Evening Volcano Explorer from Hilo
Badge of Excellence
Big Island of Hawaii, USA
- 6 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
There's nowhere better to explore the fascinating world of active volcanism, than on the Big Island, but knowing what to see and where to see it can be a challenge if you go on your own. This tour takes you a village destroyed by advancing lava, black-sand beaches, and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with a guide to provide commentary.
- Perfect for first-time visitors to the Big Island
- Learn about volcanic activity from your guide
- Stay fueled: Dinner and beverages are provided
- Round-trip transportation from Hilo adds convenience
What's Included
- Dinner
- Beverages
- Gratuities
Meeting and Pickup
You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup
Start time.12:30 pm
Itinerary
1
Star Of The Sea Painted Church
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
2 hours • Admission Ticket Included
3
KapohoKine Adventures
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Kaimu Beach Park
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 1 day of travel. In this case confirmation will be received as soon as possible, subject to availability
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
- Closed toe walking shoes required
- Bring a light rain jacket
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 26 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Tour was great! We learned so much about the history of the island and volcano. Tiffany was our tour guide and she was so friendly and helpful! Thank you Tiffany for the photos and for a great experience.
Reviews
4.5
based on 70 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Fabulous introduction to the volcano.No eruption but the first viewing of it is still spectacular plus the evening glow is great. But especially the guides I want to compliment.Tori is so knowledgeable and she and Ray answered all my questions without qualm and the lunch was most enjoyable. I learned so much about Hawaii as well as the geology and biology of the area. They made me feel super special so I’d recommend asking which days they are rostered on.Also the tour company was on time and communication was great so I’d also recommend doing a tour by Kapohokine Adventures as well as booking through Viator
Nothing you cancelled on us and didn’t even tell us. No phone call voicemail or email. I will never book thru this company again
Very friendly and knowledgeable guide. Great trip! The weather was excellent. The guides offered jackets and flashlights that made it so much better for viewing at night and in breezy conditions
Andre was a great guide. Not only did he explain everything you need to know about volcanoes, but made it interesting and easy to understand with a sense of humor and folklore stories thrown in.
Do not book through Viator our tour was canceled by them and rebooked when we looked at our new trip it was for a pickup 2 1/2 hours from our hotel. When we called to just cancel Emerson said there was nothing he could do and could not even find our reservation. When I asked to speak with a manager he kept making excuses and then put me on hold forever and never connected me to a manager. Now I’m out over $1000 because of the 2 bookings I can see this is going to be a fight
BUYER BEWARE DO NOT USE VIATOR go direct to the 3rd party
Seeing the glow of the lava. Walking through the lava tubes. . Courtney was a great guide. She definitely knows her islands history
Seeing lava breaking through the caldera floor was just a spectacular experience. Great tour guide (Kyle) - everything was well organized. Recommend 👍
Adam was a excellent tour and a great driver. It was a very long day but well worth it.
Favorite part was the lava tube cave
Marci and Kyle were the best. You get so much information on volcanoes and the island. We enjoyed it all.
Tour was great! We learned so much about the history of the island and volcano. Tiffany was our tour guide and she was so friendly and helpful! Thank you Tiffany for the photos and for a great experience.
Awesome views! Don our guide was knowledgeable and worked with us to give us a truly customized tour.
I want to start by warning folks to double check on the actual tour website so you know what you’re really signing up for. The Viator page has apparently been outdated for well over a year, promising dinner and wine tasting. According to our tour guide, that hasn’t been a part of the tour since before Covid but neither Viator nor the tour company have bothered to update these third party pages despite several complaints from past customers (different third party sites offered a variety of experiences that are not a part of the tour that you actually paid for).
Aside from the annoyance of being misled and the fine print that keeps you from being reimbursed in any way for the poor maintenance and upkeep of their services, the tour was phenomenal.
Our experience was absolutely incredible and we know it has everything to do with our tour guide Don. We lucked out and basically ended up getting a private tour to ourselves. The entire day, Don was giving us recommendations on things to do, see, and visit. It’s also very clear that he loves his job and is passionate about the island and the Volcanoes National Park. The amount of knowledge he has on the plant life, different lava formations, volcano eruption history and how it’s impacted the locals and the surrounding terrain… his passion showed through and was truly contagious. He made the desert-like landscape seem all the more beautiful and full of life. He also did his best to make the most of our day by taking detours to show us other highlights outside of the typical tour and then other trails to check out if we return on our own time. Seeing him go out of his way to really give the best experience to visitors was unexpected. He really went above and beyond for us and absolutely made up for any disappointment over the booking inconsistencies.
While I would caution folks and suggest they book directly through the website to double check what is actually promised, the tour itself is absolutely worthwhile, especially with Don. Viator gets a rating of 0-1 stars from us but the tour with Don as our guide is definitely a 5 star experience.
The tour guide was super cool but I feel like If I had gone on my own I could’ve been done within a few hours and had the rest of the day to do other things or even explore the park even more.
There were no hikes, we didn’t visit any winery like it said, and it felt like we spent more time driving than actually experiencing the park.
Definitely just go to the park on your own unless you want a full lesson on volcanoes
We had an excellent time on our tour with Spencer. He was a wealth of knowledge and gave us so much information throughout the entire tour. He is passionate about the island and exudes the Aloha spirit we have come to love when visiting the islands.
Great experience would recommend this tour. Guide was informative allowing extra time at some spots. The volcano crater looked great at nights unfortunately it was raining but this did not spoil the view.
Barb S. ..Australia
Absolutely amazing tour! The guide was extremely knowledgable and ensured that everything ran on time.
Highly recommended if you're staying in Hilo.
This was a great trip - well worth it. Our guide was excellent, she made the trip for us. The places we visited first before going up to the viewing platform for the Volcano were amazing - the lava tubes, the garden that is forming on the cooled lava which had previously flowed down to the ocean, the steam rising on a field with orchids growing. We also were taken to a Winery and given a tasting of their very different wines with a BBQ type meal and a glass of wine of our choice to follow, which was excellent. We were also shown round the Winery, then it was off to view the Volcano from a platform. On arrival, it was foggy but as we were due to leave it cleared and we were able to see the fire arising from the Volcano and spitting up molten lava. It was some distance away and the only thing I would change is, it would be great to be a bit closer and see the lava flowing.
Jessica was amazing, informative and humorous. This trip was very informative. We appreciate the snacks, the thoughtfulness of the wet towels, the dinner as well as seeing a live volcano. I even had a orchid to Pele and apparently it worked as the volcano spurted while we were watching! We had a small and friendly group. It was 6 hours but the day went fast, yet they got us back in time knowing we had to drive back to Kona.
The tour was amazing! Our guide, Campbell, was knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor! He tailored the tour to us and never rushed us. The volcano crater at night was unbelievable! Highly recommend this tour!
Fabulous. I have made similar trips before and this was the first time we actually saw the glow and some lava activity. Visit to the Volcano winery was a wonderful wine tasting and dinner experience.
Great experience. Our guide, Levi, was wonderful. While traveling from place to place, he shared so much information about Hawaiian history and folklore. I was very impressed because he is not a native Hawaiian. He was an excellent driver a day very pleasant to be with. I really enjoyed the meal at the winery. I would have liked to spend more time at the museum. Definitely worth going back.
This trip was all that it is billed to be. The tour guilde was excellent. Kyle really knew his stuff, and his attention to detail was amazing. He was constantly checking to see if anyone needed anything and that we were having good time. No question was to trivival for him to answer, and if he didn't know the answer he was very quick to say so, and try and find out. The wine tour and tasting was super. The highlight of course was the volcano and laval tube. The view was fantastic. I would recommend that if you are trying to take pictures, you bring a long lens, and a mono pod. it was hard to get a steady shot due to the distance the volcano was from us. Even so the view was great. The tour was right on time from start to finish. Enough can not be said for the our guide. If you get the chance ask for Kyle. you will in no way be disappointed. You can see that even though he comes across as a easy going go with the flow type of guy, he is very preparded and is very good at what he does.
Great trip! We enjoyed all the stops...could have used a little more time at some. Really appreciated the guide's extensive knowledge and his willingness to spend some extra time at the volcano.
The day trip booked via Viator did not start off well, they failed to notify us that Kaphokine Adventures had changed location, so we went to the location Viator had told us to go to and found an empty storefront, after asking at several adjoining shops we found a lady who knew where they had relocated to, by this time we were running late, thankfully the new location was only a short drive away. The actual trip up to the volcano with stops along the way was very enjoyable, the young man university student who was our guide was very knowledgeable. He was able to give us information on any and all questions that were asked by the occupants of his bus/van. He had a good sense of humour and a lot of info on local plants and legends that he passed on to us making for an enjoyable trip. FD
Our guide Jessica was great and she did everything possible to
make the tour enjoyable. However, the information that we got when
booking the tour was wrong and insufficient. We had multiple problems with this tour.
First, we called them to let them know that 4 of
us 6 in total were vegetarian and they said that this
will be taken care of for our dinner at the winery.
When we arrived at the winery, they told us that no
special requests were made and they do not keep much food
on the premises. Vegetarians had a choice of corn, coleslaw, pasta
salad and, the owner was able to find some cream cheese
dip with crackers. This is far from what I would call
diner.
Second, we had trouble finding the starting point of the tour.
Apparently the the company moved to a new address and
there was no way for us to know about it. Luckily
the people at the old address knew where the new one
was, otherwise we would not have been able to find the
place since the tour company did not pick up the phone.
Third, the tour description says that the tour includes:
Next stop is the Lava Viewing Area in Kalapana, where your
vehicle drives over the lava flows that overran the highway. Look
for any current volcanic activity available before heading to the Painted
Church. Now decommissioned, it was the first home in Hawaii to
Saint Damien before he famously found his calling amongst the lepers
of Molokai. This Church was so important to determined local villagers
that it was moved, not once but twice, to evade the
advancing molten lava flows.
This part of the tour did not happen.
Finally, the tour description suggested bringing a light rain jacket no
further description. Considering that the tour starts at 1:30pm, we were
all wearing warm weather clothes and brought a light jacket each.
When we asked the people at the tour starting gift shop
if we needed to bring anything with us, they only said
get a light jacket. Halfway throughout the tour, our tour guide
told us that it gets quite chilly at the dinner location
and the volcano lake/Jagger museum. To feel comfortable, one would need
a long pants and a decent fall jacket, not a light
rain one. Luckily the tour guide had some extra jackets.
The lack of information and miscommunication
were unacceptable. We got lucky that it did not rain on
the day of the tour, otherwise we would have been freezing
by the time we had to see the highlight of the
tour lava lake/Jagger museum.
A great afternoon and evening with informative commentary. Unfortunately the weather wasn''t kind to us but the van was equipped with raincoats and umbrellas so we were well looked after. We were also given drinks and snacks as we travelled. Dinner at the winery was delicious but the wine tasting was so quick that you had no time to appreciate the wines and make a choice. The evening was topped off with a great view of the glow probably made better by the fact that the power was out.
Great, but won't do it again I like to explore things myself, end was a bit disappointed. Guide was very nice, excellent in sharing knowledge and information, attentive, great hospitality.
Our tour guides were terrific. We were very glad we chose this tour.
One of the best tours we've ever been on, very well organized, the guides were excellent, very professional, enthusiastic and entertaining. The tour had a lot of variety and was great value for money as well, very highly recommended.
we had a great time, meal at winery was delicious and got to see the amazing lava glow.
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up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Evening Volcano Explorer from Hilo
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