Big Island and Aulani - length of stay at each?

[erin1715]

I am contemplating a trip to Aulani in Summer 2018. I would be using my DVC points for 5 nights at Aulani and that length of stay is pretty set in stone. We would be 4 adults, no kids.

I would like to visit one of the other islands while we are there and have nearly settled on the Big Island mainly because I think we would want to see the volcano. I think we would just stay at the Volcano House hotel - would 3 nights there be too many? Does it only take 1 day to pretty much see the sites of the volcano? Are there other things to see if we stayed at the Volcano House that we could drive to around the island? We would have a rental car.

 

[wanderlust7]

Yes, you can see the main, easily accessible sites at Volcanoes National Park in one day. If you want to do a lot of hiking, or hike to see flowing lava (depending on where it's flowing), you would need more time.

I would never say 3 nights is too many. The Big Island - is big! - and there is lots to see and do. You could go north and explore Hilo, or east to Puna (I've heard the snorkeling is great at the Kapoho tide pools), or west and up Mauna Kea. Or south to the black sand beach, the green sand beach (requires some adventurous hiking it seems - so we have not been), and the wind farm at South Point (the southernmost point of the entire United States).

And that's just the places closer to the volcano. I haven't even mentioned any sights on the other (western), more touristed, side of the island. 3 visits, a little over a week each, and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. I would highly recommend Hawaii The Big Island Revealed book, so you can pick the places that interest you.

Happy planning!

 

[nkereina]

I agree with PP. We didn't do the Big Island, but in addition to our time at Aulani, we also spent 3 nights on Maui and 3 nights on Kauai. Some will say it's not nearly enough time, but we found it to be the perfect amount of time to get a taste of each island and see the main things we wanted to see. On the Big Island, in addition to Hilo, you could check out Kona where they have the coffee tours. I believe Norwegian's Pride of America has a port stop in Kona and one in Hilo, so I'd venture to say they are the "main" areas on the island.

 

[erin1715]

I agree with PP. We didn't do the Big Island, but in addition to our time at Aulani, we also spent 3 nights on Maui and 3 nights on Kauai. Some will say it's not nearly enough time, but we found it to be the perfect amount of time to get a taste of each island and see the main things we wanted to see. On the Big Island, in addition to Hilo, you could check out Kona where they have the coffee tours. I believe Norwegian's Pride of America has a port stop in Kona and one in Hilo, so I'd venture to say they are the "main" areas on the island.

It is such a tough choice deciding what other island to visit besides Oahu! I have friends who visit Kauai often and it is their favorite place on earth and looks so naturally beautiful, and then I've read that Maui is people's favorite island of them all! I think I will have to discuss it with my travel companions and decide altogether.

 

[Midoria]

The Volcanoes can be done in one day.

On the Big Island, in addition to Hilo, you could check out Kona where they have the coffee tours. I believe Norwegian's Pride of America has a port stop in Kona and one in Hilo, so I'd venture to say they are the "main" areas on the island.

Kona is on the complete opposite side of the island, so the OP decides to visit while staying at Volcano House, that's an 80 mile drive each way, plus the time it takes to drive around Kona itself. I think wanderlust had the best plan of action. Stay more on the eastern side as to fit in more sights.

Or south to the black sand beach, the green sand beach (requires some adventurous hiking it seems - so we have not been),

I always hire a local guy to drive me to/from Papakolea. When I go, I see a lot of tourists looking a little freaked out when a guy who may or may not be wearing a shirt offers to shuttle them around in a beat up truck. The last time we went, my sister noted that the make-shift shuttles were way fuller on the way back than they were on the way down. People who probably didn't trust the locals and/or underestimated the hike realized hiring them is a good investment when it comes to saving time and energy.

 

[squeezle]

We just got back from a visit to Aulani and the Big Island - it was a fantastic trip!!! We first spend 4 nights at Aulani then flew to the Big Island for 6 nights (3 nights at Volcano House and 3 nights near Kona). Even though it was a longer drive, we flew into Kona because we wanted to see the west side of the island on the way to Volcanoes National Park. Our first day we drove/hiked around the park in the morning and then drove down to the coast for a boat tour to see the lava flow (I 100% recommend doing this!!!! We used Hawaiian Lava Boat Tours and they were great). The second full day, we did more hiking, driving, the museums, looked around the town of Volcano. The next day we left early and drove back to Kona, this time through Hilo. And we stopped at the Botanical Garden and the Waipiʻo Valley Lookout. When we got to Kona we saw some coffee farms, but mostly spent time lounging in the sun.

 

[wanderlust7]

Our first day we drove/hiked around the park in the morning and then drove down to the coast for a boat tour to see the lava flow (I 100% recommend doing this!!!! We used Hawaiian Lava Boat Tours and they were great).
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Very cool!! It's on my bucket list. Would have liked to do it on our last trip, but we have little kids.

Was the boat ride rough? How did you feel the safety aspect was?

 

[squeezle]

Was the boat ride rough? How did you feel the safety aspect was?

I thought it was pretty rough, but they said it was calm... LOL! But I wore half a motion sickness patch and my psi bands (wristbands for motion sickness) and I felt fine the entire time. Kai was a great captain and we always felt safe. He did tell us that he had been cancelling the late tours several days in a row because of unsafe wind/water conditions... apparently the last tour of the day often gets canceled for these reasons. (They do not charge your card until after the tour, so you don't loose your money if it gets cancelled.)

 

[cgattis]

It is such a tough choice deciding what other island to visit besides Oahu! I have friends who visit Kauai often and it is their favorite place on earth and looks so naturally beautiful, and then I've read that Maui is people's favorite island of them all! I think I will have to discuss it with my travel companions and decide altogether.

I think Kauai is the most beautiful overall; it's definitely on my return list! Maui, in my opinion, has the most diversity of sights and things to do; it's also on my list. The big island was amazing (see LAVA?!?! What?!?); if I was only doing one other island besides Oahu, I'd have to pick it (I mean, lava!!). But it's lower on my return list--not that it isn't beautiful, but I doubt I can do four islands in one trip ever again. You can't go wrong, no matter what you choose.

 

[cgattis]

We just got back from a visit to Aulani and the Big Island - it was a fantastic trip!!! We first spend 4 nights at Aulani then flew to the Big Island for 6 nights (3 nights at Volcano House and 3 nights near Kona). Even though it was a longer drive, we flew into Kona because we wanted to see the west side of the island on the way to Volcanoes National Park. Our first day we drove/hiked around the park in the morning and then drove down to the coast for a boat tour to see the lava flow (I 100% recommend doing this!!!! We used Hawaiian Lava Boat Tours and they were great). The second full day, we did more hiking, driving, the museums, looked around the town of Volcano. The next day we left early and drove back to Kona, this time through Hilo. And we stopped at the Botanical Garden and the Waipiʻo Valley Lookout. When we got to Kona we saw some coffee farms, but mostly spent time lounging in the sun.

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Amazing!!! If I'd known the beach was going to be closed on our Kona day, I'd have done this. If I ever get back to the big island, the boat trip is my #1 priority! I'm jotting down the touring company in my book now; thanks!

 

[nkereina]

Kona is on the complete opposite side of the island, so the OP decides to visit while staying at Volcano House, that's an 80 mile drive each way, plus the time it takes to drive around Kona itself. I think wanderlust had the best plan of action. Stay more on the eastern side as to fit in more sights.

I know where it's located. I was only offering it as an option, since the OP said they have multiple days on the Big Island. Especially since, as you mention, the volcano can be done in a day.

 

[Midoria]

I know where it's located. I was only offering it as an option, since the OP said they have multiple days on the Big Island. Especially since, as you mention, the volcano can be done in a day.

Many other people will read this thread, and I'm sure at least a few of them haven't considered how massive the BI actually is. I just saw an opportunity to mention how far these two destinations from each other for anyone who may not know. Adding how many miles/hours things are from each other is very important when planning how much time someone needs (which is why this thread was started). Even more so for the BI.

During my last trip, we met a family at the VNP who didn't map out how far things were from each other and they complained that it lowered the quality of their vacation experience. They were staying in the Kona area and were told Papakolea was awesome. Unfortunately, they underestimated how long it'd take to drive there (about 2 hours), were not prepared to hike over 2 miles in the hot sun, and didn't want to pay $15pp for a ride, so they wasted almost a whole day. I want to help prevent tourists from having experiences like that because you guys can't just try again in a few months like residents can.

 

[buffettgirl]

I agree. There were a lot of things that I couldn't get in this weekend but I know I can just hop on a plane and do it again for cheap.

I just posted in another thread, but we stayed up in Volconoes (at the military camp) and flew in and out of Kona, Our plan was to explore on our way up to the park for a whole day, and then explore on the way back. Ideally, we would have done the east one day and the north the last day but our first day got screwed up when I had to book a very late flight, so we sort of skipped all that touring. But 3 nights seemed plenty for us (with 4 full days, we could have easily used the 4th day) This is what our tour looked like:

Day 1: fly in to kona (5:30 pm) ate dinner in kona, drove the south route to Volcanoes National Park. Got to the park around 11pm. Note..if you also arrive late drive to the Jagger Museum overlook and look at the crater! So this day was nothing (darn SATs in the morning saturday screwed us up)
Day 2: spent the whole day hiking and driving the Chain of Craters. Took every opportunity to get out and walk and do small hikes. Weather was HOT in the 70s and 80s, so be prepared. Next time will do larger hikes with proper attire.
Day 3: explored the kalapana area, walked out to a black sand beach, visited the Painted Church, then backtracked and started our drive to Mauna Kea. Drove to the summit. Took lots of photos. Drove back down to Hilo, ate dinner and Hilo and then headed back to VNP (about 40 min) Also, the weather this weekend on Mauna Kea was in the low 50s. I saw people dressed for winter. It's still hawaii, even at 14000 feet. Check the weather. We put on sneakers and sweatshirts, but kept our shorts on. We never wore anything but shorts all weekend.
Day 4: checked out, drove down to Hilo again, and then started touring from there. Rainbow Falls, Akaka Falls, all the scenic drives on the coast, drove to the Waipio lookout, through Waimea and then followed 19 back south to the airport. If we had had a few more hours, we would have driven up around the Kohala coast. If we had that first day we would have done the things in Kona.

 

[justafigment27]

We spent 6 nights on the Big Island prior to heading to Oahu. We rented a condo in Kona and double booked one night in the middle of our stay at Volcano House inside the park. The double booking allowed us a leisurely tour all the way around the island over the course of 2 days and allowed for two half days in the national park (arrived at the park about 3:00pm and departed around noon the next day). We had a fabulous time and I really loved The Big Island.

Just a couple of thoughts:

There was no lava flow in any areas accessible to the public during our trip. It happens. It started flowing again sometime after we left. Our neighbors went the following summer and easily saw lava flow.

Find out the NCL ship schedule and avoid VNP & Hilo the day the cruise stops there ... no need to deal with all the extra people. We made this rookie mistake and literally had a bus load of cruise people at one of our Hilo stops and saw even more cruise people at the National park when we first arrived. Ship also stops in Kona.

 

[buffettgirl]

I don't know if it's the same every week, but it was in port in Hilo on Monday. I think it also stops in Kona.
hmm, this says something different. https://www.ncl.com/cruises/7-Day-H...L?itineraryCode=PRIDE_AMER7HNLOGGITOKOANWKHNL
But I know for a fact it was in the Hilo port on Monday. Odd....

 

[connorsmom911]

Big Island is HUGE (you can fit all the other islands within BI), so it is a LOT of driving. And if there is any accidents, you can be stuck for a long time, with no detours. That being said, it is amazing, with so many things to see. We flew into Kona, stayed 3 nights at Hapuna Beach Prince, drove to Hilo and stayed 1 night before flying to Oahu for 3 nights at Aulani. Never saw the southwest side of the island at all.

While on west side we did a night snorkel with the manta rays (total bucket list...so awesome!!) in Kona, visited Hawi/Pololu Valley, Waimea, and had a beach day at our resort (best beach on BI in my opinion). On our drive day from Hapuna to Hilo, we visited Waipio Valley, hiked Akaka Falls, checked in to our hotel in Hilo, visited VNP, did Chain of Craters road, dinner in Volcano, back to Jager Museum after dark and back to Hilo. That was an exhausting day! I wouldn't recommend packing that much in one day!!! And there was no lava flow (at least in public view) when we were there either.

While Maui is smaller, there is still a lot of driving depending on where you stay and what you plan to see/do! Kaanapali on west side, Kihei to south, Hana to east, and upcountry. Haleakala at sunrise/sunset, and snorkeling at Molokini were my favs. I spent a week and still didn't get to Hana.

One tip that was given to me over and over when planning was not to try and do too much! Vacation is supposed to be relaxing! And Hawaii is supposed to be enjoyed on Hawaii time...i.e. no rushing around!!

 

[cgattis]

I don't know if it's the same every week, but it was in port in Hilo on Monday. I think it also stops in Kona.
hmm, this says something different. https://www.ncl.com/cruises/7-Day-Hawaii,-Round-trip-Honolulu-PRIDE_AMER7HNLOGGITOKOANWKHNL?itineraryCode=PRIDE_AMER7HNLOGGITOKOANWKHNL
But I know for a fact it was in the Hilo port on Monday. Odd....

Normally, POA sails from Honolulu on Sat, spends Sun/Mon in Maui, Tue in Hilo, Wed in Kona, Thur/Fri on Kauai, and back on Sat. Interesting they altered a route. Maybe a port issue? It would sooooo suck to have all your port plans made and get an itinerary changed, but I know it can.