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Yes, Dreaming is correct on the time. When I mentioned not arriving at the Volcano N.P. until late in the afternoon, I was thinking of making various stops along the way. Sorry for not being more clear.
As an FYI, it's more scenic using Highway 19 (sorry, folks, I don't know the local names) to Kona and then Highway 11 via Naalehu to HVNP. (As an added bonus, you could add South Point if you desire, and/or Black Sand Beach, which is a short diversion.) So I would recommend going via Highway 11 during the day and then returning via Saddle Road in the evening. If you do this, you're looking at about 4.5 hours of driving, before you do any sightseeing. Thus, given that you only have a half-day to work with, I would recommend doing the volcano as a stand-alone visit, not tied in to anything relating to Hilo (except maybe grabbing a snack there on your way back towards the other side of the island).
It's a shame you won't be able to see Pearl Harbor. It's an amazing experience.
Oh, one last thing. There are no gas stations whatsoever in the 18 miles between the Waikoloa resorts and the Kona airport. So be sure and refuel and top off the tank at the gas station there at the resorts (I think it's a Shell, but I'm not sure) before you head for the airport.
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Originally Posted by jib88fer
Fri - Volcano park for lunch, then south around back to Hilo for the flight back
If you want to see Peal Harbor, it's well worth seeing. There are many things to see when you visit Perl Harbor. The last time I went on the Perl Harbor tour was a couple years ago, which was my second tour. My first tour of Perl Harbor was about 50 years ago, not long after Hawaii became a state. I recommend going with a tour group. They take care of everything for you. The Perl Harbor tour will take about 4 or 5 hours including the travel time to and from your hotel. Since you're only staying one week, you don't really have enough time to include a side trip to Oahu, without cutting out too much time on the Big Island. Maybe you can include Perl Harbor on your next visit to Hawaii if you allocate more time for the visit.
I agree that the visit to Volcano would be better if you stayed in that area for a day or two. It consumes a lot of time to drive back and forth between Volcano can Waikoloa for a Volcano area day visit. It's not clear if you are flying back out of Hilo or Kona. If you're flying back out of Kona, I agree, the Saddle Road, 200, is the quickest and easiest way to get back to Kona. When we flew out of Kona, we drove just past the airport and filled up the gas tank and ate some pizza at the Costco to avoid the higher priced airport food. The Costco is only a few miles away from the airport.
One more tip. Don't rent a car with the lowest priced company. On the Big Island, we drove nice cars, premium sedans, not high-end luxury cars. On Maui, we drove in a old beat up junker. The front, back, left, and right were all dented in. The back seat was ripped up. It was a Cheech and Chong car. All the other cars on the Advantage lot were even worse! It was embarrassing to drive such a junker. We should have gone back to the airport to another car rental company, but we didn't. That was a mistake I will not repeat. On Kauai, the rental car was an old Crown Vic, it must have been 20 years old. The bottom of the barrel car rental companies are just that. You get what you pay for. It isn't worth it to try to save $100 to $200 on a car rental, and end up with a piece of junk.
I haven't seen that anywhere else I've traveled in the US, where the lowest priced car rental companies rent absolute junk. That might be unique to Hawaii, where the trashy beat up cars continue to be used by some low level car rental companies.
If you don't have a Costco membership, you might take out a membership. If you drive a lot, the gasoline savings will pay for a significant amount of your membership fee. When you going through Hilo, be sure to stop by the farmer's market. We stopped by the Hilo farmer's market several times when we visited the Big Island. Also look around at a couple typical grocery stores when you're visiting. You'll be shocked expensive food is in Hawaii, even canned, long shelf life food that comes in by ship, the cheapest way to transport anything anywhere in the world.
Make sure to drive the 4 mile scenic drive when you are near Hilo. We were a little leary about parking the car there and walking too far from the car since there were a lot of crime warning signs. It's kind of an isolated area where the criminals that should be permanently locked up in jail, sometimes break into cars.
Download the free "Waze" GPS app on your smart cellphone. Check out how well "Waze" works on the Big Island. Whatever you do, don't forget your camera! We found the best sunsets could be seen from the Hapuna Beach State Recreation area. We also thought that was the best beach we found after visiting the Big Island, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai. It's a huge area and not crowded at all. It costs $5 to park, but it has showers, restrooms, grills, picnic tables, and covered areas.
Talking about food prices, I am surprised no one mentioned KTA Superstore in Waimea. Prices there are very nearly the same as Tennessee. Gallon of milk is $4.79 compared to. $9.99 here in Waikoloa Resort. They have baby bok choy I haven't seen since I was in China, and unheard of back home.
Rented a Camaro SS convertible, and highly recommend anyone coming here to get a ragtop. The trip back from Pololu down 250 is simply amazing. We did turn the heat on, elevation 3564.
Talking about food prices, I am surprised no one mentioned KTA Superstore in Waimea. Prices there are very nearly the same as Tennessee. Gallon of milk is $4.79 compared to. $9.99 here in Waikoloa Resort. They have baby bok choy I haven't seen since I was in China, and unheard of back home.
Rented a Camaro SS convertible, and highly recommend anyone coming here to get a ragtop. The trip back from Pololu down 250 is simply amazing. We did turn the heat on, elevation 3564.
Yup, folks don't shop for groceries near the resorts if they can help it. Waimea KTA is lovely, it's our favorite KTA.
If you have a convertible and time, take all the bits of the old highway that you can find. They're called 'Old Mamalahoa' highway as opposed to the current 'Mamalahoa' highway. Usually they are a much more scenic route.
I know this is too late for your trip, but if someone else happens upon this, I wanted to put my suggestion out there. It's my absolute favorite place on the Big Island. I'm not a religious person, but I could feel the life force in this spot: Pu'uhonua o Honaunau.
For anyone else reading this about South Point-- I can't remember which car rental company we used-- one of the larger names, I'm sure. I remember asking them the last time we were there (in 2014) if there were any roads off limits and they said no. We drove to South Point three times, once in a Dodge Challenger, and twice in jeeps... never a problem or anything close to it with the cars. There were many regular cars that made it to South Point. The small dirt/side roads may be a different story but to get to South Point and watch the adventurous jump off the edge will be no problem. Our daughter did that-- incredible! If you happen to want to do it yourself, be sure you wear some shoes because the ladder back up is hard on the feet according to her.
One other word of advice. I LOVE food, and there are some good eats on the island. But there's just so much more to do that for most of our meals each time we go, we are grabbing a box lunch or something quick and picnicking at our destination. Food is the least of my interests when we are visiting the Big Island. One of our morning breakfast stops is usually Buns in the Sun in Kona-- at least 3 days of the 10-12 that we stay.
If you are OK in the water (meaning that you can handle floating for a while-- no swimming necessary), then I HIGHLY recommend the night manta ray experience. It's very crowded in the bay at night with all the different companies with their tours, but once you put your head into the water to look down at those beautiful creatures, everything else disappears.
I know this is too late for your trip, but if someone else happens upon this, I wanted to put my suggestion out there. It's my absolute favorite place on the Big Island. I'm not a religious person, but I could feel the life force in this spot: Pu'uhonua o Honaunau.
For anyone else reading this about South Point-- I can't remember which car rental company we used-- one of the larger names, I'm sure. I remember asking them the last time we were there (in 2014) if there were any roads off limits and they said no. We drove to South Point three times, once in a Dodge Challenger, and twice in jeeps... never a problem or anything close to it with the cars. There were many regular cars that made it to South Point. The small dirt/side roads may be a different story but to get to South Point and watch the adventurous jump off the edge will be no problem. Our daughter did that-- incredible! If you happen to want to do it yourself, be sure you wear some shoes because the ladder back up is hard on the feet according to her.
One other word of advice. I LOVE food, and there are some good eats on the island. But there's just so much more to do that for most of our meals each time we go, we are grabbing a box lunch or something quick and picnicking at our destination. Food is the least of my interests when we are visiting the Big Island. One of our morning breakfast stops is usually Buns in the Sun in Kona-- at least 3 days of the 10-12 that we stay.
If you are OK in the water (meaning that you can handle floating for a while-- no swimming necessary), then I HIGHLY recommend the night manta ray experience. It's very crowded in the bay at night with all the different companies with their tours, but once you put your head into the water to look down at those beautiful creatures, everything else disappears.
Very good insight on South Point and much thanks (if you are still active on this forum). I'll be there this upcoming weekend for another short jaunt and looking to round off a couple of other things off my list of stuff to do on the BI (was there for 2, 3 day weekends already....way way too much to see).
My main goals for this upcoming weekend (might be too ambitious):
South Point/green sand beach / associated areas
Hike to surface flow lava (likely from kalapana side, might give in to a rental bike instead of hiking all the way, and view ocean flow again of course)
Hike to Captain Cook Monument with snorkel/swim by the Kealakekua Bay (supposedly incredible snorkeling there)
Potentially hike to the lake up by Mauna Kea but may not have time.....
The night manta ray I've also seen and looks very cool. I'll have to see about that for another future visit.
Location: Southernmost tip of the southernmost island in the southernmost state
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Hike to surface flow lava (likely from kalapana side, might give in to a rental bike instead of hiking all the way, and view ocean flow again of course
We had out of town guests 2 weekends ago and they wanted to hike to the flow. We went in from the Kalapana side (aka Little Burning-Man) and I was really disappointed. I had hiked in from the park side a little over a year ago and at that time you could get as close as you wanted. Now they have it cordoned off so far back that I felt it wasn't worth the trip. It was literally viewing the flow from a half mile away.
Yeah, it went from completely unsupervised insanity (people hot-footing over the flow, edging along the cliff for a better view, etc.) to nanny-state. The shelf collapse probably had something to do with that... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emz38ciVRUw
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