liesel

Hi, Our trip to the BI is early September. We just found out we were going. I've done research on Fodors but there is so much information that I'm getting a bit overwhelmed. This is what we would like to do:

9/3- Fly into BI (hopefully early) and drive to Volcano area and stay at a B&B (hopefully see lava at night???) Need help on B&B and if possible to see lava at night.

9/4 through 9/6 - Depending on whether we see volcano/lava the prior night we would leave and drive over to Kona. What condo do you recommend stayin in. I've read great things about Hale Kona Kai condos and Sea Village. Any opinions?

9/7-9/11: We are staying at the Fairmont Orchid.

ACTIVITIES:
1) Raft to Capt. Cook Monument and Snorkel at Kealakekua BAy
2) Horseback Riding????? would like to do a long trip with no snorkeling involved. just riding the horses (any routes that go on the beach?)
3) Tour Volcano/hike? Any suggestions
4) Waterfalls
5) Place of Refuge

We do have the BI Revealed Book and have read many posts on Fodors .. but there is so much information that my mind is spinning. Any HELP or Suggestions would be greatly Appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

rjscott

Since seeing the sights on the BI requires a good deal of driving, make sure your daily plans are grouped around a particular area to avoid wasting time driving back and forth. For example, you could do Place of Refuge after your snorkeling trip to K Bay. Also, since the waterfalls are on the Hilo side, you could combine seeing those with your tour of the Volcano, unless you plan to take long hikes which will not allow for anything other than VNP that day.

LouNJ

We stayed at Kilauea Lodge one night in early July. It is one mile from the national park. It was very charming, and it was good value for our money (our family of four stayed in a cottage). They also have a very nice restaurant. Their website is www.kilauealodge.com. We did not try to see lava at night, so I can't help you there.

suze

Is there a way to see the Volcano in a day trip from Kona (for example) or does it require changing hotels mid-trip?

liesel, How long will it take you to drive from the airport upon arrival to the Volcano area?

thank you.

rjscott

Suze, we stayed in Keauhou (south of Kona) and did a day trip to VNP. It is very doable. We didn't do any long hikes, but we did drive Crater Rim drive, and did some short hikes to overlooks and to the steam vents. We also hiked thru Thurston Lava tube and around the rain forest area there. If, however, you want to see the lava at night, you might want to stay the night at the park or in Hilo. The drive back to Kona in the dark isn't easy, IMO. The road are very winding.

liesel

Suze, I also heard the same thing .. that the volcanoe tour doesn't require a one night stay (depending what you want to do there). We are staying on the Kona side and just going to drive over for the day to the Volcanoe area.

suze

Thank you both. My family is interested in 1) seeing the volcano, 2) staying in Kona, and 3) does not want to change hotels during our 1 week stay. Sounds like this might be possible?

kureiff

That's exactly what we did Suze (stayed week in Kona and drove to VNP for the day).

We did hike to see the lava flowing at night and then drove back to Kona. It was an incredibly long day, but you can do it. However, next time we'll stay near VNP for one night and avoid the long drive back at night.

We're used to driving dark, windy roads, so that wasn't the problem. We were just exhausted, mostly due to the time change (midnight felt like 4 am).

suze

Thank you kureiff.

May I ask... how long is the drive each way from Kona to the volcano? If we don't care about seeing the lava at night, would that make it a more reasonable (length time-wise) day trip?

ChristieP

There are no horseback riding trips on the Big Island that go in the water or on a beach. The island actually has few wide, sandy beaches, and most of them are on the grounds of fancy hotels or are state parks that do not allow horses. Most of the coastline is lava rock, which is extremely rough on the horses' feet.

Dahana Ranch does very good horseback riding trips in the Waimea highlands near Parker Ranch.

kureiff

Suze, it took us 2.5 hours to get back from the end of Chain of Craters road to Kona. We left from the trailhead at 10 pm and were back at the Kanaloa at 12:30 am.

suze

THANK YOU so much. I've got a bunch of Hawaii guidebooks on order from my library but they haven't come in yet!

tartangal

Even though it looks like it would take much longer on the map I'd advise going north and then east through Kamuela (Waimea) to get to the Volcano from Kona. It is much more beautiful to drive along the Hamakua coast, but more importantly the road is so much better, with far less traffic. The road south of Kona has become impossibly congested (bumper to bumper just about any time of day, with cars crawling along), and as previous posters have said, winding and narrow in places with sharp drop-offs. The highway to Hilo and the park beginning just outside Waimea is one of the best roads on the island. If time is your main consideration you could take the upper road from Kona (winding but no traffic) to the Saddle Road and skip Waimea and the Hamakua Coast but only if your rental car contract allows you to use the Saddle Road. (They used to prohibit it because there are no services on that road and it's about 40 miles long, if I recall correctly.)

HotWheels

When we visited BI, we split the trip between Kona & Hilo, & were glad we did.
It afforded us more leisurely time in each area to see & do things.(We heard comments from other guests that wished they had; night trip back is LONG, tiring, and hope you don't have car trouble!) Hilo is near Volcano N. Park, waterfalls, orchid farms - also has a couple interesting museums downtown.
(Site of past sunami tragedy).
Kona has little shops/restaurants to browse, charter fishing, Luau's, Sea Turtle viewing areas, City of Refuge area. Parker Ranch is located, distance-wise, roughly between the two, for horseback riding.
It's tempting to try to pack as much to see as you can into a trip, but it leaves little relaxation time. Try to pick a couple "MustSee's" & the rest will work itself out. No matter how you plan, there's always something left to do for your next visit!!

excited_confused

How is the drive back to Hilo after seeing the volcano by night? We have a flight from Hilo the next morning & we are trying to decide whether to stay in Volcano Village or drive back to Hilo that night & not be rushed in the morning.

dusty56438

The road from HVNP to Hilo is a very good road. It is a straight road. About a 45-50 minute drive.

bonniebroad

I would stay in Volcano Village. As Dusty said, the road to Hilo from VNP is just fine to drive anytime .... but IMHO, the lodging choices in VV are so much more charming than in Hilo, as a rule.