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My FI and I went to Waikoloa Village north of Kona last January.
1. Yes, very much so!
2. I highly recommend snorkeling.
3. The beaches aren't as good as other islands apparently, but I thought they were lovely. They have non-black sand beaches.
4. Can't help you there!
Which side of the island are you thinking of? The west is much drier and has many more lava fields (which are pretty boring) than the east.
Thank you so much for you input. Did you have a snorkeling guide or did you just go by yourselves. If you did a tour is there one you would recommend?
I loved Big Island when we went there! There is sooo much to do! plus its beautiful!
We went there on our first vacation together and we also like you used our points to get there! We stayed at Waikoloa Village like @ginnyc did - i thought that hotel was amazzzzing!
As for your questions:
1. Yes Big island has a lot of really nice and beautiful beaches where you can relax. We spend a lot of time driving around the island, as it is the biggest one and there is tons of things to do and see!
2. Snorking is a must, plus you can go see the volcano, then on the other side of the island there are really beatiful whaterfalls, and on the south there is a black sand beach with sea turtles coming to the shore. we also went to the only meseum in US where they bread sea horses, that was kinda neat!
3. No, these are certain areas where they are black (since the volcano is a functioning one) and some beaches are white sand with shallow waters.
4. Honolulu is the main island....are you staying 1 or 2 nights there?
If you have more questions ask - i would be than happy to help!
Oh, if you have a chance rent a jeep, as there are some areas that are a bit hard to get to, but if you are not into exploring much a small car will be enough!
One of my sisters lives on the Big Island, in Waikoloa. I visited a few years ago, when she lived in Kona and just worked in Waikoloa...both towns are great! There is a nice local beach between Kona and Waikoloa that is absolutely gorgeous!
I also agree with the must-dos of snorkeling and touring the volcano. The drive around the island alone is amazing! If I remember correctly, it was about a 2-3 hour drive up to the Hilo area to go to the volcano and the tour through the park is also a driving tour with spots to park and walk around. Also be sure to hit Alii Street for some nice flea markets.
born & raised in Hilo. 
which side of the island are you staying at? there are beaches you can drive to on either side. west side (Kona/Waikoloa) definitely has much nicer beaches than Hilo side. you will have to stop at Honolulu airport to get to Big Island, so you can stay there a few nights, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're doing it just for the beach.
Well I thought that the big island only had the black sand beaches but now that I know there are the white sand we can cut staying in honolulu all together! I don't know which side I want to stay on I keep getting torn! I want to do everything. I love Waikoloa but Hilo has more rentals in our price range that offer more. The beach thing is not a major issue I just wanted to do something nice for the future hubby and let him see the beach that he has in his mind. Which side of the island would you suggest?
Big ilsand is GORGEOUS and perfect for a honeymoon. There are tow "sides" to the island that are quite different. one side is the volcano side. It's really cool driving around the colvano and seeing what it has done, walk on the lava,etc.
If you have a car, you can then drive to the other side. About half way, you will come to Mauna Kea. i HIGHLY recommend going up. It is like beiing in outer space1 Really amazing.
The other side is the beach side. The snorkeling, the giant sea turtles, dolphins...it's beautiful and romantic.
definitely Waikoloa/Kona side. That side gets more sunny days than Hilo. Also, there are nicer beaches (but also more crowded). A very popular one for tourists & locals is Hapuna Beach. If you rent a car, from Kona it would take you about 2 hrs to drive to Hilo and an additional 45mins to Kilauea Volcano National Park.
Echo dns567 - Kona is drier. Regarding hotels on Honolulu (if you're still considering it) check out the Aqua Hotels. Pretty reasonable prices and since that franchise is relatively new the rooms have been upgraded. The hotels that aren't fronting Waikiki Beach are considerably cheaper and just a block away from the beach anyway so it won't make too much of a difference.
Thank you guys so much for the help. I think we're going to stay in the rental we found on the hilo side for 4 days and then stay in a cheaper hotel on the the Kona side for 3 or 4 days. I was doing my "dorky" mapping calculations and we'd be spending almost half of our time driving to and from places and I just didn't think that was how it was supposed to be on the honeymoon of your dreams. We've got almost everything planned out. I don't know if we're going to go hotel or rental on the Kona side. It just depends on the prices. Now my only other problem is the car rental! I'll be just turning 20 when the wedding comes and hubby to be will be 20 about to turn 21 but unfortunately not until after the wedding. I can't seem to find a car rental place that allows anyone under 21 to rent a car. Even then you have to pay like $50 a day for an underage fee. How Stupid??? Very!
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Ok readers, This is going to be the longest post you've ever read. Are you ready?? Go:
I know I have let this honeymoon thing go on wwaaayyyy too long but We've finally figured it out. My dad is giving us his frequent flyer miles so we do get to go to Hawaii!!! Yay!!! That's the first place FI said he wanted to go but I knew we could barely afford a hotel there let alone the expensive plane tickets. So that's one task checked off!
Next, I've done some research (meaning: hours spent huddled over the computer until its dark outside without even realizing it) I think Big Island is where we'll be headed. I'm going to have to give you lists to show what all I need from you. But we'll get to that later. Here's my reasoning for the Big Island:
1. We hate lots of people!
2. We just want to relax.
3. we're always up for an adventure
4. They have the cheapest rental houses of all the islands on homeaway
I've found a vacation rental that we picked after hours of consideration on Homeaway.com (love that site) This will be our view!
It's a sweet little house and it even has a pool since we don't know if we're near the beach and or if it's the nudey beach on the big island. (we're not into seeing other peoples doodads)
Problem? only a penny size one.
FI wants a beach... he's never been to one. While he says that it isn't that important to him I can't help but think...It's his honeymoon...he should get everything he's dreamed. Right? So I was thinkin that we'd stay in oahu for a night either before coming to the big island or on our way back since I am almost positive that we'll have to transfer there. I know we can work our budget around it by just not staying as long on the big island.
NOW Here's what I really need from you (took me long enough)
1. Is the Big Island good for relaxing?
2. Are there any specific things that we should do on the island?
3. What about the beaches on that island? Are they all the black beaches?
4. Any reasonably priced hotel suggestions in honolulu?