We are a family of 5; three adult children ages 19-24. This is our 2nd consecutive year in Hawaii; on both occasions we made sure that one of our weeks was on the Big Island. This year we wanted to stay somewhere out of the resort area and found this absolutely lovely home in a wonderful location.
This large and roomy house is located just outside of Waimea in a neighborhood setting. 5 minute drive from town.
Pros:
*Owner was super easy to work with and always responded to us in a timely manner.
*Beautiful wrap-around deck with nice views of Mauna Kea.
*Large kitchen well-equipped. Gas stove and oven are a plus.
*spacious family room and dining area.
*Bedrooms and baths are comfortable and spacious.
*plenty of space heaters for chilly evenings and mornings, we stayed in January and really only needed them 2 of 4 nights. There is also an electric fireplace in family room if needed.
*Loved the beach chairs, boogie boards, and umbrellas. Beach towels are available if you need them.
Foodland is very close and reasonable. We cooked in several evenings. We appreciated the spice rack!
We loved this house for all of the above reasons and also because we wanted to hike around Mauna Kea and the North end of the island this time. That said, we were no more than 20 minutes from Mauna Kea beach, so watching a sunset there after hiking was lovely and doable.
Cons:
If I have to have one, its probably the fact that we always want to do so much, by the time we get back to the house after a long and wonderful day, the restaurants are closed. Island time... Luckily, we had lots of choices regarding our meal...grilling or cooking.
Stay here if you want to be in the Mountains, but still close enough to have an awesome beach day.