Realistic to drive from Hilo to Kailua kona as a tourist?

[Foxyroxy22]

Thanks so much everyone for all the great info..I am coming from northern ontario, canada and will be there for at least 16 days, but will be doing yoga teacher training at kalani Oceanside retreat...not sure how much free time I will have...am planning on spending a few days in Honolulu before going back, but decided before I leave the island I really want to see the sea turtles, and black sand beach, and Mauna Kea...hoping to do that all in a day before I fly off the big island....good to know to bring warm clothes. (Was hoping to leave all the winter gear at home !! Lol) I think I will try and book a tour, as I don't want to have to worry about navigating around the island and don't wanna ruin a rental car..so thanks for the info, everyone here has been super helpful!!

[hotzcatz]

Ah, perhaps during your sixteen days you'll be able to wander around a bit. Will any of the other people there have a car? Perhaps you'd be able to share a ride and it's usually more fun to go places with other folks.

"Warm" clothes for Hawaii, especially for someone used to Canada's temperatures, usually means something like a flannel shirt and some socks instead of short sleeves and sandals. You'll mostly be at sea level at Kalani so that will be nice and toasty warm, especially compared to Canada. A light jacket, some long pants (kids around here sometimes call them "long shorts" so that can indicate their usual attire) and socks should be enough and maybe even overkill for everywhere except up on Mauna Kea. There's frequently snow on Mauna Kea.

Most rental cars can't go up to the summit of Mauna Kea since that's not a paved road and best if you have four wheel drive. However, there are tour companies who go up there. If you don't take a tour, you can drive a rental car up to the ranger station at around 4,000 foot elevation or so. Mauna Kea isn't quite 14,000 feet tall so it's pretty big. It's actually much taller than that, but most folks start measuring from sea level although Mauna Kea goes down way below that.

Saddle Road has been improved, paved and is now in use as a daily route for folks who live in Hilo/Puna and work at the hotels in Kailua-Kona. It's still a long commute, but the new improved Saddle Road has now taken twenty minutes or so off their commute, I've heard. Rental car companies let folks drive there now. There aren't any towns, shops, much housing or anything built up along the route yet, though. Scenery, of course, although that's everywhere around here. As long as you stay on pavement and out of Waipio Valley, your rental car should be fine although it might be more fun to take a tour with other folks and someone else driving.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

If you have limited time, I suggest that you at least spend a half day visiting the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The entrance is probably under an hour from Kalani and a very easy drive. You could then venture another 45 minutes toward Kona and visit the Punalu'u Black Sand Beach and green sea turtles. An easy drive on Highway 11.

Are you planning to spend any time in Hilo? It has a very old downtown on the waterfront and is fun to wander around. Especially on the Farmer's Market days.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

Dave, I'm curious as to which beaches you had to hike down a rugged trail to get to.

Both beaches with rugged trails were in the north. Take 270 as far as you can go, past Hawi, till you reach the Polou Valley Lookout. The lookout is about 600 feet above sea level. The trail down is pretty rugged, too rugged in my opinion for flip flops. Our first visit to the Big Island, we only went down about 200 feet to the signs that said that you could be killed if land that gives way under your feet. We chickened out going down further that visit. The second visit to the Big Island, we went all the way down to the black sand beech. It's kind of a strange forest area down there by the beach. The beach isn't really a swimming beach from what we could tell, mainly a hiking beach. There were very few people walking around the beach area, probably less than 10 people in a large area. We didn't hike as far as we could. We heard there was a cave to see if we would have hiked farther. Maybe we'll save that for the next visit.

The other beach that had a rugged trail was down the Waipio Valley. The top of the Waipio Valley lookout is about 900 feet above sea level. The trail down from the Waipio Lookout was pretty rough for flip flops if you were to walk the trail. We took a tour down there, which was nice, since the 4 wheel drive van was permitted to drive on the private roads down there and could easily drive in about one foot deep water. On the way back, several people i n our tour decided to leave the tour and go to the beach down there. Those people would have had to hike all the way back to the top of the Waipio Lookout on that rugged trail. We did not leave the tour to go to that beach, so we did not experience that beach.

We could drive much closer to the same elevation for most beaches we visited. Most beaches could be accessed from a normal rental car that which was restricted to only paved roads. Walking from the car to those beaches could be done wearing flip flops.