KOA vs ITO
 

I am planning our first trip to Hawaii & have hotel booked near Koa but haven't been able to find award seats on AA or one world. I have found tickets to Ito, how big of an inconvenience would it be to fly there & drive to the other side of the island?

Do you mean ITO (Hilo)?

LIH (Lihue) is on the island of Kaua`i. Kona (KOA) is on the Big Island.

You'll not be driving between LIH and KOA.... ;)

If, otoh, you meant Hilo, then it's about a 2-3 hour drive. Very scenic (unless it's night and it's raining. Then it can be scary)

Oops, guess I should make sure I'm checking the correct airport! Thanks

LOL, yes that is very important... especially in Hawaii.

As another poster said, the drive is not too bad... in fact, depending on how much time you are spending on the island... you might even prefer flying into Hilo (ITO) and spending a few days on that side of the island... exploring Volcano National Park and other eastern parts of the island. You lose a lot of travel time from Kona each day if you are exploring the eastern side.

Do enjoy... it is my FAVORITE island.

There are three driving options (north, straight across, and south). North and straight across are faster by about an hour. I can't speak to them, but I can say that the drive along the south is very pretty. You get to see some lush green areas, the ocean, and very cool lava fields.

As someone else suggested, if you have the energy, sneaking in a waterfall on the east side or volcanic national park on your way to Kona could be fun. When I stayed in Kona we skipped the entire east side because of travel time. The volcanos took an entire day with 3-4 hours of driving. So it might be a blessing in disguise that you land and leave on that side of the island.

Not sure where you are tring to fly from....

What you can do is look to travel from other airports...partivularly on the west coast.

I know Delta you can do this but Im not sure if you can on American---look at Alaska Airlines routes to Hawaii...they fly from all makor cities to all 4 islands...you could use your AA awards to book these flights then fly separatly to these airports.

The baseline rate for Hawaii is 40,000 miles for RT. Another option to look at is use your AA miles to fly to Honolulu (HNL) for the back/forth and then book separatly the HNL-KOA portion

As for the island itself...

AS another OP said there are 3 ways....

1. through Waimea to the north

2. Saddle road in the middle

3. Southern route

Many rental car companies proohibit you driving saddle road.

What you can do is just make the trip a loop trip.

The southern drive brings you through Coffee plantations to the south of Kona, then through Lava fields...down to the souther point of Hawayy (most southern city, most southern post office int he US , etc) and off shore at certain times of year you can see whales. Near the southern point is a green sand beach.

Then when you start toward to north to Volcano you have a blank sand beach right off the road....its about 45 min drive from Volcanos NAtional PArk. From the park its about a 30 min drive to Hilo. Its shorter to go from KOA to volcano through Hilo.

Near Hilo you have Akaka water falls (hopefully I didnt butcher the name).

From KOA to Volcano it will take 2.5-4 hrs drive depending on way you drive and traffic. The large island has virtually no expressways...they are local roads. There is a few mile stretch near Hilo and near Kona where the road turns into an expressway because it has interchanges.

This is not true anymore - with the re-alignment, much of Saddle Rd is perfectly safe and comfortable to drive, and one only needs to pay attention on the Parker Ranch side which is re-paved, but not widened/flattened. A Saddle Rd newbie should avoid rush hour periods and they can pick their way across the Ranch side without incident.

If the OP wants to use ITO to get a lower fare and drive to the Kohala side asap, Saddle Rd is the best bet...but if they want to arrive ITO in the morning and take the day to make the drive, I would take the northern route, stopping at the various falls, Waipio Valley, etc., and arrive Kona or Kohala around dinner time.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

And, of course, even if the OP has to fly into ITO, (s)he may still be able to fly out of KOA (assuming there is award-seat availability).

I made this drive last year, and I would not hesitate to do it again. Saddle Road was no problem, and quite scenic. Upon our morning arrival in Hilo, we made our way to Volcanoes National Park, and spent much of the day there before continuing on to our hotel in Waikola Vilage. We arrived in the early evening, and flew out of KOA a few days later. In fact, if you are staying in Kona and want to visit VNP, I think arriving in Hilo makes the most sense.