[aus]

I can't decide between: Orchid vs. Mauna Kea vs. Mauna Lani Bay (no I'm not getting a Bungalow there). It'll just be me and the wife. The Orchid is the cheapest by far at $229 for a partial ocean view. The Mauna Lani Bay is around $300 for a mountain view and the Mauna Kea is $360. Forget about the Four Season's. It's $750+. Anyone stay at these places?

Also any good places to eat. Anything from fine dining to hole in the wall places are cool. Thanks.

[chango335]

Originally Posted by aus

I can't decide between: Orchid vs. Mauna Kea vs. Mauna Lani Bay (no I'm not getting a Bungalow there). It'll just be me and the wife. The Orchid is the cheapest by far at $229 for a partial ocean view. The Mauna Lani Bay is around $300 for a mountain view and the Mauna Kea is $360. Forget about the Four Season's. It's $750+. Anyone stay at these places?

Also any good places to eat. Anything from fine dining to hole in the wall places are cool. Thanks.

I haven't stayed at those places before, however I did stay at Hilton Waikoloa Village. That was very nice. Rates are decent as well. Plenty of activities for you and your wife to enjoy.

[Hi-Life]

How much time do you plan on spending in you room? Mauna Lani and Mauna Kea resorts aren't much different IMO. Havent been to Mauna Kea since the remodel though. I prefer the Hilton in Waikoloa, there are a lot of shops around and real close by and Its better prices.
What kind of food do you like? Sansei's in Waikoloa queen shops has really good sushi and seafood. Seafood Bar in Kawaihae about 15-20mins north of waikoloa. Cafe Pesto also in kawaihae and hilo.

[achien]

I stayed at the Fairmont Orchid (one bed room suite) before with the full ocean view. Excellent place, it was managed by Ritz Carlton before.

Four Season is a completely different class, they are single detached lodge (instead of rooms). Must have their dinner buffet, even if you don't stay there.

[Tondtar]

Check into Pleasant Holiday's Hawaiian packages. You can find great deals from time to time which includes staying at some of the best hotels on the islands including the classic and classy Royal Hawaiian in Waikiki.

http://www.pleasantholidays.com/Plea...awaii-Overview

[aus]

Originally Posted by Hi-Life

How much time do you plan on spending in you room? Mauna Lani and Mauna Kea resorts aren't much different IMO. Havent been to Mauna Kea since the remodel though. I prefer the Hilton in Waikoloa, there are a lot of shops around and real close by and Its better prices.
What kind of food do you like? Sansei's in Waikoloa queen shops has really good sushi and seafood. Seafood Bar in Kawaihae about 15-20mins north of waikoloa. Cafe Pesto also in kawaihae and hilo.

If there's a Sansei, I'm set. I'll be there 3 times in 5 days!! THanks.

Anyone have an idea which pool is the nicest?
Those 3 are the resorts we hear about all the time in Magazines. I think we'll do the Hilton when we bring the kids sometime.

[Hi-Life]

The hilton has the best pool from my experience. It has a pretty decent water slide, bridge that goes across the pool and kinda grado cave thing. I'm born and raised in Kona so I know some places to check out if you have any more questions. What are you planning on doing while your there?

[aus]

Not a whole lot.
Lounge by the pool or on the beach and bag a nap while reading a book.
Then go to dinner. Just like we used to do before kids.

[Hi-Life]

You should go check out pololu valley about 45 min - 1 hr north in kohala. Really nice view of a beautiful valley

[aus]

Thanks. Will do.
Any plate places? We love da Kitchen and Mixed Plates on Maui.

[JB135i]

Not sure if you wanted more input, but just in case you do....

tripadvisor.com is an excellent resource for these questions.

I have stayed at the Four Seasons on the Big Island 3 times and each time it has been beyond excellent. The ONLY glitch we had, was one dinner at their signature restaurant. It wasn't up to snuff for that one meal.

Very laid back, excellent service, excellent food, clean rooms, the golf course is unbelievable. I went to the driving range while my wife went to the spa on our last trip and the "Chief Ranger" hooked me up. He let me play the last 5 holes for free! OMG tough course, I think I lost 8 balls in those 5 holes LOL.

The beach BBQ is awesome, grilled lobster FTW! Plus a shitload of other great stuff too.

Yes, it's expensive, but if you can go, do the Four Seasons. We don't spend a lot on other "home" stuff, so we go balls out on our vacations.

The Four Seasons Maui is also excellent but it has a more "resort" feel if that makes sense. Not that it's a bad thing at all, just a different feel.

[aus]

I'm always looking for more input.

I'd LOVE to do the Four Season's, but it's $775/night!!
Thanks.

[Hi-Life]

Yeah there's plate lunch palces. I wasn't sure as not all people like plate lunch. Da kitchen in maui is da bomb, I love it there. Kona Mix Plate in downtown Kona has good food. Hawaiian Style Cafe in waimea has awesome food and big servings like da kitchen. Manna's Korean BBQ in Kona by safeway has awesme food. Just stay away from L&L and you should be fine

[aus]

Thanks. I hate L&L after eating at a real plate lunch place.
Which one is closest to the airport? We're always hungry when we land.

[Hi-Life]

Kona Mix plate and Manna's are closest to the airport. About 15 mins south in downtown Kona. I forgot there is another thats real close to the airport Pine Tree Cafe about 3 mins from the airport. Thats the place you wanna go when you land. Katsu dip (korean chicken cut katsu style) is awesome.

[aus]

Good info. Is the Pine Tree the best of the 3?

[Hi-Life]

I really like Manna's. It also depends on what you want. Manna's has plates and also korean food. Meat Jun from mannas is awesome, the kalbi and chicken plate is also really good. Kona Mix plate has traditional plate lunch like L&L but way better. Korean chicken at Pine Tree Cafe is the best I've ever had hands down. I say you cant go wrong with either 3. My fave would be Manna's personally with Pine Tree a close 2nd.

[aus]

Thanks again.
Let me know if you think of any other places to eat or go see.
We'll do the Volcano one day. There's suppose to be a green sand beach too?

[Hi-Life]

Green sand and black sand beaches down south. Need 4wd to get to them though. You will definatly make a day of it going to either beach. Volcano national park is nice at night if you can spot the lava flowing into the ocean. Akaka Falls (rainbow falls) on the way into Hilo is a really cool thing to check out 420ft water fall I believe. Also go to Big Island Candies in Hilo chocolate dipped shortbread cookies are AMAZING.

[JB135i]

We did the submarine thing on Maui. We didn't see much, but it's a real submarine, which I found cool. There used to be the same thing on the Big Island is why I mention it here. Don't know if it's still in operation.

There is great snokeling/scuba all over the place, too many to list really.

One hike we did that was really good was to hike down to Polululu (Spelling?) Beach on the northern end of the island. It's a moderately hard hike but the black(ish) sand at the beach has an unbelievable texture. It's like soft grainy mud that being from the midwest you think is gonna stick like holy hell when you first step in it. But it doesn't because it's sand! Totally different than "normal" sand you find at other beaches. The water that day was ripping like holy hell though (it does often there from what we read), I only went in knee deep. It was also obvious that people were living "off the grid" in the valley. I would not venture back in the valley floor without the escort of ATF agents LOL.

We took a day trip (paid tour) to the top of Mona Loa for the "stars and sky tour". The moon was nearly full so the viewing wasn't great that night. But it was an amazing view in the light and dark none the less. BE WARNED it's a long ass tour, I think 9 hours total for us. I would NOT do it again, but if you are into that type of thing it's cool.

The Botanic Gardens on the East side were kinda boring in my opinion. We expected more from a jungle placed botanic garden. If you are REALLY into botany then stop, otherwise I would skip it.

We did a coffee tour, kinda fun if you have an hour to kill. Smelling coffee smelling is better than coffee drinking in that afternoon heat though...

We are going back this November and our "must do's" this trip are:

Volcano viewing. We have seen flowing lava before and intend to this time as well. We get there mid-afternoon to hopefully get the word on where there are breakouts and will hike to them if needed to and are a reasonable distance away. Hiking far on lava fields is NOT something to be taken likely.

Snorkling/scuba. Various places, likely everyday except the lava day. We will likely rent a kayak too.

Back to Polululu.

Might do a Manta Ray night dive/snorkle, still debating this one. We are certified divers, but a night dive in the open ocean kinda freaks me out. There is a lot of room for error there.

Might golf, all depends on how well I am hitting by the end of summer.

[Maestro]

When we travel the hotel usually is not the big determining factor, since we usually just sleep there, most all of our time is spent doing other things so we do not spend lots on the hotel or worry about location unless the location is important to what we want to do. When we did the big island, we stayed on the Kona side and I believe it was the Hilton at the time but it appears to have changed names but it was located right on the beach you could walk out of the lobby to the pool right on the black sand beach.

There was big cost difference between beach view and mountain view we choose mountain view and spend what we saved doing a helicopter tour which was the wildest thing, we had an Vietnam Vet and old Bell Helicopter which had the big glass front, top speed of about 90MPH not like the turbo jet most of the tours run, so it allowed this guy to get down close to the water falls and right up and personal with the volcano. All the other tours in the turbo jet helicopters stayed up at 500 ft and zipped around from one site to the next.

The other nice thing about the hotel they have hammocks on the beach so we would go there in the evening and watch the sun set, far better then watching if from the expensive sea side hotel rooms.

There is so much to see on the big island, we end up putting a 1000 miles on the rental in 6 days. Also, when we were there the iron man competition was going on and we could see everything that was happen from our hotel.

Another thing we did was go to the Waipio Valley, you can not take a rental car down here the road is so steep it requires 4wheel drive. It drops 1800 feet in less than mile. They have shuttle service to take you down and back up again. We choose to walk it, the tour guide who used to live down there told us it a 10 minute walk down but a week walk back up, he was not kidding, it took us almost and hour to get back up, the tour guide stopped on the way back up as he passed us and asked if we wanted a ride only $50, if we took the tour with him it was $35.

[aus]

Originally Posted by Hi-Life

Green sand and black sand beaches down south. Need 4wd to get to them though. You will definatly make a day of it going to either beach. Volcano national park is nice at night if you can spot the lava flowing into the ocean. Akaka Falls (rainbow falls) on the way into Hilo is a really cool thing to check out 420ft water fall I believe. Also go to Big Island Candies in Hilo chocolate dipped shortbread cookies are AMAZING.

For the Black and Green sand beaches, I keep hearing from local's that it's "desolate" down there and that a lot of cars get broken into down there. Is it safe to go? We won't leave anything in the car.
We did the Akaka falls and stopped at Ed's bakery in Honomu right outside the falls. What a GREAT place. Awesome Wedding ring cookies and great shaved ice. We didn't have time for big Island Candies, but did make it to Kens' Houe of Pancakes at around 8PM. We didn't get back to the hotel till 11PM. The Volcano Park is pretty cool, but better to go at night.

Originally Posted by JB135i

One hike we did that was really good was to hike down to Polululu (Spelling?) Beach on the northern end of the island. It's a moderately hard hike but the black(ish) sand at the beach has an unbelievable texture. It's like soft grainy mud that being from the midwest you think is gonna stick like holy hell when you first step in it. But it doesn't because it's sand! Totally different than "normal" sand you find at other beaches. The water that day was ripping like holy hell though (it does often there from what we read), I only went in knee deep. It was also obvious that people were living "off the grid" in the valley. I would not venture back in the valley floor without the escort of ATF agents LOL.


Volcano viewing. We have seen flowing lava before and intend to this time as well. We get there mid-afternoon to hopefully get the word on where there are breakouts and will hike to them if needed to and are a reasonable distance away. Hiking far on lava fields is NOT something to be taken likely.

Back to Polululu.

So do you plan on going back down at Pololu?
If you want to see lava, then go around 5-6PM down 130 and plan to wait until it gets dark-7:30 now. It took out a house recently, so there have been a LOT of people out. They're saying up to 2,000/night so you need to get there early to get some parking.

Originally Posted by Maestro

Another thing we did was go to the Waipio Valley, you can not take a rental car down here the road is so steep it requires 4wheel drive. It drops 1800 feet in less than mile. They have shuttle service to take you down and back up again. We choose to walk it, the tour guide who used to live down there told us it a 10 minute walk down but a week walk back up, he was not kidding, it took us almost and hour to get back up, the tour guide stopped on the way back up as he passed us and asked if we wanted a ride only $50, if we took the tour with him it was $35.

Who does the tours/shuttle?
We were thinking of driving down yesterday since I have a Jeep, but I didn't want to piss off the local's down their either.