Keauhou is located south of Kailua-Kona on the west coast of the Big Island. A major Hawaiian settlement in ancient times, Keauhou today is home to a golf course, condominiums and hotels. Important cultural sites still stand amidst the town’s many modern structures.
At the north end of Keauhou along the coast is the popular Kahaluu Beach Park on Kahaluu Bay. The beach provides a nice swimming and snorkeling area protected by a stone wall built in centuries ago.
Keauhou offers a range of shopping and dining opportunities and a variety of accommodations from condominiums to resort hotels. One of the finest resorts in the area is the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort with luxurious amenities including a multi-level pool with the Big Island’s longest water slide.
Also along the bay is the Keauhou Beach Resort Hotel.
Amidst the modern structures of Keauhou there remain numerous important cultural and historical sites. The Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort offers a Cultural Preserve Tour that visits ancient dwellings and shrines along the shoreline of Keauhou Bay.
Restored heiau (ancient places of worship) have undergone major restorations in recent decades and can be viewed from the Keauhou Beach Resort Hotel.
The reconstructed King Kalakaua Beach House and thatched halau of the high chief Kuakini are also located on the grounds of the Keauhou Beach Resort Hotel. Nearby are two ku’ula or stone gods brought to the site centuries ago.
Just south of Keauhou Bay is the battlefield and burial site known as Kuamo’o Burial Grounds. Also in this area is was a major holua slide which was a huge stone ramp where competitors in ancient times raced downward more than one mile on wooden sleds called holua.
The Keauhou Bay Harbor is a popular launching site for outrigger canoes and provides a safe harbor for a few dozen small boats. A stone in this area marks the birthplace of King Kamehameha III, the son of Queen Keopuolani.