You've gotta stay here at least once: The Hilton Waikoloa Village, Waikoloa, Hawaii. The room was smaller here (it wasn't a suite), but we had other reasons for staying at this hotel, namely "Dolphin Quest". A lottery is held among hotel guests daily for a chance to personally interact with the dolphins that populate the Hilton's lagoon. Not everyone wins, and you have to be willing to fork out at least $75 per person if you do win, but it's worth it. How many people do you know that got to kiss a dolphin? On the whole, the Hilton was super clean and very attentive, but if you don't like big places, this isn't for you. More than likely, you'll have to take a monorail or ferryboat to the building where your room is.
Restaurants
Broke the Mouth In Hilo. In Hawaiian, "broke the mouth" means "tastes great". For a taste of local food, this little out of the way place is worth the extra little walk to get to it. Here, they've got what is called the plate lunch. It's all the rage on the islands and boy is it good. You get a plate with assorted stuff on it, pasta salad, greens salad, potato salad and a couple of other things. Then you go to the sauce bar and put your own sauces on your salads, so it tastes how you want it, rather than how someone else chose. For dessert, go back inside after you eat and check out their baked goods. Kawaihae Harbor Grill In Kamuela. From the outside, you wouldn't think this place is good, but keep in mind, the Big Island is like the Australian outback. The decor is really down home, but the food is fabulous. We've seen people just wearing a t-shirt and shorts in this place, but David wore an Aloha shirt and shorts, and April wore an Aloha print dress and we felt comfortable with that. Tropics Cafe In Kailua-Kona at the Royal Kona Resort. The decor of the hotel and restaurant is right out of the 60's, which makes you wonder if the food will be good, but rest assured, it's worth the trip. Good prices and large portions, not to mention the food tasted great, too.
Sightseeing Here's a tip: If you're staying on the west side of the island and you want to go to the east side of the island, where Hilo and most of the other stuff is, the absolute quickest way is Saddle Road. Don't let anyone scare you out of taking it. The only real reason the car rental companies don't want you taking it is because there aren't any gas stations, towns or ANYTHING on this road. As long as you have a full tank of gas, there's no need to fear. The road is paved well enough. One word of caution: Don't travel this road after dark-there aren't any lights either. Hilo Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory
Near Hilo. If you want only the BEST macadamia nuts, this is the place. Take a gander at the factory itself and just how the heck they crack open the little buggers, then buy 'em covered in every flavor you could imagine. Puunalu'u Bake Shop Near South Point. If you like King's Hawaiian Bread, then you'll love the stuff they make here. They have 3 kinds of sweetbread: the original (tastes like King's); guava sweetbread, which is pink; and taro sweetbread, which is purple. You can look inside the bakery and see how it's done, then grab a sandwich made with sweetbread from their little lunch counter and eat it outside at a table in their garden. After that, check out the shop and take some of that bread home. We managed to get a loaf all the way from Hawaii to Maryland intact and it looks like it refrigerates and freezes pretty well.
UPDATE: The bread was in our deep freezer for 2 months because we were saving it for Thanksgiving. It held up extremely well, still almost as soft as the day we bought it after it thawed out. South Point and Green Sand Beach Not for the faint of heart. South Point is the bottom tip of the island, the furthest south you can get and still be in the United States. When you are here, you are 90 miles below Miami! You can get to South Point via a very narrow road (it is paved most of the way) with a regular car, but you'd probably feel a lot better if you rent a Ford Explorer or something like that. The paving stops when you get close to South Point. To get to the Green Sand Beach, go all the way to South Point and make a left. No kidding. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE TO THE GREEN SAND BEACH WITHOUT FOUR WHEEL DRIVE. It is the most horrible drive there ever could be. Completely unpaved and very rocky, you basically are following the path furrowed out by others before you. It's about 3 miles, so you could walk it instead. Another caution is that the green sand beach is not easy to get to. It is down a hill that there is not a real path to get to. You basically rockclimb most of the way, but according to others braver than us, you have to slide on your butt the last 5 feet. For more detailed directions to the green sand beach, feel free to e-mail us. Volcanoes National Park An all day affair. The road in the park is really a complete circle, with lots of sightseeing stops, the culmination of which is the active volcano, Kilauea. Yep, it's still erupting. The best time to see the lava flow is when it's dark. We suggest getting down to the viewing area before dark, so you can start walking over the cooled lava flow to get a closer look. The park rangers will direct you once you get to the end of the paved road (which abruptly stops where a lava flow cut it off) as to where to go. If you're going to be there after dark, don't forget a flashlight. The lava flow you'll be walking over is quite treacherous if you can't see where you're going. Volcano Winery Near Volcanoes National Park. They're not always open, so check before you take a trip to this little, out of the way winery to get the only wine made on the Big Island of Hawaii. They mix various types of tropical fruit juices with chablis, chardonnay, or something like that to make some really cool wines. If they're not open, the only other place we know of that sells this wine is the Volcano General Store, which is in the same area. There are directions to both of these places in the Fodor's Hawaii book.
Nightlife: Not much. You're here to relax, anyway, right? Good, because this is another island where most everything rolls up at 9 p.m. What we've heard is that the people who used to go to Maui to get away from it all are now coming to the Big Island. There might be a few places in the little shore town called Kailua-Kona, it seemed like a small version of Lahaina, on Maui. Hilo is a larger town, but there didn't seem to be any nightlife type places there.
Email / knighton@cablespeed.com
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