With 12 of the world's 14 climate zones, the Big Island of Hawaii has one of the most dynamic landscapes on the planet. Take a drive and in no time you'll go from palm-fringed beaches to New Zealand-style pastureland to rain forests dripping with dewy orchids. Snow dusts the volcanic peak of Mauna Kea, the world's tallest mountain when measured from the sea floor to the tip. And if it's lava you're after, the Big Island has miles and miles of it, a rock-solid sea of rippling black as far as the eye can see. Not so long ago, this was red-hot magma on the move. Now it's the stuff of which islands are made.
The Big Island is the biggest of the Hawaiian islands by a long shot, nearly double the size of the rest of the islands combined. The island -- largely unscathed by the recent tsunami -- is also the most sparsely populated, with only about 170,000 residents. For travelers, this means fewer crowds and more space for spreading your towel on one of the beaches.
Photo Caption: Couple walking through the Waipio Valley. Courtesy Tor Johnson/The Hawaii Tourism
