Ahu'ena Heiau

Ahu'ena Heiau stands at the north end of Kailua Bay, on the grounds of the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel. This was the royal compound of Kamehameha the Great, who unified the Hawaiian Islands and spent the final years of his reign here. The heiau (temple) has been reconstructed with ki'i pohaku (stone figures) and a carved oracle tower.

Access to the heiau itself is limited — it's a sacred site — but it is clearly visible from the waterfront walk and from the hotel lobby. The hotel offers tours on request. The setting, with outrigger canoes in the bay and the heiau silhouetted against the water, is among the more evocative historical spots on the Big Island.

things to do sight
A story
Kamehameha the Great spent the last years of his life at Kamakahonu — "Eye of the Turtle" — the royal compound where this temple stands. He died here in 1819, and within months his successors had abolished the ancient kapu system and burned the idols. The heiau was restored in the 1970s from historical descriptions; the original was destroyed in the same wave of iconoclasm that swept the islands after Kamehameha's death.