Hilo gets written off as the rainy side. Most visitors book their nights in Kona, drive over for one afternoon, catch a shower on Kamehameha Avenue, and decide the reputation was earned.
Then they leave before the town opens up.
We come over for Merrie Monarch, for long weekends, and for the kind of green that only happens somewhere it rains most days. Hilo is a working town with plantation era storefronts, a bay full of outrigger canoes, and grindz worth building a whole day around.
The rain is real, and so is everything it grows.
Here is what is open in 2026, what each stop costs, and how to plan a Hilo day that holds up whether the sun turns out or not.
Related: Must see stops on the Big Island | Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park guide | Best waterfalls in Hawaiʻi
Quick reference links for your Hilo day
Save these before you leave the hotel, because cell service thins out fast once you climb away from the bay. The Hawaiʻi State Parks page for Wailuku River carries the current Rainbow Falls hours and fees.
The state park notices page is where closures get posted first, and county beach parks live on the Hawaiʻi County closures list.
For the market, check Hilo Farmers Market hours. If you are adding the volcano, the national park alerts page updates before anybody else does.
Where Hilo sits, and how much time to give it
Hilo sits on the windward east coast, tucked into a wide bay under Mauna Kea, which stands 13,796 feet (4,205 m) above the same island you are parked on. The drive from Kailua-Kona runs about 85 miles (137 km) across Saddle Road, or roughly two hours without stops.
Hilo has its own airport, code ITO, so you can skip that crossing entirely. Give the town a full day at minimum, and two if you can spare them.
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is about 30 miles (48 km) south, around 45 minutes down Highway 11. That closeness is why most people end up in Hilo at all, and it is a good reason to come. Just do not let the volcano swallow your whole trip.
Storm recovery, and what to check before you book
Hurricane Lala struck Hawaiʻi Island in August 2026, and Tropical Storm Moke followed days behind it. The Kaʻū district on the south end took the worst of the damage, and recovery there is still underway.
Hilo town is open and running. Rainbow Falls and Boiling Pots reopened on August 18, Wailoa River State Recreation Area reopened August 29, and the kitchens and museums downtown are serving.
State park camping and lodging on Hawaiʻi Island remain suspended for now, and several Kaʻū beach parks are still closed. Check the state notices and the county closures list the week you travel rather than the month before, because both pages move faster than any guide can.
Visitors are welcome, and money spent in Hilo kitchens and shops goes straight into the recovery. Just go in knowing a few doors are shut and crews are still working.
Rainbow Falls and Boiling Pots
Rainbow Falls is the easiest waterfall in Hawaiʻi to reach. You park, walk maybe forty steps of pavement, and there it is: an 80-foot (24 m) curtain dropping into a green pool with a lava cave yawning behind it. Legend places the home of Hina, mother of the demigod Māui, inside that cave.
Let’s talk money first, because the sign at the lot surprises people. Since January 2026 the state charges non-residents $5 a person to enter, plus $10 for the car. Kamaʻāina get in free with a Hawaiʻi ID or driver’s license, and keiki three and under are free.
It is credit card only, so leave the cash in the console. Pay before you drive up if you can, because reception at the lot is thin.
One payment covers both halves of the park. Boiling Pots is a couple of minutes further up Peʻepeʻe Falls Drive. The Wailuku River pours through a chain of hexagonal basalt pools that churn and roll like water on a stove. After a hard rain it is loud enough to feel in your chest.
Gates open daily at 7:00 a.m., the park closes at 5:30 p.m., and the gate locks at 6:00 p.m. Go early if you want the rainbow. The mist only throws one when low morning sun hits it at the right angle, so a noon arrival gets you a beautiful waterfall and zero rainbows.
Wailuku River State Park, Rainbow Drive off Waiānuenue Avenue, Hilo, HI 96720
Hilo Farmers Market
The market runs seven days a week, 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., on the corner of Mamo Street and Kamehameha Avenue. Wednesday and Saturday are the big days, with 150 or more vendors packed under the tents and spilling down the sidewalk.
Come on a big day if this is your first visit. Other days bring 50 to 80 vendors, which is plenty for produce, but the flowers, crafts, and food stalls thin way out.
Try to arrive between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m. Parking is easier, the rambutan has not been picked over, and the vendors still have the energy to talk story about what they grew.
Bring small bills and a tote. Then buy something you cannot identify, ask the auntie how you are supposed to eat it, and do exactly what she says.
Hilo Farmers Market, 20 Mamo Street, Hilo, HI 96720
Downtown Hilo on foot
Downtown is walkable in an hour and worth two. Kamehameha Avenue faces the bay behind a row of early 1900s storefronts, most of them survivors of the 1946 and 1960 tsunami. The paint has faded beautifully in all that salt air.
The Pacific Tsunami Museum tells that story from inside an old bank building, using survivor interviews rather than dioramas. Check the day before you go, because it is running weekends only right now, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., during a museum revitalization.
General admission is $15, seniors and military pay $10, youth ages 6 to 17 pay $5, and kamaʻāina pay $5. Kamaʻāina keiki 17 and under get in free.
A few blocks uphill, the Lyman Museum and Mission House runs on timed sessions at 10:00 a.m., 12:15 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. Reservations are requested, so call rather than turning up hopeful. Their posted rates and the third party listings disagree, so ask about admission when you book.
In between, wander. The shops along Kamehameha and Keawe sell aloha wear designed and printed on this island, and the used bookstore smells the way used bookstores should.
Pacific Tsunami Museum, 130 Kamehameha Avenue, Hilo, HI 96720
Lyman Museum and Mission House, 276 Haili Street, Hilo, HI 96720
Liliʻuokalani Gardens and Banyan Drive
This is our favorite free hour in Hilo. Liliʻuokalani Gardens spreads about 24 acres (9.7 hectares) of Edo style Japanese garden along the bayfront. It went in between 1917 and 1919, and it is often called the largest of its kind outside Japan.
Stone lanterns, arched bridges, koi ponds, and a pagoda sit right up against the water. On a still morning the whole thing doubles in the reflection, and you will pass more local walkers than visitors.
Banyan Drive loops the same peninsula under a tunnel of banyans planted by visiting celebrities and dignitaries starting in the 1930s. Read the little plaques at the trunks. A few of the names will stop you.
One thing to know before you build a morning around it: Mokuola, the small island most maps still label Coconut Island, is closed while the county rebuilds the footbridge. No reopening date has been set. You can see it clearly from the gardens, but you cannot walk out to it.
Liliʻuokalani Gardens, 189 Lihiwai Street, Hilo, HI 96720
ʻImiloa Astronomy Center
ʻImiloa is the rainy day answer, and it is good enough that you should go on a clear day too. The name means to seek far. The center ties Polynesian wayfinding to the observatories up on Mauna Kea, which makes more sense here than anywhere else on earth.
The exhibit hall runs 12,000 square feet (1,100 sq m), and the planetarium is the first in Hawaiʻi at 10K resolution. Keiki who have been rained on all morning perk up fast in that dome.
Open Tuesday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Adults are $19, seniors 65 and up are $17, keiki 5 to 12 are $12, and children 4 and under are free. Kamaʻāina rates run $14 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $9 for keiki.
Give yourself two hours, and check the planetarium schedule before you buy tickets so you are not stuck in the atrium waiting on the next show.
ʻImiloa Astronomy Center, 600 ʻImiloa Place, Hilo, HI 96720
Panaʻewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens
Panaʻewa is the only tropical rainforest zoo in the country, and it sits about 6.2 miles (10 km) from the Port of Hilo. Nearly 300 animals across 82 species live under genuine canopy, so a passing shower does not shut anything down. It just makes the place look more like itself.
The tigers, Sriracha and Tzatziki, are the headliners. The petting zoo opens Saturdays from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., which is worth building your week around if you have small ones.
Hours are daily, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with last entry at 3:30 p.m. It closes the first Thursday of every month for maintenance, plus Christmas and New Year’s Day. Set that reminder on your phone now, because pulling up to a locked zoo with a car full of keiki is a rough way to start a morning.
Non-residents pay $13 for adults and $5 for keiki 3 to 17, with under 3 free. County residents pay $4 for adults, and kupuna 60 and up plus keiki 17 and under go free.
Panaʻewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens, 800 Stainback Highway, Hilo, HI 96720
The beaches on this side of the island
Hilo trades the postcard white sand of the Kohala Coast for something stranger and better. The water here is fed by cold freshwater springs, the sand is black and volcanic, and honu haul out on the rocks like they are paying rent.
Richardson Ocean Park is the one to hit first. Black sand, calm tide pools tucked inside a natural lava breakwater, lifeguards, restrooms, and turtles almost every day of the week. Snorkeling is gentle enough here for nervous swimmers and first timers.
Carlsmith Beach Park sits right next door and runs even calmer, with wide grass lawns and springs cold enough to make you gasp. Bring a rash guard if you feel a chill easily.
Honoliʻi Beach Park just north of town is where Hilo surfs, and the lineup is competitive. Watch from the overlook unless you know what you are doing in overhead surf. The pullout is small, so please do not block the driveways of the people who live there.
Do not stress about the rain at any of these. Warm water plus a passing shower is a completely normal Hilo afternoon, and nobody in the water is going to get out because of it.
Richardson Ocean Park, 2349 Kalanianaʻole Avenue, Hilo, HI 96720
Honoliʻi Beach Park, 180 Kahoa Road, Hilo, HI 96720
ʻAkaka Falls, the drive worth making
About 25 minutes north of Hilo, past the old sugar town of Honomu, ʻAkaka Falls drops 442 feet (135 m) straight down into a gorge. The paved loop trail is only 0.4 miles (0.6 km), and it passes Kahuna Falls on the way around.
The loop has stairs and is not wheelchair accessible. To see ʻAkaka on its own, take the left path at the first junction and you are looking at it within a few minutes.
Fees match Rainbow Falls: $5 per non-resident, $10 per vehicle, kamaʻāina free with ID, children 3 and under free, credit card only. Pay online before you leave town, because reception at the trailhead is unreliable.
Gates run daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The comfort station is closed with portable toilets on site, so plan your stop in Honomu accordingly. The bakery there is a fine excuse.
ʻAkaka Falls State Park, end of ʻAkaka Falls Road (Highway 220), 3.6 miles (5.8 km) southwest of Honomu
Where to eat in Hilo
This is where Hilo quietly beats the resort side of the island. The town runs on plate lunch, poke, and small family kitchens that were open before your parents met.
Cafe 100 has been serving loco moco since 1946 and offers more than 30 versions of it. Hours are Monday through Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. It is closed Saturday, which catches people out constantly, so call (808) 935-8683 if your timing is tight.
Ken’s House of Pancakes sits at the Kamehameha and Kanoelehua junction and used to run around the clock. Those days are pau. Current hours are 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily, so the 2:00 a.m. sumo saimin plan needs rethinking.
Suisan Fish Market on the bay sells poke by the pound and by the bowl, with ahi, tako, and whatever the boats brought in that morning. Posted hours run about 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with Wednesday and Sunday closed, so call (808) 935-9349 before you drive over.
Two Ladies Kitchen makes the strawberry mochi that people carry home in their laps on the plane. It is a tiny shop, the hours are limited, and popular flavors sell out, so go early in the day.
Want somebody else to drive and do the explaining? The craft chocolate tasting and farm tour based in Hilo runs about three and a half hours. It is one of the few food experiences on this coast with real review volume behind it.
Big Island Candies
Yes, it is a cookie factory. It is also the most efficient omiyage stop on the island, and the samples are free.
The Hilo flagship has a window onto the production floor. You can watch shortbread get dipped in chocolate while quietly recalculating how many boxes fit in a carry on. Factory viewing runs Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., holidays excepted.
The store is open Monday through Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Budget more time than you think you need, because nobody in recorded history has walked in there for one box.
Big Island Candies, 585 Hinano Street, Hilo, HI 96720
The rain, and how to plan around it
Rain is the number one reason people skip Hilo, so let’s put real numbers on it. NOAA measures average rainfall inside the city at roughly 130 inches (330 cm) a year near the shore, climbing to as much as 200 inches (508 cm) upslope.
That reads brutal on paper. In practice Hilo rain is warm, arrives in bursts, and often clears inside twenty minutes. Mornings are frequently bright, and the heavier stuff tends to roll in during the afternoon and overnight.
So plan outdoors early and indoors late. Waterfalls and the market before 10:00 a.m., then ʻImiloa, a museum, or a long lunch when the sky opens up.
Pack a light rain shell instead of an umbrella, because the trades will turn an umbrella inside out in roughly four seconds. Slippers are fine for town. Bring real shoes for the falls, since wet lava rock is slick as glass.
If you draw a full washout day, we keep a rainy day plan for every island that covers this coast too.
Merrie Monarch, and why spring books out early
Merrie Monarch is the most important hula competition in the world, and it takes over Hilo for a full week every spring. The 64th festival runs March 28 to April 3, 2027 at the Edith Kanakaʻole Multi Purpose Stadium.
Competition tickets are famously hard to get and go by mailed request, well over a year ahead. Hilo hotels for that week book out even earlier than the tickets do.
You do not need a ticket to enjoy the week, though. The Royal Parade through town, the Hawaiian arts and crafts fair, and the hōʻike night broadcasts are open to everybody, and the whole town turns out for it.
If your dates land anywhere near that window, book lodging first and sort the rest later.
Getting to Hilo and getting around
You want a car. Hilo runs a county bus called the Hele-On, but the schedule will not match a visitor’s day. Most of what you came for sits a few miles apart in different directions.
Downtown parking is free street parking with posted time limits, plus a couple of municipal lots. It fills up on market days. Circle once and then take the next block over, rather than idling in the aisle while somebody loads a case of papaya.
Gas up in town before you head for the volcano or Saddle Road. Stations get sparse quickly once you leave Hilo, and the climb burns more fuel than you would guess.
Rather hand the whole east side to somebody who knows it? The full day Hilo tour led by Native Hawaiian guides covers the volcano, the waterfalls, and town in one run.
Coming off a cruise ship with a hard deadline? The Hilo shore excursion to Volcanoes National Park and Rainbow Falls is built around getting you back to the pier on time. That is the only detail that matters when the ship will not wait.
A Hilo day that works
Start at Rainbow Falls at 7:00 a.m. while the light is still low and the lot is nearly empty. Add Boiling Pots on the same payment, then drop into the farmers market by 8:30.
Eat downtown, walk Kamehameha Avenue, and take the tsunami museum if it happens to be a weekend. Then head out to Liliʻuokalani Gardens for a slow loop under the banyans.
Afternoon goes to ʻImiloa or the zoo, depending on the ages riding in your car. Finish at Richardson with the honu, or at Honoliʻi watching somebody else surf better than you ever will.
Dinner is plate lunch or poke, and dessert is mochi if Two Ladies has any left. Then go sit on the seawall and watch the rain cross the bay toward you before it lands.
More from Wanderlustyle
Must see stops on the Big Island
Mauna Kea: summits, stargazing, and what to know
Kona coffee farm tours on the other coast
Best beaches on the Big Island
Where to eat on the Big Island
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