Kohala Area Drive Tour

Description and Directions >>

Description:
The area of Kohala is located on the northern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii. North Kohala is the birthplace of King Kamehameha the Great. Driving through Kohala provides beautiful views of rolling green hills, and magnificent blue Pacific Ocean waters.

Activities:
hiking, picnicking, swimming, sightseeing

Directions:
For our drive, we took the following route:

From Kona, take Highway 19 for 33 miles to Kawaihae. Turn off onto Highway 270 and follow 21 miles to the town of Hawi. Continue on 270 for another 7 miles to the end of the road and the Pololu Valley Overlook. Continue back to Hawi and turn off onto Highway 250. Continue on Highway 250 for 21 miles to Highwy 19. Follow Highway 19 back to Kona, about 41 miles.

Story Date 6/24/2004
Publish Date 11/18/2004

Story Perspectives >>

According to Mikala: The drive along the Kohala Area is very interesting. Highway 270 follows along the coast. There are a few actual sand beaches along the way (rather than the many black lava rock shores), and many resorts as well. You also get to drive through very old lava flows.

We decided to stop and look at some of the resorts. It is interesting to see the layout of some of the more high-end resorts. A lot of them had great views of the ocean and nice walks closer to the shore.

We continued on to the town of Hawi, where we stopped to enjoy a cup of ice cream. We followed the road to the end, where Pololu Valley Lookout is located. To see the valley and beach, you have to hike down a dirt trail. We hiked down about half way to take some pictures...we didn't want to have to hike all the way back up from the beach. The view of the vertical green cliffs on the edge of the ocean was magnificent. Also, it was great to be able to view one of the beautiful black sand beaches of Hawaii.

We decided to return to Kona via Highway 250. This is further off the coast, and winds up into the mountain. There are some great views that look down onto Kohala. You can see the island of Maui from way up the mountain. The landscape is totally different from the other, more tropical side of the island. Here, there are large grass pastures, fir trees, and even cactus!

This is a great drive if you have time. It gives you a very different perspective of the island.