Hāpuna Beach State Recreation Area
Under $25Swim, 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

Photo: Bamse, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
A national historic site on Hawaii's northwestern coast preserving an ancient stone temple tied to the rise of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
62-3601 Kawaihae Road, Kawaihae, HI 96743 · Kawaihae, HI
This National Park Service site on the northwestern coast of the island of Hawaiʻi protects a stone temple finished around 1790 and 1791. Visitors can follow a short loop trail past the temple, an older nearby heiau, and the remains of a temple once built underwater. The site also holds a yearly August ceremony and is connected to the story of Kamehameha and the unification of the islands. Admission is free and the site is open year-round.
The closest stops to Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
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
2.5 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
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.
21 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
Forest recreation area on Hawaiʻi Island with campsites, cabins, and a short nature trail through native trees.
25 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
A lava rock royal residence on Kailua Bay, built in 1838 and now run as a museum by the Daughters of Hawai'i.
29 mi awayMore like this
A self-guided historic coffee farm on the Big Island that shows how Kona's early 20th-century coffee families worked and lived.
38 mi awayMore like this
Walk the Royal Grounds and a centuries-old place of refuge guarded by carved wooden kiʻi on the Kona coast.
42 mi awayMore like this