Our first trip to Hawaii and we stayed on the Big Island for a month to fully explore it. I picked this location for closeness to Volcanos Natl. Park, to explore this rainforest side of the island, and the lower price compared to the Kona for a long stay. The house worked well for all of that. But, if I were to do over, I would do 2 wks here, 2 wks Kona just because the drive between the 2 is about 2 hrs, so we spent a lot of time driving.
With 3 bedrooms, we had friends come to stay twice during the month. The beds were comfortable, bedrooms were spacious, plenty of drawer and closet space.
Actually all of the living areas are large and have plenty of seating, lots of room to gather and play games. The smart tv works great, I was able to log into my premium channels. The wifi works great, never had any connection issues. But upgrades are needed: the couches are lumpy, dining room chairs are stiff, and there were no cushions on the porch furniture.
There is an air conditioner unit in the main living space and the main bedroom. We only used it the first week or so. The house stayed pretty cool, so once we turned the main one off, we never turned it back on. We only used the one in the bedroom twice the whole month. There is a dehumidifier which worked well, we started turning that on everyday when we left, otherwise it started to feel damp in the house.
The house is about a 16 minute drive to Hilo, which is the largest town nearby, with major retailers, gas stations, downtown shops, restaurants, parks and beaches. FYI Buy groceries at Target, so much cheaper than the local grocers. People in Hilo thought this was out in the boonies, but I didn’t think it was that far. I thought Hilo offered a lot, but I’m glad we were not staying in Hilo, even though we went there frequently. This is in a large development but the houses have large yards and are back from the road, no street lights, so in that way it did feel more rural.
We did not cook much at the house, but there is not a dishwasher, no big deal. Guests are asked to wash and put away dishes at end of stay, also no big deal. But, the cupboards were disorganized and I didn’t like the way the dishes looked, so first thing we did was wash all the plates, bowls, glasses and utensils. We washed cookware as we used it. I think cleaners could do better in the kitchen.
Everything else in the house was nice and clean, and it had everything we needed. We enjoyed our stay.
