My husband and I spent 7 gorgeous days on Big Island, Hawai’i this December and one of the reasons was our accommodations booked through AirBnB.
We chose a place off the beaten path, as we wanted to avoid the resorts and crowds of Kona. We were impressed by the photos on AirBnB and chose this place. I want to tell you that the view looks better live than in the photos.
The Green Cottage is basically a studio with a big porch. Very basic, designed for 1 or 2 people, with everything you need for your stay, if you’re not the type of person that wants to just lounge and have the beach, the restaurants, the drinks close by. Then you need to book a place at the Kona resorts and forget about exploring the island. The access road is narrow, but we had a Jeep Wrangler and had no issues. There is parking for one car and that’s plenty. If you plan to rent the house and have more than one car, parking space would be an issue.
Nature is all around and there are frogs and birds “singing” outside. We loved it. We live in Manhattan, so it was awesome to exchange the honking and siren sounds with nature’s beautiful sounds.
You really need a car to explore Big Island and Honoka’a gives you great access to Waimea and Hilo, while Kona and the Volcano area is not far away either. It’s an island after all.
If you want to eat, there’s a 10 minute walk from the cottage to Honoka’a’s downtown area where you can find a couple of great places like Granma’s Kitchen or Cafe Il Mondo. There are 2 gas stations near by and a supermarket.
The host, Patricia, was great, promotly responding to our inquiries. Also, Virginia, the local contact, responded very quickly the only time we called, to check out.
Awesome place. Highly recommend.