Fly into Kona or Hilo
 

Hi. We're traveling to Hawaii next summer and will first be visiting Oahu. I currently have Hawaiian Air flight reserved (and paid for) arriving Kona from Oahu. Our plan was to drive from Kona to our B&B at VNP, enjoying some of the sights on the way. We have two nights at VNP and were then planning to drive the opposite direction to Kohala. We thought this would give us a chance to see most of the island. Does this make sense? Or, would it be better to fly into Hilo, saving the two hour trip upon arrival? A change in flights would result in a slight "change fee", $75. Any advice is appreciated.

We did the "round trip tour" of the BI and it was great. It was less stressful than backtracking, and it also saved expensive gas! I think what you have planned already will be just fine. :-)

Do you mean you're landing in Kona, then heading south, then east, to get to Volcano area for your first night? I agree that would work--depending on time of your flight's arrival into Kona. Try to leave time to stop at Place of Refuge, south of Kona . On the way back, would you take the north side, via Hilo, Akaka Falls, then Waipio lookout (a bit of a detour, but worth it) toward Kohala? Wasn't sure reading your post if this was the order in which you planned to circle BI, but IMHO this would be the best direction for, as Christie says, the "round trip tour" Aloha and happy trip-planning!

3 reasons you might consider changing your flights to Hilo:

(1) spectacular views of the incredibly lush Big Island valleys, from Pololu down to Waipio, that you could only otherwise obtain from an expensive helicopter ride

(2) a lengthy view of Mauna Kea and the many glistening observatories on top

(3) a close overlook of the Hamakua Coast with a few of its waterfalls

The enjoy all this, sit on the right-hand side of the plane.

If changing your 2 tickets is $75 each, you can do an air tour (in a Cessna, not a helicopter) for only $100 more and you'll get to see the WHOLE island in a round-trip tour. We used Mokulele Flight Service and our trip was great! I took some spectacular pictures, too. :-)