Kona-side, or Hilo-side?

Kona and Hilo are Apples and Oranges: two very different destinations with much to offer that is unique to their side of the island.

In short, Kona is sunny and hot, great for beach goers, and has lots of white sand beaches, terrific snorkeling, and a summer holiday atmosphere. Kona-side has many more vog (volcanic fog) days than Hilo. Kona-side excels in luxury resorts, and gourmet restaurants abound. Shopping is superior to that of Hilo.

Hilo is cooler by 5 degrees and throughout the day alternates between sunny and cloudy with plentiful rain. mostly at night. Thus, the Hilo side is lush and green and dripping with waterfalls. The Hilo side has no top-notch hotels, but hundreds of vacation rentals and B&Bs to choose from, and has wonderful food across a wide spectrum. Hilo is not a "tourist town", but there are plenty of visitors, usually of the more curious and adventurous type not dissuaded by the lack of pampering.

The Big Island has other choices as well, from the near-freezing nights during winter up in quaint-but-a-little-odd Volcano Village near the crater, to the wondrous isolation and endless vistas at Punaluu on the south and the ramshackle quaint environs of Hawi or Holualoa in the north, each nestled amidst rolling green ranchlands, with both Hawi and Holualoa adjacent to the magnificence of the string of primeval waterfall-drenched valleys that stretch from Pololu to Waipio.