These are free, ready-made itineraries you can follow as-is, from a single day on the Big Island to a full week, including a cruise-ship version built around shore time out of Kona and Hilo. The Big Island set runs 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 days, and there are full itineraries for Maui, Kauaʻi, and Oʻahu when your trip stretches across islands.
Use these if you are deciding how to split your days, or if you would rather hand off the route entirely. It takes seven days to see even a fraction of the Big Island, so we build the shorter plans around at least one night each in Kailua Kona, Hilo, and Volcano Village up near Kīlauea. If your time is short and you are island-hopping, start with the one stop we would not skip: Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.
- 1-day itinerary: Big Island Highlights. A day trip, no overnight.
- 2-day itinerary: Beaches and a Volcano. One night, in Volcano Village.
- 3-day itinerary: Around the Big Island. Two nights, one in Volcano Village and one on the Hilo side.
- 5-day itinerary: Unmissable Activities. Four nights, two in Kona and two in Volcano Village.
- 7-day itinerary: A great island-wide exploration. Six nights, across Kona, Volcano Village and Waimea.
- Cruise Ship itinerary: Make the most out of your shore excursions from Kona and Hilo.
- Itineraries for Maui, Kauaʻi, and Oʻahu.
Money-saving and trip-enhancing trip planning tips
With life getting so expensive it makes sense to save as much money on your trip as you can. These resources help you to save money (#1), to book the best tours and activities (#2), and greatly simplify trip planning (#3 + #4):
- The Discount Hawaii Car Rentals website is our first stop for a quote when we need a rental car. We like them (a) because they offer the BEST rates, (b) require no prepayment and charge no cancellation fees, and (c) because they offer additional benefits such as free extra drivers and reduced young driver rates.
- We put a LOT of effort in figuring out which tours actually are the best. Have a look at our curated tour section to see tours that get consitently good reviews *and* offer great value.
- Did you know we are giving away free itineraries for all Hawaiian islands? These are a great place to start planing your own trip.
- Our Trip Planning 101 Guide is a another GREAT place to start planning for 1st time visitors.
The three recommended Big Island bases sit on different sides of the island: Kailua Kona on the west, Hilo on the east, and Volcano Village in between, up by Kīlauea Volcano. Volcano Village sits 27 miles from Hilo, about 50 minutes, and 96 miles from Kailua Kona, about 2 hours 15 minutes.
Planning a trip to the Big Island takes time. These itineraries are built around where you sleep each night.
What Every Big Island Itinerary Should Include
Whatever length you choose, build the plan around the sights you cannot see anywhere else: Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on Kīlauea, the Green Sand Beach at the island’s southern tip, and the telescopes on top of Mauna Kea.
Our list of favorite small outings on the Big Island (about 2 hours each) is easy to slot into any itinerary.
Related: see also our trip-planning primers for first-time visitors to the Big Island and first-time visitors to Oʻahu.
Itineraries for Maui, Kauaʻi, and Oʻahu
Plenty of Big Island visitors pair their trip with one or more of the other Hawaiian islands. Here is where to start for each.
- Oʻahu is the most diverse and multicultural island in Hawaiʻi. Read more in our 7-day itinerary for Oʻahu and/or in our list of 14 bite-sized Oʻahu activities.
- Maui covers both extremes of lodging: five-star oceanside luxury resorts, and back country cabins atop a 10,000-foot volcano. See our 8-day Maui itinerary.
- Also nicknamed the Garden Isle, Kauaʻi is the oldest of the main islands of the Hawaiian chain. With a population of less than 75,000, Kauaʻi is a small-town island with open space, protected preserves, and old plantation history. Have a look at our 1 week itinerary for Kauaʻi.
Resources for Planning Your Hawaiʻi Trip
The first things to decide on when planning your trip to Hawaiʻi are (1) which islands do you want to visit? (2) how many islands do you want to visit? and (3) what’s the best time of year to come? The answers depend on who is asking, so we wrote a guide that works through all three.
Read more in our guide to start planning your trip to Hawaiʻi.
Big Island planning tips
Where to start, by situation:
- We wrote a complete step-by-step overview for planning your trip to the Big Island.
- If this is the first time that you think about spending time on the Big Island, either our 7 day itinerary or our highlights for the Big Island where we list our favorite activities, beaches, and places to eat are a good place to start.
- If you already have a rough schedule in mind you can fill that in using our city guides or activity summary.
These itineraries are suggestions, not rules. Tailor them to your own taste: give more time to what you care about, and drop what does not fit your trip.