Hotels near Hilo Airport - ITO, Hilo

Hilo is green, walkable, laid-back, mostly attractive and has a lot of character, although some areas are in disrepair with closed shops. If you prefer grand hotels, sunnier weather, commercial tourism and private beaches, stay on the Kona side of the island. Hilo is island-style, and surrounded by waterfalls, botanical gardens and lush coasts with shorter drives to attractive spots. Great snorkeling at Carl Smith and Richardson Ocean Park.

Don’t go to Hilo the first part of the month when all the retired and subsidized locals are cashing their government checks. Stores and restaurants are mobbed. Love the local waterfalls and Liliuokalani Gardens. There was a lot of traffic!

The Hilo area is the wet side of the island but our 7 night stay resulted in late evening showers and only 1 semi-rainy day in mid-March. We were lucky. Hilo is old, funky, has a great Farmers' Market, and wonderful scenery. People are friendly and nice. Streets are clean and the flora lovely! As many folks say, it's Hawaii before tourists have overrun it and developers have built fancy hotels.

Has the atmosphere of old Hawaii in the downtown, but it also has new and intriguing areas such as the University of Hawaii at Hilo and it's astronomy center. It also has access to Volcanoes National Park, which is an iconic park and sometimes volcanic eruptions to observe. It also has an extremely extensive farmers market with whole range of tropical fruits and vegetables.

I LOVE Hilo!!! It still holds "The Essence of Hawaii." It is not overrun with tall modern buildings, and "Tacky Tourist Attractions." It maintains an Old Hawaii Charm. You're not overwhelmed with street performers and aggressive sales people trying to pull you into their cosmetics stores. Yet there are still some homeless people there which is not good. However, I feel very safe in Hilo. There are nearby beautiful gardens and great beaches! Hilo is surrounded by so much natural beauty. There are some great restaurants there as well. I really like all of them, and I make sure to have at least one dinner at Hilo Bay Cafe. I also always make sure to visit the Imiloa Astronomy Center by UH Hilo. It is an excellent place to learn about the history & culture of Hawaii. And their planetarium has amazing presentations!

We went on a ghost tour to learn about the history of Hilo - and so many wonderful myths and legends and ghosts stories in the center of town! We loved the outdoor things we could do - from lava tubes, to volcanoes, to great views of waterfalls. The people we met were very friendly. The food EVERYWHERE was excellent (and we looked/tasted everything local). We wanted to go to the observatories, but our car rental was not an off-road vehicle, so we couldn't go on the roads to the top. The parking to the touristy part of center of town was very convenient. Kona was only a 2hr drive away, but we liked Hilo better, since it was friendlier and less crowded.