Big Island

The island's swimming beaches are concentrated on the dry, sunny Kohala Coast north of Kona. Hapuna and Kauna'oa are broad crescents of pale sand with clear, calm water in summer. Anaeho'omalu Bay is sheltered and shallow. The sea is warm all year, around 24°C in late winter and 27°C in late summer. Snorkelling from shore, at Kahalu'u Bay and the lava ledges of Honaunau, often brings you close to green sea turtles.

The rest of the coastline is mostly young black lava. The black-sand and green-sand beaches in the south are better for looking at than for swimming, and winter swells make the north and west shores rough. Stay on the Kohala Coast if beach days are the point of the trip.

Eating here is casual and local. Plate lunches come with rice and macaroni salad. Poke counters sell fresh ahi cut and seasoned to order, and loco moco, malasadas and shave ice are everyday treats. Kona coffee is the island's speciality. It is grown on the slopes above Kailua-Kona and Holualoa, where farms invite visitors in to taste it. The farmers' markets, above all the big one in Hilo, are full of tropical fruit, macadamias and local chocolate.

Fine dining is found mostly inside the Kohala Coast resorts, where it is polished and costly, and in the ranch town of Waimea, which cooks well with produce from the upland farms. Kona and Hilo have a modest spread of restaurants, and the best meals there tend to be the simple ones.

This is the island of Kamehameha, and its heritage is Hawaiian rather than built in stone and glass. Pu'uhonua o Honaunau is a restored place of refuge with carved wooden images and royal grounds on the lava shore. Pu'ukohola Heiau is the great temple Kamehameha raised before unifying the islands. Hulihe'e Palace in Kailua-Kona was a royal summer home. There are petroglyph fields along the Kohala Coast, and an obelisk marks where Captain Cook died at Kealakekua Bay.

Hilo has the small Lyman Museum, an astronomy centre linked to Mauna Kea, and a low wooden downtown. These sites reward an interested visitor, but they are spread thinly across the island.

Evenings on the island are early ones. Kailua-Kona has a short run of open-air bars along the seafront on Ali'i Drive, good for a sunset drink and a little noise. The resorts have lounges with live Hawaiian music. Little stays open late, and Hilo and the rural towns are quiet after dinner. Many visitors spend their nights stargazing or on a manta ray snorkel rather than going out.

The island is still being made, and that is why people come. Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park has trails across steaming craters, through lava tubes and over black flows that run down to the sea. When Kilauea is erupting, the glow of lava at night is unforgettable. Mauna Kea rises to 4,207m, high above the clouds and most of the moisture in the air. Visitors watch the sunset from the summit and do their stargazing lower down, around the visitor station at about 2,800m, where the dry, dark sky is among the clearest anywhere. Snow sometimes falls on the summit in winter.

The wet Hamakua Coast and the Hilo side have rainforest, Akaka Falls and the deep green cleft of Waipio Valley, with its lookout at the end of the road. On the Kona side, night snorkels with manta rays, spinner dolphins in the bays and humpback whales from December to April take you out onto the water. The range is huge, but the island is big, so plan nights on both the Kona side and the volcano side.

Outings here are to small towns rather than famous places. Hilo makes the best day out from the Kona side, with its old wooden downtown, bayfront and market. Waimea is ranch country, cool and green, with a cowboy heritage. Hawi and Kapa'au at the northern tip have galleries and the original Kamehameha statue. Holualoa and the coffee farms on the slopes above Kona make a pleasant half day of tastings. The plantation town of Honoka'a sits on the way to Waipio.

The other Hawaiian islands all need a flight, so the list ends there. Most days out on the island are about volcanoes, valleys and the sea rather than towns.

For families who like the outdoors, the island works well. The Kohala Coast resorts have pools, lagoons and calm beaches in summer. Shallow snorkelling spots such as Kahalu'u let children swim among fish and turtles. Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park has a Junior Ranger programme and lava tubes to walk through. Hilo has a small free zoo and an astronomy centre that suits curious children.

The island is safe, relaxed and welcoming. What it lacks is purpose-built attractions, and getting between the Kona and Hilo sides means long drives that test young passengers. Winter surf can make some beaches unsafe for small swimmers.

You will need a car. The island bus network is sparse and not built for visitors, and taxis are few outside Kona. The roads are good and mostly quiet, and driving here is a pleasure. The belt highway circles the island, and the Saddle Road cuts across between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

The distances are what take the effort. From Kona to the volcano park is about two and a half hours each way, and Hilo is around an hour and a half across the saddle. Many visitors split their stay between the Kona side and Hilo or Volcano village rather than drive it all in one day. A four-wheel drive is needed for the Mauna Kea summit road.

Shopping is for local things, not fashion. Kona coffee straight from the farms is the obvious thing to take home, along with macadamias, local honey and chocolate. Galleries in Holualoa, Hawi and Volcano village sell koa woodwork, ceramics and island art. Hilo's farmers' market adds crafts and aloha shirts. Beyond that, Kona and the Kohala Coast have resort shopping centres with familiar resortwear and souvenirs, and serious shoppers will find little else.

The island is expensive, as all of Hawai'i is. Almost everything is shipped in. Kohala Coast resort rooms are among the costliest in the country, a hire car is unavoidable, and restaurant and supermarket prices are well above mainland levels. Guided tours, from manta snorkels to summit trips, add up quickly. The cheaper way is to stay in Kona condos or on the Hilo side, eat plate lunches and market food, and spend the days on beaches and in the national park, where access costs little.

Live performance here means Hawaiian music and hula. Every spring Hilo hosts the Merrie Monarch Festival, the most important hula competition in the world, a week of chant and dance with deep cultural weight. Seats are famously hard to get, but the town fills with free performances and craft fairs around it. During the rest of the year, resorts stage luau shows of varying authenticity, slack-key guitarists play in hotel lounges, and the historic theatres in Hilo and Waimea host small programmes of concerts and films. There is no opera, orchestra or real theatre scene.

The island's pace is slow, and that is most of its appeal for rest. Days settle into early mornings, long afternoons and early nights. The large Kohala Coast resorts have well-equipped spas, many of them offering lomilomi, the traditional Hawaiian massage. Yoga and meditation retreats gather in the rainforest of Puna and on the coffee slopes above Kona.

There is no bathing tradition to build a trip around. Despite the volcanic ground there are no public thermal baths, so wellness here means a treatment or a retreat rather than a soak. The Kohala Coast suits pampering, while the Hilo side and Volcano village suit quiet, misty seclusion.