Big Island Mauna Kea Summit Sunset And Stargazing

Our guid, John, was fabulous on this tour! He made sure everyone knew what to expect and how to handle altitude sickness and when the beautiful sunset was done, we travelled back toward the visitor’s center to stargaze. John gave us a great lesson in astronomy and took pictures of our group throughout the tour. We had a great time and would absolutely recommend this tour to anyone visiting the Big Island!!

What a fabulous tour!! I have been to Mauna Kea summit with another company and they were great but our guide on this tour, John, was above and beyond fantastic. He was careful making sure everyone understood altitude sickness and what to do if we start experiencing any issues. Once the sun set, we made our way back toward the visitor’s center where we got an astronomy lesson and saw amazing stars and planets through his telescope (seeing the rings around Saturn is something we will never forget!). He also took pictures of our group the entire time and we have wonderful mementos of a great day!! I would absolutely recommend this tour to anyone visiting the Big Island!!

We loved this tour and especially enjoyed having John as a guide! He was really kind and knowledgeable giving us lots of information and always happy to answer all our questions about the summit and the constellations. The sunset from the summit was definitely breathtaking and we also saw the full moon shining on top of the craters which was so unique. Even if there was a full moon which reduced the Milky Way visibility, John made sure to find a spot where we could admire with his telescope the visible constellations, stars, planets and even the full moon itself which was stunning. John also took pictures of us with the stars with his professional camera and shared them with us. Warm parkas, hot chocolate and delicious local snacks completed the experience! Highly recommended 😊

Shin was such a great guide and made the entire evening so enjoyable!

The tour was incredible and Shin, our tour guide, played such an important part in it. Shin’s warm personality and great knowledge / stories of what we were seeing really made the whole experience even more magical. The sunset and stars were incredible and we even got some amazing pictures of us with the Milky Way as a backdrop, thanks to Shin’s great photography skills. Definitely worth booking this one!

Incredible experience. John was outstanding and so knowledgeable of Hawaii culture, the history of Mauna Kea, and astrology. I recommend this tour without reservation. Yes, you can get to the summit on your own self guided if you have an AWD vehicle, but getting guided by John is a very different experience, he has a state of the art telescope and will take 10-second exposure photographs of you and the starry night sky at no extra charge. The photos are an incredible keepsake.

Amazing tour. Our tour guide John was very knowledgeable, organized, friendly, helpful and safety oriented. He definitely made this tour a memorable one. I would highly recommend this tour.

Really enjoyed the excursion, sunset was spectacular, and the stargazing was great. Shin was a great guide very conscientious of everyone to insure we had a great time, including taking pictures of us. Thank you for the great experience and providing the pictures from the star gazing portion.

We were very happy with the organization of the tour. We had plenty of time to see the summit and the stargazing.

This was the best stargazing tour I’ve ever been on at Mauna Kea!!! My guide Shin was fantastic!!! He was knowledgeable and engaging! The view was beautiful. It’s magical to be above the clouds watching the sunset! The stargazing was incredible!!! Shin found the best spot based on cloud cover, wind direction! He even got out to check wind direction at the parking spot to make sure the van would shield us from the wind. I choose sept 10th because it was a new moon. So it was nothing but stars, planets, shooting stars and satellites! We could see 6,000 stars with the naked eye. His telescope was great too! We were even able to see the Andromeda galaxy!!! He should us constellations based on our birth sign. Went out of his way to show people from northern & southern hemisphere the stars and such they never see. The tour went over by 30 mins which was so great!!! Shin even brought a camera and took out pictures with the milkway in the background. The snacks we were given were delicious! They were authentic to the island. The water for hot chocolate or tea (if you brought your own bag) was super hot in the best way! It’s a smaller independent company so they do t have the marketing budget that the other tour groups had. Best thing to was booking with them! Shin was attentive to always check in on us & how we are feeling. What a great tour!! Please do book with them!

We had such a memorable experience on this tour. Our guide, John, was so enjoyable. He gave us history of the volcanos and island as we were driving, ensured everyone was doing well with the altitude change and added special touch with sending us family pictures with the milky way in the background during the stargazing portion. We felt comfortable throughout the drive and experience. Would highly recommend John as your guide!

This was such a special and unforgettable experience! Going up to Mauna Kea to watch the sunset, see satellites, and admire the stars at night was definitely the highlight of the trip. It was really cold up on the mountain, so I highly recommend wearing extra warm layers before heading up. The road to the top was very bumpy and challenging, but our tour guide John was an excellent driver and made us feel safe and comfortable throughout the journey. It was truly a memorable experience and a trip we will never forget!

Probably one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had in Hawaii. The views were second to none. John was an incredible tour guide and extremely knowledgeable of the area and the constellations. Highly recommended for anyone interested in astronomy, Hawaiian culture, or just wanting some incredible views/pictures.

We had a terrific tour with our guide, John, to the top of Mauna Kea to see the beautiful sunset. Warm parkas & tasty snacks were provided. This was followed by an informative stargazing session & a surprise special photo taken with John’s special equipment. We highly recommend this tour and you will be lucky to get John as your guide.

Really great tour with John, a knowledgeable guide. He made the tour educational, informative, and fun.

Did this tour with my husband and had an amazing time. John was our guide and made our experience very pleasant. John made sure to take multiple stops to ensure everybody was well acclimatized to the high altitude and engaged well with all the information about the geography and everything. Sunset views from the observatory were beautiful. We did stargazing near the visitor center where John showed us different stars through his telescope

Our evening with John looking at the sunset and stars was amazing. The sunset from the top of Muana Kea was one of the best I have seen in my 50+ years. John had an extensive knowledge of the history of the island, astronomy, and the local flora and fauna. Our snacks and hot cocoa were perfect for our time at a high elevation. Anything heavier could have been a bit problematic. Overall an excellent evening and would highly recommend.

It was a great time and far exceeded my expectations. John, our guide, was really knowledgeable about the culture, history and the stars. Highly recommended this excursion.

Our Mauna Kea tour was truly the highlight of our Big Island vacation! Our tour guide, John, went above and beyond to make sure everyone felt safe, comfortable, and well taken care of throughout the entire trip. He was incredibly knowledgeable, sharing the history of Mauna Kea and explaining the surrounding areas along the way. His passion for the island and attention to detail made the experience even more meaningful. We always felt informed, engaged, and in good hands. The breathtaking views, unforgettable sunset, and incredible stargazing made this tour worth every penny. If you’re visiting the Big Island, I highly recommend this tour, and if you’re lucky enough to have John as your guide, you’re in for an amazing experience. Mahalo, John, for making our trip so memorable! 🌄✨🌌

John was an exceptional tour guide! Extremely knowledgeable and respectful of the land and the history. This was an absolute highlight of our trip and we are so grateful that he gave us such a memorable experience!

Happy to be on on this 7.5 hour tour with the super knowledgeable, conscientious, and helpful tour guide John Soreyama! My friends and I may now actually bother to remember how to locate the North Star, should our light-polluted-filled city skies back home allow, and marvel at the small but significant information of humans' understanding that the star's position correlates with one's latitude. Of course getting to top of the world's tallest mountain on this incredible island in such a comfortable fashion alone was the cat's meow, considering our "golden" years, but dipping our toes into a small slice of the starry skies was icing on the cake. Great short visit!

A sunset above the clouds you could never see from anywhere else. John was our tour guide for the day and made an incredible experience for us. He was so knowledgeable, nice and fun while taking great care of us with his attentive driving, coats, food and hot chocolate. We were so glad we didn’t try to drive this on our own not only because of the steep and small roads, but also because we would have missed so much of his experience and knowledge of the summit and island. The star gazing with him showing us the stars, planets and zodiac signs and how many light years away everything is. It was unexpected and really fun. Now the sunset- just unreal. We took so many pictures it was so so beautiful to see. We were also fortunate to have the moon rising at the same time. Thanks John for a day we will cherish as a special vacation memory.

Booking the Mauna Kea Sunset and Stars tour with Taikobo was the highlight of our family trip to the Big Island, and our guide, John, made it absolutely incredible! The small group size of just 9 people made the entire experience feel personalized, and John was a phenomenal driver up the rugged summit roads. Watching the sunset from the peak was breathtaking, but the stargazing portion was where John really made our night! My son is a huge astronomy buff and really wanted to see nebulae. John went completely out of his way, taking extra time to align the telescope and track down beautiful deep-space nebulae just for him. His deep knowledge of the cosmos and patient, engaging attitude made it an unforgettable night for our family. The heavy parkas and hot cocoa kept us warm, but John’s hospitality is what we will remember most. If you book with Taikobo, ask for John!

This was an awesome unique experience. This is one of the top places in the world for stargazing (like top 3), countries around the globe build all their observatories here, and I've never seen so many stars in the sky in my life. Our tour guide John had an elite telescope with him and was incredibly knowledgeable about the stars. He showed us three planets, and insane closeup of the moon, did some amazing night photography that he shared, and we had parkas and snacks packed. The snorkeling, beaches, and waterfalls are probably what Hawaii is most known for, but I've seen / done that type of stuff at many locations. This was truly unique and something you can only do here. The sunset while looking down at the clouds was crazy. To stand on top of a mountain and look down at the clouds as if you were on a plane was just crazy. It is cold, and though there were parkas, if you are planning in advance, I'd bring a winter hat with you to wear, otherwise long pants is probably sufficient.

It was an amazing experience, getting to see the sunset was captivating. We were treated with snacks and hot chocolate and a telescope to see the moon, Jupiter venus and mercury. Our tour guide John was very knowledgeable and very accommodating. 11 out of 10

We had such a nice time and the sunset was beautiful. John was an excellent tour guide, he was knowledgeable and so kind. He made the experience memorable.

John our tour guide was absolutely awesome! He made sure the tour went smoothly without any issues, even went above and beyond to help another groups tour member who was sick. The views were absolutely stunning. It was such an awesome experience to see the telescopes, the sun set and all the beautiful stars. I cannot recommend this enough tour enough! We road up the mountain in a super comfy van, the snacks were delicious and I appreciated the hot chocolate once the sun went down. Definitely bring layers.. because it gets cold as soon as the sunsets! 20/10 recommends this tour.

Expect to be treated well, have expectation that are 100% aligned to the outcomes you will experience. If John is your guide, you will have a seamless trip, start to finish!!!

Incredible experience. Our guide John was fabulous and was incredible with knowledge and facts about the entire experience.

John was our guide for the tour and did an amazing job! The ride to the top of Mauna Kea was comfortable complete with locally sourced snacks. We were not able to see stars as clearly as we would have liked, but it was cloudy and one day after a full moon. John still made it interesting and informative with his high powered telescope and knowledge of astronomy. Great excursion worth the time and money.

Excellent tour, guide was very knowledgeable.

Met the guide at their business near Kona which has a parking lot to leave your vehicle. They have a very comfortable BMW van. We had a short stop at the shopping center near Waikoloa to pick up other guests then drove up to the visitor center. They provide snacks but not a full meal. Given the timing, snacks were great (we had lunch right before starting the tour). Guide was very knowledgeable and answered all our questions. After acclimating we went to the summit where ha described the various observatories. They provided warm parkas but bring your own hats and gloves - it was very cold! After sunset, we went down some and stopped to look at all the stars. Then headed back to Kona. We had originally booked with a different group another night in our trip who had to cancel and couldn’t fit us in again. Very glad Taikobo could accommodate us - great tour!

John was a fantastic tour guide, very knowledgeable and personable! Both of our phones were dead after a long day and he offered to take our pictures and send them later. The view was fantastic, stargazing was incredibly informative, overall excellent experience. Would highly recommend to anyone.

We had a wonderful time and it was well worth the ride. John, our very capable and knowledgeable guide, arrived on time in a Mercedes Benz van which was very comfortable. On the drive up to the summit John oriented us to the scenery around us, history and flora and fauna. John took special care to tell us the schedule for our trip and we made stops for bathroom breaks and to acclimate to the altitude. I felt we were in very good hands. We were fortunate to see a very starry sky - the moon was new - and John provided the opportunity to see Jupiter, Venus and a couple of beautiful star clusters through his telescope. He also pointed out constellations and explained basic rules of astronomy. What I reallly appreciated - our van was the last to leave the star viewing site. Another amazing bonus was a photo of us with the stars - not possible with our iPhones - unexpected - and a treasure to have for the memory. Thanks, John!

This was the best tour of our trip. I highly recommend that you go. Our guides, Chris and Wes, did a great job. They knew the observatory site well and gave us very good information on the nigh5 sky. Recommend you go during tge New Moon and not the Full Moon.

The weather did not cooperate but the place is spectacular. John, our guide was excellent. Very informative and he really wanted us to make the most of the experience in spite of the afore-mentioned weather issues. My only quibble was that the snacks offered were not that good. I saw that other tours had better food options

We had a super experience. Our host/guide John was a great guy. He was knowledgeable and informative about all aspects of the venture ... geography, history, nature, and all our other questions. The stargazing session at the visitor center after sunset was really special and interesting. We were very happy we signed up for the guided tour. We would have missed a lot if we had done this on our own.

If you’re looking for a capable, knowledgeable and caring guide to take you to the highest point in the Pacific for a beautiful sunset followed by a sky full of stars, ask for John. His knowledge about this volcano, its history, Hawaiian culture and especially star knowledge is amazing!

What a magnificent way to watch the sunset. Then to have an extraordinary stargazing with our guide, John, afterwards was phenomenal. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone but dress warmly. They do supply a parka though.

We booked last minute when our other tour cancelled due to weather and couldn't fit us in before we left. Taikobo was able to fit us in a couple of nights later. It was a convenient start to the tour meeting at their building in Kona - they have parking in their own lot so no need to struggle to find or pay for parking. The vehicle was a very comfortable Mercedes 4-wheel drive van (I think they can fit 9 passengers but another family couldn't make it last minute, so it was just us). The driver was professional and informative (he talked much of the time while driving and answered all our questions). We felt very safe on the road to the summit. They had local snacks for us to eat when we wanted, which was great. We had a big lunch before starting the tour and didn't need to eat at 3:00 at the visitor center like many tours do. We had a nice stop at the visitor center to acclimate and look around. At the summit, they provided very warm parkas - it was very cold up there! After sunset we want back down and were able to do star gazing - it was a beautiful, clear night. The telescope they use is great. We're able to see Jupiter and Saturn along with a nebula and galaxy. The drive back home was uneventful and most of us napped. It was a fun day.

Absolute favorite activity during my week on Big Island (and I also did manta ray snorkel, tour around the island, and catamaran snorkel). This was our first activity of the week and John made it so no other tour could compare. John was an engaging and informative guide. He respected Mauna Kea and led us in a Hawaiian greeting. We were provided parkas since it was in the 30s on the summit. Be aware, the summit can be a bit rough with altitude sickness despite stopping at the Visitor Center at 9,000 feet for an hour to acclimate. The view from the summit/above the clouds was amazing regardless. The view of the stars was breathtaking as he showed us the constellations. He brought his telescope and we saw Saturn and other constellations. He also took a great photo of us with the stars. I very much appreciated the local Hawaiian snacks he provided (cookies, bread, Taro chips, mac nuts) vs Costco chips/granola bars we received on other tours. Thank you John! So glad we went on this tour!

Absolute wonderful experience on the Sunset and Stars tour with John as our guide. Going to the summit of Mauna Kea was a breathtaking experience for my Wife and I and absolutely a must do when visiting the big island. What made it even more amazing was John our tour guide. Unfortunately, we didn't have great weather for the star gazing (high overcast) but John, determined to make the most of the tour for us was able to take an amazing night photo with kilauea volcano erupting glow in the background. Spectacular.

It was a great experience to go up on Mauna Kea seeing super beautiful sunset! The tour guide John san is with very deep knowledge of mountains, stars, culture of Hawaii and so kind speaking both English and Japanese which was amazing support for those who visited from Japan. It became unforgettable memories for all of us on a picture with beautiful stars. Thank you!!

This tour was absolutely amazing! Watching the sunset from the top of Mauna Kea was one of the most breathtaking experiences of my life. The colors of the sky were incredible, and the view above the clouds was unforgettable. After sunset, we enjoyed stargazing — the night sky was so clear, and we could see countless stars and constellations. The guide was knowledgeable, friendly, and shared fascinating information about astronomy and Hawaiian culture. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting the Big Island — it’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience! 本当に素晴らしい！ 山頂から望むサンセットに感動、その後の夜空はとても澄んでいて数え切れないほどの星や星座を見ることが出来ました。 ガイドは、知識豊富、フレンドリー、天文学とハワイの文化の話題で楽しかったです。 ビッグアイランドを訪れる人には、このツアーを強くお勧めします。一生に一度の体験です！

Wonderful experience atop this very high mountain. We were warned cold and lack of oxygen might be an issue but no problem for us. All very well organised. Only minor negative was that the guide had a very strong accent and was hard to understand through the speakers, so maybe good in future if they used a few more pre-recorded commentaries.

Our local guide John was fantastic! He was knowledgeable about the history and cultural importance of Mauna Kea and gave an excellent star viewing lesson. He even took pictures of us with the Milky Way. Amazing experience!

We have been to the Big Island many times and have done all of the things. Our experience with Taikobo Hawaii and their Mauna Kea Sunset and Star Gazing tour this week rates at the top of our list of all things done. Our guide, John, was top notch - courteous and helpful, as well as very knowledgeable of the history of Mauna Kea and the observatories, as well as astronomy during the star gazing portion of our tour. Our transport van was first class. And the scenery and views going to and at the summit of the volcano were some of the best things we have ever seen - period. We will do this tour again in the future and recommend it to anyone looking for an epic adventure in Hawaii.

The day that we went the weather wasn’t cooperating. The sunset was nice but could’ve been better. The moon was too bright to get a good look at the stars but it was still pretty cool to be on the tallest mountain in the world (30,000 ft - the bottom half is under water). Our guide/driver, Shin, did an amazing job! From pick up to drop off he was with us for 8 hours. He earned his pay and got a nice tip that was well deserved!

Best tour hands down! We loved our guide Shin and had so many amazing photos. The star gazing was beautiful and unforgettable.