Through all of it, Hilo kept its culture at the center. Every spring the Merrie Monarch Festival fills the town for the world's foremost hula competition, a celebration of Hawaiian language, chant, and dance that makes Hilo, for a week, the cultural capital of the islands. The rest of the year that same spirit runs through the Hilo Farmers Market, the heritage banyans of Banyan Drive, the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center linking Hawaiian sky-knowledge to the observatories on Mauna Kea, and the waterfalls and gardens that ring the bay.
Hilo's story begins on the bay. Native Hawaiians settled this rain-fed eastern coast of Hawaiʻi Island for centuries, farming kalo (taro) in the wet lowlands, fishing the bay and reefs, and reading the rivers that run down from the mountains. In the bay sits Mokuola — Coconut Island — long known as a place of healing and refuge. This was a settled, cultivated landscape, rich in water and tradition, generations before any ship from the outside world dropped anchor in Hilo Bay.
Why People Visit Hilo
Hilo offers the most authentic, culturally rich side of Hawaiʻi Island — waterfalls, gardens, markets, and deep Hawaiian heritage, all in a relaxed bayfront town. Visitors come for the rainforest scenery and the easy access to volcanoes and coast, and stay for the unhurried, welcoming feel of a real town rather than a resort strip. From the morning rainbows at Waiānuenue to the gardens along the bay, it rewards a slow pace. It is green, genuine, and beautiful in every season on the bay.
