Hale Maluhia Country Inn, Kailua Kona

This place is not safe, not clean, not fun, not peaceful and creepy. It is full of bugs and spiders, the owner deals with these with chickens and roosters so you will be getting up early even though you will need the rest after a sleepless night in your dirty room. Go camping instead. Really. A good campground would be safer for kids than this. If you have read all the glowing reviews, do not believe them as I did. Please, consider this a warning. It may be possible that "friends and family and fellow clergy" and the like may be writing questionable glowing reviews. Someone should probably call the county on these guys and get their license to operate pulled as it is a bad reflection on all other B&B's in the Kona area. We previously had stayed at around 20 maybe 25 B&B;s before,usually it was OK and they were always clean and tidy,we will never do it again ever after this one. Ever. We can't.

Our stay in the Banyan cottage at the Hale Maluhia Country Inn was a highlight of a lifetime of travels. Our time there was truly a tonic for emotionally exhausted and harried mainlanders in search of old Hawaii and the meaning of aloha. The Banyan treehouse is a beautiful spacious wooden cottage with a unique combination of elegance and open ease both in its construction and interior spaces. Outside it is lovingly surrounded by lava rock walls, walkways and gardens. Inside it is rich in natural wood floors, surfaces and furnishings, a comfortable mixture of antiques and newer fine furniture. Its high ceilings and open space is alive with natural light shining thru large banks of clear windows and accented by artistic stained glass in the front door and over the hottub. The Smiths and their staff were kind and helpful at every turn in the true aloha spirit, also providing useful advice on what to see and where to go. Every breakfast buffet was a treat, generous, sumptuous and beautifully presented with flowers and leaves from the garden. The lava rock lanai garden with its softly murmuring water fountain was a restful & perfectly lovely place to enjoy breakfast. We were entertained at different times by wandering local wild turkeys, the Smiths' chickens & new baby chicks and various colorful wild birds coming to the feeders. I can't tell you how much we preferred the pampered yet "home away from home" feeling we got from staying at Hale Maluhia over the resort type accomodations/experience at a considerably lower price. The location was ideally just a bit off the beaten track yet still quite central to everywhere we wanted to go, from swimming with the brightly colored fish at the local coral reef beach in Kona, to shopping in town, to longer day trips to Mauna Kea observatory one direction, and then the other direction to Kilauea, the live volcano (which even started to spew rocks when we first arrived - fortunately it stopped spewing long enough for the Park service to reopen the park for our last day on the Big Island). All the other guests we met also enjoyed their accommodations in the main house and other buildings. We would recommend staying at the Hale Maluhia without reservation to anyone who is looking for a peacefully elegant bed&breakfast in a great location with excellent food and a family touch.