I had the opportunity to take a longer weekend and visit Hawaii. This has been a bucket list item and I had a blast!

The hardest part for my planning was deciding what “visiting Hawaii” actually meant to me- and thankfully I had a travel buddy that helped broaden my scope of activities and enjoy the experience quite a bit more!
Overall- the plan was to get the most out of the least amount of time and I feel that we did a great job of hitting everything that we wanted- all while staying withing a decently strict budget. We flew into Kona and rented a car from Enterprise (I highly recommend spending a little more to go with a reputable car rental company). The overall thought process was to move about the island in a clockwise direction.
This resulted in a plan that included:
Friday night
– grab car
– Drive to Lookout – sleep in car
Saturday Morning
– Waipio Valley Hike –early–
Saturday Day
– Farmers Market Honokaa
– Akaka Falls
Saturday evening
– Pāhoa, HI
Saturday night
– Issac Hale Park
– Volcano National Park (night lava viewing)
Sunday Morning
– Thurston Lava Tube
– hike Kīlauea Iki Crater
Sunday Day
– Volcano National Park
Sunday evening
– Jagger museum and Volcano National Park
Sunday night
– Snorkel with Manta Rays
Monday Morning
– Hawaiian Bakery
– Kahaluu Beach Park Snorkeling
Monday Day
– Relaxing
– Hawaiian food
While we missed the snorkeling at Kahaluu, we substituted a snorkeling adventure with Manta Rays! I can’t recommend this enough!
Overall I think that this itinerary fit our plans well and didn’t waste time at resorts or bars and we felt that we had a great vacation in the end.
Here are some more shots from the adventure:
This slideshow requires JavaScript.