For families at Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy or Parker School: a home 20–25 minutes from Waimea, cooler than the beach and warmer and sunnier than Waimea.
Every year we hear from families who have just enrolled a student at Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy or Parker School in Waimea and are now trying to work out where to live. Waimea is the obvious first answer. But more and more families are finding that a home down the hill in Waikoloa Village fits school life on the Big Island better, especially once they've had a few months of Waimea weather.
Both schools are in Waimea (Kamuela), in the ranch country between the Kohala Mountains and Mauna Kea. Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy is a K–12 day and boarding school. Its lower and middle schools are on the Village Campus in town, and the high school is on the Upper Campus at the foot of the Kohala Mountains. Parker School is a K–12 college-preparatory day school near the center of Waimea.
Both schools serve plenty of families who don't live in Waimea itself. Commuting from the coast and the lower slopes is common.
This is the part families tell us they didn't expect. Waimea sits around 2,600–2,700 feet, on the edge of the island's wet, windward weather. It's beautiful and green, and it is also often misty, breezy and cool, particularly in the afternoons and during winter. Down at the coast it's the opposite: dry, sunny and hot, with warm nights all year.
Waikoloa Village is in between, at about 800 feet on the leeward slope. It's cooler than the beach and warmer and sunnier than Waimea. Days here are mostly blue-sky, like the coast. Evenings cool off enough to open the windows and sleep well. The trade-wind mist that rolls over Waimea usually stays up the mountain. For more detail, see our Kohala Coast weather by month guide.
From Waikoloa Village it's about 20–25 minutes to Waimea, up Waikoloa Road and along the Māmalahoa Highway (Route 190). The drive is wide-open ranch land with views of Mauna Kea, and it rarely has traffic. It's an easy daily run for day students. For boarding families it's close enough to pick up a student on a Friday afternoon and have them back on the lanai for sunset.
If your student boards at HPA, you don't need to live next to campus. You need a comfortable home base close enough for weekends, games, performances and parent events. Many boarding families find they'd rather spend their own weeks somewhere sunnier and closer to the beaches. Hāpuna, Mauna Kea Beach and ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay are all a short drive down the hill.
Waikoloa Village is a real residential neighborhood of several thousand people, not a resort. There's a grocery store, a few restaurants, a golf course, a community pool, and tennis courts with a court set up for pickleball. Evening walks around sunset are one of our favorite parts of living here. See Waikoloa Village vs. Waikoloa Beach for how the village compares with the resort area on the coast.
Hale Akaʻula is our family's home in the village: three bedrooms, two and a half baths, a gourmet kitchen, full laundry, fast WiFi and a covered west-facing lanai for sunsets. Guests get passes to the community pool and courts. The whole house is yours, furnished and ready, so there are no leases to break and no furniture to buy.
We offer school-year stays that cover the normal school year, minus summer and winter breaks, which is when our own family is home. That works well for most school families, since the breaks are when they travel anyway.
If you're planning for an upcoming semester or a full school year, use the Request a school-year stay button on our reservations page and tell us your school and preferred start date. You can also see our rates. We'll reply personally.
