Big Island Lodging
 

Does anyone have a suggestion for lodging on the Big Island. Here is what I am looking for: 1) Would like a nice beach; 2)Shore snorkeling -- does this exist on the Big Island; 3) Not TOO big of a place -- I would prefer not staying at one of those places with 1000 of my (not) closest friends; 4) good value -- would obviously prefer to pay less -- but I know this is Hawaii -- so I would say simply good value for what you get. I don't care about daily cleanings of my lodging -- so a private condo would even work.

We took a circle island tour on the BI and saw a place we liked on Punaluu Beach. It's a black sand beach just south of Volcanoes National Park.The sea turtles seem to like sunning themselves there.

We like hotels near the beach and the nicest beaches are on the Kohala coast. With regard to moderate $-)resorts in the region we enjoyed the Waikoloa Beach Marriott, however it is currently undergoing some construction through November. If you research this forum you will find that other Fodorites have commented favorably on the nearby Hapuna Beach Prince hotel for the activities of interest.

If you can do with a smaller, less frills resort near a more crowded grey sand beach, the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort in south Kona has fantastic shore snorkeling and is a good value IMHO.:S-

We stayed at a private condo at Kanaloa at Kona for $125 night, plus cleaning. It was a nice two bedroom (no ocean view, but a nice garden/golf course lanai). I reserved on VRBO with a lot of reservations, but it was a really nice condo. We could easily walk down to the ocean for a sunset view, so I didn't feel too bad about passing up the ocean view places. But no beach right there. The place was not crowded at all while we were there...very quiet and private in fact, but perhaps it was off season.

While there we snorkeled from shore at Kuhuluu Beach, just 2-3 miles away. It was great snorkeling, especially for anyone who is a novice. This beach is right next to the Outrigger, which might be another place to consider if you want to walk out your door to snorkel. The grounds looked nice, but I haven't stayed there. I find the tripadvisor website to have a lot of helpful feedback on hotels/condos. Have a great time. We did!

If you plan on staying for a week or more you might consider renting a house, just be sure you ask a lot of questions, We almost rented one that looked like it was oceanside, but when I called the agent told me it was on the edge of a cliff!
We rented a lovely little house across the street from the ocean in Kona.Iif you'd like I can give you the info. A little older, not fancy, but clean and it had a lovely view from the front porch. It was also walking distance to the snorkeling beach.
PS do not bother to look at anything in the southern end of the island, it is far from all the good beaches and things to do/see, plus the surf on the southern end is way too dangerous to swim. Stick with either Kona or Hilo areas.

I'm a fan of the Hapuna Prince hotel. Great beach, good snorkeling, not small, but not as big as the Hilton Waikoloa. As you don't mention price or time of year, I can't say if it's a value for you. You can check on Expedia for rates.

Hapuna Prince and the Mauna Kea next door are both terrific. The beach at Hapuna is consistently listed as one of hawaiis best. Mauna Kea is an older looking place, but not run-down by any means, just old fashioned. Hapuna is our favorite. The Hilton Waikaloa has no beach, but has a huge pool with slides and a man-made lagoon, (and it is an enormous property).

if you haven't already, this is a good topic to do a search on.

Check out the condos in the Mauna Lani Bay complex to see if they are in your budget. The reason is that there is a small but nice beach by one set of condos and there is very good snorkeling. The water gets deeper gradually at first and then there is a sudden drop off, so there is a nice mix of conditions and fish.
I highly recommend the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, but it is large and expensive. We stayed there and walked to the other beach with the great snorkeling. The Mauna Lani Bay Hotel's own beach is nice but doesn't have good snorkeling.