Located just off Honokohou Harbor on the Big Island of Hawaii is the Honokohou Beach, which is part of the Honokohou Historical Park. If you are traveling from Waikoloa Beach Resort or any of the Kohala Coast Resorts you will travel south on highway 19 and there is a noticable exit to parking for this location just before the Honokohou Harbor.
At the parking area is a visitors center than can give you detailed information on the historical sites of this area as well as offers restrooms. The hike from the visitors center to the ocean is a relatively easy and safe hike. Once you reach the ocean you will find a nice beach as well as many ancient Hawaiian sites of the communities that lived here and used the area for fishing.
Getting to the ocean is roughly a half a mile walk and along the way you will find some ancient Hawaiian fishponds as well as some petroglyphs. One you get to the end you can either hike along the ocean to the beach and fishtrap area or towards the larger part of Honokohou Beach and the fishponds.
The Aiopio fishtrap area is located almost directly next to the Honokohou Harbor and is a nice beach with am ancient Hawaiian thatched roof structure on it that is believed to have been a canoe hale. It can make for a beautiful location for photos. Due to the layout of the area and the tides it was a place that fish would come into and get stuck in due to tides and made for easy fishing for the ancient Hawaiians. It is a nice place for snorkeling and often times it is a place of resting for sea turtles, but given that this is a historical site rather we typically recommend that if you are simply looking for a beach to go to for leisure not to choose this one.
If you go towards the fishponds, there is a lot of hiking to be done down this way along with a longer strand of white sand beach. This is also a beautiful spot to hike and spend time on the beach at.
While these are the more noticeable features of Honokohou National Park, there are plenty of other areas to walk and explore including a heiau, Queen’s bath, some unknown lava rock mound structures, and much more.
If you choose to spend time at Honokohou National Park, we highly recommend wearing sunscreen and taking plenty of water as there is not much shade and it is a beautiful spot so you can easily find yourself spending more time than planned.
If you are looking for a place to stay on the Big Island of Hawaii near Honokohou Beach or Honokohou National Park, Ainamalu at Waikoloa Beach Resort offers some nice private homes that are just about a 15 minute drive away.
