My husband and I will be visiting the Big Island of Hawaii at the end of April to early May. We'll be staying for 11 nights, so we plan on splitting it between two sides of the island. We're trying to determine where to stay.

We like to scuba dive and would like to stay close to the best diving for at least half the trip. We'd also like to see the volcanoes for a couple of days, but we will have a rental car so we can drive there as long as it isn't too far away. We prefer non-touristy somewhat secluded romantic locations (no big chain hotels) and we'd like to keep it around $130 per night or less. We'd like a B&B or condo.

I'd love to hear your suggestions for where on the island to stay either location/city or specific accomodations.

Thanks!

It is a bit more than your $$ amount, but it is beautiful, romantic --

http://www.jacarandainn.com/

Stay a night near VNP, it is a long drive back to a hotel if you stay to see the lava flow at night. {Or stay in Hilo} I don't have the names of the places right near VNP, but if you do a search on here, you should find them.

Hope this helps...
Debi

RatherBeDiving:
I asked a similar question for lodging near VNP and someone here recommended the following www.myislandinnhawaii.com, rates are within your budget it's close to the park, and after I inquired about it have read some really nice reviews, and it also includes continental breakfast. Min. of 2 nights. Hope this helps. Gina

We stayed at My Island Inn at VNP in
Sept 2006. The gardens are fantastic and the owners are the nicest people you will ever meet. Breakfast was wonderful. Unfortunately there was a slight problem with bugs in the room, I hope they have corrected that by now. For a great dinner go to Kilauea Lodge, reservations are recommended.

We stayed in a condo in Kona and would do the same again, with one caution. Kona is a lot hotter than we expected, so make sure you get a place w/ AC. You should have no trouble finding a condo around Kona for <$130/night.

We also stayed at My Island back in June. We stayed in the Forrest House but I think they may have sold that property since June. Check out their website for info. The house was very clean (a few spiders, to be expected based on its location in the forest). The main house is where breakfast is served and it was pretty good. The owners are indeed very nice and very helpful with hiking suggestions, etc.

We stayed a couple miles south of Kona at the Kanaloa Condos. The condos are large, and air conditioning is available but at an extra charge per day.

Checkout Aloha Amauloa.

It is about 20 minutes outside of Hilo and from memory, about 40 minutes from the volcanos. Christine has a lovely condo and it is first on our list when we return to Hawaii.

http://www.vrbo.com/61165

Mike Honeycutt

www.countrygoose.com We stayed there in the main house for just one night, but Joan also has several houses/cottages for rent in the Volcano area.

I'll agree to split your time between Volcano and Kona areas. It saves on the driving time back and forth, and lets you see the whole island!

We're looking for something very similar for our first visit to the Big Island this summer. We came across the Tree House Hideaway (http://www.renthawaiihome.com/treehouse/index.htm) in South Kona over the internet. It sounds like a great deal. Does anyone know anything about it positive or negative?

We just got back from the big Island Sunday. While we were in Volcano we stayed at Volcano Garden Arts Cottage. It was a lovely little place, and was only $109 a night. http://www.volcanoartistcottage.com/index.htm This might be the romantic place you're looking for. On the Kona side we stayed at the Pomakaii Lucky Farm B&B http://www.luckyfarm.com/index.htm We stayed in the coffee barn. It was beautiful to look out and see the banana palms and watch the stars at night. It's about 10 miles to Kona from there, but we were diving as well and it didn't effect being able to get to the shop.
By the way...if you get a chnace...do the Manta night dive, it's amazing!