5 days in Big Island. Itenary help required
 

I will be vising Big Island for 5 days from Oct 27 to Nov 1. My flight is to/fro Kona. We plan to cover as many places as possible (we're not too much into water sports.. We'll may be do snorkeling, glass bottom boat ride for a day). Doing so research on this forum (btw, it's awesome) that is wt I've come-up with.

We land there on oct 27th (at night)
Day 1 (Oct 28)
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Take-off from the hotel (in Kona) to see the volcano, volcano park. Do the helicopter ride also.
night Stay at the volcano village.

Day 2 (Oct 29)
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Take-off from the volcano village towards Hilo. See a few of the water falls, wt else???
night Stay in wiamea

Day 3 (Oct 30)
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What would you suggest us to cover here??

night stay in Kona

Day 4,5 (oct 31, Nov 1)
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Snorkeling, glass boat ride, what else???
Flight back out of Kona in the evening (Nov 1)

So here are the things I need help with
1. Does this itenary (and the route) look good?? Are we covering all the "must go" places, activites??
2. Accommodation - Can you guys suggest inexpensive (even a bed, breakfast places is good. Basically, we're just looking for a place to sleep at night. We'll be uot most of the time during the day). Based on previous posts, these are the suggestions I got - http://www.managohotel.com/. http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/accom/bivkons.htm. Are there any other in the wiamea, volcano village area, kona area?

thanks for reading such along post

I think you should try to also fit Waipio Valley into Day 2 in Hilo.

Get up early on Day 3 and do Polulu Valley before you drive down to Kona. Polulu is on the north shore. The drive there is great--you go thru several small towns and can see Maui in the distance on Kohala Mountain Road which is neat. Polulu Beach is a black sand beach. It's a pretty easy hike down and back and definitely worth it.

Waimea is a cute little down. We dined at Merriman's which was an incredible meal.

In Kona, go snorkeling at Captain Cook for some of the best underwater scenes you will ever see. You can hike down (do not recommend), kayak over, or do an organized boat trip (which did not look appealing to us).

We were just there in August for 5 days, so you can click on my name for our trip report.

Oh, and you may already know this, but your drive to the Volcano on Day 1 is going to be a few hours. It sounds like you already have your flights booked, but I would have suggested flying into Hilo and out of Kona to minimize the driving. It is a BIG island!

Suggest Aah the Views B & B in Waimea. Easy to access the beach; good location to visit the highlights of the Big Island.

thanks for your comments guys.

sessa:

You said "your drive to the Volcano on Day 1 is going to be a few hours". would you then suggest me to cover the wiamea , Hilo areas on Day 1, possibly stay over at Hilo and get to the volcano part after that?

In Volcano, you'll be quite close to Akatsuka's Orchids. If that interests you at all, you should stop. (You'll probably pass by.) The displays of plants for sale are spectacular.

On Day 2: Akaka Falls. Also, there's a beautiful walk adjacent to the Botanic Gardens -- or tour the gardens themselves. Wish I could tell you exactly where to find the walk -- but there was a hand-painted sign as we were driving toward Akaka Falls. I'll bet if you stop at the Botanic Garden, they'd be able to direct you.

To me, the Place of Refuge was a highlight -- and a "must-see" on the Kona side. History aside, it's a GORGEOUS setting.

Enjoy!

If you can be in Hilo on a Wednesday or Saturday, I always find their farmer's market interesting. Lots of fresh, island-grown produce and good (we say "ono") baked goods too.

vindox-
I think how you have it organized makes sense. I don't think you would want to cover the north and east shores in 1 day, esp. if you want to see everything others have mentioned. Was just giving you a heads up b/c you'll want to be sure to leave Kona early on the 1st day to drive to VNP (especially to beat the tour buses beacuse that can make for a slow drive). Our trip was similar, but we started/ended in Hilo and drove counter-clockwise around the island ending at VNP.

Do you have The Ultimate Guide-Big Island? It's an awesome guidebook. Hope you have a wonderful trip!

Since you are only going to be on the Big Island 5 days, I would not think you would want to stay in 4 different accommodations. I would suggest that you stay in Kona 3 nights (Oct. 27, 28, 29) and then move to Volcano for the 30 and 31. Since your flight out on Nov. first is at night, you could leave Volcano late morning and do some of the the things suggested in Hamakua or north Kohala on your way to Kona for your flight out.

Possible itinerary
Oct 28. visit S. Kona, Place of Refuge, snorkel Two-Step at Place of Refuge, or snorkel Kealakakua Bay, vist a coffee farm (http://www.greenwellfarms.com/ is a good one). Have lunch at the Coffee Shack--right on the highway--great view of the Bay.

Oct. 29--check out Kailua Kona and/or visit one of the Kohala Coast beaches (Hapuna is the best; A-Bay also nice)or do the drive up to Hawi and Pololu Valley. Come back over the top to Waimea.

Oct. 30 drive to Volcano; stop at Tex Drive In in Honokaa for the hot malasadas (Portuguese donuts) and visit Hawaiian Tropical Botanic Gardens, Akaka Falls on the way.

Oct. 31--visit VNP; drive Chain of Craters road or drive into Puna--go to
Ahanlui Park--a warm spring pool right by the ocean-free admission-with a lifeguard

Nov. 1 on drive back to Kona--go to Waipio Valley--take a tour (http://www.waipiovalleywagontours.com/)--stop in Waimea--visit the Parker Ranch (http://www.parkerranch.com/); have dinner in Kailua and fly out.

I agree with the suggestion that you NOT stay in four different places; that checking in and out takes more time and energy that we usually think it will. I would do it Martym's way ...

Marty's suggestion is a good one (I didn't realize initially that your departing flight was in the evening). However, this also makes for a lot more driving on days 2, 3 and 5. We did 3 places in 5 days (Waimea, Kona, Volcano) which was perfect for us, but I like to minimize driving distances because I hate being in the car (I get nauseous and the winding roads on the BI don't help that).

Additionally, I would suggest not doing the same route to and from the volcano. I would either go north there and south back or vice versa for a change of scenery.

thanks for all the great tips guys. martym's route seems to be better than the one I had originally planned. Any pointers to cheap accommodation options?? We're three of us and plan to spent most of the time outdoors. Even bed and breakfast places would work. I guess i'd need one in the Kna area, one in the wiamea (or hilo) area and one in the volcano village.. thanks