Big Island Retreat

For a real Hawaiian experience, book here. Ours was a small room with kitchenette and lanai, mesh windows not glass so sleeping in fresh air, overlooking tropical plants, fresh linen and beach towels every 5 days and ‘live-in’’ geckos. Each room is different so select from whole website. Excellent collection of beach equipment- chairs, snorkels, mats, boards etc to borrow. Walking distance to best snorkelling location and 5 mins drive to mall with supermarkets and free Hula on Fridays. On downside, location of Retreat is hard to find even with satnav- do not arrive after dark. Lava rocks line the rough road so smaller car is helpful to navigate this and the parking spaces at venue. Useful info...as everyone is entitled to access to the waterfront, you can visit all hotels and enjoy their facilities as a non- resident. So combining the delightful Big Island Retreat with Hawaii’s natural delights and 5* luxury opportunities what’s not to love. We stayed 3 weeks.

Good location. All necessary facilities. Great ambiance.

First, from being booked on hotels.com, it wasn't really a hotel. It's barely a bed and breakfast. There was no front desk, which was fine, no soap (and no mention that there wouldn't be soap), no sink in the bathroom (we had to use the kitchen sink), and no handle on the very thin bathroom door to pull it shut. There was no cleaning service for the room and you even have to empty your own garbage. The room itself was nice, and the bed was comfortable, though it didn't have the partial view we expected. Also, the neighbors were easily able to look into the windows as they went in and out of the room. The location was a bit further from town than we expected and the area traffic is awful, so getting to town was 15-20 minutes even though it was just a few miles away. The shuttle is largely useless. It only runs every couple hours, and doesn't even run late enough to get back from dinner. In short, if you're looking for a place to stay and chill all day with the family then this may be the place, but if you're looking for a base of operation with a place to sleep, other locations might be a better choice.

Big island retreat is a beautiful bed and breakfast tucked up a winding private road across from a small bay where you came snorkel. If you’re looking for a launchpad into the city of Kona or touring the many coffee plantations nearby, this is the place to stay

It’s beautiful I loved the room the view the staff. Only drawback is no air conditioner. But staff brought extra fan which made it bearable. We would stay here again.

Had the master suite on the top floor for a week and it was AMAZING especially for the price and location! Snorkeled at the beach across the street with sea turtles and every fish from “Finding Nemo” as my son puts it! Our first time to the “Big Island” and we plan to return and stay here again!

We were at the beachfront for a long time and being hidden in the trees, still just a 3 minute walk to the beach was great. They have a great Gazebo with a cooking gas stove as well as a really nice Weber bbq. We had Surf and turf, cooked ourselves on the BBQ. that was refreshing. There are surfboards, waveboards, snorkel gear, coolers that you can just borrow and walk to the beach. Would stay here again in a minute.

My husband and I were lucky enough to spend a long weekend on the Big Island. It was our first time there, so we didn't really know what to expect, nor where to stay. Kona and Hilo seemed like the most popular spots. But, when we read the reviews of the BIR, we took a chance. I'm so glad we did! Chad, our host, was very communicative and friendly. He made sure we had everything we needed. The room was clean and comfortable. The best part--the property is located right across the street from a fabulous snorkeling beach! There was free snorkeling gear for us to use at the BIR and we went to our local beach every morning, sometimes twice a day. We also discovered Two Step beach, which was worth the drive. BIR is about 15 minutes south of Kona, which is a very nice resort tow; but we were happy to be a little further down the road. We also spent a day driving the Saddle Road and visiting Hilo, which we enjoyed. If we return to the Big Island, we will definitely stay at the Big Island Retreat again.

We had a pleasant stay. Gigi was a very good hostess. The only issues were (1) no elevator & (2) little privacy within the room & between the room & outside/other rooms. We had frosted glass & a screen door to the lanai but no curtains, shades, etc.

Beautiful property tucked away from the crowds. Gigi is a warm, fabulous hostess. Would highly recommend to anyone who wants a different stay on the big island