Just curious how much things are costing these days? We’re coming to Kona in a few weeks for Fall Break and I’m just curious about gas, groceries, wine, beer, etc.
Try the Safeway, Walmart, or target (can’t remember if that one has groceries). Are you in Kona or up in Mauna Lani/Waikoloa area? That is a resort area and will be much $$$. There’s a Costco north of Kona on your way up there. It is pretty packed but could save you some money on milk, etc.
A million dollars 😭😭😭 But really I'd hit up Costco. A weekly trip for me is around $300-400 usually, family of 4. Gas from Costco is around $4.50ish. Safeway is so expensive I avoid it at all costs, but they do have good deals on Friday if you're there that day.
Outer islands do tend to be more expensive so it may be a bit more in Kona. Have fun though big island is my favorite!
Not there now but we are going over Christmas - first trip to the Big Island (have done maui, kauai, and Oahu before) so I’ll take any recommendations
DD LOVED the sea horse farm so if you think your kids will be at all interested, do it. She also liked the snorkel tour we did to the Captain Cook monument but she always likes those. The chocolate farm tour (Lavaloha) near Hilo was a surprise hit. We didn't do a coffee tour, we knew DD would not be interested. We stayed a week on Hilo side and a week on Kona side; we wouldn't have made a special trip for the chocolate tour if we weren't staying close by. And Volcanoes National Park and Place of Refuge were both fantastic, of course.
The shave ice at the place attached to the King Kam hotel was really good. We've tried a lot of shave ice. And you can get Tropical Dreams ice cream pretty much everywhere and it is my favorite.
Not there now but we are going over Christmas - first trip to the Big Island (have done maui, kauai, and Oahu before) so I’ll take any recommendations
DD LOVED the sea horse farm so if you think your kids will be at all interested, do it. She also liked the snorkel tour we did to the Captain Cook monument but she always likes those. The chocolate farm tour (Lavaloha) near Hilo was a surprise hit. We didn't do a coffee tour, we knew DD would not be interested. We stayed a week on Hilo side and a week on Kona side; we wouldn't have made a special trip for the chocolate tour if we weren't staying close by. And Volcanoes National Park and Place of Refuge were both fantastic, of course.
The shave ice at the place attached to the King Kam hotel was really good. We've tried a lot of shave ice. And you can get Tropical Dreams ice cream pretty much everywhere and it is my favorite.
oh I had no idea about the sea horse farm! I bet DS2 will love that. I know we are booking a nighttime manta ray snorkel thing and I obviously Mauna Kea and volcano National park. Otherwise we are clueless lol
Post by rootbeerfloat on Sept 27, 2022 15:13:52 GMT -5
Definitely stock up at Costco and Target in Kona. I was in Hilo last week, and the car rental employee recommended getting gas at Safeway, which offered a discount for cash/debit ($4xx/gallon vs $5xx gallon). Not sure if that's true on the Kona side, too, but we usually fill up at Costco anyway.
I'm from Hawaii, and the Big Island is my favorite to visit. Things that haven't been recommended: horseback riding in Waimea, Waipio Valley lookout (there's a good bakery/malasada place in nearby Hamakua), waterfalls in Hilo. Also, last week's trip was to visit a cow sanctuary, which was random, but interesting. (My mom loves cows lol.)
I'm from Hawaii, and the Big Island is my favorite to visit. Things that haven't been recommended: horseback riding in Waimea, Waipio Valley lookout (there's a good bakery/malasada place in nearby Hamakua), waterfalls in Hilo. Also, last week's trip was to visit a cow sanctuary, which was random, but interesting. (My mom loves cows lol.)
We went to Maui and the Big Island this summer, and we enjoyed the bolded. A trip to Mauna Kea to go stargazing is a must. My DD wasn't old enough to go to the summit (you have to be 13), so we just drove to the visitors center, and it was amazing. Also, maybe obvious, but Volanoes National Park is a must see. We downloaded the Shaka Guide app and bought all the BI tours, and basically whenever we were driving, we had it on. We stayed in Hilo, and really enjoyed spending a morning walking around the Farmer's Market also. We brought home so much fabulous coffee.
(not to avoid your question, but I didn't really pay attention to how much things cost. We just spent all of our money and came home poor. We didn't go to Costco on the BI because we were there for a shorter time, but we went in Maui.)
DD LOVED the sea horse farm so if you think your kids will be at all interested, do it. She also liked the snorkel tour we did to the Captain Cook monument but she always likes those. The chocolate farm tour (Lavaloha) near Hilo was a surprise hit. We didn't do a coffee tour, we knew DD would not be interested. We stayed a week on Hilo side and a week on Kona side; we wouldn't have made a special trip for the chocolate tour if we weren't staying close by. And Volcanoes National Park and Place of Refuge were both fantastic, of course.
The shave ice at the place attached to the King Kam hotel was really good. We've tried a lot of shave ice. And you can get Tropical Dreams ice cream pretty much everywhere and it is my favorite.
oh I had no idea about the sea horse farm! I bet DS2 will love that. I know we are booking a nighttime manta ray snorkel thing and I obviously Mauna Kea and volcano National park. Otherwise we are clueless lol
The night snorkel with manta rays is the coolest water excursion DH and I have ever done. Kids were 9 and 11 and loved it. DH and I both scuba dive and have done lots of wildlife, including a great white cage dive, but this is so much better. We got lucky, there were 3 or 4 mantas that hung out for almost an hour.
devonpow I love the Coffee Shack in Kona. Food is real simple, but it has the most gorgeous views and tons of green geckos. Black sand beach is super cool and everytime I've gone there's turtles. I've done the octopus farm and the seahorse one. I think I like the octopus one just a little more it was more interactive. Volcano national park. If your able to go early in the am I would go then to see the lava, or get some food and sit while you wait for the sun to go down the parking lot gets full. There's a lot of cool beaches on Hilo side, but they're not like resort sandy beaches more volcano rock but the water is so clear. There's the cutest goat farm right outside of Akaka falls. The falls is cool too and an easy walk around to see.
I'm from Hawaii, and the Big Island is my favorite to visit. Things that haven't been recommended: horseback riding in Waimea, Waipio Valley lookout (there's a good bakery/malasada place in nearby Hamakua), waterfalls in Hilo. Also, last week's trip was to visit a cow sanctuary, which was random, but interesting. (My mom loves cows lol.)
We went to Maui and the Big Island this summer, and we enjoyed the bolded. A trip to Mauna Kea to go stargazing is a must. My DD wasn't old enough to go to the summit (you have to be 13), so we just drove to the visitors center, and it was amazing. Also, maybe obvious, but Volanoes National Park is a must see. We downloaded the Shaka Guide app and bought all the BI tours, and basically whenever we were driving, we had it on. We stayed in Hilo, and really enjoyed spending a morning walking around the Farmer's Market also. We brought home so much fabulous coffee.
(not to avoid your question, but I didn't really pay attention to how much things cost. We just spent all of our money and came home poor. We didn't go to Costco on the BI because we were there for a shorter time, but we went in Maui.)
can kids not go to the summit at all under 13? Or was that just a tour you were in? We will have our 15 year old and 10 year old with us
We were in Kauai and Oahu for two weeks in August, just got our last credit card bill and I nearly fainted, sooooo yeah. Lol.
Honestly I feel like we saved some on food by doing mostly food trucks and combining two meals- so like a big, late brunch instead of getting both breakfast and lunch. Also 7-11s there are like a whole thing, so spam msubi became an easy go to for cheap.
I think most of our big money was spent on activities and rental cars.
We went to Maui and the Big Island this summer, and we enjoyed the bolded. A trip to Mauna Kea to go stargazing is a must. My DD wasn't old enough to go to the summit (you have to be 13), so we just drove to the visitors center, and it was amazing. Also, maybe obvious, but Volanoes National Park is a must see. We downloaded the Shaka Guide app and bought all the BI tours, and basically whenever we were driving, we had it on. We stayed in Hilo, and really enjoyed spending a morning walking around the Farmer's Market also. We brought home so much fabulous coffee.
(not to avoid your question, but I didn't really pay attention to how much things cost. We just spent all of our money and came home poor. We didn't go to Costco on the BI because we were there for a shorter time, but we went in Maui.)
can kids not go to the summit at all under 13? Or was that just a tour you were in? We will have our 15 year old and 10 year old with us
I couldn’t find a tour that would allow someone under 13 to go to the summit, so we didn’t take a tour. My DD is 12, so I thought about fudging her age for the tour, but she has some weird health stuff, so I decided it wasn’t worth it. Plus, the tours were like $300/each, so visitors center for free (or maybe there was a nominal park fee, I don’t remember) was fine by us. It was still amazing at the visitors center.
We went to Maui and the Big Island this summer, and we enjoyed the bolded. A trip to Mauna Kea to go stargazing is a must. My DD wasn't old enough to go to the summit (you have to be 13), so we just drove to the visitors center, and it was amazing. Also, maybe obvious, but Volanoes National Park is a must see. We downloaded the Shaka Guide app and bought all the BI tours, and basically whenever we were driving, we had it on. We stayed in Hilo, and really enjoyed spending a morning walking around the Farmer's Market also. We brought home so much fabulous coffee.
(not to avoid your question, but I didn't really pay attention to how much things cost. We just spent all of our money and came home poor. We didn't go to Costco on the BI because we were there for a shorter time, but we went in Maui.)
can kids not go to the summit at all under 13? Or was that just a tour you were in? We will have our 15 year old and 10 year old with us
They do not allow children under 13 past the visitor center. But the views are still great if you hike up the hill across from the visitor center.
We spent a month on the big island this summer and it was amazing! We usually got gas and groceries from Costco, but also got food at target and Walmart. We loved the coffee shack in captain cook, just south of Kona. I think we went 3 times. (They are closed on Wednesdays.) Shaka tacos is also really good. We ate at their food truck and also their restaurant. Our favorite beach was Hapuna, but there were a lot of other great beaches as well. Pay a local the $20 a head to drive you to the green sand beach. It was breathtaking. I could go on and on, lol. We did not want to come home!
We went in April with a 9 and 11 year old. I won’t post about all the money that was spent on nonsense that they were completely ungrateful for.
But one of my favorite things was the drive from Hilo to Waikoloa along the coast/gulches. It was breathtaking, especially since we had a convertible and had the top down. And the brisket Mac and cheese at The Fish and the Hog in Waimea was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten and I don’t even like Mac n cheese (I ordered poke).