Holualoa Village

I understand that this is an art gallery and, therefore, it’s inherently more expensive than your average open-​air market and so on. However, I don’t think that taking a tree branch from your backyard, using straw to create hair, and messily stenciling on a face with ratty fabric scraps makes for a genuine doll worth $ 30. I could make something nicer for $ 0. Please don’t waste your money here. Or your time. Even the legitimate art pieces are priced so high that it’s clear that the shop owners rely on making one-​two sales a month and survive on that. If you want unique shopping without emptying your wallet, try Ali’i Drive (good luck finding parking there though) or anywhere else. Honestly, even the corporate giants such as ABC Stores have better bargains on Hawaiian goods. (I bought a genuine freshwater pearl necklace for $ 9.99!)

If you want to stop by and look at some well over priced galleries, you could stop in after visiting The Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory. Prints, jewelry or pots even wooden instruments. 3 stars

We made the drive up here specifically for the Holuakoa Garden Café and the drive up wasn’t too long at all from where we were staying. The town itself is small but in about 3 blocks it features an array of small, unique and charming galleries.
It’s a charming stop and a nice way to start your day-​strolling through the town with some views of the coast below and chatting with the friendly shop owners.
I would caution that they tend to keep flexible hours and tend to close early, so recommended you stroll through right after breakfast. I also spoke to one gallery owner who commented that she was closed for 6 weeks during the summer because it was too hot and they didn’t get a lot of visitors then,
It’s not a day long destination but an interesting stop for an hour or so, en route to the rest of your day.

Presented in a tour book as a funky village, the wife and I ventured up the mountain from Kona to catch a piece of the real Hawai’i. Don’t bother. The fact that half of the places, and basically all of the decent looking ones, were closed on Monday made our trip a bust from the start. The places that we were open turned out to be more like run-​down houses converted into places that sell prints and some Kona coffee. Although the ride up the mountain to the village was white-​knuckle at times, it provided some excellent views of the ocean below. Regardless, I recommend skipping this stop on the native Hawai’i tour and get to the Kona Brewing Company a little early to ensure that you make the tour, you get a good table and have time for an extra pint.
This was a one star place but for the friendly gent at the little grocer that told us all about his «first in the state» female bulldog. This was the taste of native Hawai’i I was looking for and all I really needed.