Welcome back to the world of flight travel – ohhhhh yeah! Hawai’i was our first airplane trip since our 2019-2020 New Year’s trip to Japan – grrrrreat to be back in the air. Entering the portal of airplane travel again was a bit nerve wracking at first (for me at least), but once we sat in the plane, we literally felt like we were above the clouds. And to bring our first flight trip back Aloha, island style was the perfect destination to get our love for travel back into gear. After our semi-pleasant flight (which is a big win when traveling with a 6 and 4 year old for 5 hours) from San Francisco International Airport to Kailua-Kona, we had to strip our San Francisco Karl the Fog gear into normal Summer time gear! But, before departing the airport, we had to pick up our aqua blue Jeep Wrangler – we had to go all in.

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Welcome to Hawai’i!

Our 6 day Hawai’ian Big Island journey began by picking up a week’s worth of goods at the Walmart near the airport (there is a Costco and Target nearby as well) and checking into our Hilton Kings’ Land Hotel in the Waikoloa area – about 20 minutes east of the airport. We highly, I mean highly recommend this hotel – very spread out, manicured, homey and condo style, spacious and clean rooms with a full kitchen and washer and dryer, multiple outrageously fun pool options, its own shopping center with a movie theater, close to beautiful sandy beaches, and sunny weather – it was a score. After setting up our base camp for the week, we headed straight to our pool area, which had live music, a bar, three pools, one with its own sandy beach, multiple slides, waterfalls, and a hot tub – wow – heaven! That night, we drove 5 minutes to a nearby restaurant, the Lava Lava Beach Club – yes, that is its name – the Lava Lava Beach Club. Since we were rookies, we found out the wait time exceeds open hours if you arrive after 5 – so, we got drinks at their pop-up Volkswagen bus bar, played corn hole (which may become an Olympic sport, no joke – we are ready) and ping pong on their big grass area filled with other fun games as well, and played on its private sandy, semi-rocky beach. Fun time, even without dining there. For dinner, we cruised another couple of minutes to an easy and delicious over the counter restaurant on the water called Island Fish and Chips – fried fish galore!

Day 1: Hapuna Beach State Park – Waikoloa

Our first official full day on the Big Island started at the crack of dawn, thanks to the 3 hour time difference in San Francisco. We woke up and headed straight to the sandy, beautiful Hapuna Beach State Park, only 10-15 minutes east of Waikoloa, for sunrise. Fortunately, since we were in the tropical Hawai’ian climate, we were able to swim in the warm, calm water of Hapuna Beach at 6am. The rest of our day was vacation perfection – poolside cabana at the Waikoloa Village Hilton Beach Resort. This resort was pure heaven – multiple pools and hot tubs, a huge slide, many waterfalls and a cave area for swimming, lagoon, bars and restaurants (grab and go, and sit down), and ocean views. Of course we ended our day by going back to the Lava Lava Beach Club for dinner – we arrived at 4:30 and the wait was only two hours (no joke, haha) – fortunately it is a fun place to wait! Food was good, but the atmosphere is where it is at.

Day 2: Volcanoes National Park

The next day was a big adventure, explorer type of day – Volcanoes National Park, here we come! Since we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us, we grabbed a quick breaky at a local Hilo joint called Popover – highly recommend it. The drive was made up of varied terrain – lava rock after lava rock, farms with goats, cows, and horses, huge volcanic mountains, and the city of Hilo – and a good amount of rain during the rural part of our southeastern journey between Waikoloa and Hilo. After we climbed up the mountain to over 3,000 feet in elevation, we arrived at Volcanoes National Park. Our first stop in the park was the main village shop to excite the kids with Junior Ranger gear – backpacks, hats, and their first official Junior Ranger pin. This park was well worth the long day trip journey – we hiked in between steam vents (literally hot steam pouring out of deep and wide holes that lead you straight into hot lava that can erupt at any time), around sulfur baths that had a wonderful eggy smell, and yes, a lava tube which was unreal – so much fun and a good workout – around 3 miles in total for the morning. An easy, local grab and go lunch at Cafe 100 in Hilo hit the spot after our morning of hiking, and that night, we bought poke and seafood from Foodland Farms to barbecue at our hotel – very chill night after a long adventurous day.

Day 3: Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park – Kona

Since we were already in adventure, explorer mode, the next day we headed 1.5 hours west to Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park on the South Kona Coast. This park added traditional Hawai’ian culture and an educational element for our family, including an activity set in an absolutely beautiful location on the Big Island. The park was paved with a 1 mile round trip white sandy trail alongside the magnificent blue waters of Kona. The trail toured us through huts, gathering areas, and jaw dropping carvings that represented a very important part of Hawai’i’s history, cultural, and spirituality. This park was a place of refuge or city of refuge, which was a safe haven for those that broke Kapu laws, which in old Hawai’i were punishable by death. If you reached the Pu’uhonua, you would be pardoned by Kahuna and given a second chance at life. A sacred site, carrying the powerful mana of 23 interred Ali’i chiefs, the Pu’uhonua and Royal Grounds were used by the Hawai’ians for centuries. A final and personal fantastic part of this experience was the kids completing a few pages of the park’s Junior Ranger booklet and a ceremony they completed with a Park Ranger to receive their second Junior Ranger pin of the trip. They now have two Junior Ranger pins on their Junior Ranger hats.

The drive back “home” was tropical, lush, and along the cliffs of the Kona Coast, overlooking the ocean. To add even more spice to our journey, we ate lunch at Shaka Tacoz, which was amazing, and made a quick stop in the fun and lively downtown Kona at Tropical Dreams for much needed shaved ice, ice cream, and coffee. That night was a cherry on top of our day – our first movie theater experience in over 1.5 years at Luxury Cinemas near our Waikoloa hotel for Space Jam – such a fun movie!

Day 4: Waikoloa

A local, resorty day in Waikoloa was our one and only focus the following day. It was much needed after two big days of Jeep Wrangler road trips and adventures around the island – the Big Island has a lot of ground to cover! Swimming with dolphins at the Waikoloa Village Hilton Beach Resort, which is a part of the Hilton Kings’ Land, was one of those once in a lifetime experiences we had to go for. The smiles on the kids’ faces and looks of thrill that spread across their faces made it all the most worthwhile. And on top of that, the amount of space and preserved sanctuary for these dolphins made us comfortable that these dolphins were living happy, protected lives. Pool time of course followed, and that night, we attended the Waikoloa Village Hilton Beach Resort Luau. Henry and Andrew obviously loved the music, dancers, and fire performer.

Day 5: Hilo Onomea Bay

Our final full day on the Big Island invited us one more road trip in our Wrangler – a family photo shoot of course! This shoot brought us back southeast to Hilo, but in a completely new part Hilo, the tropical jungle part, which we highly recommend. The Hilo Onomea Bay Trail brought us down to a jungly pirate-style cove with a black sand beach that was one of a kind – straight from a movie. We also got our steps in with the 1 mile roundtrip downhill and uphill walk to and from the black sand beach and our Wrangler. The bridge to our poolside afternoon that awaited us was a big poke bowl lunch at Poke To Your Taste in Hilo – yum!

Day 6: Mahalo Big Island – Aloha San Francisco (Karl the Fog)

Before flying back home to the mainland, we circled back to our first Big Island sunrise by returning to Hapuna Beach State Park for our final swim in the unbeatable, warm Hawai’ian waters – ahhhhh – thinking about that now as I type with San Francisco’s Karl the Fog surrounding me. Mahalo Big Island, we will be back!

Are you interested in other family getaways with kids and toddlers? Read more here:

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