One of the best things about a vacation on the Big Island is the large number of free or very low-cost activities your Ohana “family’ can enjoy.  Combined with a wonderful vacation rental home, a Big Island trip can be one of the best trips of your lifetime without breaking the bank.

Let us show you Paradise Video

Let’s explore five different free or low cost activities you can do with your entire family. 

1. Explore A Beach A Day

Big Island is home to so many great beaches that you can explore.  You can discover a different beach every day and still have ones to visit on your next trip!  Within the Mauna Lani Resort you can take your family to 49 Black Sands Beach (great snorkeling!), The Mauna Lani Beach Club (Napua Restaurant) and Pauoa Beach by the Fairmont Orchid.  A short drive away are Hapuna Beach and Kauno’oa Bay (Mauna Kea Beach).   Mauna Kea Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island.  Both beaches have soft powdery white sand that is perfect for long walks or building an epic sand castle with your kids.   Just north of the Mauna Kea is a little-known beach called Mau’umae Beach.  We think of it as a secret beach.  A bit further south are Kua Bay and Makalawena Beach.    For a bigger adventure you can do a day trip to a “Green Sand Beach” by the southern point of the island.   Every beach on the island is public and free.  Beach access and parking to those beaches are sometimes controlled by resorts or hotels and may have small parking fees.  It is helpful to arrive early at the beaches to secure a parking spot and access.     

Explore More of the Big Island’s beaches

2. Family Hikes (on the Kohala Coast and around the Island) 

For nature lovers the island provides a variety of beautiful hikes of varying degrees of difficulty. There is a beautiful walking trail between Hapuna Beach and Mauna Kea that is suitable for families with small kids.  A bit further away (day trip!) Akaka Falls features a nice walking path. You can see the falls after a easy and quick 0.4-mile hike from the parking lot. The walk is called ‘Akaka Falls Loop Trail and is an easy hike that is doable for the whole family.  Another short but moderately advanced trail is hike down into Pololu Valley. The trail itself offers breathtaking views of the cliffs, the valley and the black sand beach on the valley floor. The hike down the side of the cliff to the valley floor is short but steep and takes about 20 to 25 minutes for the average hiker. Because of the relatively steep average grade of the trail the difficulty is moderate.    Another family favorite is the hike from the highway to Kiholo Bay to see the sea turtles.   All of these hikes are free, with some site charging nominal parking fees.   Explore more hikes. 

3. Snorkeling (Paradise In Hawaii Vacation Homes include complimentary snorkel equipment) 

Big Island is known for its incredible snorkeling particularly along the Kohala Coast with many sites accessible right  from shore. You will swim with loads of gorgeous fish, turtles, giant Manta Rays and more, over reefs with some healthy corals, all in perfect snorkeling depths. Some of our favorite snorkeling spots include 49 Black Sand Beach (wear water shoes as the sand heats up!), Mauna Kea Beach, Waialea Bay and Puako Beach. Always swim with a buddy and pay attention to beach signs for water conditions.   Our homes are equipped with a variety of sized snorkel gear making snorkeling a great free or low cost activity !   Learn more about snorkeling on the Big Island here: Snorkeling on the Big Island

4. Visit an Active Volcano at Hawaii Volcano National Park 

Experience some of nature’s most awe-inspiring wonders at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The park is home to two volcanoes including Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes on earth.  In the evening you can look over and see the glow from the lava lake. In addition to visiting the volcanoes there are several wonderful hikes that showcase the steam vents on the volcanoes and lava tubes. Take a walk in the dark through the Thurston Lava Tube, a 500-year-old lava cave. If you have kids be sure to have them complete the tasks to be awarded a National Park Junior ranger badge.   We recommend always checking conditions on Hawaii Volcano National Park before visiting.   

5. Take a Bike Ride in Paradise (Paradise In Hawaii Vacation Rentals include complimentary bikes) 

Few places in the world offer the incredible freedom and scenic beauty of bicycling like on the Big Island.  Taking a family ride together is a wonderful way to connect with each other and the island. The Mauna Lani resort with its wide biking lanes and easy access to different beaches by peddling is a favorite. In addition, the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has miles of paved roads and trails open to cyclists, from easy, flat rides to challenging ascents. Make sure you carry plenty of water and sunscreen.  Don’t forget your helmet!    For those who prefer bike tours –  you can find out more here:  Bikes and Bike Tours

These are just a few simple ideas for families that feature relatively zero or minimal costs while vacationing on the Big Island.   Contact our Guest Ambassadors for additional suggestions !  

Staying in a Paradise In Hawaii Vacation Home is a great way to have your family together at lower than cost than booking multiple hotel rooms and eating out for each meal.   Explore our extensive selection of vacation homes!

Dream. Explore. Live.

Coffee lovers visiting the Big Island in November should definitely check out the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival!

Starting November 4^th, you will be able to experience and celebrate this year’s coffee harvest as farmers and artisans come together at this award-winning coffee festival famous worldwide. With 40 events across 10 days, you will be able to find a variety of activities for the entire family: from art exhibits and quilt shows to coffee tastings and workshops.

Known across the world as one the best gourmet coffees, the Kona Coffee bean “cherry” is cultivated on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai. There are over 500 farms located in the Kona Coffee Belt, where the ideal climate zone found at elevations from 800 to 2,500 feet produce the highest quality coffee beans.

For more than 200 years, five generations of farmers have carefully cultivated, harvested and hand-picked the Kona cherry to produce the most exquisite coffee. With a combination of a strong and delightfully mellow, balanced flavor, it’s a cup of coffee you don’t want to miss!

Species of coffee arabica, 100% Kona Coffee.

On November 11th, make sure to witness one of the most magical moments of the festival. Starting at 6:00pm, hundreds of people walk together through the Historic Kailua Village for the Lantern Parade – a parade full of beautiful lights, vibrant colors and island rhythms. Followed by a night of dance and music at Hale Halawai.

Snorkel with the Manta Rays

Imagine seeing a large, mysterious creature gliding like an acrobat through crystal clear ocean waters. Hauntingly beautiful and graceful, what is it you saw? You have seen a manta ray, the largest of the rays, reaching wing spans up to twenty feet and weighing as much as 3,000 pounds.
On the Big Island of Hawaii, you can snorkel with manta rays at night! Manta rays are filter feeders, meaning they feed on plankton and other tiny marine organisms. When people set up bright lights on the shoreline or the front of a boat, the plankton are attracted to the light and the rays follow for the feast!
Unlike stingrays, mantas don’t have barbs on their tails. And, although they are related to sharks, they pretty much only eat plankton. They are also curious creatures, with the largest brains of any fish species!

Watching these gigantic marine creatures glide through the water around you is an unforgettable experience. Just watch our video below to see why!

Want to snorkel with the manta rays? The most popular way to see them is to take a boat to their common feeding sites. Depending on the company, you can take a large snorkel tour boat, fishing boat, or kayak to see the manta rays. Typically the boats will have a bright light to attract the plankton and mantas. The following companies offer boat and kayak tours to snorkel with the rays near Kona:

• Fairwind Hawaii Ocean Cruises – Large boat (Hula Kai) – Keauhou Bay in Kona
• Sea Paradise Snorkel & Sail Cruises – Catamaran – Keauhou Bay in Kona
• Ocean Encounters – Fishing Boat – Departs from Honokohau Harbor in Kona
• Kamanu Charters – Zodiac or Catamaran Boat – Departs from Honokohau Harbor in Kona
• Aloha Kayak Co. – Kayak to snorkel with mantas in Keauhou Bay

If you are a licensed diver, you should check out the SCUBA tours offered by Jack’s Diving Locker or Big Island Divers. Both of these companies offer spots for snorkelers as well as SCUBA divers – perfect if you have your SCUBA certificate but you’re traveling with non-divers.

If you don’t want to snorkel or scuba, you can also see manta rays from the viewing areas at some local resorts – where the hotels put out bright lights so you can watch them from the shore. At Kona’s Sheraton Keauhou Bay, you can see manta rays from the Manta Ray Learning Center – right next to the Rays on the Bay restaurant. On the Kohala Coast, you can view the rays at the Mauna Kea Beach Resort where they have set up a light to attract them to Manta Ray Point.

Whether you swim with the mantas or just watch from the shore, make sure to get a glimpse of these amazing creatures on your Hawaii vacation!

One evening earlier this month, we went for a shoreline hike at Anaeho’omalu Bay, beside the Waikoloa Beach Resort area. We had heard that sea turtles often hang out on the quiet and less crowded beaches along this trail, and wanted to photograph them in the glow of the evening light. We headed out from the trailhead near the Lava Lava Beach Club about half an hour before sunset, equipped with flashlights for the twilight walk back.

One beautiful, uncrowded beach on this hike.

A short section of hiking through the trees south of the Lava Lava Beach Club.

We found this turtle snoozing by the water just before we turned around

Sea turtles can be hard to spot in the evening light so watch your step!

We went in the evening, but if you don’t mind walking a ways with beach chairs or mats, these beaches would be a great place to get away from the crowds. This is a beautiful area to explore with friends and family, see the sunset, and take photographs.

We only walked the northernmost mile of the trail on Anaeho’omalu Bay, but the trail stretches 6 miles further south to Keawaiki Bay if you want to explore more of this beautiful coastline. If you have good shoes (closed toes or hiking sandals), you can keep going over the lava rock to (name of beach – look up on hikes page/big island hikes). The sandy part of this hike would be great for all ages – essentially walking on the beach with a couple of rocky and shrubby areas.

If you want to know more about this shoreline hike, check out its page on the Big Island Hikes website. We’ve also compiled a list of family-friendly and more adventurous hikes on this page.

Tucked away on the shoreline behind the Kona Airport, you will find a hidden gem of marine education and conservation. Here, you can learn about ocean conservation and the world’s endangered sea horse species. The Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm is unique – as the world’s first and only sea horse farm, established to breed and raise sea horses for home aquariums and relieve pressure on wild and endangered sea horse populations.

If you choose to visit, you can take an eye-opening tour to see their aquaculture operations, hold a sea horse in your hands, and learn about different types of seahorses and sea dragons. On the seahorse farm tour, a marine biologist leads visitors past adult mating pairs and baby sea horses (called fry). On the tour, the lead biologist shares interesting facts about sea horse biology. Did you know that for seahorses, it’s the males that get pregnant and give birth to hundreds of baby sea horses?

The biologist also talks about how the seahorse farm is helping to combat the threats of overfishing that have endangered sea horses and sea dragons around the world. You and the kids will get to see what sea horses eat and maybe even feed them lunch!

At the end of the tour, you will get the chance to hold a sea horse in your hands! You will be amazed as the biologist helps one of these fragile and sensitive creatures wrap its tail around your fingers. Look into the eyes of a sea horse and see why so many people love these small and unique fish.