Wedding festivities will all be taking place in the Kona area, on the West side of the Big Island of Hawaii.

You have two airports to choose from:

Kona (KOA) on the West side of the island and

Hilo (ITO) on the East side of the island. It takes 1.5 hrs. to drive from Hilo to Kona.

We recommend flying into Kona, that is what we will be doing.

Keep in mind that most flights returning to the mainland are evening/night flights.

Transportation:

We recommend getting a rental car and exploring some of the island during your stay.

If staying close to your accommodations you can Uber/Lyft, or schedule a shuttle to/from the airport. Keep in mind you will need to travel to the ceremony location & reception location.

Accommodations:

There are lots of hotels, Airbnb, and VRBO's to stay at in the area and on the island. On our first trip to the big island we stayed at the Royal Kona Resort. It was a nice hotel and the room was great. (We always recommend getting a room with a lanai (balcony)).

On our wedding scouting trip in August we stayed at the Courtyard King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel. It was nice, the only downside was that the hotel sat back just far enough that we could not hear the waves at night, a big draw back for us.

We recommend two main hotels:

Courtyard by King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel

and

Royal Kona Resort

We have stayed at both of these hotels and highly recommend them!

The Big Island shoreline is mostly lava rock, if you are wanting a place to stay with a sandy beach area make sure you do your research as most places do not have a sand beach. The Courtyard King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel has a sand beach area. For sand beaches you often have to drive to a public beach.

We do NOT recommend staying in Hilo or on the East side of the island, it is the rainy side of the island. We did on our first trip for a few days, and it rained everyday, we moved to Kona.

Iowa Reception

Arizona Reception