Big Island, Hawaii · Drive time
the Kohala Coast to Waimea: how long is the drive?
What this drive is
The Kohala Coast is the resort strip north of the airport — Waikoloa, Mauna Lani, Hāpuna, Puakō, Kawaihae — and it is drier and sunnier than anywhere else on the island.
Waimea is the cool upland ranch town in the middle of the north of the island. Hotel bookings often call it Kamuela; it is the same place.
What it costs as a day
There and back is 50 minutes of driving, before you do anything at either end. The short climb inland from the resorts, often done for dinner or on the way east.
Worth comparing: the same place is about 1 hour 5 minutes each way from Hilo, so doing this day from Hilo instead of the Kohala Coast means about 1 hour 20 minutes more driving, there and back. See that drive.
This time is worked out from the checked drives on either side of it, not measured directly. Treat it as rough. Treat this as the least the drive will cost you, not the real cost — why map estimates run short here.
Nearby drives
- Kailua-Kona to the Kohala Coast — about 45m
- Kailua-Kona to Waimea — about 1h
- Waimea to the Hāmākua Coast — about 45m
See the full region-to-region table, with every drive and how each was verified.
Before you book the room, not after
The Big Island Plan Checker takes the itinerary you already have, checks it against every drive in that table and the access rules that close things early, and tells you what fits and what to cut first. Five questions, about 3 minutes.
The first plan it told to cut something was mine.
Sources. Checked times come from published Big Island driving-time guides. Traveler-reported times come from people who drove the road and timed it. The rest are worked out from the drives on either side. Roads, closures and traffic change — this page was verified on August 30, 2026 and should be rechecked close to departure.
All drive times · Big Island guides · Who writes this