Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site

We visited this historic site because my kids love collecting stamps for their NPS passport. This place is actually a sacred temple built by King Kamehameha of Hawaii. He believed that building this temple would help him unite all the Hawaiian islands. The temple is made up of many stones arranged in a precise formation, without any mortar holding them together. The setting is beautiful, right by the coast with the wind blowing in. You can see people talking to the ranger and watching a video about the history of the place. There’s a small paved path, about half a mile long, that takes you down to sea level and back up. The whole area is very scenic. From the temple, you can see the sea and, if you're lucky, some whales. We spent about an hour here on a lovely afternoon and enjoyed it very much. I highly recommend visiting this place.

A very historically significant site in Hawaiian history. It's a pretty quick visit with a small visitor center and a short walk, so it's worth the stop to catch a glimpse of this sacred site built by the legendary King Kamehameha before his unification of the Hawaiian islands. The visitor center has some exhibits and a short movie that give you the context and information behind this site.

This is a great little park. The park ranger, George, was extremely friendly and helpful in interpreting the area for us. Well worth a visit if you're interested in how the Hawaiian Islands were united by Kamehameha.

Go straight to the auditorium and watch the fascinating video about King Kamehameha's history. Narrated by Hawaiian historians, the audience was mesmerized. Also can get glimpses of Whales out in the horizon.

Really cool and beautiful history to be seen here. The trails were nice and And paved the beach area was beautiful to see. Occasionally you can see whales from shore. And the gentleman working in the store was super friendly

One of the most significant sacred sites in the Hawaiian islands. This Temple was built by King Kamehameha following a prophecy that fortold he would unite all of the islands. While you cannot walk on the temple, you can get close and observe the workmanship that took more than a year to complete. Find Ranger George. He is a wealth of knowledge and ask him about his Tesla Truck.

You can learn so much about Hawaiian history here! I suggest watching video in the Visitor Center. They are really interesting. We also learned to play the Hawaiian board game Kōnane. It has really simple rules but it seems also to be such great game! It is similar to Go but much simpler and easier. I have to play it some time. The admission is Free.

On the smaller side of National Parks, yet impactful and informative. This park is about how the indigenous peoples lived. There was an old Hawaiian fort on the grounds as well. The 1/2 mile loop takes you through the site. We were fortunate that a cultural festival was happening at the same time which highlighted different aspects of the culture from food to song.