Pahala Plantation Cottages & Store

3.5 star review.
Called prior to our trip to see if they accept after dark check in, we are planning on staying late at the Volcanoes National Park and want to make sure we can sleep there as planned.
On the day of our check in, I got a very detailed text message around 10AM with instructions to our cottage, I just replied with a confirmation, and by night we have a huge house to spend the night.
We had the 3bd/​2ba cottage and it was spacious! The WIFI signal was very strong, the kitchen is stocked with all sorts of appliances and the cottage is so cute and it felt was if we were visiting history. But old house also meant peeling walls and creaking floors and old faucets. The hot water took forever to come, not to mention the hot water faucet was too close to the edge of the sink.
Don’t come with high expectations, and everything will be ALOHA.

We had a long day at the National Park and didn’t want to drive all the way back to Hawi. We found them on Expedia late at night the same day. It worked out perfect for us. Not plush by any means. We woke up early in the morning and left. They had the necessities but not much more.

4 nights from hell in paradise
We rented a house from Pahala Cottages for 4 nights in December 2015, arriving on December 10. The location was great, the stuff helpful, and the cottage spatios, cute, well stocked, and rustic. Unfortunately, the place turned out to be badly infested with bedbugs.
I could not sleep for 2 nights and was covered by bites from head to toe. My boyfriend also got a lot of bites. The pattern is classic bedbugs bites — many bites in line. There were also blood spots on the sheets.
We reported the problem to the managing company and requested to be moved. They moved us to another cottage. Unfortunately, the second house also had insect infestation (different type of bites though). It was not very clean — bedding in one room looked like it was not
changed after previous party.
Vacation turned out to be a torture and upon return we had an additional problem on our hands — how to treat the luggage so we do not bring these beasts home.
The most shocking part is that the managing company did not make any efforts to take care of the bedbug problem. As we discovered after being moved, they rented the place right away! The way we found out is that we left some close behind and when we called to inquire about it the next day, we were told the place is occupied by new renters. I am not even sure they cleaned it.

Went here for friend’s wedding, which was held outdoors. The front entrance of the manager’s house, which was decorated beautifully, was used for the ceremony. The back area was set up with a big tent and was decorated beautifully.
The manager’s house and smaller cottage across the road were rented. I used the bathrooms and checked out the manager’s house. From what I saw, the furnishings looked so rundown. The beautiful wood floors were so dusty. Felt like the whole house would benefit from a thorough cleaning, as there were dust balls, dirty windows, screens and cobwebs. The smaller cottage, I was told, had dead critters inside, and dusty as well.
The grounds could use maintenance also, as there were overgrown shrubbery and just a lack of care.
Overall, beautiful wedding, only because the family and friends had decorated the wedding area beautifully.
We stayed at a condo in Punaluu, which was super clean and updated.
With more cleaning and yard maintenance, this place would be well worth it!

«The Managers House»
We rented this house for a large family gathering we were having in Pahala. As our family was one of the original plantation families who made up this town it was nice getting back to our roots. We rented this home because, as you may imagine with most Hawaii families, our family home in Pahala was a little too small to house all ‘da ohana’.
Positives: The rooms were spacious, and include ‘jack and gill’ connected baths with adjoining dressing rooms. The home is very well designed in the traditional Hawaii managers plantation style. Spacious common space, awesome kitchen, spacious grounds, lots of space for everyone. Despite the fact that we had three separate families here I never felt like I had more personal space in my life!
Negatives: The sheets and pillows are old and dusty, believe me I have allergies, and they were bad.
The home and gardens seem largely underkept
–iron roof patch on the centuries old shingle roof
–clutter everywhere, things I know DO — NOT belong to Pahalas plantation-​era.
–Overgrown gardens. Word from old Pahala natives — this home once boasted a massive rose garden in the rear lawn.
–silverware (actual silverware!!) shoved into old drawers instead of cared for and displayed
–broken pocket doors in the common rooms (living room, dining room, library)
Just lack of pride and care for this piece of history!
Spacious! Not worth the money. And no matter what your told, this home is Definately — NOT — Restored!

Such a unique and beautiful place.
We rented the 7 bed 4.5 bath cottage and some of the smaller nearby cottages, for a annual family meeting.
Rather than hotels, air conditioned meeting rooms, and catered food, we were looking for something different.
Let me tell you, this house is the real deal. I’ve never seen anything like it. Aside from it having a few odd quirks, I loved it. I can’t remember specifically what, but just certain ways the house was designed, was a little strange. I thought it added to the charm of the place. One example, two of the bedrooms shared an adjoining bathroom. At least all the doors locked!
Old wood built homes in Hawaii, no matter how clean, you’re gonna have critters and creepy crawlers. That’s a fact of Hawaii life, even in the «squeaky clean» hotels. If you’re local, you know. We live with ‘em, or get ‘em with da rubbah slippah! But during my whole stay here, I don’t recall seeing anything — cockroaches, ants, spiders — that was surprising. It was in October, so the cool weather might have had something to do with it.
The kitchen was something else. There’s a huge gas stove with I think it was 6 or 8 burners, lots of counter space to work with. We took turns, one family cooking for the others, it was a blast. Downsides, even with the exhaust fan on, it gets hot in there. And there wasn’t a sharp knife to be found. Luckily I brought a good whetstone so we sharpened a few up ourselves.
The bathroom I used (the adjoining one) was huge, clean, and really cool! Aside from the whole adjoining thing, I was stoked.
The main dining room, and really all the downstairs rooms, are awesome. Comfy furniture, and filled with interesting old knickknacks and historical items. I could spend hours looking through everything.
Outside is a great porch area and a massive beautiful lawn with some modern metal tables and chairs. Great for evening stargazing or post dinner drinks.
Pahala is a very small town, very country, there’s not much to do. Although I didn’t have much free time anyway, I was able to drive down the road to the the shore and see a dozen or so turtles on the beach. It was getting dark and I nearly tripped over one that really blended in with the black sand. The coffee grove are a sight to see, don’t forget to pick up some Ka’u coffee beans while you’re there, it’s the one coffee I will drink any chance I get.
If you can’t tell by now, I am slightly in love with this place. I have no idea what the other smaller cottages are like, but this one was outstanding. Classy, spacious, yet homely and comfortable. This is definitely not for everyone, it’s not perfect. But it’s a special place, probably one of the few of it’s kind, and I highly recommend it.