Big Island Guide » Attractions & Activities » Gardens
Big Island Attractions & ActivitiesGardens
Are you an avid gardener? Got a green thumb? If so, or even if you just love natural beauty, we share with you the city's beautiful gardens. Check out our list, and then take time out of your busy schedule to stop and smell the roses!
Hawai'i Tropical Botanical Garden
Address: 27-717 Old Mamalahoa Hwy, Papaikou, HI 96781
About 10 miles outside of Hilo Bay, overlooking the Big Island's dramatic north shore, sits the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, a virtual Eden consisting of more than 2000 varieties of palms, heliconias, ferns, orchids, gingers, and bromeliads. A tranquil network of paths leads visitors past the garden's many...
Address: Mauna Loa Rd, Volcano, HI 95689
One of many fascinating features of Volcanoes National Park, Kipuka Puaulu, located on Mauna Loa, is a reminder of how lava flowing from the mountain is at once creator and destroyer. A "kipuka," loosely translated, is an island of native, old-growth flora that's been isolated from the rest of the forest by lava...
Address: 421 Makalika St, Hilo, HI 96720
Makato Nitahara, owner and masterful green thumb behind this exquisite garden, began planting tropical flowers in this former papaya patch more than two decades ago. Today, he estimates that his 2000-plus species of plants and flowers represent one of the largest such collections in the state, and the garden's 20...
Address: Off Hwy 19, near the 16-mile marker, Umauma, HI 96728
Sprawled across 300 acres of a former sugarcane plantation, World Botanical Gardens currently boasts more than 5,000 species of plants (many of them rare and endangered) – the eventual goal is 30,000 species. Offering something for everyone, the site boasts a family-friendly hedge maze, a wheelchair-accessible...
