I always end up renting a car in Hawaii. I don’t like to but I feel like there is no other choice. Transit is limited – even on Oahu. I always dream about renting a bike instead of a car. Unfortunately, bikes are $25-$65 per day and it doesn’t come close to making sense if you have more than 2 people. Currently there is a rental car shortage on the Big Island and if you have not reserved one weeks in advance, you aren’t going to get one. Some rental cars are going for crazy high prices. On our week long trip to the Big Island in May, I reserved my car way in advance so I was only in for about $28 per day. But the better option might be the Bike Share. I have used bikes like this in other cities while traveling but I have never made the decision to use it as my primary means of transport.
We did drive the car to some far away beaches and waterfalls that I couldn’t have gotten to by bike. We went to a coffee farm and some restaurants that were too high up the hill and would have not been pleasant to bike to. But if we end up in Kona again, we will already have seen the sites and might just make it into a “sit on the beach vacation”. We would only need to ride to go into town for meals or happy hour.
The Big Island has a dockable non-electric 3 speed bike share that is only $25 per month for unlimited 1 hour bike rides. There was a bike dock right outside our Kona condos so I used it quite a bit to get the 1 mile into town and avoid traffic. There were docks south of us and I rode it to a surf beach and a snorkeling beach. I ended up using all the docks in Kona during my week there. There was also a few docks in Hilo on the other side of the Island. When we drove over there, I took a bike share around the parks while my wife and mother-in-law went shopping. The bikes are heavy and not easy to take up hills but all in all I really enjoyed a bike option without having to break the bank. Next time… no rental car!
