Mauna Kea
FreeStop at the visitor station at 9,200 feet, then take a four-wheel drive road to Hawaii's highest summit and its observatories.

Photo: Polihale, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
Hāpuna Beach State Recreation Area is an outdoor activity in Waimea, HI, part of the Island of Hawaiʻi guide. Cost: under $25.
Hapuna Beach Rd off Queen Kaahumanu Hwy (HI-19), south of Kawaihae · Waimea, HI
Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area wraps a wide white-sand beach on the Kohala Coast, one of only a few on the Big Island's west side. You can swim in calm seas, bodysurf the shore break, sunbathe and picnic, with lifeguards on duty, then walk part of the coastal Ala Kahakai Trail. The name means spring or pool in Hawaiian. In high surf the shore break and rip currents turn dangerous, and non-residents pay an entry fee.
The closest stops to Hāpuna Beach State Recreation Area, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
Stop at the visitor station at 9,200 feet, then take a four-wheel drive road to Hawaii's highest summit and its observatories.
26 mi awayMore like this
Snorkel a protected marine bay and see the white monument marking where Captain Cook was killed in 1779 on the Kona coast.
36 mi awayMore like this
Walk the Royal Grounds and a centuries-old place of refuge guarded by carved wooden kiʻi on the Kona coast.
40 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
See one of Earth's most active volcanoes and its summit caldera inside Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.
53 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
Drive and hike around Kīlauea's summit caldera, then follow Chain of Craters Road down to the sea.
53 mi awayMore like this
Drive to a 10,023-foot volcanic summit above the clouds on Maui, then hike the crater or the coastal Kīpahulu District.
55 mi awayMore like this