Start from 43 curated places around Kailua-Kona, HI, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Da Poke Shack
A Yelp-verified former #1 restaurant in America tucked into a condo parking lot off Ali'i Drive — the poke here is built from fish delivered that morning, cut to order, and seasoned with combinations like avocado dynamite and spicy garlic sesame that have been refined over years. They never serve yesterday's fish, which means they sell out almost daily.
Umekes Fish Market Bar & Grill
Twice-winner of Sam Choy's prestigious poke contest, Umekes operates a proper sit-down bar and grill that sources from local fishermen and ranchers — the poke bowls are the draw, but the fresh-catch plates and loco moco hold their own. The industrial-park location keeps the tourist-to-local ratio refreshingly balanced.
Trails & outdoors
Captain Cook Monument Trail (Ka'awaloa Trail)
The most historically loaded hike on the Kona coast descends 1,300 feet through lava fields and kiawe scrub to Kealakekua Bay — where Captain Cook was killed in 1779, and where the snorkeling is among the best in Hawaii. The reward at the bottom is as good as it gets; the price is a steep, exposed return climb in full sun.
Makalawena Beach Trail
A cross-lava scramble north of Kona that leads to one of the most beautiful and isolated white-sand beaches on the island — the 1-mile path across ʻaʻā lava is not difficult but requires attention to footing on uneven ground. The beach itself, with its natural lava pools, is the kind of place you want to keep quiet.
Things to do
Manta Ray Night Snorkel (Kona Ocean Adventures)
Kailua-Kona sits above one of the only reliable manta ray feeding grounds in the world — boats anchor over underwater lights at night, which attract plankton, which attract mantas with wingspans up to 14 feet. Floating face-down with reef mantas circling inches below is an experience that stops being describable pretty quickly.
Body Glove Cruises
The longest-running locally owned snorkel cruise operation in Kona, running half-day trips to the Red Hill marine sanctuary — a protected reef where the fish have been undisturbed long enough to be genuinely dense and confident around snorkelers. Breakfast and lunch are included, and the boat has a waterslide and high dive that make the return trip its own event.
Landmarks & sights
Kahaluʻu Beach Park
A natural lava breakwater keeps this bay calm and shallow even when the open coast is rough, making it the most reliable beginner snorkel on the Big Island. Green sea turtles haul out on the rocks here with surprising regularity, and the fish density — tangs, parrotfish, Moorish idols — rewards even a short dip.
Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park
Hawaiʻi's largest Marine Life Conservation District — decades of no-fishing have produced reef walls packed with fish that swim close enough to touch. Spinner dolphins rest in the bay most mornings, and the obelisk at Kaʻawaloa Cove marks where Captain Cook was killed in 1779, giving the snorkel a strange historical edge.