Question for Kona Veterans who have stayed at he King Kam. We currently have a room at the King Kam for race week. We are planning on a rental car for our trip as well (Plan on arriving 10 days prior). Any feedback with parking at the king Kam (for registered guests) and difficulty with travel / congestion around the race. We are debating on returning the car a few days prior to the race or keeping it. My family will be with me and I think they still would like to do some tourist things up until the day of the event, while I stay back and start to prepare for the event, but if parking (even for registered guests) and travel around kona is a hassle I think they would just like to hang out and relax. Any feedback will greatly help.
King Kam Hotel has a parking lot in back but it more than half or it becomes the banquet area during race week. They do have use of an empty field next door that they use for spill over parking. During race week they limit parking in the hotel lot and the lot next door to hotel guests only which helps the situation.
If it was going to be just you, I would say ditch the car, everything will be within walking/riding distance and you can get a shuttle to and from the airport. With your family in the equation, that is different. Your point of them going off to sightsee while you immerse yourself in Ironman is an excellant idea. The traffic during race week gets pretty thick with all of the extra vehicles brought in for IM and with the road closures starting Friday. The good thing is that from Friday all through race day, they won’t have to drive at all to be in the thick of the race. Right in that area are several spectating areas for the entire race.
If you keep the car, just plan on parking it in the afternoon the day before the race (earlier the better for a space). It will be completely unavailable the day of the race. They completely block the parking lot. By the next morning, it is open again.