Bellows Recreation Center

Stopped by to research this recreation area and update the website. I also uploaded several new photos and a short video of the recreation area. Bellows AFS Recreation Center was much larger than I expected. This is a full featured recreation area. There's several types and sizes of recreational lodging, family campsites, and group campsites. In addition to the beautiful private beaches, there's disc golf, miniature golf, a driving range, and a game room. There's a small store and snack/cafe area. I wished I was staying here, rather than just a day visit. Several of the small cabins and some camping areas are closed as they recently discovered some munitions around these areas. The recreation area isn't too far from Honolulu, but far enough away to be away from the city. It's located on the other side of the mountain range and is surrounded by beautiful terrain and coastline. This place fits my image of what a military recreation area should be. Just be sure to get your reservation early, as they book up a year in advance.

A beautiful place! Cabins are well equipped & in pretty good condition. Staff (housekeeping) is very friendly. I felt that the "check in" lady was just "working for wages". No big deal, though. I thought that NM, where we live, was the land of manana, but this place is even MORE laid back! I've played golf at the Marine base & Schofield Barracks & loved them both! Schofield is being renovated & only the front 9 are open. First period stayed in 1 bd rm (very roomy) cabin, next week will be in 2 bd rm "front row" cabin. It's been my experience that I have to constantly be online to get a reservation, hence the split cabins. While here we've noticed a lot of empty places except for the week end. I asked the reservation folks about it & they didn't have a clue! The Portuguese Men of war were coming in for our 1st 4 days, but the red flags went down last night. If you go to the Hale Koa & want a good beach time, keep in the back of your mind that 10 days after the full moon the box jelly fish come in & hang around for about 3 days............Nature hasn't changed since I was home ported (1966-1970) at Pearl Harbor! Aloha!

We stayed here after traveling from Alaska to get away and have a nice vacation. When I made the reservations, there were only non-renovated cabins available, so not knowing what the difference, we went ahead and reserved. When we arrived we were thrilled with the location and amenities. It is located on the West side of the Island with beautiful white sand beaches and not too rough of a surf for our kids to play in. (hint...don't miss the sunrise, it's well worth getting up early!) They also had a mini golf coarse, playground, bike rentals, boogie board rentals, a restaurant, a store, among other things...these were just the things we used. Then we got to our cabin. Yikes! Now, let me say we are campers, and enjoy camping so I was not expecting anything extravagant, however when we walked in I was horrified. The windows didn't closed and most didn't have screens, which let all sorts of creatures in. The bathrooms were horrible, so much so I refused to let my kids take a bath. We had to keep ALL of our food in the fridge because the line of ants was never ending, however I think the worst was the filthy floor and dirty couch. I had to sweep and clean the floor when we checked in! I have never stayed someplace where I had to clean when we got there! We were suppose to stay here 3 nights but I could only stand 1. I guess these cabins would be OK if you lived on the island and were looking to get away for the weekend, but when you travel a total of 24 hours to get there, it was a major disappointment. I can only hope the renovated cabins are in better shape!

J.J. left this review: Bellows is on the Windward side of the island (across the mountain from Honolulu). It has some of the prettiest sandy beaches one will ever find! We stayed in a 2 bed room cottage in the 2nd row (still a stone's throw from the beach) which was renovated for $85 a night. The un-renovated cottages are ok, but don't have new windows or new flooring and don't have a remodeled bathroom, but are still very good for the price $65 on the back row. There is no AC, but it is not needed particularly in the winter. Temps ranged from about 68 to 78. It's warmer in the summer, but not that much. There is almost always the trade winds. The beach has enough surf to body surf, but not too much that it's overpowering. The cabin is nothing to write home about, but it has a full size range & refrigerator and enough utensils, pots & pans for this retired Navy Submarine Cook to "do his thing" in the kitchen! Each cottage has a Weber grill for BBQ. The Marine Corp Base Hawaii is pretty close & they have a small to medium size Commissary for most everything. Bellows has a real small BX, which has milk to beer & most everything else one would likely want at the beach. The beds were ok, (firm) but the sofa needs to be replaced...really the only negative I can think of. Cable TV & free internet connection are good. Last, but not least; make reservations early. They accept reservation (online), (I believe up to 13 months in advance), except for the summer months. The place is popular with the locals so the weekends go fast. We've already made our reservation for 2 full weeks for next fall. For those that aren't familiar with Hawaii, Winter is usually the rainy season, so if you go then, be prepared for liquid sunshine! We've stayed at several places on the Island & this is our favorite!