Kolea at Waikoloa Beach Resort

We stayed in our condo for 6 nights and it was unreal. The grounds were gorgeous, the landscaping, pool everything was perfect. So dreamy. Our condo was so comfortable I found myself never wanting to leave! We stayed in 15B. To be honest we really weren’t big fans of the big island we thought it was a little boring so we won’t be coming back but if we did I wouldn’t stay anywhere else. This place is perfection.

Spent several days renting our friends condo. Sorry they asked for no pictures of their property. However I can say that it was pretty darn luxurious. I think if you’re going to spend more than two days on Big Island this is the way to go. Find a place that has a kitchen so that you can cook your own meals (stock up at Costco or Walmart) at least half the time otherwise you are paying a whole lot for restaurant. Anyways, Kolea is tucked in between the Mariott and Hilton hotels of Waikoloa. Part of our arrangement was being able to use the Hilton pools and even charging meals to our rental if needed. My kids did use the Hilton pool as it had a slide and was just way larger compared to the modest pool Kolea offered. I would have preferred the small quiet pool than the crowded rambunctious hotel pool (I really was afraid of having to smack some party goers who were getting too close to my kids) but the troop really wanted the slide. The wife and I settled in for sun and my ever hawklike vigilance.
The complex has several buildings, 20 I believe. Grounds are well kept with beautiful lush greens accentuated by the black lava rock that permeates the island. The condos were three stories and we were on the second floor. You could hear the people walking above you but it was just an elderly couple. However on our last night there the building unit adjacent to ours had a party. Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t Spring Break Gone Wild, it’s just when you’ve got a couple of families drinking and laughing it up on their balcony, the noise is going to carry at midnight. There are quiet hours but the place doesn’t have security to enforce it like you could in a hotel. It wouldn’t have done well to confront a bunch of drunks. Can’t miss my flight because I was in jail.

We loved this complex, and would totally stay here again. We were in 9J. There were four of us, two adults and two children, 11 and 13. Plenty of room for everybody, very nicely decorated, open space, the lanai was awesome too! To be honest, we were all over the island all the time, so we would get food from the ABC Store at the outdoor mall and just used the stove/​oven/​micro for our meals. We had a decent view of the ocean from our topmost corner condo, and great breezes as well. The staff was very helpful as they checked in with us upon arrival and the day before departure. Since no one was coming in the day we were leaving, we were told to leave whenever we were ready to. This was awesome since we had a red-​eye back to LAX. As for the pool/​beach access/​beach, just spectacular! Plenty of easy snorkeling for our kids, especially our daughter who was new to it. She got very comfortable in this cove before we went on a manta ray snorkel with Big Island Divers. We also saw sea turtles on this very beach! The pool is very nice, and the Jacuzzi seats about 10 people or so. It was in a great spot where you could see the ocean and the palm trees, but enjoy the hot waterfall of the hot tub. Loved the tiki torches all over the place as well. Really nice grounds, beautifully landscaped and clean. This is bigger than we usually stay in, but the style of the buildings helped give that plantation feel, so it felt a little less resort-​y and bit more accessible. Does that make sense? I don’t like über fancy or crazy-​huge like the Hilton next door. Although, I have to say we did have access to the pools at both the Hilton and the Marriott. We did explore the Hilton one afternoon, and the pools/​waterslides were fun for the kids. The staff over there was very nice as well. It’s just HUGE. Disneyland on the Kona Coast, which just isn’t right, at least not for our style. Kolea was beautiful, secure, clean, really nice to walk around and close to the Queen’s Marketplace as well as the King’s Shops. Wednesday morning Farmer’s Market was really cool, got amazing papayas/​rambutan/​pineapple there, as well as some unique jellies/​honeys that showed up on our doorstep today. Brought me back to the Big Island :) Have a wonderful trip when you go, and truly, look into Kolea. Especially if you’re going family style. Great for all ages!

We stayed 1 week in April 2014 at the Kolea 13C, 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom Beach Front Penthouse. The weather was perfect and the view of the beach at «A Bay» was absolutely gorgeous. The Condo is beautifully decorated with Hawaiian themed art work, sea turtles, comfortable beds, furniture and so much more. We loved the way the 6 large glass doors folded in the the wall from the family room to the Lanai making the place feel so much larger and cooler in the evenings.
Nearby, there were many restaurants to choose from, grocery store and mall. The resort has an infinity pool, beach area, Lava Lava Bar and sea turtles can be seen swimming or sleeping.
Lots of site-​seeing adventures to Black Sand Beach, Green Sand Beach, volcano area hikes, waterfalls, helicopter rides or white sandy beaches. OR you could just relax with a great book at this very quiet

Kolea is a gated community filled with pleasant and luxury vacation rentals inside of the Waikoloa Resort. The villa condo style units are in the center of the property, while the bigger homes fill the perimeter.
The quality, cleanliness, and décor of the units certainly depends on which rental agency and unit you choose. Our unit (found through Abbey Vacation Rentals) was well furnished, clean, and spacious.
In terms of design and finishes, I my favorite aspect of the unit was definitely the huge sliding door out onto the patio. When it wasn’t windy (unfortunately only a couple of days during our stay), we opened up the door completely and enjoyed a truly indoor/​outdoor lifestyle. The walk-​in showers were very deluxe and spacious. The three bedroom units are huge with an additional powder room in the hallway and an expansive living/​dining space. The units all have many TVs and washers/​dryers for your convenience.
The beach views of the bay (forget the exact name) were great. The sand is course, but it is still a great place to just hang out and relax. If you are lucky, you’ll even see some sea turtles! It is a little bit of a walk to the beach, but nothing bad at all.
There were some minor things about the property I found inconvenient (others might be fine with them). First of all, the pool is pretty small considering the amount of units on the property. It is basically a small, rectangular «infinity» pool (the edge the water drips off of is small). It was packed pretty much all of the time (except at dinner time). I totally understand families with kids flock to the pool, but it was a little hard to swim or even just relax poolside.
Additionally, the «gym» is very small for the amount of units. It is basically a small hut with one treadmill, an elliptical, and a couple of other machines near the pool. The machines were often occupied, and it was difficult to use them in the heat and with pool patrons running by. This probably isn’t a big deal for most people on vacation, especially considering you can get plenty of exercise walking/​running throughout Waikoloa.
There is no onsite restaurant or poolside service, which was a little difficult during the day. Make sure to purchase items at one of the markets before heading down to the pool or beach for the day. The nearby restaurants were mostly mediocre and certainly nothing special. The Marriot, Hilton, Queen’s Marketplace, and King’s Shops are all within walking distance. Don’t forget to remember the gate code coming back in!
Overall a pleasant experience and a great, relaxing vacation spot!

2^nd time staying in this great condo! Walked everywhere; to coffee, the malls, and dinners out. Work out room is still great as is the pool. Loved the running trail along the beach to the Hyatt and walking down the beach to have dinner at Lava Lava Beach Club. Great trip, yet again. Can’t wait to go back and see what else we can discover.

Really — as good as it gets! This place was amazing! We originally had planned to stay up a bit north at Mauna Laui and found that Kolea was slightly cheaper. Since we knew it was cheaper, we weren’t expecting the high class, incredibly nice condo!
Check in and check out were easy, and the staff are very friendly. Since our flight left at 10 pm, we paid extra to stay till 4pm. This may not always be an option, as it depends on when the next people are coming to that particular unit. We were excited to have this option, and the $ 100 fee was well worth it for five more hours of quality time near Waikoloa.
The community around Kolea is perfect for vacation. There are many walking /​running trails, and a gated beach area (you get cards upon check in) along with a fitness center (four machines — a treadmill, two ellipticals, and a bike), a pool, and even a small business center with a computer and a printer! I should have asked about the computer/​printed, as I didn’t use my laptop much but wish I had known so I could leave it at home.
There are two shopping areas within a 10 – 12 minute walk. The King’s Shopping area has a few restaurants and expensive stores (Tiffany, Coach). The Queen’s Shopping area has Island Gourmet — an ABC store — with groceries, gifts, snacks, and quite a few cheaper restaurants (a few chains). Within a 20 minute drive, one could drive to Kailua-​Kona for other restaurants or go north to other beaches (Hapuna Beach was excellent!) Hilo is maybe 2.5 hours away. The community is pretty quiet and one has to have a code to get into the community, so we felt very safe.
There are friendly (and shy) cats around the property, which my family enjoyed. One sweet cat came to visit daily on our porch. Bugs weren’t an issue, though we had a centipede in our condo. There are huge garden snails and slugs all over the place, so watch your step especially at night/​early morning!
We rented Kolea 3A — 3 bedroom/​3 bath for five nights. The condo is nicely decorated with high quality items. The kitchen was excellent for my family. We like to eat in sometimes during vacation and made most of our breakfasts, lunches, and one dinner in our condo and enjoyed eating on the table on the porch. The kitchen has tons of dishes, silverware, a coffee maker, a nice blender, dishwasher, and a decent variety of spices (make sure to smell first, as they might be old). Plus there were a few helpful items, such as coffee filters, foil, saran wrap, etc. We used the grill one night to cook out and enjoyed the cool breeze and nice surroundings.
There’s a washer/​dryer along with laundry detergent. We brought dryer sheets — I don’t recall seeing them there, but maybe I missed them. In the closet, there were about five boxes full of ocean gear for use. There were children’s toys, several boogie boards, snorkel equipment, straw mats for the sand, and probably other things I didn’t notice. There were also eight beach towels — perfect! There were specific pool towels at the pool for use there only.
The beach close to this resort is a nice calm bay where snorkel and other equipment can be rented hourly or daily (probably weekly). There’s also a snack stand and shave ice stand on the beach. The beach had quite a few lounge chairs and was not too crowded.
Each bedroom had its own TV with cable. There was wi-​fi in the condo with instructions found on the router. We rarely were around to use these amenities — but helpful to know for future visits. The three bedrooms included one master bedroom with a king bed, a bedroom with two twin beds, and a room with a queen or full bed. The only gripe I would have is that in my room, there was no overhead light. I had to rely on the lamps.
There were toiletries for use left in each bathroom, which I didn’t expect. There was one lotion, a shampoo and two soaps. There were hair dryers and plenty of towels too.
The maid service is an extra fee. We didn’t purchase this but didn’t feel like we needed it.

Carole was a pleasure to work with. She answered all of our questions and made our family vacation the best.
We stayed at Kolea 3B and found the property to be A+++. It was located in Waikoloa and was convenient to the shops/​beaches. Waikoloa is THE place to stay on Kona — lots to do and immaculate grounds.

This was our second year staying at Kolea. We needed a bit larger condo this year since my mom was joining us for the first 5 days. We rented 14M which is a fabulous top floor large 2 bedroom with amazing views of A-​bay and surrounding area. When we arrived at the condo, it was not as clean as we expected it to be. I won’t go in to detail, but let’s just say it wasn’t satisfactory. I immediately called Rob at Waikoloa Vacation Rentals and he came over within an hour to view it for himself. Great guy, very friendly and extremely accomodating. He agreed the cleaning crew had not done a very thorough job and expressed his apologies. I had also asked for a roll-​away bed for my mom which he brought with him. I didn’t expect anything in return for our complaints, but he gave us some gift certificates for Ruths Chris Steakhouse which was completely unwarranted but an amazing gesture!!! A little thing like that goes a long way. Why more people don’t do things like that is a mystery to me. Rob was so nice he recommended some great local beaches, places to eat, etc. Whoever owns this rental company should know Rob is a great employee and represents you very well.

We loved this place. Loved it, loved it, loved it. We were in 14D, a ground floor condo that we absolutely hated to leave. The community itself is gorgeous, with beautiful grounds and a stunning location just a few steps from A Bay.
The condo itself was fantastic. My boyfriend and I both love to cook so we were in heaven with the Viking gas grill on the lanai and the well-​equipped kitchen inside. The place was clean and really comfortable. Having our own washer & dryer was really convenient.
The infinity pool was heavenly and even in the Hawaiian heat, a dip in the hot tub felt good. It’s not a huge pool, but Kolea isn’t a huge community to it was just the right size.
Kolea is in a great location. We toured a big chunk of the island and I’m pretty convinced that we picked the best area on the whole island. It was a short walk to the King’s and Queen’s markets where there’s a great market called Island Gourmet. We were almost on a first-​name basis with the bartenders at Roy’s (order the Tai Chi — yum) by the time we left.
We left with the idea in mind that we’ll return to Kolea again. Soon.

We have stayed at Hali’i Kai and Kolea and we love both but this is why Kolea is better. It is right on A-​bay a beautiful beach with an ancient fishpond and lots of activities right on the beach. The clubhouse is awesome with it’s two pools and exercise room. The proximity to the Kings Shops and the Queens Market Place make it an unbeatable location. We are used to walking in New York so taking a short 5 minute stroll to either the beach or the shops make it a great experience. The condos are very tastefully decorated and laid out. The 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom 16D has ample space for two couples or a family of 4 – 6. There is a grocery store right in the Queens Market Place where you can stock up on food if you want to cook either in the gourmet kitchen or in the outdoor Viking grill! We are coming back for sure! The moderate rating will drop down to a inexpensive if we come back with another couple. It would be downright cheap in comparison to the hotel prices.

Kolea is a stunning gated community about 17 miles north of Kona Int’l airport. Located in the Waikoloa neighborhood, Kolea is nestled among the various shopping plazas and hotel resorts that line this part of the Kohala coast.
The community was built around 2006, and is adorned with many luxurious features. The units appear to be similar from the outside, and ours included the following: Large gourmet granite kitchen; various built in and counter top appliances; full set of dish ware and every cooking gadget you could imagine; three sizable bedrooms including one master suite with cal-​king bed and luxury bathroom; two additional bathrooms; flat screen televisions in each bedroom and living room; living room also includes DVD player and CD player; wireless Internet access; telephone service; glass wall/​pocket door which opens the entire living area to the attached lanai; lanai with outdoor kitchen including refrigerator, gourmet gas grille, sink and cabinetry; relaxing wicker furniture on the lanai; one car garage; washer and dryer in unit; ample parking spaces for additional vehicles.
Many units are in view of the ocean, and ours had a partial view. The grounds surrounding the units are lushly landscaped with many tropical plants and flowers. For better or worse there are also many feral cats that can be found about the grounds (I thought this was great since I love cats).
There is a community center which includes a HUGE spa that appears carved into a lava rock grotto. There’s also a large infinity pool and a tiny fitness center. The community center also includes many relaxing chairs both in the sun and under cover. There’s an adjacent beach which offers ample chairs and the shade of coco-​palms.
I really don’t have any criticisms. The entire process went smoothly. Before arriving my party was informed of the gate code to the community, as well as the combination to the key locker at the front door. No interaction with real estate personnel was necessary. A complimentary mid-​week cleaning was offered, and when the blender in the kitchen was found not to work a new one was delivered the very next morning.
While the cost per night is slightly higher than a luxury hotel room, the six person capacity of the units can easily be shared amongst several people. Even so, if you’re open to cooking at home during your vacation the amount of money you’ll save from not eating at restaurants does a great deal to mitigate the cost.
I HIGHLY recommend a stay at Kolea.

We stayed in 9E, and the condo was even more beautiful than in the pictures. We stayed for six nights and could not bear to leave on the final day. What was wonderful about the condo was the spacious rooms, the gourmet kitchen, and the full-​size washer and dryer. The owners of the condo were even so thoughtful as to leave movies, boardgames, and books for entertainment. My favorite part of the condo was the lanai with the large table for four, where we spent most of our days in the fresh air and eating meals.