Hamakua Coast Drive Tour

Description and Directions >>

Description:
Hamakua Coast is a scenic 45-mile drive on the eastern side of the Big Island of Hawaii. The sights include cascading waterfalls, lush tropical forests, and beautiful coastline.

Activities:
hiking, picnicking, swimming, sightseeing

Directions:
For our drive tour, we started from the town of Hilo and heading north on Highway 19. There are a few detours that we made along the way:

Rainbow and Pe'epe'e Falls: In Hilo, turn onto Waianuenue Avenue and follow signs to falls.
4-Mile Scenic Route: Located about 7 miles north of Hilo, off of Hwy 19.
Akaka Falls: About 13.5 miles north of Hilo, turn onto Hwy 220 from Hwy 19. Drive about 3 miles to parking.

For other locations along this route, we suggest purchasing the guidebook: "Hawaii, The Big Island Revealed," by Andrew Doughty and Harriett Friedman. You can find an Amazon link from this story page.

Story Date 6/18/2004
Publish Date 11/18/2004

Story Perspectives >>

According to Mikala: The Hamakua Coast area of Hawaii is very beautiful and lush -- just what you would expect on a tropical island. There are many different sights to see from Hilo and to the north.

Our first stop was Rainbow Falls just outside of Hilo. This is a very easy falls to get to and take some pictures. Just up the road is another set of falls - Pe'epe'e Falls. Back on the road, we headed for our drive north on Highway 19. About 7 miles from town is a 4-mile scenic drive along the coast on the old highway. This is a very pretty drive. The tropical plants and trees surround you. We stopped for some pictures of Onomea Bay. After about a mile, we stopped at a food stand called What's Shakin. They have great banana macadamia nut smoothies!

Back on Highway 19, we turned off toward Akaka Falls State Park. Here, we walked along a short paved trail through tropical rainforest. There were many different types of flowers, bamboo, banyan trees, ferns and more. We reached Kahuna Falls, which we could see in the distance. Further up the trail is the park's namesake: Akaka Falls. Akaka Falls is more dramatic than Kahuna Falls, and definitely worth seeing.

We continued our drive up the coast on Highway 19, just enjoying the views.