Hello, I am planning a Sept. trip to Hawaii and need to book hotel reservations. Any suggestions on which side of the island to stay on? I plan to spend 1 day at the Volcano National Park and another couple of days visiting Kona, green sand beach, southern most point, Waipio valley, petroglyphs, lava tubes, and Mauna Kea. Would those activities tend to point towards one town or the other? I know that Kona tends to be sunnier and Hilo potentially more rainy - any other major differences? What about Volcano Village? Is it worth spending one evening there to see the night lava? Hotel recommendations there? Thanks!!

We liked the Kohala coast region the best, having previously stayed in Kona. The Kohala coast has upscale resorts and condos and some resorts have their own sandy beach. Though Kona is slightly closer to some of your proposed activities, we found the presence of lava on the beaches instead of sand an obstacle. Hilo is the closest to the volcano and most of the activities you list, but is also where cruise ships arrive, and we liked the scenery in either Kona or Kohala better.
The 2.5 to 3 hour drive from Kohala coast to the Volcano National Park was enjoyable for us as the terrain changes like no other area we have seen. Here is a link with alot of info about Volcanoes National Park and lava viewing:
http://www.nps.gov/havo/visitor/lava.htm
There is also a map showing the location of the areas you are considering staying at. We were able to make the round trip to the volcano park and back after visiting the lava flow at dusk and driving back, though it is tiring, fortunately their are at least three Starbucks on the BI! If you have not done so already be sure to pick up a copy of "Hawaii-The Big Island Revealed" available at Barnes&Noble, Borders etc. website for guidebook: http://www.wizardpub.com/bigisland/bigisland.html

I would fly into hilo and out of Kona.

The best view of the volcano is at night during the day, just a lot of steam. This calls for an overnight on the hilo side. The nice hotels are on Kona side but the interesting landscape is on the hilo side. Beyond the volcano you have the rainforest, Waipio (closer). On a 4 day stay I might even skip Kona entirely. Although I do like the city of refuge and the Kohala coast is a pretty drive.

I definitely would stay on the Kona side. There are some nice places on the Hilo side but it rains so much there - only saw the sun for a couple hours in a week there. The Kona side gets its share of rain but generally has sunny mornings and afternoons. A great place to stay is the Hawaiian oasis Bed & Breakfast, just above town. Very beautiful setting and rooms - their website has lots of info on the Big Island as well as the B&B:
http://www.hawaiianoasis.com

we were just in the big island in may an dwe were so happy to stay in the kohala cost we stayed at mauna kea resort it was beautiful and had a beautiful beach you can also use the facilities at the Haupauna beach resort which is spectacular voted on tof the top beaches in hawaii it is close to kona in a great area to drive to the volcanoe. We went to the volcanoe park and don't miss the hike to the lava in the evening down by the ocean it was appox 9 to 10 mile hike at night to the lava you will need a flash light and water this hike made our trip we will never forget that evening.

The Kohala Coast north of Kona is amazing. We stayed at the Mauna Lani. It was a beautiful resort in a superb location.

http://www.maunalani.com/main.html