I used my road trip plan­ner to plan a great 8-day trip to the Big Island and found so much to see and do on the Kona Coast alone that I really needed two weeks to fully explore the island. So, by com­bin­ing my Kona Coast expe­ri­ence with rec­om­men­da­tions from locals, here then is a two-week road trip that will give you the full Big Island treatment.

I’d rec­om­mend stay­ing one week on the Kona Coast and the next in Hilo to have a great jump­ing off point for your many explo­rations. We’ll start our road trip plan­ning on the Kona side, the sun­nier region. We stayed in the Kailua-Kona, site of the Hawaii Iron­man Triathlon (sched­uled for Octo­ber 11th this year) and home of the revered King Kame­hameha, the leader who united the islands. It has a great water­front and pier, where you could enjoy din­ner each night with a view of the sun dip­ping behind the water hori­zon. My favorite was the Kona Brew­ing Com­pany (baked gar­lic, home-made focac­cia & melted gor­gonzola dip).

Make sure to include plenty of beaches in your road trip plan­ner. Snorkel­ers should go to Kahaluu Beach Park, surfers to White Sands Beach, pri­vacy buffs to Kona Coast State Park, and beach lovers can choose from Anae­hoomalu Bay, Hapuna Beach, or Mauna Kea Beach.

Other places to con­sider in your road trip plan­ning in Kailua-Kona: The Huli­hee Palace, Kokuaikaua Church, Kamehameha’s Com­pound at Kamaka­honu Bay, Kona Wine Mar­ket for afford­able prices as well as sou­venirs. Include one Luau in your trip; I went to the Island Breeze Luau because it was right on the beach in the King Kame­hameha Com­pound at the Kailua Pier.

Along the Kohala Coast, your road trip takes you north into some quaint towns like Hawi. The road ends a few miles past Hawi, where you’ll view the Pololu Val­ley (very dra­matic!). But first, catch a tour at the Ocean Rider Sea­horse Farm at the Nat­ural Energy Lab, the only sea­horse farm in the US. Stroll through the Puuko­hola Heiau National His­toric Site, the tem­ple Kame­hameha built to the war god to insure his suc­cess in bat­tle. Keep dri­ving up High­way 270 in North Kohala to the Lapakahi State His­tor­i­cal Park for a view of a typ­i­cal 14th-century Hawai­ian vil­lage and the Mo’okini Luakini Heiau. The orig­i­nal Kame­hameha Statue is along this route, as well as a view of Maui. A mile from the Pololu look­out, enjoy a pic­nic at the Keokea Beach Park. On your way back, check out the Puako Pet­ro­glyph Archae­o­log­i­cal District.

Along the south­ern coast on the Kona side, you’ll find Cap­tain Cook, Kealakekua Bay, the Place of Refuge and Honau­nau Bay. All of these make for a per­fect full day’s explo­ration to add to your road trip plan­ner, with his­tor­i­cal places and mon­u­ments, great scenic shots of the bays and snorkeling/swimming at Honau­nau Bay, con­sid­ered the sec­ond best place to snorkel or scuba with tur­tles, fish, and huge coral growths!

Now it’s time to move your home base to the Hilo side to give you plenty of time to explore the Hawaii Vol­ca­noes National Park. Leav­ing Kailua-Kona, include in your road trip plan­ning, stops at South Point (the south­ern­most spot in the US), the Punaluu Bak­ery shop in Naalehu, and the Punaluu Black Sand Beach.

We didn’t spend nearly enough time at the Hawaii Vol­ca­noes National Park because the ranger told us the cur­rent lava flow was out­side the park (in August, 2008, drive one hour to the end of High­way 130 in Kaimu, then hike 20 min­utes over lava beds to the view­ing area). Sched­ule two days in your road trip plan­ner to fully explore the Kilauea Vis­i­tors Cen­ter, Hale­mau­mau Crater, Thurston Lava Tube, Dev­as­ta­tion Trail, and a Crater Rim drive as well as make the sun­set trek to the lava flow. Local Shan­non Cormie says, “See­ing the rib­bon of red lava snake its way down the side of the moun­tain and then thun­der into the ocean is a sight you will never forget”.

One rea­son to place Hilo front and cen­ter in your road trip plan­ning is because it’s so lush! David Car­pen­ter, a local, rec­om­mends the Akat­suka Orchid Gar­den for its large assort­ment of orchids. It’s sit­u­ated about halfway between Vol­cano and Hilo. Shan­non rec­om­mends Banyan Drive, Lil­i­uokalani Gar­dens, Lyman Museum & Mis­sion House, the Pacific Tsunami Museum, and the won­der­ful botan­i­cal gar­dens like Nani Mau Gar­dens Hawaii Trop­i­cal Botan­i­cal Gar­den, and World Botan­i­cal Garden.

From there, take your road trip plan­ning up to the Hamakua Coast, stop­ping at Akaka Falls and have lunch in Hon­okaa. Then check out Wai­pio Val­ley, the birth­place of Hawaii’s kings, before head­ing for Waimea, a cow­boy town with the Parker Ranch Vis­i­tor Cen­ter & Museum as the focal point.

Pen­cil in a full day in your trip plan­ner to explore Mauna Kea. Rent a four-wheel drive vehi­cle to climb to the top (13,796 feet) or book a full-day tour where guides will take you to hid­den water­falls, sacred spots and an obser­va­tory, trea­sured by astronomers around the globe.

All of the above will fill your Big Island Road Trip to the brim. And you’re sure to dis­cover some new places as well. But take heart, if you don’t get to them all this round, you’ll have a per­fect excuse to fill another road trip plan­ner for your next visit!