Big Island · USA

Overview

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Although development has run wild on the Big Island as of late, it manages to maintain an Old Hawaii feel, with tourism concentrated on its sunny northwest coast. From its active volcano seeping lava into the ocean to its white-sand beaches and its verdant green valleys, waterfalls, and rainbows, the Big Island delivers everything the postcards promise and then some. Sea turtles and manta rays make their homes here, and Mark Twain wrote some of his best prose in the moonlike southern region. Long after his death, artists, travelers, and locals continue to seek inspiration from the cliffs, lava, hidden valleys, ancient wisdom, and tranquil waters of Hawaii.

The Big Island is indeed big, and the largest of the Islands by far at 4,038 square miles. Even with recent development, the Big Island's population remains low (163,000), and only 2% of the island's 2.57 million acres is classified as urban.