Considering renting a car for the big island of Hawai’i? I say absolutely 100% go for it! Although there are certainly things to consider when renting a car in Hawai’i, overall (in my experience) they have made exploring the island exponentially easier. Here are some of the reasons why I think you should get a rental car for exploring the big island of Hawai’i.
First, the most obvious reason is that you will have free reign on where you go on the island instead of being confined by tours and public transportation. When traveling around Hawai’i, there are so many random pull-off areas or roadside stops that you can find. Having the ability to hop off the highway and grab a coconut from a local vendor or enjoy an overlook that is missed by scheduled tours. I can’t tell you how many serendipitous moments we had when we pulled into a small local shop for shaved ice or explored a local historic site! You can create your own customized itinerary with a rental car, or just set out to explore! In these cases, having a rental car proved to be invaluable for our island adventures.
Second, by renting a car on the big island of Hawai’i you could potentially save HUNDREDS of dollars on tours around the island. For example, we stayed at the Royal Kona Resort in Kailua-Kona but wanted to see Volcano National Park which is TWO HOURS away – ONE WAY! Tours from Kailua-Kona to this national park ran from around $250 per person! Granted, these tours usually visit more than Volcano National Park (such as Punaluu Black Sand Beach), but we were able to visit the Green Sand Beach, Black Sand Beach, AND Volcano National Park on the same day with our rental car. All we had to pay was the ~$30 entrance fee which lasts a whole week if you would like to return (just make sure to keep your receipt)! With our rental car, we only booked one excursion (the Manta Ray Night Dive) and paid minimal entrance fees (such as a $10 state park fee) for our excursions around the island. We took our rental car to the north, south, east and west sides of the island and ended up putting about 800 miles on the car in the process!
Third, it is readily available and easy to rent a car in Hawai’i! There are dozens of companies to choose from (we urge you to stay away from Turo) but we went with Hertz for our time on the big island. We were able to book a few days before our trip for a decent price (we got unwillingly cancelled on by a booking through Turo) and Hertz made it very easy for us to select a car and walked us through all of the decisions we would need to make about returning the car (i.e., what time we wanted to return, whether or not we would fill up the tank for them, etc.). There are thousands of tourists to the Hawaiian Islands, and they were more than prepared to get us on our way in a matter of minutes upon arrival from the airport! Renting a car through Hertz on the big island was a breeze.
Finally, renting a car on the big island is absolutely worthwhile because, just like its name insinuates, it is a BIG island! While it may be easier to get around with public transportation on the smaller islands, on the big island the cities are very far apart (such as Kona to Hilo!) and could take between 2-3 hours to drive between (with NO stops). If you are taking public transportation, I would imagine that the commute between cities would take longer (provided there would be additional stops) and are, so I hear, rather unreliable and certainly on island time. If you are a type-A traveler like me, I find it best to take my transportation into my own hands and renting a car is certainly a way to accomplish that! Overall, please do what is best for your plans (and your budget) for your trip to the big island of Hawai’i, but I hope I gave you some good information to consider regarding booking a rental car.
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