seaweed salad and that was a really nice addition. The Umekes Style Tacos (fried of course) were also delicious. I did enjoy the poke bowl slightly more than the tacos, but it was a close second.
The Fish and The Hog: If fish tacos were on the menu anywhere, I got them. So no surprise that I also got the fish tacos here as well and they were also delicious. A little different in the toppings from Umekes but just as good. My dad got the beef brisket dish and thought it compared just as well as to our go to BBQ places in NC. We splurged and got dessert and it was honestly one of the best chocolate cakes that I have ever had. I had to fight my family to let us order it in addition to the coconut layer cake and they all thanked me afterwards as we could not get enough of the chocolate.
I decided to save the best for last. This place became our favorite spot as we ate there on three different occasions. It was right by where we were staying in Waikoloa Village, had views that made you question if you were dreaming and the Mai Tais were on point. Lava Lava Beach Club was the place to be. This restaurant and bar is literally right on the beach and is the perfect place to watch the sunset with a Mai Tai in hand. They have a great happy hour deal from 3-5pm where appetizers range from $5-$10 and most importantly their signature Mai Tai is $7. Definitely recommend the tipsy tots, hurricane fries, cheese nachos and the kimchee chicken wings to share. We mainly would just order a bunch of the appetizers and share those. Because of this, the only thing we actually ordered off the dinner menu was the ahi poke. I thought everything was delicious…and that is not the Mai Tais talking!
Although the food and drinks were all amazing, this place is more special for other reasons. It is the place that my extended family (aunt and cousins on my Mom’s side) reunited after nearly 15 years apart. Although we were happy to be reuniting, the event that brought us together was my Nana and Papa’s deaths. My Papa passed away back in 2013 and my Nana in 2018. My mom had been holding on to their ashes until we could find the right time to put them to rest. When this Hawaii trip came about, my mom knew that she wanted to bring their ashes with us and spread them in their favorite place in the whole entire world (they went about 20 times and had Hawaiian decorations all over their home). After dinner at Lava Lava Beach Club one night we walked along the beach and found a secluded cove to have our own makeshift ceremony.
There are just so many things to do and see in Hawaii and I was not able to highlight all of them in this post. There are a final few that I do want to mention though incase you are planning on going so that you can add these to your list of things to do.
Mauna Kea Volcano: This is a dormant volcano where you drive on a paved road almost to the top. We went one night and drove about 1.5 hours to see the sunset from the top of the volcano and then stayed a bit to stargaze. The sky was clear and it was amazing just how much you could see. It does get cold once the sunsets and because you are about 10,000 ft above sea level, so bring a jacket.
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park: Kilauea is an active volcano on the island and you can also drive up to it and walk around. It was pretty cool to see all the steam coming out of the ground. There were some people walking on it but that was a little too close for comfort for us. It does cost $30 per car to enter the site since its a national park.
Waipi’o Valley Lookout: On our way to Hilo we added this to our stop. It’s a beautiful lookout point where you can sit for a little bit and take it all in. It does get a little steep at points, so it is recommended to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle.
Rainbow Falls: While we were in Hilo, we stopped by Rainbow Falls. There were many waterfalls to look at and massive banyan trees that had been there for over a hundred years. You are able to walk around and explore a little.
Kona Brewing: Our last stop before our flight back to the States was Kona Brewing. I had grown to love Kona’s beer (the Big Wave is my personal favorite) and this was only 15 minutes from the airport. They have food too but we were not hungry. It was a cool spot though for a drink.
I miss Hawaii and cannot wait for the day that I can go back to explore some more and see some of the other islands. I see why my grandparents loved it so much and now they get to enjoy it forever.
Aloha, Madison
