Product Description

The finest guidebook ever written for the Big Island and the only one written by writers who anonymously review the island. They visit every beach, restaurant, activity and trail on the island. The result is this comprehensive, humorous and easy-to-read full color guide that will lead you to more adventures than any other book. A must for travelers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116304 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 308 pages

From Library Journal
In this second of their series of guides to the islands of Hawaii, Doughty and Friedman (The Ultimate Kaua'i Guidebook, Wizard, 1994) have succeeded in telling us everything there is to know about traveling on the island of Hawaii (the "big island" only, not the entire state). They include basic facts about the history and geology, language and pronunciation, sights, beaches, activities, adventures, dining, and lodging. Each of these topics is discussed in detail for each of seven divisions of the big island. The authors relate not only where to go but how to get there and whether or not the place is a must or a skip, offering candid evaluations of each view, beach, and restaurant. Written in clear and lively language, with abundant color illustrations, many excellent maps, a good table of contents, and a complete index, this book is essential reading for those traveling to the island. Recommended for public libraries.?Julia Stump, Voorheesville P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A colorful book…covers it all…I was pleased by the numerous little tips that can make a trip more pleasant." The San Diego Union-Tribune

"Superbly researched and easy-to-read reference…It's jammed with details and maps." Houston Chronicle

This all new fourth edition is the most comprehensive yet easy to use guidebook ever written for the Big Island. Best selling author, Andrew Doughty, unlocks the secrets of an island so big and diverse that many visitors never realize all that it has to offer. Hawaii The Big Island Revealed has more up to date information, the most useful maps and scores of hidden gems listed nowhere else. This book and a rental car are all you need to discover what makes the Big Island so exciting.



39 specially created maps include clear, concise directions to even the most remote beaches and other hard to find places, mile markers (so you always know where you are), hiking trails and numerous details in an easy to follow format.



Discover deserted black sand beaches, secluded freshwater lava pools (some volcanically heated), pristine rain forests, lava tubes, hidden waterfalls and the most dramatic part of the erupting volcano. Read fascinating stories and legends from all around the island.



Symbols quickly identify recommended sights and companies. Find out which companies really are the best…and which to avoid. Frank, honest opinions from anonymous reviews—No advertisements.



Special expanded sections on Beaches, Hiking and Adventures.



Web site with links to every business, last minute updates and more. Plus Web pages that expand on all accommodation reviews with aerial photos of all the resorts (so you’ll know if oceanfront really means oceanfront).



Only book ever banned at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Visitor Center for being "too honest" and "revealing too much."



"Hawaii The Big Island Revealed" covers it all—from the snow-covered top of Mauna Kea, to the sparkling underwater reefs. This is the best investment you can make for your Big Island trip. Whether you are a first time visitor, or a long time kama‘aina, you will find out more about the Big Island from this book than from any other source. Discover the island of your dreams with "Hawaii The Big Island Revealed".

Review
“Succeeded in telling us everything there is to know about traveling on the island of Hawaii...this book is essential reading...” Library Journal

Customer Reviews

The best and worst
This is a hard one to review, because while this and the others in the series are wonderfully organized, expertly written and unbelievably detailed, they also reveal the deepest secrets of the Hawaiian Islands, previously only known to locals.

First, the positives. You won't find a better tour book for Hawaii, on or off the islands - period. This goes for every book of the series - Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island. Doughty and Friedman expertly steer you around the islands, avoiding the crowds and avoiding the tourist traps (like the bike ride down Haleakala). You'll get tons of practical touring strategies, like, for example, on Maui, taking the Road to Hana later in the day and spending the night in Hana so you can have the Seven Pools to yourself for a few hours in the morning. That's just one example from the series; each and every book is loaded with this kind of pragmatism, so even on your first trip you'll feel like a seasoned visitor.

Every aspect of your trip is covered in the books, from the sites to see and avoid, the restaurants to hit, the best hotels, camping options, and island history. Every type of traveler from the luxury $1000 per night tourist to the canvas tent hiker will find useful info. More than anything, while realizing how much of Hawaii is truly still hidden to you in the almost uninhabitable reaches of the jungles and volcanic residues, you'll still feel as though you're seeing as much of it as any outsider can see.

Now for the bad. Because Doughty and Friedman live on the islands and have explored every hidden waterfall and pool, they are privy to spots on the islands that even many locals are unaware of. And naturally, many of the areas are located on private property. This however, doesn't seem to bother the writers. After giving a detailed description of how to access a remote waterfall on private property (stuff like, "Park on the pull-off a few hundred yards after mile-marker 23, and scale the guardrail. You should see a path that winds down into a bamboo forest. At the bottom of the path, go *left*, not right, away from the river..." etc.), they follow it up with a limp disclaimer, like "Technically, this is Hawaiian Forest and Game property, but we've been hiking on it for years without a problem..." The bottom line is that while the places they tell you to go are private and amazing, by definition these magnificent spots can't last. Because they've been revealed (as the book titles promise), a hidden location that may have previously had only a few dozen visitors per year now gets five or six visitors a day, thus destroying the serenity and privacy of the location, ruining what is the reason for going there in the first place. So it's somewhat of a self-defeating book, since by revealing these remote locations they are also condemning them to extinction.

Lastly, these books are quite popular and already the hidden waterfalls and trails are not so hidden. More than once I hiked a mile or two through rough, muddy terrain and rushing rivers to reach a waterfall, where I found a soccer mom, an over-weight dad in flip-flops, and two four-year olds frolicking in the pool, one of the inevitably clutching their copy of "Maui Revealed" or "Oahu Revealed." That sort of detracts from the sense of adventure I built up on the way there. In addition, some of the private property areas that he says have no signs posted now have "Keep Out!" signs posted in response to the hundreds of trespassers following Doughty and Friedman's advice. So be aware that some trails they mention as remote and tolerant of hikers may now be *very* intolerant to trespassers.

While this book is an incredible guidebook and you *should* use it to plan your Hawaiian vacation, ultimately, let your conscience be your guide as to where you do and don't venture.

The New Gold Standard in Travel Guides
Witty, thorough, useful, honest, and best of all, accurate to a fault. I took my family to Hawai'i armed with this book and we were not disappointed once. This guide was written by residents of Kailua and their local knowledge shows. In the book's introduction they claim to have spent two years putting this guide together. Every minute of that effort shows in the result.

The best feature of the book is that is is organized as a set of driving tours from the Kailua-Kona and Hilo areas. Almost everyone visiting the Big Island travels by rented car and stays in either of these areas. The struc- ture is perfect for a tourist, right down to listing the mile-marker numbers where unmarked sideroads lead to beaches, volcano view spots, and other points of interest not on the rental car maps. It is loaded with color photographs, maps in many level of details -- including hiking trails -- and easy-to-spot icons of the things to see and do. We visited friends who have lived in Kailua for years who were surprised at how many new things they learned.

I have to stop now before I embarass myself. If you visit the Big Island and don't take this book with you your trip will be that much less fun.

This was our "bible" on our first trip to the Big Island!
This book is well written with lots of cultural and historical information as well as a lot of humorous comments that kept us laughing. The Volcano National Park quit selling this book because of all the "inside" information it reveals that they don't want travelers to know about. It took the authors over 2 years to put this book together, not 6 weeks like most other Travel Guides. These folks live here and know the ropes! The book has broken the Big Island down into geographic sections with sights, places to stay, dining(prices ranges and ONO recommendations), and beaches for each. It also includes sections on activities, and adventures such as snorkeling, scuba, whale watching, etc. We found that a lot of roads were not marked, but this book lays out "secret" beaches, how to get to them (mile markers), and even tunes you into how not to get "taken" by the locals. Example: When visiting the Green Sand Beach, the locals try to charge $5 for parking and make you walk the 2 1/2 hike. The authors tell you they do not work for the Dept. of Hawaiian Homelands and have no right to charge this fee (also, there was an incident where signs were posted to keep out-Private Property, but the book revealed that you CAN use the road to get to the beach. Without that information, we would have not ventured down that road!) They highly recommend that you rent a JEEP to get around the Island. Invaluable advice! Sure saved us a lot of walking! Throughout the book, there are sites marked with "A Real Gem" Icon, "Diversion Alert!" and "Not to be Missed!" signs. The maps are accurate, the pictures are plentiful and vivid; and we found the information true and accurate. The only thing we think needs updating is the section on Saddle Road. The authors make it sound like the road from Hell, and try to discourage you from using it. We found this road to be in better condition than most of the others and we found a few other "sights" along the route. We noticed a lot of other traveler's with this same book. Before going on our trip, we purchased Hawaii for Dummies and Hawaii the Big Island (and older version, of course!) This book blew them all away and was the one we referred to the whole trip. In our opinion, this book was "A Real Gem!!!" Now we are planning a trip to New Zealand and wish these authors had a "Revealed" book for it.