Big Island suggestions please!

[parrot tulips]

My husband and I decided we wanted to spend our anniversary (mid-June) on The Big Island. We were thinking 4 days on the Kohala/Kailua-Kona side, and 2 days in Hilo (to make trips to the volcanoes and waterfalls a little more convenient). If anyone has hotel suggestions, we''d very much appreciate it. Something nice, clean, and convenient, but not super expensive (more middle of the road). While the Fairmont or Four Seasons would be amazing, it would just be way out of budget. Also, any activity suggestions or must see attractions would be fantastic. Thank you!

 

[LaurenThePartier]

Have you thought about renting a condo from www.vrbo.com or www.rentvillas.com?

 

[LAJennifer]

The Hilton Waikoloa Village is very beautiful and reasonably priced.

 

[IdLikeToBuyAVal]

Awesome! We are going to Hawaii on our honeymoon at the end of May through the beginning of June. We are staying in Waikiki but plan on doing day trips to some of the other islands. I''m really looking forward to a dolphin encounter and we plan on hiking to Diamond Head (gotta love the name, right?

)

We booked our hotel and airfare through Expedia and ended up getting huge discounts overall. We are staying at a Hilton hotel which ended up being very reasonable with continental breakfasts included. Good luck!

 

[atroop711]

can't help with a hotel since we took a cruise there BUT we visited both areas you are going too. You will have a GREAT time. The Volcanoe National Park tour was amazing, buying something in Hilo Hatties is a must (if they're still around). When we were at the Kona side (bought coffee, macad. nuts) we took a great ZODIAC snorkle tour. I loved Kona..very laid back and great ppl. When we were there the IRON MAN race was going to happen and we saw athletes taking practice runs. Out of all of the islands we toured..the BIG ISLAND had the best snorkling!

Oh such great memories...hope you have an amazing time!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I''ve been meaning to respond to this thread for a few days, but I couldn''t remember the name of my favorite restaurant there and needed to dig out my Big Island Revealed book. DH and I stayed on the Big Island a couple of years ago as part of our honeymoon.

We stayed at the Sheraton resort while on the Big Island. I would usually shy away from resorts and rent a condo on VRBO instead, but we stayed there for a few reasons: 1.) It had a waterslide and DH thought it looked like fun (it was) 2.) It got a "real gem" rating from the Revealed book and 3.) We liked the location. The downside is that, like many hotels on the big island, there was no swimming beach. DH and I had come from a week in Maui and were beached out, so we were fine with this (the view was amazing), but if having a beach is important, I think you have to stay at one of the nicer resorts.

While we had many tasty meals on the Big Island, Ke''ei Cafe was my favorite (I originally got this suggestion from our own San Diego Lady). I would highly recommend going there since it''s in the Kailua-Kona area.

Have a great time!! The Big Island is absolutely beautiful!