Made up of hundreds of islands and islets, Hawaii is a state deep with culture, history, and incredible landscapes. Hawaii is consistently a top destination for tourists with its famed beaches, dramatic lush scenery, and aloha spirit. Road tripping Hawaii adds a layer of “off the beaten path” that travelers crave; from the scenic cliffs and waterfalls of Kauai to the black sand beaches of Punalu’u on the Big Island, the sights of Hawaii will provide a fulfilling road trip itinerary.
Honolulu to Waimanalo
Waimanalo Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii.
Waimanaolo is a small village with road trip worthy beaches and sea turtle sightings for snorkelers. Sherwood Beach is a family favorite with white sandy beaches and availability of tent camping. To get there from Honolulu, travelers will head northeast on route 61. Even though the drive is just shy of 30 minutes, it can be extended with sights along the way like Kapena Falls, a tour of Quenn Emma Summer Palace, and stopping at Nu’uanu Pali Lookout, which offers panoramic views of Oahu’s windward coast. Hikers will love a midway, challenging trek at Pali Notches or the less strenuous Likeke Falls. Aiwi Waffles in Olomana will curb a worked-up appetite before heading south on route 72. Travelers looking to stay overnight on a budget can head to Bellows Field Beach Park. Waimanolo Beach offers a lengthy shoreline with less crowded, excellent views.
Honolulu to Ka’ena Point State Park
Sunrise at Kaʻena Point.
Oahu’s Ka’ena Point State Park is for the sunset lovers and nature enthusiasts. Ka’ena Point Trail is a well-loved spot to hike and view wildlife and tide pools. From Honolulu, drivers can get on Interstate H201 northwest bound, the whole drive will take just over an hour. Along the route, travelers can stop at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial before continuing on Interstate H1 to escape the city hustle and bustle. Just past Kapolei, travelers track off on Farrington highway along the western coastline of Oahu. Tracks Beach Park makes a great stop to walk along the sandy shores and access public restrooms or Nanakuli Beach Park with access to Mermaids Cave, a hidden coastal cave near Nanakuli Beach Park. Da Brazilian Braddahs food truck in Makaha is a nice spot to grab a quick lunch. Before making it to Ka’ena Point, hiking down Kaneana Cave is a must see.
Kailua-Kona to Mauna Kea
A view of Hilo, Hawaii and Mauna Kea on a clear day such that you can see the telescopes on the mountain peak.
Mauna Kea, the white mountain, is a dormant volcano and the highest peak in the Hawaiian Islands. It is a popular destination for watching epic sunrises and stargazing tours. Mauna Kea has tours offered from Mauna Kea Summit Adventures that pick-up tourists directly from Kailua-Kona to take the guess work out of the trip. Alternatively, visitors can rent a jeep from Big Island Jeep Rental in Kailua-Kona and drive themselves up during available hours. The drive to Mauna Kea will take just under two hours. If arriving for sunrise, visitors should pack some snacks and plan to stop at the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station for bathroom breaks and souvenirs.
Honolulu to Makapu’u Point
Makapuʻu Lighthouse perched on a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean on Oʻahu Island, Hawaii.
On the eastern shore of Oahu, Makapu’u Point is a favored destination for hiking and views; the Makapu’u Lighthouse trail is 2 miles roundtrip and offers an incredible back drop for pictures. This roadtrip is best suited as a morning adventure before crowds gather. Stop at Koko Head Café for brunch before completely leaving Honolulu and set off eastbound on route 72. Extend the trip with a hike to Koko Crater; a challenging ascent that leads to an overlook of the massive crater. After a substantial hike, travelers can head to Halona Blowhole Lookout and watch ocean water shoot 30 feet from a lava tube. A stop at nearby Sandy beach provides public restrooms and Good Truck with fruit bowls and healthy snacks. Once at the trailhead, visitors can park along Makapu’u Lighthouse Road and prepare for the 2 mile gorgeous hike!
Kapaa to Polihale State Park, Kauai
Polihale State Park is a 17-mile beach on the western shore of Kauai, it is believed to be a point of departure for souls heading to the spirit world in Hawaiian culture and offers unforgettable sunsets along the Pacific coastline. From Kapaa, travelers can start the day with sweet or savory croissants from Haole Girl Island Sweets heading south on Kuhio Highway. Kuhio Highway stretches south along the eastern shoreline with views of Wailua Beach before cutting southwest and turning into highway 50 after passing through the town of Lihue. Drivers can pass through the
Tree tunnel on Kauai’s South Shore Drive. Image credit Bob Pool via Shutterstock.
, a naturally forming portion off the main route that forms a eucalyptus tree lined “tunnel”, with pull offs to stop for pictures. In Waimea, stop for a Banana Split shaved ice at JoJo’s Shave Ice in Waimea before continuing along the coastline and Kakaha Beach. Once at Polihale State Park, travelers can plan to tent camp for the night (4×4 recommended to access) and watch the sunset before drifting off to sleep to the sound of the ocean waves.
Wailea Beach to Haleakala National Park
Haleakala Crater, Maui, Hawaii.
Sunrises in Haleakala National Park give visitors an unforgettable experience. Permits are required and can be obtained from the National Park Service up to 60 days in advance. If early is not in the Hawaiian itinerary, visitors can still enjoy crater views mid-day. Sunrise bound, from Wailea Beach, travelers can head north on route 31 and eventually cut southeast through Pukalani and on to the winding road up to the Headquarters visitor center where visitors can park and watch the phenomenal sunrise. On the way back, a stop at Maui Alpaca is a fun Alpaca farm tour where visitors can feed the Alpacas and make a picnic out of it. Tours are also available to tourists who would like to take the driving out of the road trip and relax on the way up to the summit.
Honolulu to Haleiwa
Aerial view of the Hawaiian village of Haleiwa at sunrise.
The 45 minute road trip from Honolulu to Haleiwa is an excellent choice for surfers during the winter months or visitors looking for adorable shop fronts for unique souvenirs. From Honolulu, travelers will go northwest on Interstate H2, stop for Coffee and a snack at Kemo’o Coffee when passing through Wahiawa. Stock up on all thing surfing and beachwear at the North Shore Marketplace and get a Poke bowl at Poke for the People before setting out to Haleiwa Alii Beach for the day. Visitors can also book a shark tour through Haleiwa Shark Tours or a lovely sunset cruise with whale watching through North Shore Sailing Adventures.
Unforgettable Journeys Across Hawaii’s Islands
Hawaii is a diverse set of islands with so many attractions and natural beauty to delve into. Whichever island visitors decide to spend their time on, there are endless opportunities for unforgettable road trips and picture views. From the bustling city of Honolulu to the serene beaches of northern Oahu in Haleiwa or adventuring from Kailua-Kona to the volcanos of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, there’s something for every traveler and road tripping attractions.
HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK (HawaiiNewsNow) – After just over five hours, the latest episode of Kilauea’s eruption began and ended Sunday.
The U.S. Geological Survey said episode 36 began at around 11:15 a.m. with fountains from the north vent that reached about 500 feet high, while fountains from the south vent were about one-third as high.
At around 3:35 p.m., USGS said the south vent remained up to 1,000 feet high, but began dropping at around 3:48 p.m.
The eruption ended at around 4:16 p.m., and USGS said it 10-11 cubic yards of lava that covered over half of the crater.
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USGS said episode 36 was preceded by over 180 lava overflow-drainback events at the north vent on Nov. 3, with the south vent following the next day.
According to the National Weather Service, winds are blowing from the northeast, and the USGS believes volcanic gas emissions and material may be distributed to the southwest of the summit of Kilauea.
Shortly before 12:30 p.m., the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said ashfall and tephra are likely to affect the Kau district.
Officials recommend that those with respiratory sensitivities take extra precautions to minimize exposure.
CDA advises drivers to be cautious on the road as visibility may be reduced.
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Watch episode 36 here:
Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Around 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7, Honolulu Police announced 55-year-old Jonnaven Monalim was missing, and was last seen on Wednesday night, Nov. 5, leaving his home in Kapolei.
But just seven hours after they announced he was missing, HPD was investigating a body that was found off a dirt road in Waipahu (near the Waipio Soccer Complex).
Police said officers had located the body of a man with apparent gunshot wounds.
Michael Green, a long-time family attorney for Monalim, told KHON2 that fingerprints taken from the scene where the body was found confirmed it was him.
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“They took fingerprints of the body, and they’ve identified it as Jonnaven,” attorney Michael Green said.
“When I hear about bodies being found where they’re doing fingerprint identification, instead of photograph or in-person identification, it’s a rage issue or a payback issue,” explained Green.
Green says the family was not asked to identify Monalim in person or with a photo.
“When they decide not to photograph the face, for identification it shows rage or payback, and I’m not saying who they’re paying back for, and I’m not saying what people were raged about – whether it’s a money debt or something else, or I pay you back for something they think you did in the past – I can’t answer that, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen fingerprint identification where they could not take pictures of the face,” Green said.
On Thursday, Nov. 6, there was heavy police presence in the Pearl City industrial area where Monalim’s girlfriend told Green that Monalim’s hearing aid was found with a bullet casing and a pool of blood.
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Monalim has a criminal record dating back to the 1980s. He was the key witness in the high-profile 2004 Pali golf course shooting trial after he wore an FBI wire that secretly recorded a conversation. That recording ultimately led to his cousin Rodney Joseph Jr. and Ethan “Malu” Motta to being sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Green said Monalim had disagreements with other individuals over the years.
“He was a street guy, and he would have been smart enough not to meet a particular person without protecting himself,” Green said. “My guy was not the kind of guy that would just walk around and meet people in the middle of the night; he had to trust the person and feel that he was safe.”
“He never would have gone to meet anybody if he had the slightest concern about his safety, but he certainly, if it was a one-on-one, he trusted the person with his life and he made a mistake apparently,” he added.
Green believes police finding the body in the middle of nowhere means one thing.
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“They [police] knew where they were going, so somebody gave up somebody,” he added.
Police have not confirmed any arrests and are deferring identification of the body to the medical examiner. Police will also not say if Monalim’s missing persons case is still active.
On the island of Hawaii, a relatively unknown buyer is purchasing large portions of land, rapidly becoming one of Hawaii’s largest landowners, while also stirring controversy with a Burning Man-inspired annual festival he is trying to cultivate.
Since 2021, Pennsylvania native Andrew Tepper has bought over 14,000 acres in Papaikou near Hilo, according to public records, under his company Teppy Mountain LLC. Tepper held a festival, called Falls on Fire, on his agriculturally zoned property in 2023 and 2024. The events were unpermitted, sparking backlash among his neighbors and government agencies, who have hit him with violations.
Entrance to Indian Tree Road in Papaikou on the island of Hawaii.
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Screenshot via Google Street View
Hawaii County spokesperson Tom Callis told SFGATE that Teppy Mountain has been fined $34,000 so far. “As this is a private event that involves many people that exceeds the customary use of the agricultural property, it requires a Special Permit,” Callis said.
To comply, Tepper submitted a Special Use Permit with the Windward Planning Commission in September 2024 for the annual event, which calls for a four-day-long festival with overnight camping and commercial vehicle storage on approximately 14.7 acres of the Papaikou land, with a maximum attendance of 500. As at Burning Man, a burning ceremony of an effigy is lit on fire to close the event.
“Hawaiian culture and Burning Man culture share so many principals… decommodification, communal effort, gifting, participation, ‘leave no trace’ – those are all things I keep noticing in Hawaiian culture, and they are stated principles of Burning Man culture. Falls on Fire is such a wonderful blending of those cultures,” Tepper told SFGATE in an email.
“If any readers are Burning Man participants, come visit my camp, Habitat for Insanity, and I will serve you the fanciest, most delicious shave ice on the playa,” he continued.
Tepper is now awaiting a contested case hearing on Nov. 13, 2025, before a decision is made about whether to approve or deny the permit. But until the permit is approved, the event is not authorized to be held.
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The Papaikou lands, outlined in the map, amount to over 14,000 acres near the town of Hilo, Hawaii.
County of Hawaii
A private gathering
Despite repeated warnings by the Hawaii Planning Department not to hold the event, it took place last year from Nov. 8 to 11, with over 200 attendees.
No event has been publicized this year, but details were sent out to an email listserv from an email address associated with Falls on Fire stating that an event would take place Nov. 7 to 9, 2025, referring to it as a “private gathering” with no charge and advising participants to “keep it off all public pages” so it can avoid a “$500 per day fine.”
SFGATE obtained a copy of the email, dated Oct. 8, and it links to a new website with private access and a “bible for everything FoF” that details rules, fire safety, sound policy, theme camps and volunteer information. Tepper confirmed that it was from an email address that he and other organizers are using, but also added that “it is not the email that invitations were sent from.”
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Tepper also told SFGATE that he is “having a smaller private gathering while the permit is pending. I hope to have the permit next year, and if I do, I will again welcome members of the public to experience this incredible property.”
Hawaii County would not comment on whether it is aware of another event happening this year, but did tell SFGATE that “the Planning Department will issue another notice” if an unpermitted event is held.
A waterfall in Papaikou on the island of Hawaii, Oct. 14, 2018.
Michael Leggero/Getty Images
Asked whether or not it is something that would get shut down, Hawaii County Police Department told SFGATE it “does not necessarily enforce permit violations, however if we received noise and/or other complaints then police would respond.”
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Hawaii County said more or less the same: “Reports of illegal or unsafe activities can be made to the Police or Fire departments, and they will respond based on the complaint.”
More land acquisitions
Earlier this year, Tepper purchased additional properties in the towns of Keaau and North Kona, according to public records. Then in October, he made another large acquisition when he bought the 792-acre Kupaianaha Ranch for $10.59 million. The ranch, near Hilo Forest Reserve, has waterfalls, orchards, pastureland and a two-story, 8,542-square-foot log cabin.
Tepper told SFGATE he purchased the property because he likes agricultural land. “The new property has a large lychee orchard that had been neglected, and I’ve already started tending the trees. I’m hoping that by next year we’ll be producing a small crop, and then be back to full production the following year or so,” Tepper told SFGATE in an email.
The purchase of Kupaianaha Ranch brings his total landholdings to over 15,000 acres on Hawaii Island. By comparison, Hilo, the largest town on the island, is approximately 35,000 acres, while the second-largest, Kailua-Kona, is 8,832 acres.
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Andrew Tepper in a 1995 article in the Press Enterprise in Pennsylvania.
newspapers.com
It’s a sizable sum that puts Tepper among the top wealthy Hawaii landowners, somewhere between Larry Ellison’s 87,810 acres on Lanai and Mark Zuckerberg’s 2,300 acres on Kauai. Others, like Oprah Winfrey, Michael Dell and Jeff Bezos, fall below.
Tepper is the founder and president of game development studio eGenesis, which started in 1998. He is best known for his work on “A Tale in the Desert,” a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, launching it in 2003. Then in 2013, eGenesis created Dragon’s Tale, an MMORPG casino that uses cryptocurrency. Tepper graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and ran a software company before starting eGenesis.
Aside from the Falls on Fire festival, it’s unclear what Tepper plans to do with the combined 15,000 acres, but he has a history of purchasing large properties in other states, including the 1,143-acre Dream Mountain Ranch in West Virginia in 2018. He opened it to guided trophy deer and elk hunts the following year.
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Editor’s note: SFGATE recognizes the importance of diacritical marks in the Hawaiian language. We are unable to use them due to the limitations of our publishing platform.
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