Hawaii, the Big Island Trailblazer: Where to Hike, Snorkel, Surf, Bike Drive

Two island trip

We toured Oahu for four days with their Oahu Trailblazer then ventured to the Big Island for a week. These guides are the BEST. No stone left unturned and beaches and trails so easy to find and explore. Volcanoes National Parks is covered so well, an amazing place. Plenty of advise for first timers like us. We left seasoned islanders with the desire to return asap.

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Our destination, our journey

We relied on the Big Island Trailblazer every day. Fit nicely in the daypack. This series beats all the others when it comes to exact directions and it's loaded with photos so you get inspired to reach the location. We originally started vacationing in Hawaii after reading their No Worrries Hawaii book.

Page by page the whole island is dissected in an easy to navigate clean layout.
Trails to wild beaches, hidden waterfalls, and significant places where history was made, they've got it covered. Another beautiful trip thanks to these authors. Extremely happy.

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five stars across the board

A sensational guidebook that upgraded our vacation. We never expected to see or do so much. We like to hike and this guide provided complete directions to all the trails all over the island. The Trailblazers have personality and their appetite for traveling and discovering the most beautiful and powerful places was contagious. The Big Island came alive within the 256 pages and it will take at least five more trips to get our fill and feel we've seen it all.

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Happy Campers

Definitely clued us for what was in store. Our vacation took us to Kauai and the Big Island. We thank the Trailblazer authors for preparing us for what was in store. All their great recommedations sure kept us busy. The snorkeling on this island was fabulous.

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My Review

Very good! Tells you the PERFECT places to go if you go to Hawaii.

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Way to go

If you're going to Big Island Hawaii, go with this one. This was our idea book, our inspiration to get out and find all the action. We covered Kohala and Kona and the volcano area in ten days. Bright. Fresh. Informative. Best of all the guides on this subject.

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A reviewer

Our Trailblazer guide lived up to its promises on the back cover. Maps, graphics, lists and details describing the island's hiking trails and snorkeling beaches are wrapped up in one tight package. Just what we needed.

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Five Star Review

We depended on this superbly organized book during our entire stay. It deserves an award for layout. Hiking was outstanding. Lots of choices in many diverse settings. We took their advice and didn't cross country or stray from the marked trail. Their information on lava tube hazards was good to know. Our Big adventure to the Big Island was certainly more exciting having this Trailblazer book as our personal guide.

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wonderful!

For the Big Island there is no better guidebook to see everything, lots of extras and tips for saving $$$$. Our boys had a ball.

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Very cool book

After getting my Nook color I ordered this guide for my trip to Hawaii. I like the way everything is linked and the explosion of color really brings this immense island alive. There was alot of ground to cover in two weeks over there and the Trailblazer nicely condenses all the sites together and links up the information so you can explore a beach or a trail and find other sites in the same geographical location. Cool.

This guide is organized, better than the other competitor guide I had along in paper. I like that the links get you to the page you're looking for fast. The Puna Coast was a real find, a beautiful drive culminating in a swim at a giant hot pool. An island paradise FOUND.

I like this series

Before I had my Nook I went to Kauai with their printed book. They've had the greatest directions to places that weren't listed in other guides. For Hawaii the Big Island they follow the same format and I find it makes such good sense to know all there is to do in whatever area you happen to be in.

Our condo was in Keahou near Kona. They described where the coolest beaches were in the area and I knew how long it would take to drive there because they include mile markers in their directions. They then narrow it down to how long the trail is and where it's best and safe to snorkel and swim. Plenty of "watch outs" dot the text but we liked knowing where it was dangerous. And they have photos as well as maps. The Nook was light and fit in the daypack perfectly.

Way to go on a vacation.

Everything we wanted to know

This guide is the only one that focuses on activities. The hiking and snorkeling we did rounded out our days and made our vacation so worthwhile. A great resource with excellent maps and precise directions. We also used their Maui guide which is arranged the same way with highway mile markers indicated so you know exactly where to turn and make a stop. We highly recommend reading this book before you go so you can maximize your vacation days!

First choice

This is the guide we always turned to first. It covers the entire island and we returned home feeling like we got our money's worth. You will definitely need the Trailblazer to find the beaches since the best ones were hidden and signage on this island is poor.

Doubled our fun

The Trailblazer guide for the Big Island is multi-faceted. There are large expanses of lava with pockets of treasures. We found many of them with this guide. There's no other way to discover them unless you have the directions that they write. The beaches especially were amazing to walk to....hardly anyone there. Like finding our own private paradise. The maps were very useful. Beautiful color spread that inspired us to go and see the volcano area. Don't miss the Hilo Farmer's market or the waterfalls just outside of town. They made it an incredibly fun way to explore the island. Make sure you book enough vacation time to see this spectacular place.

Hawaii Trailblazer covered everything

We took three guidebooks along and this is the one that was the most dependable. It provided so many touring itineraries and good advice for getting around this big island. Before going we outlined a plan using their strategies and pretty much followed it for two weeks. The authors cover every aspect, from safety on the trail and water current issues to camping options to avoiding the tourist traps. Straightforward and witty writing and plenty of pictures to illustrate their points of interest. We soaked in hot pools, hiked down into craters, photographed the steam vents, wound our way through jungle trails and visited the Onizuka Space Center and top of Mauna Kea.

This was our first trip to the islands and we vow to return soon to explore one of the others. We'll be sticking with this top notch series. I've already recommended it to my neighbors who are leaving in May.

Guidebooks we trust

Now that we've been to Kauai we are eager to see more of Hawaii. This guide came in the mail yesterday and we are delighted to see the layout is the same. We're headed to the Big Island next March.

For us the Trailblazers are a perfect fit. Access to information is critical and we like that it's right there at our fingertips. These books also pack well and the organization of info flows logically by location. The airline that we travel has just added fees for bags so going lite with the Trailblazer is just the thing. We are reconsidering bringing camping gear.

Looks like the snorkeling waters are some of the clearest in Hawaii so we're looking forward to that too. Of course, hiking the Haleakala and Hana trails are first in order. The photos in this book are so inviting.

Recommend

A complete adventure book for the island. Major score! Deserves a five in every catagory. Our prime resource for driving directions to all the beaches.

Fresh and with-it guide for Hawaii Island

We were total greenhorns to Hawaii. What a great introduction and tour of the place. The maps are unfussy and provide all the driving navigation necessary. Each trail is prefaced with one or two sentences of "What's Best". Before we left we flagged the ones that sounded fun. Both of us like to plan ahead.

We completely searched the bookstore to find a guidebook that had the most outdoor information. With 150 hikes and 73 snorkeling beaches and 24 bike trails this one won out. And we liked its organization and zip. And they even pumped it up with 3 different driving tours which we opted for on the front and back end of our trip. A tip: if you can extend your stay more than two weeks, do it and divide your stay between east and west sides. Don't miss Volcanoes National Park where the Halemaumau Crater is presently active - history in the making. Free viewing.

No time wasted on this big island

We relied on this guidebook daily because it had more places to swim and hike than all the others. No need to sign up for snorkeling or guided hiking tours. All the directions are inside and they are precise. All the photos inside sure helped to help us choose our day's destination. Maximized our days on the island, cut down on driving time and allowed us more beach time. If you like to hike, this one is a dream, especially at the Volcano Park.

Every mile explained

This is a detailed book about what to find all around the coast. Broken up into segments, you are given info as to whether a beach is good for swimming, snorkeling, boarding or not. The amount of information, repeated, gets to be almost boring while just reading thru it; but as a resource for travellers, this is something that you can use ahead of time to sort out an itinerary and skip places that are of little or no interest. Some background is presented in a low key manner and makes for good reading as a history lesson. Worth the money.