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Kekaha Kai State Park, North Kona, HI

Photo: Travis.Thurston, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sports & Outdoors

Kekaha Kai State Park

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.

North Kona, HI

About Kekaha Kai State Park

Kekaha Kai, also called Kona Coast State Park, runs along the north Kona shoreline on the island of Hawaii. Its Mahai'ula section has a sandy beach and dunes for swimming and beach activities, plus a picnic area. At the north end, Maniniʻōwali (Kua Bay) offers calm-water swimming, bodysurfing when waves break near shore, and a coastal trail. Hikers can follow the historic Ala Kahakai trail about 4.5 miles north to Kua Bay and climb Pu'u Ku'ili, a cinder cone with broad coastline views. The area is hot and dry with no drinking water, and surf can be dangerous, with no lifeguards on duty.

  • #beach
  • #hiking
  • #swimming
  • #bodysurfing
  • #historic trail

What's around here?

The closest stops to Kekaha Kai State Park, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

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    Hulihe'e Palace

    Under $25

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    11 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

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    Outdoor Adventure

    Hāpuna Beach State Recreation Area

    Under $25

    Swim, bodysurf and picnic on one of the few white-sand beaches along the Big Island's west coast, south of Kawaihae.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    19 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing

    Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site

    No admission fee

    A national historic site on Hawaii's northwestern coast preserving an ancient stone temple tied to the rise of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

    21 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Sports & Outdoors

    Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden

    Check prices

    A 15-acre biocultural garden in South Kona showing native and Polynesian-introduced plants, plus an ancient Hawaiian agricultural site.

    22 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing

    Kona Coffee Living History Farm

    Under $25

    A self-guided historic coffee farm on the Big Island that shows how Kona's early 20th-century coffee families worked and lived.

    22 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Outdoor Adventure

    Kealakekua Bay

    No admission fee

    Snorkel a protected marine bay and see the white monument marking where Captain Cook was killed in 1779 on the Kona coast.

    23 mi awayMore like this