We are a few minutes by car. Kona is not flat and is spread out. Very few people come here and do not get a rental car. If you look on a map our closest main road is Palani Rd which is shown as 190 here: MAP PICTURE
That road is about three miles from the town directly below to our house. It is .3 miles to that road that is 3 miles (Hao Kuni to Palani is .3 then Palani to downtown is 3 miles). You could walk it but it is a busy street and it has no walking path; people do hitch rides. There are bus lines but I do not know their routes, generally visitors rent cars or have friends who have cars — I don’t remember anyone without a car or access to one. I guess you could take a taxi twice a day but I’d think a rental car would be less expensive in the long run.
If you want to call a taxi company and inquire how much it would cost, our address is 74-1496 Hao Kuni and downtown would be by the seawall on Alli drive. Here is a list of local taxis: LOCAL TAXIS .
If you would like to investigate other rentals that are directly in town, I can point you to what I know.
This place is a multi-level condo that is run as vacation rentals, the information I have from people who have looked is that they are barely passable (things like dirty carpet, really small rooms) -- however it is right downtown. The place is called Kona Islander Inn, they are on the web here: KONA ISLANDER INN.
King Kamehameha Hotel is right downtown...King Kemehameha Hotel.
Uncle Billy’s (all I know is that locals will not go there for food!) and Kona Seaside (look for 75-56xx or 75-57xx Alii Road to be right in the heart of downtown) are among the hotels listed here: SEVERAL LISTINGS.
I am more interested in you having a good stay than booking you as a client. Indeed, our house is very nice and priced very fair but if you want to walk back and forth to IronMan (or town), down town would be a better solution to you.