There are two major airports if you are flying into the Big Island, Kona International Airport and Hilo International Airport. There are a few direct flights from the mainland, mostly from California and Seattle, but it is more common to arrive via Honolulu or Kahului. You should try to get a flight direct from the mainland to Kona to save time waiting (and walking) around the Honolulu airport.
If you can't find a direct flight, consider that Kona's airport is by far busier and requires a lot of time to pass all checkpoints. Hilo's airport has fewer flights, is smaller, so the time between rental drop-off and boarding is much shorter. There used to be no direct flights to Hilo from the mainland, but United/Continental Airlines will begin services to Hilo from Los Angeles and San Francisco starting June 26, 2011.
Inter-island "hoppers" arrive from all the other islands several times a day. Local flights are available through three main airlines, Hawaiian, Island Air and go! to the two major airports. These airlines provide frequent service between the islands, largely connecting through Honolulu, although there are some direct flights from Kona and Hilo to Kahului Maui. Daily round-trip service is also available between Hilo and Kona. Pacific Wings, provides fun flights in small prop planes between Hilo, Kona and Kamuela. Keep in mind that an inter-island flight could use up almost an entire day, due to the fact that you must pack, check out of hotel, get to the airport, return rental car, go through all the airport procedures, fly, wait for luggage, get rental car, check in, unpack. It's tempting to try and see as many of the islands as you can on one trip, but it's best to spend no less than three nights on an island. In the case of the Big Island, think of the two sides of the island as separate. It takes about 2 hours 15 minutes to drive from Kailua-Kona to Hilo, and about six hours to circle the island.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Big Island
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Big Island - updated May 2024
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Big Island Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
