The main access point for the Big Island and the closest thing to a "big town" on offer. Here is where the tour operators, souvenir shopping, hotels, and boat charters call their home base. Stroll along the seaside walkway past restaurants filled with sun kissed tourists listening to live Hawaiian music while sipping Mai-Tais. But Kona is by no means a tourist trap, boasting some of the best weather in the world with sunshine year round this lively place is a happy middle ground between sleepy Hilo and over the top Waikiki.