We (family of two adults and one 3 year old) had a great four night stay at the big island cottages. It’s a great home base for exploring green beach, black beach, and the national volcano parks. While it is far from Hilo and Kona, it still was fun to check out the smaller towns and we were still able to do a day-trip to Hilo. As mentioned, there are no groceries stores but the 76 gas station (wiki wiki mart) has a large assortment of shelf stable goods in the back and if you time it right, has pre-made meals in the morning and again in the night. If you need a bigger grocery store, check out ocean view town.
Check in was super easy and we were met by the host. We had an emergency with the shower breaking and they showed up within 30 seconds of my text (we needed the water shut off!) and it was fixed ASAP despite the host’s daughter going into labor! It was helpful that they were onsite but never a bother.
The washing machine and dryer was great as we had been traveling for two weeks and didn’t want to bring a lot of clothes. The hosts provided fresh towels, soap, shampoo, and other misc toiletries. For beach, they had mats, towels, kid toys. Kitchen was fully stocked (lots of misc spices and sauces.) including coffee maker/filter and some ground coffee. There is no dishwasher. There is no coffee grinder. There is a microwave and toaster.
I felt safe in this location.
No air conditioning but the fans were fine. It is a legit plantation style cottage on a large lot so be mindful of that you’re essentially in nature with electricity and WiFi (which worked great by the way) so you may see a bug or two. My daughter loved the gecko in her room. I grew up on Kauai and know it’s common.
Beds were comfy. For those traveling with kids, they have a pool noodle if you want to make your own bed rail or we used the sofa pillows. The hosts also provided phone chargers. Thoughtful touches everywhere.
The local restaurants aren’t amazing but they’re not terrible. The wiki wiki has great pre made meals. The nearby bakery is good - for malasadas I recommend the taro or regular. There’s also a cool coffee maker on the road to south point called Hawaii’a local buzz - worth a stop.
Overall a great stay. I would recommend this cottage to anyone traveling on the south side. The hosts put a lot of effort into the property!