floridagal23

We are DINKs that will be planning a babymoon to the big island. How many days should we plan to spend there? We plan to spend 1 night at the Volcano House and the rest of the time at the Four Seasons. Trying to see if we can sneak in a few days in Maui before flying to Kona and have limited time out of the office.

Arthurrs

Stay on one island for all of your trip!!!

Consider that you'll be consuming 1/2 day traveling between islands, which means less time to enjoy the beauty of Hawaii.

Seriously, there's so much to see & explore on the big island, after three stays (20 days worth) I still want to go back and explore some more!

Four seasons is a wonderful place to stay, enjoy!!!

floridagal23

Thanks. We could stretch the trip to 8 days maybe to include both (5 big island, 3 Maui). But right now looks like we will spend 6 days on big island and head home.

Arthurrs

I think 6 days is a perfect length of time to spend on the big island, especially if you're doing one of those nights at Volcano.

jetsetter777

i would absolutely stay the entire time on BI.

Drive up to Mauna Lani and do some amazing snorkeling at the Makaiwa Bay. Have lunch at Napua right at beachside. I realize you're staying at the FS which is amazing, but their beach is nothing to write home about. Rocky and not what you picture a hawaiian beach as.

Drive down to Kailua one day and see the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau historical park. Keep your car there and walk over to snorkel at Two Step next door. (Can you tell I focus on Snorkeling - it's where the BI really shines).
There is so much to do on the BI and you lose so much in transit days going between islands - i feel staying on BI will allow you a more relaxed pace and a chance to really soak it all in.

BOSOGG

If you stay 6 days, you will likely wish you had stayed 8. Staying one night at Volcano House is a good idea....has worked well for us well.

floridagal23

Thanks. I am thinking of spending 2 nights there since our flight doesn't even get in until 7:45. So we would have that night, a full day, the following night and then leave for the four seasons. Does that sound reasonable? And then Tues through Sat afternoon at the FS.

Arthurrs

Yes, it would be a wise strategy to put your visit to Volcano at the beginning or end of the trip. I'm assuming you're coming from NYC, so you may be a bit tired after a long day of travel. If you're able to fly into Hilo, even better, then fly out of KOA at the end of the week. Car rentals on the island allow for this.

Keep in mind that the drive across the island is a bit slower than what we're used to on the mainland. People like to take their time driving in those parts!

philemer

DON'T! With only 7-8 days you want to relax not spend hours in airports. Settle in at one spot and enjoy the sights. Relax & enjoy.

floridagal23

many thanks. I'm inclined to put it at the beginning of the trip. We are flying from LA (visiting family first) and I would rather finish up at the four seasons because they will give us a late checkout and use of a dayroom for our late evening flight. Unfortunately we are stuck flying in and out of KOA due to miles availability but I think it should be fine. What activities do you recommend at the volcano?

Arthurrs

Definitely do a morning or evening hike to the lava fields!! Here's a link to my review of our visit:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28165056-post233.html
There are other guided tours as well. This one comes highly recommended as well:
http://www.epiclava.com/

Thurston Lava tube and the visitor center was fascinating! The crater for the active volcano is a distance away from the visitor center, so the best views are at night when you can see the lava glow. Lot's of hiking trails, check to see what is open when you arrive.

If you're taking the northern route back to the four seasons, take a trip up to Waipi'o Valley Lookout, the views are amazing!

loomis

Since you are coming from the East Coast, I definitely agree with putting the volcano on the front end of your trip, especially for a morning hike. You will be up early anyways, due to the big time change.

We are going to the BI for nine nights in the spring, staying in Hilo for the first two nights. This is the only way that I am going to be able to get two teenagers up for a 6am hike

azepine00

Hawaii airports are very casual so adding a day trip to another island is rather easy if you want to get a feel of it. Even if you stay overnight i would just keep your big island hotel etc and avoid any packing aside from essencials in a small backpack.

PsiFighter37

If you have only 7-8 days, just spend it on one island (as others have already said). There will be plenty to do on the Big Island for that amount of time. The worst that can happen is that you lay on the beach all day

floridagal23

Thanks everyone. So the Volcano house is booked solidfor the first two nights of our trip. That may be for the best anyway since our flight to Kona doesn't get in until just before 8pm and it would be a long drive that night.

How many nights do we need at volcano house? If only 1, we can fly in, do 2 nights at the four seasons, leave early and drive to Volcano house, spend a night at volcano house and then drive back to the four seasons late the following day. This would allow us the day of arrival at the volcano house (most of the day) and then the next day before departing back to the four seasons for another 3 nights.

If you think we need two two nights at the volcano house, we could do that the last two nights of our trip. We are flying out of Kona again but we could leave in the early afternoon and have dinner before the airport (10pm flight).

Im still checking availability for the first two nights.