What a cute little cottage! Our family had a nice stay here except for a few issues, listed below, that made this a 3 star stay for us.
The positives:
Annette was very helpful when we needed some assistance and also came out to greet us at our arrival. What a wonderful host! Her gardens are simply amazing. We loved waking up to the sound of the birds in the morning and watching them at the bird feeders. There was a regular family of grouse (or similar) and a daily kalij pheasant visitor to her feeders.
This is a kid-friendly property, with a pack n play, kids folding chairs, a kid’s table and chairs for eating, some fun kids movies, beach toys and floaties, and even a sandbox in the garden! But my kids’ favorite part of our stay was the slide off the balcony!!! It provided hours of entertainment in the short amount of time we weren’t out exploring the island. My 4 year old also was super excited to have her own “bed”, the day lounge in the loft lol.
I didn’t realize before booking that there was no air conditioning, but this didn’t turn out to be an issue for us even in mid-June. The temps dropped to pleasant low 60°’s F, and we were comfortable with the extra blankets provided. It might have been more of an issue if we were ever at the cottage during the day though since it did get hot and humid.
The negatives:
First, and less important since it only bothered one of the three adults in our party, is that there is no potable water in the cottage. Annette provided plenty of fresh water on the counter but the member bothered by this issue was worried about showers, teeth brushing, washing dishes, etc. so I said I would mention it in my review. This also was not disclosed in the booking so we learned about this in the welcome email sent by the host.
The second, and larger, issue for us, was location compared to what we wanted to do on island. Most of our activities were 1.5+ hours from the Airbnb, so we spent a LOT of time driving. We were 1 hour away from Volcanoes National Park, which wasn’t too bad aside from the late night we had with viewing the lava, and 30 minutes from Ka Lae (South Point- not much to see there if you don’t do the green sand beach) and 30 minutes from the black sand beach and sea turtles (highly recommend!). Miranda’s coffee farms and cafe was just 8 minutes away and amazing. But Hilo was 1.5 hours, Kona was 1-1.5 hours, Puna district was almost 2 hours, and anything on the northern or central part of the island took 2+ hours. I would recommend staying here for a couple nights of exploring the southern part of the island, then booking elsewhere to explore the rest of the island.
The third and final issue for us: there were a lot of bugs in the cottage and food could not be left out for even short amounts of time. I put my kids to bed one night before eating my dinner and in just 20 minutes on the counter, I found ants and a cockroach stealing my food. I understand that we were on a tropical island but I also think you don’t want bugs in your guest’s kitchen and there’s got to be a way to at least control the ants. They were a big problem for us.
Overall, we had a nice stay here but probably wouldn’t come back. But I also think the price per night is fair and makes up for some of these issues. Hopefully this review will help travelers decide if this place is right for them!