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Places to Stay in Hawaii

We were thinking about staying on the Big Island of Hawaii and were looking at these two places, Kolea at Waikoloa Beach Resort and the Mauna Lani Terrace. The prices are quit different and wanted to see if anyone had any opinions as to which is a better spot.

Tags: big, hawaii, island, lani, mauna, rentals, vacation, waikoloa

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Permalink Reply by PA mom on December 13, 2009 at 8:29am

Hi Rob,

I've stayed at Kolea and really liked it. I've been to the Mauna Lani but have not stayed there. Here is what I see as the main differences:

Kolea:
* Great "condo" resort. The condos are truly very nice, very new and quite comfortable. There is a choice of two and three bedrooms
* Nice pool but it is not a huge resort pool with slides etc. For us it was fine.
* Nice beach (A Beach) which is really walking distance (without crossing any big roads). You can use the chairs on the beach from the Marriott but there is not any beach service.
* If you wander south on the beach from A Beach there is some very nice wild beach areas with turtles, etc.
* Great access to shops and restaurants at the Queen's and King's shopping areas. You can walk there which is nice. We had some great meals at Merriman's cafe.
* Given you are not at a full resort, you don't have the amenities (ie no one brings you a drink at the pool or delivers room services to your condo)
* It is walking distance from the Marriott and Hilton if you want to use their amenities (spas, etc)

Mauna Lani:
* The Terrace units looked nice but I doubt they are as nice as Kolea
* Main benefit I see is that you are associated with the Mauna Lani so you can use their beach (the sand beach is actually a further walk from the condos than A Beach is from Kolea.
* Given the resort association you can use the pool, restaurants, etc.
* I really like the little beach they have by their Beach Club Restaurant. We went there a couple times as it is protected, has nice chairs, and a great restaurant right at the beach.

My strategy is usually to stay at Kolea, get a ground floor unit so the kids can run around outside, and travel over to Mauna Lani and Mauna Kea for the full resort experience.