Kekaha Kai State Park
Under $25A coastal state park on the north Kona side of the Big Island with sandy beaches, a historic shoreline trail, and a cinder cone hike.

Photo: Calbear22, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
A lava rock royal residence on Kailua Bay, built in 1838 and now run as a museum by the Daughters of Hawai'i.
75-5718 Ali'i Drive, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740 · Kailua-Kona, HI
Hulihe'e Palace sits at the edge of Kailua Bay in Kailua-Kona. Built in 1838 for High Chief John Adams Kuakini, it began as a lava rock home and later passed through several members of the Hawaiian royal family, including Princess Ruth Ke'elikolani and King David Kalakaua. The Daughters of Hawai'i took over its care in 1927 and restored it as a museum. Visitors can tour six rooms across two floors, which hold koa wood furniture, feather standards, royal portraits, and heirlooms. Guided moolelo tours are offered on certain days, and self-guided visits are also possible during open hours.
The closest stops to Hulihe'e Palace, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
A coastal state park on the north Kona side of the Big Island with sandy beaches, a historic shoreline trail, and a cinder cone hike.
11 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
A 15-acre biocultural garden in South Kona showing native and Polynesian-introduced plants, plus an ancient Hawaiian agricultural site.
12 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
A self-guided historic coffee farm on the Big Island that shows how Kona's early 20th-century coffee families worked and lived.
12 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.
12 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
Walk the Royal Grounds and a centuries-old place of refuge guarded by carved wooden kiʻi on the Kona coast.
16 mi awayMore like this
A national historic site on Hawaii's northwestern coast preserving an ancient stone temple tied to the rise of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
29 mi awayMore like this