There is much talk, if not controversy, about how to split up the Big Island by region so that it can easily be described on a website such as this. Why the controversy you ask? Well, the Big Island of Hawai'i is a single county politically divided into nine districts, clockwise: South Kohala, North Kohala, Hamakua, North Hilo, South Hilo, Puna, Kau, South Kona, and North Kona. Here you can see an image of the District Map.

It seems simple enough until you start to describe what's in each area and/or how to get to certain locations. For example, parts of central Hawai'i are in the Haumakua, North Hilo, and Kau districts, but there is absolutely no way to access central Hawai'i from any of these districts. To the modern day traveler these districts serve no purpose.

The remedy then is to find a way to divide the island into segments that are easy to recognize, describe, and access via the major roads of the island. This is where much of the debate comes from. Every "expert" has their own way of dissecting the island into pieces.

Our way is pretty simple and it's a method we've followed religiously in all of our physical guidebooks. We like to take the North, East, South, and West approach and we've stayed as true as possible to that format here online (see the map above). In general, we've adjusted some region names as needed and kept others to preserve common reference. For example, we refer to west Hawaii's coast as 'Kona' instead of 'West Hawaii' because it is almost always referred to as such on the island and elsewhere.

Ultimately we've divided the island in a manner that helps us group spots together so that they are easily accessible along the major routes of the island. This allows us to use our mile by mile directions to easily and accurately describe each spot here on our website.

Via the links below we'll cover each of those areas in detail so you will know exactly what to expect in each region of the Big Island. The map to the above right shows our divisions, versus the District Map. They are, clockwise: Kohala, North (Hamakua) Coast, East (Hilo and Puna), Volcano, South, Kona, and Central Hawai'i.

Kohala Region / Area (Kohala Highlights)

North Hamakua Region / Area (Hamakua Highlights)

Hilo Town Region (Hilo Town Highlights)

Puna District Region (Puna Highlights)

Volcano Region / Area (Volcano Highlights)

South Region / Area (South Ka'u Highlights)

Kona Region / Area (Kona Highlights)

Central Region / Area (Central Highlights)

Another tid-bit of information that may interest you is that in the future the county of Hawai'i may become two separate counties. In recent years the Kona side of the island has expressed concern about the county's future, especially considering the county seat is in Hilo, not in Kailua-Kona. As you will quickly learn upon visiting the island, the two sides differ in many ways.

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