Big Island Areas?
 

Our family (girls 12, 13, 14, 16) will be making our first trip to HI in the summer of '13. I've found some rental homes that would work for our family, but I just don't know about areas. Would love to be within an hour or so of great places to visit, and 15 minutes to beaches, and have nice weather, of course. :) I don't know much about vog or how bad it is. We'd be there end of June or beginning of July, probably. (Do we need a/c?) I've found houses that would work for us in these places:

Puna-Pahoa (oceanfront but not swimmable)
Puna-Kehena Beach
Puna-Keaau
Kona-Captain Cook
Kona-Milolii
Ka'u-Ocean View
Hilo-Hakalau
Hamakua Coast-Laupahoehoe

Thanks in advance for any insight or help narrowing things down!

We spent two nights in Hilo and ten in Kona.

Both are fantastic. We had no trouble with Vog. The Volcano is absolutely wonderful. We spent the best part of three days in and around it and could have spent more. There are a huge variety of walking tracks.Go at night to see the glow in the main crater. They also have telescopes out for star gazing.

Kona was great. Night snorkel with the Manta Rays is a MUST DO. We went with Jacks diving locker. They were excellent.
http://www.jacksdivinglocker.com/cha...mantanight.htm

Kona Coffee is delicious - likened to fine scotch - drink it straight (no milk or sugar) or not at all.
http://www.greenwellfarms.com/

Some good info here.
http://www.letsgo-hawaii.com/captain...ealakekua-bay/

and here
http://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/hikes_day.htm

The Big Island truly is amazing and diverse. The Green Sand beach is well worth the walk, but talk plenty to drink. Mauna Kea was a great evening trip as well.

There was a Rodeo on when we were there and the 4th of July parade and fireworks were quite good in Kona.

There is lots to do and see. Don't expect lots of white sand beaches and palm trees though. There are some, but they are few and far between.

We come from the cool south of Australia and were happy for there to be air conditioning, night time was about 20C.

Enjoy.

Please note my computer has a nasty habit of correcting my spelling, so when I right vog, it changes to fog. So if you see fog written here, know that I mean vog.

If any of you are asthmatic or have a heart condition, then you have reason to be worried about the vog. We just returned from thirteen days on the Big Island: three nights in Hilo, two nights in Waimea, two nights in Keauhou south of Kailua-Kona, and six nights at the Mauna Lani Resort in Kohala north of Kailua-Kona. It was a wonderful trip, truly fantastic. There is so much to see and do on the Big Island.

We had problems with vog on two days of our visit. The first time when we were on the eastern, wet side. There was little wind and we were between Volcanoes National Park and Punalu'u. The air was thick and gray, we thought it was just fog, but my eyes were stinging, I had a headache and became hoarse. The second time was the day we left from Kona Airport. Again, the sky was grayish and hazy. I got a headache and my eyes stung a bit. I tried to stay indoors on this last day, but the Kona airport is open to the air. I am asthmatic, but I did not experience worse wheezing than usual.

How much time will you spend there? If you can divide up your time between the east and west coasts, you will be able to see and do the best of the Big Island without driving around too much. The east coast offers Volcanoes National Park, Panalu'u Black Sand Beach famous for its endangered green turtles (though we also saw plenty on the Kohala Coast), Hilo's fabulous farmers' market, snorkeling spots, the gorgeous Hamakua coasts with its waterfalls, important petroglyphs and archaeological sites. The west coast has calmer waters for snorkeling, more sandy beaches, gorgeous sunsets, interesting ancient volcanic landscapes, important petroglyphs and archaeological sites, like the Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site. Also, by staying on both coasts you will get a taste for the wildly varied landscape: the verdant east coast and the drier volcanic west coast. Mauna Kea Observatory is in the middle, more or less.

Hilo is known for having less vog than Kailua-Kona because it is on the windward side. The tradewinds generally blow the volcanic smoke toward the western, Kona side.

In my opinion, Kailua-Kona town is not that attractive, but it does have lots of restaurants and shops, including large stores like Costco, Safeway, Ross, and Target.

If I had to choose one place to stay and wanted to minimize my potential exposure to vog, I would probably choose the Hilo side, and probably stay in or north of Hilo. Puna would probably be okay, though I have read that they can sometimes get vog. I would avoid staying in Kailua-Kona and Captain Cook, though they are worth visiting, as they don't always have bad vog.

I thought the beaches in Kohala were beautiful and offered good snorkeling right from shore. Do try and take a snorkeling trip to Kealakekua Bay, where the Captain Cook Monument is located (south of Kailua-Kona). We also went snorkeling at Honaunau Bay (Two-steps), which was also nice. If you cannot go night snorkeling with the manta rays, you might try seeing them from land: each evening the Sheraton Hotel in Keauhou shines a light onto the water, which attracts the plankton, which in turn attracts feeding mantas. The Sheraton's viewing deck is open to the public free of charge. You have to enter through their Rays on the Bay restaurant.

Here are links to info about the vog:
http://www.konaweb.com/vog/index.shtml
http://www.hiloliving.com/HawaiiVolcano.html

DH and I have been going to the Big Island yearly since 2000. Here's my take on some of the places you list.

Puna-Pahoa (oceanfront but not swimmable)—we try to spend time in Kapoho in the Puna district every year--we love the tide pools and we are within an easy drive to Hilo and Volcano for day trips. www.lagoonhouse.com is where we usually stay but there are many other rentals in that community.

Puna-Kehena Beach--not a good swimming beach--

Puna-Keaau—the town of Keaau in inland--and there are no swimming beaches in the area

Kona-Captain Cook--we always spend time in south Kona--however, though the snorkeling is great (both in Kealakekua Bay and Honounou Bay (i.e., Two Step))- no really good swimming beaches--Hookena is an exception and there are some beaches in Kailua-town itself. http://www.vrbo.com/298438 is where we're staying on our next trip

Kona-Milolii--isolated and a time-consuming drive into Kona

Ka'u-Ocean View--also isolated

Hilo-Hakalau--we love Hilo and the Saturday Farmer's market but prefer to stay in Puna when we're on that side of the island--it can be rainy in Hilo and you have a better chance of sun in Kapoho

Hamakua Coast-Laupahoehoe—beautiful rugged can be rainy and windy

The best beaches and sunniest weather with little or no chance of vog on the BI are on the Kohala Coast north of Kailua-town and the airport. This the the realm of the big expensive resorts--though there are condos to rent there also. So if you want to be close to beaches you might want to check for lodging there.

here's a good website about the vog
http://weather.hawaii.edu/vmap/index.cgi

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them.

You do NOT want to stay in Milolii. Not receptive to visitors and does not have a friendly vibe at all.

Most places on your list are too remote and you will be driving all the time. Bad choices: Keauu, Ka'u-Oceanview, Hamakua Coast, Kehena Beach. I don't like Puna and you would find it very isolated for kids.

You should really be looking at the more tourist-friendly areas of Kona, Kohala, Waikoloa.

I really enjoyed the Kohala coast. We stayed at the Waikoloa Beach Resort at Hali'i Kai. THere are also other condo communities there too. Look at VRBO for condos in that area. We drove all around the island. We went to Hilo, snorkeled in the tide pools, went to the volcano, visited Kailua Kona, snorkeled near captain cook monument, coffee farms, punalu'u black sand beach, and the southermost point (ka le) of the united states. There is so much to do there. We did not do a split stay on the island. We just dealt with the driving times but mixed in days of relaxation at the condo in between drives and activities. Kohala coast has some great beaches! It is upscale in terms of restaurants and shops but it's not too far from Waimea and Kailua Kona where there are plenty of restaurant options. My family loves food and we eat a lot. We also stopped at Costco after the airport on the drive north to the Kohala coast and bought a lot of stuff. You'll be surprised at how much local produce is available there so we had a ball. My mom wanted to take all the fresh fruit and vegetables home with her, but unfortunately couldn't.

I think you mentioned on another post you'll have an entire month in Hawaii. I've been to all of the islands except Molokai and I would be concerned that there might not be enough activities to keep your family busy on the Big Island. I would think a week would be more than enough.

Our daughter and son-in-law spent the majority of their honeymoon on BI only to spend the last few days on Oahu (visiting my sister who lives there) and regretted that having had more time there.

I would seriously consider either Oahu or even Kauai. Kauai is beautiful but again more than a week and you've pretty much done everything.

If you have 4 weeks, make sure to stay on one or two other islands.

Why have you chosen The Big Island if this is your first trip to Hawaii?

Never mind. Your other thread mentioned that you have a month.

I'd also recommend looking in the Kohala area for condos. We were there in June and we went in May a few years ago. We had the best snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay and Honounou Bay south of Kona. But we had the best beach time at the Kohala area beaches (sun, sand, turtles, swimming).

In addition, Laupahoehoe: surf, rocks, no swimming beach.
I disagree about time on the Big Island; there's an incredible amount of stuff to do, I could easily spend a month and be busy every day.
I've put this down before as a place to stay; great price, and excellent location for going out and about (and it's pretty sunny and dry in the area; close to the public beach, restaurants, shopping, grocery, etc.): http://www.vrbo.com/413069
We've also stayed in Kapoho (a few days is nice; snorkeling, close to volcano, plus other scenic areas and parks in the area), and although the cottage we were in was too small for a family, there are lots of rentals.
You could break up your stay on the BI, and perhaps visit another island?

MARGINAL "Why have you chosen The Big Island if this is your first trip to Hawaii?"

Just out of curiosity why wouldn't you pick this for your first trip. Seems a strange question.

We did and LOVED IT. We only spent a couple of days on Oahu.

We would love to explore the others in the future.

I always suggest spending a few nights on Oahu for a great intro to Hawaii and also be sure to snorkel at Hanauma Bay - which is safe and easy. You can rent snorkel equipment from the likes of Snorkel Bob and either turn it in - or take it to another island, get credit, etc.

It's also fun to drive around the island - or at least around the southern end - going past Hanauma Bay on to Kailua and then back through the Koolaus - the primary mountain range on Oahu.

As for what else - our favorite island is Kauai with Big Island A-1 - and there is plenty to do on each island for 7 days up 10 days or two weeks apiece - however you break it up.

Either way - end up at the beaches for your last few days - perhaps first on the North Shore of Kauai - which is our overall favorite - or down at Poipu - and then end up on the Big Island - after perhaps flying into Hilo and spend a night up at the Volcano/Volcano Village - a half hour away) and then go two more hours - and end up on the Kona side - which has the nicer beaches and direct flights back to Honolulu/Oahu.

Now - having said that - your girls might also prefer Maui - where there are more people and also activities for them. Maui has great beaches, and you can stay up by Kapalua - our favorite - w3hich is above Lahaina - or down Kiehei way -which may have more lodging deals.

Thanks for the hints! For some of your questions...We have 3 weeks to a month. We're planning on at least one week on the Big Island and one week on Kauai and probably a week (possibly split on either end of the trip) on Oahu.

Reasons why we're thinking these islands...Maui seems to be more expensive in general, the BI has so many different habitats and scenery, and everyone says Kauai is just gorgeous. We like more peaceful and quiet than busy and exciting.

Can't wait to dig in more to what you have shared here.

Ah, very good Cindy, I think that will be a perfect split between the three islands. I thought you'd be on BI for the entire time.

TomSD gave some excellent advice as well.

I wouldn't discount Maui, especially for the first time to Hawaii. It's got a good mix of activities, very good beaches and a variety of things to see and do. Oahu has some beautiful areas, but for me, it's hard to get past how urban some of the island can be. If I had to pick between Oahu and Maui, I'd go for Maui hands down.

Well, nanabee, we spend a month on the Big Island every year! three weeks on the west side on Kona and lately one near Hilo for the Merrie Monarch Festival after Easter. We prefer to spend most of the time in west Hawaii because it rains so much in Hilo, although Hilo is more "down home". Of course, by now we have been everywhere on the island, and are perfectly happy to just live there. We do take day trips to beaches, to Hawi, to Waimea, the volcano, etc. And because I dance hula, we look for events to attend. But we just relax and enjoy each day as it comes, and love the sunsets in Kona.

We have been to Oahu and Kauai and Maui, and like them a lot. But the Big Island no ka oi, in our opinion.

Charnees--
If you return to this post, can you tell me more about the Merrie Monarch Festival? We can arrange our visit to arrive on the BI in time for the Saturday event, so I was thinking of submitting a chance in the ticket lottery as advertised online. Do the seats give a good view? (I read somewhere that most seats do not have good view so viewers see better on TV.)
Is the crowd manageable or is it a real mob scene? (My husband does not like people invading his personal space in crowds.)
Any tips?