Tropical Paradise w/ Lava Pond. in Hilo

Great Family Vacation House!

Jerry G. ()
Review submitted: April 23, 2013   Date of arrival: April 8, 2013

"Perfect!" was the first word from the adults when we arrived at Lagoon Shangrila. The four children in our party of eight were ecstatic with delight and could not get into their swimsuits fast enough. Our son and his wife and children have lived on Oahu for two and a half years now but have not had the opportunity to travel to the other Hawaiian Islands. They have all learned to surf and snorkle and were ready for new places to explore. We wanted a place to relax and play without long waits at restaurants or endless hours in the rental van. The lava pool was a huge hit with the 2,8,11 and 12 year olds. After the long trip from Arkansas the grandparents went straight to the hottub. It was ready on arrival! As described, the house was well stocked for every need --- Beach towels, bicycles, spices and condiments, toiletries, etc. The short walk to the beach front revealed coral of every color and sealife not seen in the waters around Oahu. Kids and adults scrambled over the rocks like crabs and dipped into the water for a new experience each time. We traveled through the rain forest, walked into the lava fields at night to view the volcanos fiery blast and took a helicopter ride over the volcanos and waterfalls. So much to see and do------ We want to do it all again. Back at Shangrila, the little ones chased the geckoes, looked for the frogs in the beautiful landscaping and cracked fresh coconuts that had fallen from the trees. In Hilo, we found the fresh fish market and locally grown fruits and vegetables to prepare on the outside grill and enjoy lava poolside. We did enjoy one evening meal at Ponds Restaurant and a late breakfast at Ken's Pancakes. Inside, we found games to play and plenty of room everywhere to sit and talk. As grandparents we are use to seeing a few tears from the kids when it is time for us to return home. This time we all cried because we didn't want to leave Shangrila. How we envied the next guests at "our house"! Thank you for allowing us to share.
Re: Customer Service -- We awoke one morning to no hot water but a phone call directed us to the electric meter. (The house, apparently, uses solar heat for the water supply and it had been cloudy the day before.) A flip of the switch and we soon had hot water for all eight of us.

Do you find this review helpful?   Yes   No

Helpful votes: 1 / 1

A dream come true vacation.

Christopher M. ()
Review submitted: January 21, 2013   Date of arrival: January 4, 2013

I just wanted to first start off by saying thank you to Trisha and Sterling for sharing this amazing property with us.. Second, I read how people were saying not to stay such a long time on the east side of the island. ( 9 nights) Well, I am so glad we did. If we could, it would have been longer. We loved the area so much from the remoteness of it, yet, close to everything we needed. We did a trip to kona and with the new saddle road.. it wasnt bad at all. A beautiful drive. We did not like Kona as much as Pahoa side. The tide pools down the road were our favorite. 2 min walk away. We spent like 400 dollars on meat to bar b que and did that everyday. The house had everything and more! Sleeping in the bed at night was heaven listening to the sounds of the rain forest. We didnt bring snorkel stuff but they had everything from that to shoes to floats. The hot tub was on the top of our list too.. Everyday we went in it.. every night.. SO PEACEFUL AND PRIVATE.. Sterling was able to help us with everything that came up. We are planning to move to this side of the island and will be using this place as a base camp when we look for properties when we come back. Thank you so much you guys for everything.. We want to come back.. now.

Recommended for: adventure seekers, age 55+, families with young children, people with disabilities, families with teenagers, sight seeing, romantic getaway

Do you find this review helpful?   Yes   No

Helpful votes: 0 / 0

Amazing Experience for first time VRBO'er

Rick K. ()
Review submitted: November 14, 2012   Date of arrival: October 27, 2012

The Lagoon Shangrila was everything we expected it to be - AMAZING! Sterling and Trisha were amazing to work with from the day we made the reservaiton, even guiding us through our first tsunami evacuation experience when we arrived! The property and everything Sterling and Trisha offer is fantastic.

We toured nearly the entire island over the course of the week and loved having the Shangrila as our home base. The majority of the sites and activities we wanted to see and do were on the Hilo side, so it worked out great! They say that Hilo is the wet side of the island, but honestly, the early morning and late night showers we'd sometimes get at this time of year had no impact on us. The convertible top was down every day.

We traveled to the Kona side and have to say that I found the Hilo side a bit more rustic with it's rain forest and vegetation and a bit more relaxing overall.

This was my wife and my first time experience using VRBO, and if every experience is like this, we'll definitely be using it again.

Recommended for: age 55+, families with young children, sight seeing, tourists without a car, romantic getaway

Do you find this review helpful?   Yes   No

Helpful votes: 1 / 1