Waiuli Beach Cottage ~ Oceanfront at Richardson Beach Hilo Swim & Snorkel
House in Hilo, HI
6 guests · 2 bedrooms · 2 baths
Reasons to book
Guests love it hereGuests give this property a top rating
Free cancellationFull refund if you change your mind
High-end valuePrice for this property is higher than average in the area
About this house rental
Charming beach cottage with commanding ocean view of the best beach on the east side of Hawaii! Waiuli (Richardsons Beach) is the best for swimming, surfing, and snorkeling. What's the best thing about it? It's right across the street! Grab a mask and snorkel (there's plenty of fun beach gear at the house to use!) and go explore the cove! Wish to just relax and lay in the shade? There's a great area behind the house to hang out or bbq while watching the ocean. Perfect for families, groups or a nice couple get-away!
STVR-19-361145
NUC-19-1407
STVR-19-361145
NUC-19-1407
Amenities
Air conditioner
Kitchen or Kitchenette
Internet / Wifi
Parking
Laundry
Balcony or Patio
TV
Garden
Map of Hilo, HI
$$$$
Ratings and reviews
Summary of reviews
The property offers a cozy, comfortable stay with a charming Hawaiian cottage feel, well-equipped kitchen, beautiful ocean views, and beach amenities. Highly recommended for families and couples looking to relax and enjoy nature.
4.0 / 5.0
The place was nice landlord was sweet, needs new furniture. Couches upstairs are not comfortable to sleep on. Couch downstairs is in very bad condition. The other couch downstairs is pretty small for a couple. Just needs some TLC for Sure.noisy street lots of people hanging in front at night. But over all it was good. Cracks in the wood in bathroom need to be replaced. Too many bugs coming through the cracks
5.0 / 5.0
Very comfortable home always the aloha of it all would stay here again
5.0 / 5.0
We stayed 8 nights at this small home. It was cozy, convenient to the beach and a quick ride to downtown Hilo which is a charming town. The hosts are friendly and welcoming and made the stay all the more comfortable. I highly recommend Waikiki Cottage as a vacation destination.
5.0 / 5.0
We loved our stay at Waiuli Beach Cottage - couldn’t get enough of sitting on that lovely screened front porch looking out at the ocean and Richardson’s beach park. This is a charming old style Hawaiian cottage - if you are looking for a high end condo with a dishwasher this may not be the place for you. Important to understand layout - only one private bedroom upstairs, other sleeping spaces are in main room. Downstairs unit is completely separate and you have to go outside to access it. This worked well for us as our two young adult daughters used that space, which is a large room with bed, couches and TV; bathroom downstairs is gorgeous. Beautiful live edge woodwork and stone counters in kitchen, which is simple but very functional. Lots of beach amenities available - water shoes, snorkel gear, surfboard, kayak. Outdoor shower. Beautiful yard with nice outdoor seating options. Walk across the street to swim and snorkel. Nice residential neighborhood with a multitude of beach parks in Keaukaha, but can be some noise from partiers on occasion. Just 10 minute drive into Hilo town. Owners live close by and are very responsive and friendly. They have provided most everything you could need - additional bedding, pack n play crib, bbq and accessories, washer/dryer, cooler, etc. We would move in if we could - it was perfect for us and we loved every minute of our very comfortable stay here. We would definitely stay here again and highly recommend! Thank you Michele and Fuzzy :)
5.0 / 5.0
Great location opposite the water. Green sea turtles on the rocks! Very comfortable for two couples with our own bedrooms and washrooms. Just 40 minutes from Volcanoes National Park. A short drive to grocery stores. Very clean and comfortable accommodation. Great place.
5.0 / 5.0
Fabulous!
4.0 / 5.0
Wonderful location with a spacious lanai that we thoroughly enjoyed. The kitchen is well stocked. The only way to get from the upper level to the lower level is by going outside. The beds were comfortable. There were geckos in the house on both levels. We also noted some bugs that appeared to be cockroaches. some of the window screens have gaps in them, so I can see how little critters can come in. We noticed that some areas of the place (under the beds, top of the refrigerator and window ledges) needed to be cleaned.
5.0 / 5.0
Aloha,
Love the Ocean Front, peace, and quiet and amazing wonderful time to enjoy nature ocean and relax. We already planning to come back..
Mahalo
Kumu Leina'ala K. Brown
5.0 / 5.0
My wife and I loved our stay at this beach cottage and had a wonderful time. The home was well equipped (the washer/dryer were particularly helpful!) and the owners were very friendly and accommodating. The house is ideal if you are spending time in the Hilo area as it was very centrally located to just about everything.
We spent most of our time in the main upstairs area, but having the extra room downstairs could be very convenient for larger groups.
Highly recommended!
5.0 / 5.0
We stayed with three small children. I didn’t realize the upstairs and downstairs don’t connect from inside (separate outdoor entrance to downstairs), but it still worked for us because there were air mattresses and pull out couches with plenty of additional sheets and bedding in the house. The kids enjoyed making forts with all these supplies at night in the living room. The downstairs just became a daytime hangout area for us. This location felt like an authentic Hawaiian experience! The front porch is stunning, we enjoyed all meals there with a picture perfect view. The house was well stocked with all the basics for cooking, snorkeling, boogie boarding etc. Appliances were clean and updated. Outdoor shower is very private and has hot and cold water, we used that for most of our showers instead of the indoor shower (just bc it was convenient to shower coming in from the beach). We stayed cool with the window air conditioner during the day, and loved the sounds of rain most nights while sleeping. Richardson Beach is wonderful, we checked out most beaches along the strip, and enjoyed Richardson the most, it was an easy walk across the street with kids and beach gear. Outdoor washer and dryer worked great for us, we were able to pack very light. We also had a few gecko friends make their way in, but they were harmless and part of the Hawaiian experience. There is nature everywhere… tropical fruit just falling in the yard to sample. It was a great house, we would stay again.
5.0 / 5.0
This was our second stay in this sweet beach cottage in Hilo's Keaukaha area. We enjoyed the authentic Hawaiian vibes, which can include a very busy street on the weekends. It gets nice and quiet at night for sleeping and the best ocean access is nearby. The beaches in the are black sand, rocky and beautiful....
5.0 / 5.0
We love this place and hope to return. Best communication and checkin process of any vacation rental weve experienced. We loved walking across the street to snorkel.
5.0 / 5.0
Awesome location. Spent a week with friends n family from the island. Have to visit their store as well at the start of your trip.
5.0 / 5.0
Cute little cottage beach house. Super location. Liked that there was a starter amount of necessities. Would rent again
5.0 / 5.0
We stayed here before Covid, and just made it back. Roomy, comfortable, extremely well stocked. Beach and park just across the street. Quick and friendly responses from the owners. Strong and reliable WiFi. This is our go-to Hilo stay now.
5.0 / 5.0
The pictures of the view from the front porch of this beach house don’t begin to do it justice. Absolutely beautiful! Morning coffee on that porch is something I won’t soon forget. Comfortable and more than enough room for our group of four. My FIL was well set up in the lower level while my husband, daughter, and I stayed in the upper. It was clean and well equipped for a family stay. We cooked breakfast most of the days we were there and enjoyed some of the great restaurants in Hilo for lunch and dinner (make sure to make a reservation at Hilo Bay Cafe). At night it sounds like what you would pay for in a white noise machine. Frogs, birds, waves crashing against the shore, and rain fall. Close enough to VNP if you are planning a visit or two there. We got up early and caught the sunrise at Kilauea one morning. We had the luck of arriving just ahead of a Kona Low, tons of rain, I suspect even for rainy Hilo. A new experience for us, lots of liquid sunshine. Absolutely enjoyed our stay and hope to come back again sometime!
5.0 / 5.0
This was our second stay at the Waiuli Beach Cottage! We love the location, the open kitchen, screened lanai and everything about it. We used both floors this time because we had 4 adults and we were able to have more privacy when needed. Will be back!!
2.5 / 5.0
Wish it was available for the 1st week of January! I would love to stay there again...
4.0 / 5.0
This is a very nice beach cottage very conveniently located across the street from Richardson Beach. Remember that many of the cottages in this area were built in the 1930s, and this one has been nicely updated, but it still has some markers of an older building. The windows have gaps in them, for example, so you may see some gecko friends on your sills or in the kitchen (we found one in the fridge and are still puzzled how it got there- he was fine though, we let him out on the back porch and after he thawed a bit he ran away), the shower is a bit small upstairs, and there isn't air conditioning (you can leave the windows open and turn on the fan).
Admittedly, when we first checked in, we were a bit nervous because the gecko droppings look a lot like mice droppings and there was a small ant problem in the kitchen. While normally we wouldn't mind too much if it was just the adults, we were nervous about the cleanliness since our baby is just getting to crawling/walking age. We checked out the downstairs and it was so musty that we decided it wasn't a great place for grandma to spend the night. We contacted the owners about it and they explained the gecko thing (the green ones are pretty but invasive, and they tend to leave bigger poops than their indigenous brown counterparts), and that they had a new cleaner, and that they had just power washed the lanai so the musty smell could be due to that. They came out the next day and cleaned up the ants and gecko poop and opened the windows to air out the smell.
Even after airing it out, we didn't end up using the downstairs because it still smelled a little funny, but they have couches in the living room that can turn into beds. The owners were even kind enough to let us check out at noon (late checkout) because we had a very late flight on check out day (they explained that they would have let us do it later, but they had a cleaning person coming and she needed 4 hours to clean before the next people arrived).
Richardson's famous black sand beach is across the street which was a real treat, and baby particularly liked watching the tour buses come and go from the screened in lanai. For small kids though, I'd recommend going slightly down the street to Leleiwi beach - they have a nice set of stairs and very shallow little pools that are very calm. Richardson also has some pools but it was a little too rocky in most places for baby.
5.0 / 5.0
View from lanai is mesmerizing. Adorable little beach cottage, very clean, great snorkel areas across street. Very popular during summer, so more crowded this time, but still beautiful. One of our favorite vrbos.
5.0 / 5.0
My husband, adult daughters, and I had an amazing family vacation at this home. The snorkeling at the beach across the street (Richardson's Beach) was wonderful. One day, we got to swim with 4 sea turtles. It was also a great place for climbing on and exploring the lava rocks. The location was a wonderful one exploring the entire island. We LOVED the Hilo Farmer's Market which was only a short drive away. The house itself worked great for us. The girls like having their own "suite" downstairs and there were plenty of cooking supplies for us to cook the majority of our meals there.
5.0 / 5.0
Wonderful Place in Hilo
We loved our stay in Hilo in this great house. The house looks directly at the ocean across Richardson Beach Park, which is highly rated. We saw sea turtles every day in the morning tide pools. It rains a little every day in Hilo (it’s a rain forest so it should) so the covered screen porch was wonderful. Plenty of cooking supplies and toys for the beach. Loved the openness of the house. The location is perfect as their are parks lining much of the ocean side of the street.
5.0 / 5.0
Overall great space/ rental home.
House had amazing space and a nice yard. Really enjoyed the screened in front porch. The 2nd bedroom/ bath is accessed by a separate outside door, this worked fine for our group, but could be trouble some for a family with children or a group that needs to be together. House was clean and had a good variety of kitchen utilities. NO OVEN, probably said so in the description, just didn't notice until we went to make dinner first night :-(. Had a great closet full of beach supplies (boogie boards, snorkel/ masks, chairs, umbrellas, coolers). Also had a few games to play. Great supply of extra blankets, pillows, and towels. House is located directly across the street from a few beaches. And just a short walk up the road is Richardson Beach which we read on Google is one of the best snorkeling on Hilo side. All these beaches did have a strong current though so difficult to enjoy the water if not a good swimmer. Road outside house seemed to always be busy with other beach goers. To include what looked like a few regular vehicles that would play loud music and often had strong smoke smells (tobacco and marijuana). Many speeding very loud vehicles too. Overall great space/ rental.
5.0 / 5.0
An awesome month of March at Waiuli Beach cottage
We spent a month at this perfectly situated cottage. Two couples and having a separate downstairs was great for us to not be on top of each other. We are still friends. The location right across from Richardson Beach was great. The outdoor shower has hot and cold water which is great. The owners are very responsive. The internet is good. There is plenty of beach gear available to use. The umbrella saved us from getting sunburned. We saw whales breaching from the front porch and many sea turtles in the near by lagoons. Nearby snorkeling we saw a lot of fish. Bring water shoes as much of the beach areas are Rocky lava. There are many nearby swallow lagoons perfect for smaller childern to play and not get barreled over by waves. We are looking forward to staying here again. Best vacation ever.
5.0 / 5.0
Holiday trip
What a great property! Location was perfect and accommodations were exactly as listed. Thank you so much for keeping everything stocked so well. Also love the swim equipment, that was super handy. Would definitely recommend this property.
5.0 / 5.0
Perfect location, perfect house!
We could not have been happier with our stay. The house was lovely, and the location can’t be beat. We will be back!
5.0 / 5.0
Woke up in paradise
We look forward to booking this home again in the future! Perfect snorkel area just footsteps away- swimming with the sea turtles was a major highlight of our vacation!
5.0 / 5.0
Location, location, location!
This cute cottage is steps away from the beach park. There is excellent swimming and snorkeling and the beach has a lifeguard on duty all day. We saw sea turtles in a section of the beach as well.
My only suggestion would be to state clearly that there is no oven in the kitchen and to purchase a beach umbrella for guests to use while visiting.
Mahalo!
5.0 / 5.0
Hilo Cottage
Fantastic rental and location
5.0 / 5.0
Never disappoints!
This is our third stay at this rental, and it is wonderful every time. The location, the sunsets, the people watching at the beach park. It never disappoints! So many amazing memories made here with our family❤️
5.0 / 5.0
Wonderful location!!!!
What a beautifully perfect home! Everything was amazing, the gardens are a stunning addition to the lovely beach across the street. I would love to stay here again
2.5 / 5.0
This place had a comfy beach cabin vibe to it. It is very basic, but thoughtfully organized and clean. It is obvious that the owners take great care and are paying attention to details. They are super responsive and attentive. We appreciated how quickly they called the neighbors to turned down their outdoor blaring music. We are a family of five and all stayed upstairs (despite plans for the kids to be downstairs) because downstairs feels like a large open camp dorm and is musty. Clean, but little sparse with what appears to be left-over furniture to provide the most minimal needs. The linens that came from downstairs had a damp very intense musty scent that was overwhelming. (Kids ignored it, but I couldn't, and was grateful for the fresh linens upstairs.) It is a great place for a few days, but any longer and may become an issue: no oven, no interior connection between upstairs/downstairs, small shower/sink in the upstairs bathroom. Besides structural limitations, the only issue we had was the smelly downstairs linens (an easy fix), otherwise, we were very comfortable for 3 nights. Perhaps a few more blankets, sheets would be nice. The screened in porch is wonderful with the ocean view and breezes. Great yard with beautiful vegetation. Very serene backyard area. Outdoor shower with warm water is very convenient. Great overall beach cabin.
5.0 / 5.0
Convenient and fits the basic needs
This place had a comfy beach cabin vibe to it. It is very basic, but thoughtfully organized and clean. It is obvious that the owners take great care and are paying attention to details. They are super responsive and attentive. We appreciated how quickly they called the neighbors to turned down their outdoor blaring music.
We are a family of five and all stayed upstairs (despite plans for the kids to be downstairs) because downstairs feels like a large open camp dorm and is musty. Clean, but little sparse with what appears to be left-over furniture to provide the most minimal needs. The linens that came from downstairs had a damp very intense musty scent that was overwhelming. (Kids ignored it, but I couldn't, and was grateful for the fresh linens upstairs.)
It is a great place for a few days, but any longer and may become an issue: no oven, no interior connection between upstairs/downstairs, small shower/sink in the upstairs bathroom. Besides structural limitations, the only issue we had was the smelly downstairs linens (an easy fix), otherwise, we were very comfortable for 3 nights. Perhaps a few more blankets, sheets would be nice.
The screened in porch is wonderful with the ocean view and breezes. Great yard with beautiful vegetation. Very serene backyard area. Outdoor shower with warm water is very convenient. Great overall beach cabin.
5.0 / 5.0
Wonderful Experience
This was our first time on the Big Island and staying at a house versus hotel. It was a wonderful experience, and the house had great accommodations which allowed us to relax in comfort.
5.0 / 5.0
Absolutely relaxing
This cottage is so charming and quaint. We only used the upstairs but the downstairs is huge and could fit another couple or kids easily. Owners were extremely pleasant to deal with and the location is awesome. There are parks all up and down the street and it’s beautiful. We sat on the screened porch most of the time and just watched the ocean or people surfing or boogie boarding. The town is only 10-15 minutes away but you feel isolated at the house and have privacy. The frogs sang us to sleep every night and we never needed the air conditioner. We would highly recommend!
5.0 / 5.0
Beautiful House! Beautiful View!
Perfect full ocean view home. We really enjoyed the front yard, the screen porch and the kitchen. Best bed ever!! Thank you!
5.0 / 5.0
Nice!
Loveliest spot in Hilo. Terrific location.
5.0 / 5.0
Beautiful Home Perfect for Couples
We stayed in this house with our 6 month old and parents. This home is perfect for two families or couples because there are two separate areas. The house has everything you need (Tupperware, cookware, cleaning stuff, etc) There was a beautiful stone bathroom downstairs and a mini fridge/water heater (perfect for heating baby’s milk!). We loved listening to the frogs at night. There was an ac unit, which made it nice and cool. The location is ideal; right across plenty of beaches. We really enjoyed the turtles next to Richardson Beach Park. I would stay here again in a heartbeat!
5.0 / 5.0
Waking up in keaukaha
Great location! Home is equipped with everything you need to enjoy your time in Keaukaha.
5.0 / 5.0
Beach life every day, all day!
Perfect location, generous amenities, charming house with plenty of beds for family spring vacation. Can't wait to stay here again!
FAQs
How much does this house cost compared to others in Hilo?
The average price for a rental in Hilo is $361 per night. This rental is $260 above the average.
Is parking included with this house?
Yes, parking is listed as an amenity at Waiuli Beach Cottage ~ Oceanfront at Richardson Beach Hilo Swim & Snorkel. For more information, we encourage you to contact the property about where to park.
Is there a pool at this house?
We didn’t find pool listed as an amenity for this house. It may be worth double checking if a pool is important for your stay.
Is Waiuli Beach Cottage ~ Oceanfront at Richardson Beach Hilo Swim & Snorkel pet friendly?
Unfortunately, this house is not pet-friendly. Try searching again and filter for "Pets Allowed"
What amenities are available at Waiuli Beach Cottage ~ Oceanfront at Richardson Beach Hilo Swim & Snorkel?
We found 8 amenities for this rental. This includes air conditioner, kitchen or kitchenette, internet / wifi, parking, and laundry.
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