Indian Chief Travel Guides

Around Hilo

A premier place of interest in greater Hilo, at the north end of Waianuenue Avenue, is the Wailuku River State Park, a 16-acre park lying largely along the 23-mile Wailuku River - the longest perennial river in Hawaii. In the park you can search you can search out the Rainbow Falls, which plunge approximately 80 feet into a large, natural pool.

Among other attractions in Hilo are the Hilo Bayfront Park that borders Hilo Bay; the mile-long Banyan Drive that loops around the Waiakea Peninsula (also fronting on Hilo Bay); the Queen Liiuokalani Gardens on Lihiwai Street, which are the largest Yedo-type gardens outside of Japan; the daily fish auction at the Suisan Fish Market at the corner of Banyan Drive and Lihiwai Street, which offers an authentic cultural experience; and the 150-acre Wailoa River State Park at the southern edge of Hilo Bay, created as tsunami buffer zone after the 1960 tsunami.

Also in the Hilo area are the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo, the only rainforest zoo in the U.S., and the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Visitor Center, surrounded by more than a million macadamia nut trees, where you can visit a macadamia nut factory and learn all about macadamia nuts.