Big Island
The island of Hawai'i — universally called the Big Island by visitors to avoid confusion with its namesake state — is the largest island of the state of Hawaii in the United States of America.| Tap on a place to explore it |
Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
Photo: Footwarrior, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Essential Destinations
Top destinations include Hilo and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Hilo
Photo: Footwarrior, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Hilo is a town on the Big Island of Hawaii. The county seat and largest city in Hawaii County, Hilo is the one of the best starting points to explore the eastern half of the island, including Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Photo: Footwarrior, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is a national park on the Big Island of the island state of Hawaii. The national park is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Kailua-Kona
Photo: Skarz, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Kailua-Kona, often referred to as "Kona" by the locals, is nestled at the bottom of the Hualalai Volcano. It is the main town on the western side of the Big Island of Hawaii, but with a population of about 20,000 it is hardly a metropolis.
Destinations to Discover
Explore places such as Volcano Village and Waimea.
Volcano Village
Photo: Footwarrior, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Volcano, or Volcano Village, is a census-designated place in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States located in the District of Puna with a small portion of the CDP in the District of Kaʻū.
Waimea
Photo: Bonus Onus, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Waimea is a landlocked community in Hawaiʻi County, Hawaii, United States. Waimea is the center for ranching activities and paniolo culture. The name Waimea means reddish water.
Waikoloa
Photo: Travis.Thurston, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Waikoloa Village or Waikōloa Village is a census-designated place in Hawaiʻi County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 6,362 at the 2010 census, up from 4,806 at the 2000 census. The spelling Waikoloa is used by the local post office.
Honokaa
Photo: NASA, Public domain.
Honoka'a is a city in Hamakua district on the northern coast of Big Island of Hawai'i, and acts as the gateway providing access to the Hāmākua Coast, the chain of valleys to the North, including the regal Waipio valley, and the rolling slopes of Mauna Kea.
Pahoa
Pahoa is a small town in Puna district on the southeast side of Big Island between Hilo and Volcanoes National Park.Captain Cook
Photo: Robert Linsdell, CC BY 2.0.
Captain Cook is a census-designated place in Hawaiʻi County, Hawaiʻi, in the United States, located in the District of South Kona. The community, within the land division of Kealakekua, is so named because the post office for the area was located in the Captain Cook Coffee Co. during the early 1900s.
Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park
Photo: Footwarrior, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park on the Big Island in the state of Hawaii.
Ka’u
Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park
Photo: Public domain, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park is on the Kona coast of the island of Hawai'i. The purpose of the park is to preserve, interpret, and perpetuate traditional native Hawaiian activities, values, and culture, and to demonstrate historic land use patterns.
Big Island
- Type: Island with 185,000 residents
- Description: largest of the Hawaiian islands
- Also known as: “Big Island, Hawaii”, “Gavaie”, “Ha-wai-i”, “Havaji”, “Hawai‘i”, “Hawai‘i Island”, “Hawaiʻi”, “Hawaii”, “Hawaii Island”, “Island of Hawai‘i”, “Island of Hawai’i”, “Island of O’why’he”, “Isola Owhyhi”, “L’ile Owhyhi”, “O-Waihi”, “Ovagi”, “Ovai”, “Ovaigi”, “Ovaigii”, “Owhyee”, “Owhyhee”, “Owhyhee Island”, “Savaii”, and “The Big Island”
- Category: volcanic island
- Location: Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, North America
- View on OpenStreetMap
This page is based on GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
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Satellite Map
Discover Big Island from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
In Other Languages
From Afrikaans to Yue Chinese—“Big Island” goes by many names.
- Afrikaans: “Hawaii”
- Afrikaans: “Hawaiï”
- Arabic: “هاواي”
- Armenian: “Հավայի”
- Azerbaijani: “Havay adası”
- Basque: “Big Island”
- Basque: “Hawaii (uhartea)”
- Basque: “Hawaii”
- Basque: “The Orchid Isle”
- Belarusian: “Гаваі (востраў)”
- Belarusian: “Гаваі”
- Breton: “Enez Hawai‘i”
- Breton: “Enez Hawaii”
- Bulgarian: “Хаваи”
- Burmese: “ဟာဝိုင်ယီကျွန်းစု”
- Catalan: “illa de Hawaii”
- Catalan: “Illa de Hawaii”
- Catalan: “Illa Hawaii”
- Cebuano: “Island of Hawai‘i”
- Chinese: “夏威夷大島”
- Chinese: “夏威夷島”
- Chuvash: “Гавайи (утрав)”
- Chuvash: “Гавайи”
- Czech: “Havaj”
- Danish: “Hawaii”
- Dutch: “Hawai’i”
- Dutch: “Hawaï”
- Esperanto: “Havaja insulo”
- Esperanto: “Havajo-Insulo”
- Esperanto: “Havajo”
- Esperanto: “Hawaii”
- Estonian: “Havai saar”
- Estonian: “Hawaii saar”
- Finnish: “Big Island”
- Finnish: “Havaiji (saari)”
- Finnish: “Havaiji”
- Finnish: “Hawaii”
- Finnish: “Island of Hawaii”
- French: “Big Island”
- French: “Hawaï”
- French: “Hawaii”
- Galician: “Illa de Hawai”
- Galician: “Illa de Hawaii”
- Galician: “Illa Grande de Hawai”
- Galician: “Illa Hawaii”
- Georgian: “ჰავაი”
- German: “Big Island”
- German: “Hawai’i”
- German: “Hawaiʻi”
- German: “Hawaii”
- Greek: “Νήσος Χαβάη”
- Greek: “Χαβάη”
- Hawaiian: “Hawaiʻi”
- Hawaiian: “Island of Hawai‘i”
- Hebrew: “הוואי”
- Hindi: “हवाई (द्वीप)”
- Hindi: “हवाई”
- Hungarian: “Hawaii”
- Icelandic: “Hawaii-eyja”
- Indonesian: “Hawaii”
- Interlingua: “Hawaii”
- Irish: “Haváí”
- Irish: “Hawaiʻi”
- Italian: “Grande Isola delle Hawaii”
- Italian: “Isola di Hawaii”
- Italian: “Isola Hawaii”
- Japanese: “ハワイ島”
- Korean: “하와이섬”
- Latvian: “Havaja”
- Lithuanian: “Havajai”
- Lithuanian: “Havajų sala”
- Macedonian: “Хаваи”
- Malay: “Hawaii”
- Mingrelian: “ჰავაი (კოკი)”
- Mingrelian: “ჰავაი”
- Norwegian Bokmål: “Hawaii”
- Norwegian Nynorsk: “Hawaiiøya”
- Norwegian Nynorsk: “Øya Hawaii”
- Norwegian: “Hawaii”
- Occitan (post 1500): “Hawaii”
- Ossetian: “Гавайи (сакъадах)”
- Ossetian: “Гавайи”
- Papiamento: “Hawaii”
- Persian: “هاوایی”
- Polish: “Hawai’i”
- Polish: “Hawaiʻi”
- Polish: “Hawaii”
- Portuguese: “Havai”
- Portuguese: “Hawaii”
- Portuguese: “Ilha de havai”
- Portuguese: “Ilha do Havai”
- Portuguese: “Ilha Havai”
- Portuguese: “Ilha havaí”
- Portuguese: “Ilha Havaí”
- Romanian: “Hawaii”
- Romanian: “Insula Hawai’i”
- Romanian: “Insula Hawaii”
- Russian: “Большой остров”
- Russian: “Гавайи (остров)”
- Russian: “Гавайи”
- Russian: “остров Гавайи”
- Samogitian: “Havajū sala”
- Scottish Gaelic: “Hawaii”
- Serbian: “Велико острво”
- Serbian: “Округ Хаваји (Хаваји)”
- Serbo-Croatian: “Hawaii County, Hawaii”
- Slovak: “Havaj”
- Slovenian: “Hawaii”
- South Azerbaijani: “هاوایی(آداسی)”
- South Azerbaijani: “هاوایی”
- Spanish: “Hawai”
- Spanish: “Isla de Hawai”
- Spanish: “Isla de Hawái”
- Spanish: “Isla de Hawaii”
- Spanish: “Isla Grande de Hawai”
- Swedish: “Big Island”
- Swedish: “Hawaii”
- Swedish: “Hawaiiön”
- Swiss German: “D Insle Hawaii”
- Tajik: “Ҳавайӣ (ҷазира)”
- Tajik: “Ҳавайӣ”
- Thai: “เกาะฮาวาย”
- Tosk Albanian: “Hawaii”
- Turkish: “Hawaii”
- Ukrainian: “Гаваї”
- Ukrainian: “Острів Гаваї”
- Urdu: “ہوائی”
- Uzbek: “Gavayi (yarim orol)”
- Uzbek: “Gavayi”
- Vietnamese: “Đảo Hawaii”
- Vietnamese: “Hawaii”
- Waray (Philippines): “Hawaii”
- Waray (Philippines): “Isla han Hawaii”
- Waray (Philippines): “Puro han Hawaii”
- Waray (Philippines): “Purô han Hawaii”
- Welsh: “Hawaii”
- Welsh: “Ynys Hawaii”
- Western Frisian: “Hawaï”
- Wu Chinese: “夏威夷岛”
- Yue Chinese: “夏威夷島”
- “Havaju sala”
Hawaii: Must-Visit Destinations
Delve into Honolulu, Kauai, Molokai, and Lanai.
Explore These Curated Destinations
Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.
About Mapcarta. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Big Island”. Photo: Footwarrior, CC BY-SA 3.0.