JoBurritt

Hi all,

It's been a long time since I've posted on Fodor's, but we're planning a return trip to Hawaii, and I would love to have your help.

We're planning to spend 3-5 nights on the BI and the remaining portion of 11 nights in Waikiki. (We've been to Oahu three times and to Kauai and Maui once. Oahu is our favorite, so we're looking forward to spending most of our time there.)

I want to use our BI time to see things that are unique to the BI. We'll get our beach time in while we're on Oahu.

I'm having difficulty figuring out how to split up our time on the BI, how many nights we need there, and where to stay. We'll be using United ff miles, and I don't think they fly directly into Hilo from the mainland, so it seems as though it will be most practical to fly into Kona.

However, I think most of what I'd like to see and do is more convenient to Hilo. I'm thinking of a couple of nights at Kilauea Lodge in Volcano. They have a house off-site called Pi'i Mauna that sounds just perfect for our family of two parents and three young adult "children." Has anyone stayed in this house? If so, I'd love to hear about it.

I don't know what to do about the rest of the trip. I'd like to see Waipio Valley and Akaka Falls, which are more convenient to Hilo than Kona, I believe.

Maybe Mauna Kea one night? What is the best home base for that trip?

I'm wondering whether we should fly into Kona, stay in that area for a night or two, then spend a couple nights at Kilauea Lodge, using that as a base to drive to the Waipio Valley, as well. Then, we could drive to the Hilo airport from Volcano and fly to Oahu from there. Does that make sense?

Are there any must-do's in the Kona area (keeping in mind that we'll do our relaxing and beaching on Oahu)? I'm wondering about seeing spinner dolphins and sea turtles. I have to re-check my many guidebooks, but would like your input as to the best places to see them. Any guidance you can give me as to how many nights we'd really need near Kona--or anywhere else on the BI--to catch the highlights, but still leave us with a good chunk of time on Oahu, would be much appreciated.

I should add that we're not big on snorkeling. Dh and I enjoy it to a point, but the kids just aren't in to it.

Thank you!

dusty56438

I'm a big Oahu fan. But, considering you've been to Oahu three times & never Big Island, you ought to stay on Big Island at least a week, maybe even the entire 2 weeks. You won't run out of things to see & do.

Lots of info including sites with free brochures for all islands:

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...1&tid=34812564

ChristieP

There are LOTS of things to do around Kona! We spent 10 days on the BI and still didn't see/do everything! Mauna Kea is most easily reached from Kona side via tour group. (You aren't supposed to drive rental cars up there...)

I agree that staying near Hilo/Volcano area is best to see VNP. Country Goose B&B also has several cottages that they rent.

We were at A-Bay State Park and got to see a turtle swim right by us in the water! There are also turtles at the black sand beach, Puna'a'Lu'u'. Dolphins are most easily spotted from a sea kayak or a snorkeling boat tour.

bfrac

Are you talking about the Mauna Kea Resort? It is closed due to earthquake damage. We prefer the Hapuna Beach Prince Resort over the Mauna Kea anyway. That said, since the things you want to do involve the Hilo side of the island I would stay over there. First, the best book for the BI is Hawaii Revealed. If you stay in Volcano, that puts you in the best spot for the National Park, Black Sand Beach at Punalu'u - where we saw several green sea turtles at rest and in the water, Green Sand Beach (involves hiking, but worth it IMO), lower Puna district has a beautiful drive along Rt. 137 and the Pahoa-Pohoiki Road. Hilo is one of my favorite towns to wander around. The drive to see Akaka Falls and Waipio can easily be done as a day trip from Volcano. Many other sites along the way...Rainbow Falls in Hilo, Umauma Falls. You will have to decide how much time you need, but 5 nights would be better than 3. We spend two weeks on the BI every other year and never seem to get bored. We divide our time between Volcano/Hilo and the Hapuna for beach and relaxing. I'm not really a fan of the Kona area. Hope this helps.

sessa

I agree with the previous posters. Having just returned from a 10 day trip to Hawaii, 5 of which were on the BI, I would suggest adding more days since you have been to Oahu before. We saw a lot in 5 days, but there is still so much we could have done. We flew in and out of Hilo and drove counter-clockwise around the island with our last night at the Volcano. I would probably use Kona and Volcano as bases.

We stayed at Kilauea Lodge and loved it! The drive to the Hilo airport was a piece of cake (we did this early in the morning, though).

Kealakekua Bay (south of Kona) had fantastic snorkeling at the Captain Cook monument (you can hike or kayak there--I recommend kayak, as we heard that spinner dolphins are almost a guarantee). We also saw many sea turtles just walking along the main drag in Kona.

I am in the process of posting our trip report, you can click on my name to view.

Hope this helps!

JoBurritt

Having taken your suggestions into account and spending more time rereading "BI Revealed," I've come up with a rough itinerary and would love your input again.

Day 1 arrive Kona airport and stay in Kona area. I'm leaning toward the Sheraton, only because I think most of our time in this general area will be spent south of the main Kailua-Kona area.

Day 2--Kealakekua Bay first thing--either via kayak, Zodiaq tour, or with 5 of us, it may be less expensive to rent our own boat. Has anyone done that? Afterwards, maybe Place of Refuge, coffee tour, or other exploration. Stay in Kona area again.

Day 3--Early start heading toward Volcano, stopping along the way to see beaches and other sites. Stay in Volcano--probably Kilauea Lodge. Do nighttime lava viewing if possible when we're there.

Day 4--Spend day hiking/exploring VNP. Alternate day for nighttime lava flow viewing, or maybe Mauna Kea at night. Stay at Kilauea Lodge again.

Day 5--Drive through Puna, Hilo, and up to Waipi'o Valley. Do either the horseback or wagon tour. Go to Mauna Kea en route back to Lodge if we didn't do it the night before. Stay at Ki

JoBurritt

Having taken your suggestions into account and spending more time rereading "BI Revealed," I've come up with a rough itinerary and would love your input again.

Day 1 arrive Kona airport and stay in Kona area. I'm leaning toward the Sheraton, only because I think most of our time in this general area will be spent south of the main Kailua-Kona area.

Day 2--Kealakekua Bay first thing--either via kayak, Zodiaq tour, or with 5 of us, it may be less expensive to rent our own boat. Has anyone done that? Afterwards, maybe Place of Refuge, coffee tour, and/or other exploration. Stay in Kona area again.

Day 3--Early start heading south toward Volcano, stopping along the way to see beaches and other sites. Stay in Volcano--probably Kilauea Lodge. Do nighttime lava viewing if possible when we're there. (Obviously, lava viewing and star viewing from Mauna Kea will be dependent upon lava flow and weather conditions, so we'll have to play some of this by ear.)

Day 4--Spend day hiking/exploring VNP. Alternate day for nighttime lava flow viewing, or maybe Mauna Kea at night. Stay at Kilauea Lodge again.

Day 5--Drive through Puna, Hilo, and up to Waipi'o Valley, seeing sites along the way. Do either the horseback or wagon tour in valley. Go to Mauna Kea en route back to Lodge if we didn't do it the night before. Stay at Kileau Lodge again.

Day 6--Get up early, drive to Hilo, and fly to Oahu.

What do you think?

JoBurritt

So sorry for the duplicate posts--new laptop with a mind of its own.

Wanted to add that I read your trip report, Sessa, and enjoyed it. Very helpful! I think you did the right thing about the cockroaches--YUCK. We had a roach-infested car on Oahu once and that was bad enough!

Glad you had a good trip overall!

sessa

Jo-
I think those will be 5 days well spent. We were afraid of overbooking ourselves, but we were glad there was so much to see because who goes to Hawaii to sit in a hotel room?

I think you will be happy staying at the Sheraton because you won't have to deal as much with the Kona traffic. We did hit a little bit of what looked like school traffic heading down to Captain Cook, but it wasn't too bad.

I'm not a huge snorkeler myself, but my husband really enjoys it. I had my fill at Captain Cook (it really was cool!) and just sat on the shore while he snorkeled at Honaunau (Place of Refuge).

The only thing we really missed doing was Mauna Kea, but we did have really great views of it as we drove all around the island.

Hopefully there will be accessible lava flows by the time you go. If not, just seeing the red glow was exciting enough.

Hope you all have a wonderful trip!

JoBurritt

Thanks, Sessa,

I tend to try to cram a lot in when we're away on vacation. After all, if we want to just sit around, we can do that at home. When I'm in Hawaii, I want to be out seeing the things I can't see at home and doing what I can't do at home!

My kids always complain about my long lists of activities, but then when we do just go hang out on a beach, they're bored in about 2 hours and want to know what we're going to "do" next. So, I guess I've created a monster, but it seems to work for us!

Thanks for your input. I think the Sheraton makes a lot of sense for us location-wise.

sylvia3

I've read that private boats are not allowed in Kealakekua Bay (it is a state preserve); you can get there only by one of 3 operators (only one of whom stay for more than 45 minutes, it seems?!), hiking down, or kayak. I'd like to know if there are other options than the $115 (gasp!!) Fairwinds 100-person cattleboat?

olesouthernbelle

You can rent your kayak from Kona Boys and paddle across ( not a problem if you can pull the kayak out of the water to park it).

konaboys.com

olesouthernbelle

Opps! I was thinking of Cooks. Sorry.

Belle