Great spot. I Found a clothing made by a small surf brand that I grew up in southern CA that I had…read morenot seen for many years. The person (Casio Watch) that helped me with my shopping was great. Some of the Best customer service I have experienced Post-Covid. I honestly thought she was the owner by how great the service was. The shop was very clean, everything was displayed nicely, and the prices were fair for the quality of the product. Just Get more Kanvas by Katin shorts.

Check for access before planning to visit Coconut Island. The pedestrian bridge connecting it to…read more land collapsed earlier this month under the weight of a small excavator. The bridge was closed pending repairs.

For more advance swimmers and more open waters this is your spot. Perfect for snorkeling and…read moreexploring the sea life swim past you. The vibrant colors shimmer at you while you take in the magic of the island as you soak up the sunshine and cold waters. During low time the waters are calmer and great for splashing around. Against the lava rocks are some crawling crabs that camouflage with the rocks so you will see them scurrying around. Parking along the road fills up quick and is rare to get the open waters without running into human feet and bodies as you are snorkel around. Added bonus the public restrooms. Remember to take care of the land and leave it better than you saw it and enjoy!

We came at sunset the first time. It was magical! We came back later to snorkel…read more It does get crowded during the day but it was such a great experience both times. Parking can be hard to find! And the waters can get rough. So be patient and a spot will open.

How about a coastline that stretch closer to 3,000 feet? Consider as one of the longest beaches in…read moreBig Island surprisingly this ain't crowded. The culprit? Its water is murky due to the heavy industrial boom in the mid-1990's. We always pass this every time we drive to Volcano Park. This is mainly located on Kamehameha Avenue into downtown Hilo. You'll see people picnicking or simply walk your dog in here. But I am not sure if this is a good spot for fishing as the water impose threat on its physical texture and condition. One time we decided to check this place and there were homeless putting up their tent and there's a stench that you can't explain where it came from. Other than that I guess this ain't bad at all to chill for a while or rest from your morning jog routine. Mahalo for reading and happy juandering fellow yeeps!

Perfect spot to stop for lunch (which we picked up at H&K Lunch Shop down the street!), and there…read moreare bathrooms with soap here. Yea! We walked down to the water to take a look. It was our first time on the Big Island, so our kids were excited about the black sand. Minus one star because we saw a little one toddle off to go potty in the grass - with a bathroom not a hundred yards away. Parents were still in the car, and she had TP, so it was an intentional potty stop, definitely not an accident or an "oops, my kid peed in the park situation." We tend to like to trust that liquid on the ground at a beach is water, but this definitely made me second-guess.

For being a beach within walking distance from the Port of Hilo, when my wife and I visited it on a…read moreport day, it was empty with only a local family having a gathering nearby. The park is big enough where we still felt like we were the only ones there. Only one side of the road leading to the beach has a sidewalk, with a crosswalk allowing crossing once there. Parking is on the side of the road. It's a black lava rock park, with no sand or lounging areas. There is a man-made concrete landing entryway into the water, which we found to be a great place to sit and admire the bay. In it, there were turtle reliefs permanently sculpted into the wall. It's a pretty rocky entry into the water, and we didn't really find any place to even dip our toes. Further down the park, there is a bay area where large lava rocks were dumped to form an outcrop into the water. One can carefully walk across the rocks for even a better view of the bay. Hilo definitely earns its place as one of the wettest places on Earth, with most of the grass being pretty soggy, so needed to watch where we stepped. Strangely, with the drizzle in the morning, and sunlight in the afternoon, we were expecting rainbows across the bay as we sat. Not this day.

This is a cool little beach on the east side of the island. It's not really a beach as in sand but…read moremostly lava rocks and a grassy field where you can have a picnic or such. I believe they have restrooms, can't remember if they had showers. They have a small parking lot and sometimes you can spot some honu chilling in the water by the rocks. I like.........

Like many other people who come to the big island on holiday, one of the things you do is go in…read moresearch of at least a few of the area waterfalls. Even if the area you come from has some, chances are they/the surroundings don't look like this. We were here a few days before Lala and it was already raining buckets. The upside to that was getting to see the Wailuku River already ticked off/angry/bringing some serious current and water flow. The other good thing is that we had the entire parking lot & grounds to ourselves versus down the road at Rainbow which even in a steady hard drizzle/rain was very busy. If you're so inclined, the below two links give a little history, explain how many people have died on the river both here and down by Rainbow by trying to swim, and that technically, yes, the falls here are no longer free unless you are a resident. www.hvcb.org/listing/pe%E2%80%98epe%E2%80%98e-falls/109461/ dlnr.hawaii.gov/dsp/parks/hawaii/wailuku-river-state-park/ We did this in reverse compared to most people. We came here first before going down the road to Rainbow. Like others have mentioned, coming here is odd because you drive through a low-key residential area and it feels like nothing is here or that you're almost trespassing in a sort of locals only area. More than enough of a parking lot. The day we came due to the rain, as I mentioned earlier, there was no one here and while there is a sign here about paying, I sure as hell wasn't doing that (technically if you pay at Rainbow it covers this place as well or vice versa but I don't remember the sign here saying that) and there was no one here enforcing things. Decent restroom facilities and it's a very short walk from the parking lot to the viewing platform. The platform has some signage about the history of the falls and the myth/legend/lore behind them along with a reminder not to swim and the death count over the past twenty-ish years. If it seems like deja vu all over again, all of the same placards and signage are at Rainbow Falls. This is by no means a long stop and if you are on the Hilo side of the island, you can definitely knock this one, Rainbow, Akaka, Waiale and a few others out in a few hours easily.

This part of the river and state park was also worth checking out!…read more The river is so fast, and it's such a gorgeous area! You can't get close to the area that is the boiling pots or the falls, but it's a cool little area and observation area. We enjoyed our time there, and took so many pictures. The area wasn't what we were expecting, but it was a cool little day trip!

Let's keep it simple…read more The below website link has all the information you could possibly want or need about the history/what you're going to see/map/volunteer information and more for the gardens. www.liliuokalanigardens.org/ The best summary I can give is this. The gardens are free. They are tranquil and they are beautiful. There is little to no issue with parking except for on the weekends when it was definitely busier but overall, there seemed to always be spaces either on Banyan Drive or on Lihiwai Street along the water. The only real small negative would be that some of the trails and walkways do washout and/or flood over due to the excessive amount of rain Hilo has gotten this year (and that was pre-Lala). If you're in the area or staying in Hilo, this is a nice stop whether for ten minutes or an hour.

This was a peaceful stroll around a beautiful Japanese…read more Garden. A gift from Japan as a sister city in 1987. Overcast, very empty today Right on the Harbor.

Well worth the trip all the way from the Kona side. Sure, lots of tourists show up here and it kind…read moreof gets crowded, but there's a 400-plus foot waterfall in this park! Go see it! There's a trail that leads you down to the panoramic view of the waterfall. The trailhead is right next to the parking lot and it costs 10 bucks for parking and 5 bucks per person to get in. Bathrooms are on the premises. So this really isn't a "trail," so to speak. I mean, you're not roughing it out in some canopied jungle out there. It's more like a nice, half-mile botanical stroll on a paved, fenced-in pathway. Takes about 45 minutes, most of which is spent just stopping and appreciating the beautiful flora and fauna of the park. No need to rush. It really is impressive. So the trail is one oblong, closed loop. At the beginning, you can head straight to the fall if you turn left - about a 5-minute walk. Or, if you go right, you can take the scenic route that ends up at the fall eventually. There is some uphill, so seniors and out of shapers take your time. Super worth it, brah.

Totally need to come here when you were on the big island! This place was fantastic and so…read morebeautiful! So it cost us $27 for parking plus the entrance fee. It's a very small parking lot, but there is parking on the side of the road as well and you can walk pretty close by to get in. It was raining pretty heavily when we entered so do bring a rain jacket and an umbrella because it does rain a lot up here. But then it cleared up and it was perfect. There's so many beautiful flowers and plants and trees and of course the waterfall is breathtaking! Definitely worth it!

Very cool experience to walk through 2 caves…read more Bring a flashlight / headlamp. Your phone flashlight won't be as strong but can work if you have no options. Ideal shoes would be hiking boots but gym shoes will work. There are steep steps going down and then uneven rocks until the cave. The cave is uneven as well. Parking: maybe room for 10 cars, so parking could be difficult. When we went around 1pm on a Saturday, we didn't have a problem. Park and walk across the street to enter. Bathrooms: I did see some. Didn't use them though.

When we went it was on and off raining. The stairs are quite steep- down to the two caves. One on…read morethe right and one on the left. If you have trouble with balance etc. you should consider waiting in the car as the caves were wet and slippery. Was just accross the street from the parking lot. We were there for about 1/2 an hour. And it's FREE! I enjoyed seeing what the lava had created. We went to the volcano after this. Recommend flashlights and at least one head lamp. Phone lights are just too little!