Big Island of Hawaii Vacation

Thankyou to Pua from the Big Island of Hawaii for this post!

Aloha and Welcome to the Big Island!
It’s not the ‘Call of the Wild’ but it’s the ‘Call of Hawaii’, which has finally caught up with you. For one reason or another, you decided to spend your first Hawaii vacation on the Big Island. Maybe you heard that this is the only Hawaii Island where you can spend a day on a sunny sandy white beach and go skiing or sledding on top of snow-covered Mauna Kea later in the day or where one can experience the fireworks of a live volcano...
Most of you who are preparing their Big Island vacation already know that this Hawaiian island is definitely different to all the other islands. The facts are that the Big Island is the largest, the youngest and the least populated one in the Hawaiin chain. It has the highest peaks in the Pacific and the most volcanoes, with Mauna Loa still rated as an active volcano and Kilauea's eruptions and hot lava flow attracting thousands of visitors from around the world to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park each year. It's very often called 'The Island of Superlatives'!
Hawaii Big Island geography, climate and weather
Hawaii Big Island has an unmatched diversity of 11 micro climates and terrain: from white, black & green sand beaches, over tropical rainforest to upcountry rolling hills of cowbow land and meadows and snowcapped mountain peaks. Draw a line down the middle of the Big Island, and you will define the East coast with Hamakua Coast, Hilo and Puna/ Kapoho area as the wetter part of the island with lush green tropical rainforest and beautiful black sand beaches.
The West coast of your line, the Kona and the Kohala Coast, is associated with very dry, hot tropical weather all year around. This steady sunny weather on the Kona Kohala Coast and the existence of stretches of white sand beaches, was the reason for building big beach resorts like Kona Village, Waikoloa Beach Resort, Mauna Lani Beach Resort and 5-star Mauna Kea Beach Hotel (first hotel ever built on the Big Island some 40 years ago) and Hapuna Beach Hotel.>>>Read more on Kona Kohala Coast Resorts
Big Island Golf Courses
These fancy Kona and Kohala Coast beach resorts cater to Big Island visitors who have come for a relaxing beach vacation and maybe playing some rounds of golf occasionally or daily, provided they are a passionate golfer. Golf courses like Mauna Kea and Mauna Lani and Hualalai Four Seasons are world championship golf courses.>>>Read more on Big Island Golf Courses
Big Island Things to Do
There are no limits to your Big Island activities. The Pacific waters around the island provide a stunning array of colorful marine life with Kealakekua Bay being the best snorkel area of the Big Island. Watersports like scuba diving, snorkeling, whale watching and big game fishing are attracting Big Island visitors all along the West Coast when on their Big Island vacation. Hiking into remote valleys like Waipio and Pololulu valley or within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, mountain-biking or upcountry horse back riding are favorite Big Island activities as well. A visit to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with watching red glowing lava running into the ocean and a visit to Mauna Kea summit with stargazing through one of the telescopes at the Vitors Center are probably the two biggest Big Island attractions and things to do on your Big Island vacation all year round.>>>Read more on Hawaii Volcanoes National Park>>>Read more on Mauna Kea Summit Stargazing
Big Island Events
Then there are those special Big Island events which attract the crowds from the Mainland and from around the world year after year. The annual Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in Hilo, Big Island of Hawaii, is a week long festival of cultural events including Hawaii’s most prestigious hula competitions at Edith Kanaka’ole stadium. The hula festival takes place the week after Easter. >>>Read more on Merrie Monarch Hula Festival
The biggest Hawaii event, not just for the Big Island, is the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. Every October, on the Saturday closest to the full moon, about 1,500 of the world's fittest people tackle one of the toughest endurance events, the Ford Hawaii Ironman Triathlon World Championship. The Ironman is a day-long event. It starts with a four-kilometre swim, followed by a 180-kilometre bike race, topped off with a 42-kilometre marathon run. >>>Read more on Hawaii Ironman Triathlon
Big Island Vacation Accommodations
The all-year round sunny Kona Kohala Coast area offers luxurious 5-star beach front resorts and hotels like the Hualalai Fours Seasons, Marriott & Hilton at Waikoloa Beach Resort, Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and the Orchid Fairmont at Mauna Lani and Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel. All of these hotels are beach front locations. These are first class Big Island accommodation catering to a high end clientele. Be aware that Kona Kohala Coast resort condos are pretty much in the same price range as the 5-star hotels and very often need a drive to the beach. The good news is that there are lots of affordable vacation homes, cottages, condos from private owners available for your Big Island vacation. Vacation homes and houses on the East coast are still considerably cheaper than private rentals on the West Coast
Prepare your Big Island vacation with 'Big Island Revealed' and take this book along for the ride. Still, don't take everything for granted you read in the book, chefs at restaurants change and so can many other things, to the positive or the negative! But the book will be a great help for your Big Island adventure. Have a great Big Island vacation!

If you are looking for vacation rentals by owner while on the Big Island search Big Island of Hawaii Vacation Rentals