Hotels in Kona

Hello,
I have been reading the posts about dive operations on The Big Island. My question is what are some of the good hotels to stay at, something like a four star hotel, with a beach view, possible shopping on premises(my wife is a non diver and dosent drive in unfamilier territory). Also any good local restaraunts. Thanks in advance.

For in the Kailua area, the Sheraton might be a four star hotel. It is on the ocean, however there is no beach. Nice rocky shoreline and a very nice pool.

The Outrigger would be a step down from that, but is quite nice. There is a great snorkeling beach next door. The Bar at the Outrigger overlooks a large tidepool with resident turtles.

Other hotels are getting tired. The King Kamehameha Hotel is right at the pier in town. You can watch the cruise ships come in. There is a small nice beach on the premises. The Royal Kona Resort is what formerly was a Hilton, built in the 60's it's slowly undergoing renovations but is not close to a 4 star property, although I'd probably take it over the King Kam and save a few bucks.

Up north of the airport you would have the Four Seasons and Kona Villiage. Both of these are top knotch and often are mentioned in Best Hotel in the World lists. I don't really know the star system, but these are probably in the 5 range.

Further north up in Waikaloa (probably 30-35 minutes to the harbor -not the pier- where most of us launch out of) you'll find the Hilton and the Marriot. The Hilton is nicer and a nice place to stay if you have non-diving family - nice grounds with lots of pools. The Marriot I would put somewhere between the Sheraton and Outrigger in Kailua in quality. Waikaloa does have a nice shopping center centrally located.

Further north yet, say 45-55 minutes from Honokohau Harbor, you'd have the Mauna Lani, Mauna Kea and the Prince Hapuna. All are 4 star and up by my guess, have nice beaches but can't match the pools at the Sheraton and the Hilton.

Driving is wierd here. There is only 1 highway of note on the west side of the island, and it's just a glorified 2 way street. All hotels are at most, 2 turns off the highway. Hard to get lost, but the traffic is slow and frustrating at times.

Ah, the image of Hawaai and beaches....... We have some small great ones but you need to know these are new islands. Some coral sand but not what most expect. Mo betta! Harsh and rugged with just a little sandy beach if your lucky.......NOOO, It's all bad, stay away!!!!! Florida is the place to be.

We stayed at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel in Nov. 04 (and we're booked there again in May 06). Really beautiful place, and it's on one of the best beaches on the island (Hapuna Beach). It's about 30-45 min. from Kona, but the drive never bothered us. Some pics:

The Hilton Waikoloa is a large resort with extensive grounds - lots of fun pools and it is beach front, though most people probably would rather play in the pool than go to the beach. I've heard it described as being somewhat "Disney" like, with its monorail, boats, dolphins, etc. At any rate, my daughter loves the hotel, so when we go to Kona for a weekend trip, we usually stay there. I'm the only diver in my family and I want to make sure the rest of them have things to occupy themselves with while I'm off diving.

It is a bit of a drive to the harbor where most dive operators launch out of, but it's doable. We're always in Kona for such a short time and I don't want to spend a lot of time driving around - so last August I scheduled some dives with Red Sail, who are located in the resort. I really enjoyed my dives and had no complaints.

The resort has its own shops and as mentioned previously, there's a small shopping center in the Waikoloa resort area. I think it's called King's Shops or something. The shopping area also has several restaurants.