Three days is enough to circle the Big Island by rental car: Kona’s west-side beaches, Kīlauea, Hilo, and the Hāmākua Coast. On day one you drive the Kona coast, then climb to Volcano Village for the night. Day two you spend in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park and Puna, with a night near Hilo. On day three you follow Hilo’s bayfront north up the Hāmākua Coast, back to the Kona airport.
This route is for first-timers who want the whole island in one short trip. Circling it in three days means driving every day, with two nights on the road. If you’d rather stay out of the car, split your time between Kona and Volcano Village, and save the rest for another visit.
Table of contents
Day 1: Kona and the beaches
Pick up your rental car at Kona Airport, then spend your first day on the Kona coast and its beaches, and stay out for sunset. For the first day and a half you follow our two-day itinerary, then carry on around the rest of the island.
Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park is a restored Hawaiian place of refuge on Hōnaunau Bay. Two Step, a lava-shelf snorkel entry, is next door, about 300 feet from the park entrance.
From the airport, drive south on Highway 19, the Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway, into Kailua-Kona, then continue south to the west-side beaches. Stop at Kealakekua Bay to look across the water to the Captain Cook Monument, then drive four miles south to Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau, the restored place of refuge on Hōnaunau Bay. The lava-shelf entry next door, Two Step, is a snorkeling spot. Pick up food on the way south and stay at the bay for sunset.
After sunset, drive up to Volcano Village to spend the night close to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Book your vacation rental ahead, since you’ll arrive late. If you still have energy after checking in, drive the few miles into the park after dark. When Kīlauea is fountaining at the summit, the glow above Halemaʻumaʻu is visible from the overlooks; between fountaining episodes there is little to see, so check current conditions on our lava viewing guide before you go.
Day 2: Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
Get an early start and drive into Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Park entry is $30 per vehicle, good for seven days, and the entrance station takes cards only. Ask the ranger there for current trail and eruption conditions. Spend the morning along Crater Rim Drive: the steam vents and sulfur banks, the Kīlauea Iki overlook, the walk-through Nāhuku lava tube, and the Halemaʻumaʻu overlooks.
An overlook in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park after dark, with the glow above Halemaʻumaʻu during an eruptive episode.
In the early afternoon, head down Highway 11 and take Highway 130 at Keaʻau into Puna. Lava Tree State Monument has a short loop past the molds left where a lava flow swept through the forest, and the town of Pāhoa has a row of restaurants along its main road for an early dinner. Puna is also where Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption buried whole subdivisions and the Kapoho coastline, so the roadside lava viewing that older guides describe is gone. Then drive back to Hilo and pick a bed and breakfast or vacation rental for the night.
Day 3: Hilo and the Hāmākua Coast
On your last day you drive from Hilo Bay north along the coast, fitting in as many waterfall and valley stops as you can before your flight.
The view over Onomea Bay and the collapsed sea arch from the Onomea scenic drive
Start the day with breakfast on Hilo‘s bayfront and watch the sunrise over the bay. Wander the shops along Kamehameha Avenue, and stop at the Pacific Tsunami Museum or the farmers market before you head north.
On the way out of town, drive a few minutes up Waiānuenue Avenue to Rainbow Falls (non-residents pay $5 a person plus $10 for the car, cards only), then head north on Highway 19 along the Hāmākua Coast. You could easily spend a full day on the coast alone, so pick a few stops and keep moving.
Stop at ʻAkaka Falls State Park for the 442-foot ʻAkaka Falls at the end of a short loop trail (entry is $5 per person plus $10 to park, cards only). If you’d rather walk through rainforest, Botanical World Adventures (the former World Botanical Gardens) a few miles north has a fern-lined trail to Kamaeʻe Falls.
Drive north to Honokaʻa, a former sugar town with a row of shops and galleries and a few places to eat. From there it’s a short drive to the Waipiʻo Valley overlook at the end of Highway 240, where you look down on the black-sand beach and taro terraces of Waipiʻo, the Valley of the Kings. The road into the valley is closed to visitors.
Then drive back to the Kona airport by way of Waimea. If your flight leaves earlier in the day, keep the waterfall and town stops brief.
You can also end the trip in Hilo and skip the drive back across the island. Book the car as a one-way rental from Kona airport to Hilo airport and check the drop fee. Then drive the Hāmākua Coast as far as you want, come back the same way, and fly home from Hilo’s airport, about two miles east of town. Flights from Hilo usually cost more and often connect through Honolulu. In return, you get more time on the island.
With a week, follow our seven-day itinerary instead: you fly in at Kona and home from Hilo, with three nights in each town and a full day each for the national park and the Hāmākua Coast.
Waipiʻo Valley from the far rim: the steep valley access road, the black-sand beach, and the taro terraces below.