{"id":237,"date":"2026-03-26T22:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/?p=237"},"modified":"2026-03-26T22:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:30:17","slug":"the-ultimate-big-island-travel-guide-local-food-coffee-sunsets-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/the-ultimate-big-island-travel-guide-local-food-coffee-sunsets-more\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Big Island Travel Guide: Local Food, Coffee, Sunsets &amp; More\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Planning a trip to Hawai\u02bbi Island? This&nbsp;Big Island travel guide&nbsp;goes beyond the typical recommendations\u2014bringing you the best local food, authentic Hawaiian dishes, sunset spots, happy hours, and Kona coffee straight from our Waikoloa crew.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether\u00a0you&#8217;re\u00a0exploring\u00a0land or seeing it all from above, these are the spots that truly define the Big Island experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best Local Food on the Big Island:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No&nbsp;Big Island travel guide&nbsp;is complete without food\u2014and these are the places locals&nbsp;go:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Poke Nachos from Umekes <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>KTA <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pono&#8217;s <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Umekes (overall favorite)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pau Hana Poke<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>One Hawaiian Food Everyone Should Try:&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To&nbsp;truly understand&nbsp;Hawai\u02bbi, you must experience its traditional foods:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Laulau <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Poi<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spam Musubi <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Squid Lu&#8217;au<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Malasadas<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best Happy Hour on the Big Island:&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a day of adventure, unwind at some of the best&nbsp;Big Island happy hour&nbsp;spots:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Island Hopper <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Quinn&#8217;s Almost By The Sea <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wine Bar at Island Gourmet <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Beach Tree at Four Seasons Hualalai <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best Sunset Spots on the Big Island:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The west side of Hawai\u02bbi Island is known for its legendary sunsets\u2014and these spots never disappoint:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>OTEC (near the airport) <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blue Hawaiian Waikoloa Base <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A-bay (Anaeho&#8217;omalu Bay) <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anywhere on the West side <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best Kona Coffee on the Big Island:&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No&nbsp;Big Island&nbsp;trip<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>is complete without Kona coffee\u2014and these are some of the best places to experience it:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Kona Joe&#8217;s <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kona Mountain Thunder <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kayas <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kona Coffee &amp; Tea Company <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Hear directly from our team in our&nbsp;Crew Notes&nbsp;series\u2014now streaming on the Blue Hawaiian Helicopters YouTube channel.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Big Island Favorites from Our Waikoloa &#039;Ohana!\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iuXXZCLTvOM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> \n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Planning a trip to Hawai\u02bbi Island? This&nbsp;Big Island travel guide&nbsp;goes beyond the typical recommendations\u2014bringing you the best local food, authentic Hawaiian dishes, sunset spots, happy hours, and Kona coffee straight from our Waikoloa crew.&nbsp; Whether\u00a0you&#8217;re\u00a0exploring\u00a0land or seeing it all from above, these are the spots that truly define the Big Island experience. Best Local Food &#8230; <a title=\"The Ultimate Big Island Travel Guide: Local Food, Coffee, Sunsets &amp; More\u00a0\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/the-ultimate-big-island-travel-guide-local-food-coffee-sunsets-more\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Ultimate Big Island Travel Guide: Local Food, Coffee, Sunsets &amp; More\u00a0\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"The Ultimate Big Island Travel Guide: Local Food, Coffee, Sunsets &amp; More\u00a0 - Blue Hawaiian Helicopters","description":"Planning a trip to Hawai\u02bbi Island? This&nbsp;Big Island travel guide&nbsp;goes beyond the typical recommendations\u2014bringing you the best local food, authentic Ha"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"island":[16],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sightseeing","island-big-island"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"island","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluehawaiian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/island?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}