Day Trip From Oahu To Hilo: Active Volcanoes & Helicopter Tour

We were looking forward to going on the helicopter ride over the volcano on this excursion, but it got canceled due to the bad weather. Other than that disappointment (weather is not controllable), we had an amazing tour guide, Dexter. Dexter was very knowledgeable about the big island, and took us to very interesting sites. Great experience! I would very much recommend this tour, especially with Dexter!

Guide was informative but repetitive. He did his best given the weather. Viator did not communicate correct flight information. Kona low and recent eruption caused multiple closures.

Wonderful tour and tour guide

Kimoke’o He was great. Knowledgeable. Nice.

Our driver was entertaining and knowledgeable. We enjoyed the trip. Driver Kimoke’o was our driver. He was nice. Very prompt. Kept us on time.

Great experience all around. Would have bought the video but for 150.00 it was too much. I think they would get more takers at a 80.00 mark, but what do I know. It didn’t help That and I was not visible in the video based on where I was sitting. That should have been part of the coat package. I would have paid slightly more up front. Not 300$ more as they wanted to charge. Second seat on the back right behind the pilot is not visible to the camera. Blue Hawaiian helps are great. Pilot was amazing, entertaining and former military pilot 20 years so we were in good hands. The views that the helo takes you over is a great precursor to the drive later. Everett was knowledgable through out the drive as he is a local that lives on the Island! Waterfall and Crater was a highlight…. Would likely do those again and rent a car to see things on my own next time now that I know the area. Overall quality service, lunch and water included. No issues with giving the team 5 stars.

We had such an amazing experience on this tour. We chose to include the helicopter tour as well. All stops at different locations went super smooth and we learned so much from our guide Dexter. He really was so kind and took extra time to take some photos of us at cool spots. We learned a lot about Hawaii and its history. Very glad we spent our day on this beautiful tour!

We had the most amazing experience on this day trip! Flights were prearranged from Oahu, without a hitch. Dexter was extraordinary in his knowledge and passion for the Big Island and Hilo. Just an amazing day, if you get Dexter as your guide you will not be disappointed.

Great day out! Eric, Juliana & especially Dave (Chewy) the pilot at Blue Hawaiian Helicopters were amazing. And then Dexter at Polynesian Adventure Tours - what a lovely gentleman and full of so much local knowledge & obvious love for his home, not to mention amazing eruption pics!

This was a comprehensive way to get to see Kilauea and other interesting Hilo sites. Tourguide Dexter was excellent.

The views were amazing and Kimoke'o was great. Great time management to allow us to get to everything in a timely manner.

I didn’t do the helicopter tour just the volcanic tour. The trip was amazing and our guide Steven, was personable and knowledgeable. He played the ukulele as we were boarding the bus. He’s is very talented and that started the wonderful adventure. He explained the history of the island and explained how all the islands united. The views were spectacular! He made sure that we weren’t having a good time and he flowed with our time. I would do this again when I travel again. This was one of my highlights of my vacation.

Mo our bus driver was super!! Extremely friendly and very informative. She really did a wonderful job!!! Anyone who spends time with her on their 3 day tours will be very happy

We fly to The Big Island for one day. Our tour guide Tony, was very good. He has lots of local knowledge on volcanoes, customs, history and the like, and he kept us informed as we travelled between locations. We ran on time and had a great day. Thank you.

We had a wonderful time exploring the island. Dexter was amazing and took us to all the sites and was very informative. Mahalo

The stellar reviews for Polynesian Adventure tours on TripAdvisor convinced me to book this trip, and it did not disappoint. I requested Dexter as my guide because reviewers mentioned how knowledgeable and friendly he is. The company was able to accommodate my request even when I asked to switch the dates of my tour to have enough people to do the helicopter (Blue Hawaiian requires 4 passengers to fly.) Unfortunately, due to weather, the helicopter flight was cancelled, and my group just missed an eruption at the volcano. But Dexter made up for it with his vast knowledge of history of the island, its volcanic activity, its plant life, and its people. I don't have words to describe the awe I felt walking the lava tube and Akaka Falls State Park. It was a gift to experience starkly different yet beautiful landscapes on one island, in one day. Mahalo, Dexter and Polynesian Adventure.

Excellent trip with friendly knowledgable guides. I was kept well informed in the run up to the trip. The helicopter trip was a true highlight of our Hawaii visit.

Mo was amazing! Very informative and great host. The bus was very nice. The itinerary was ok. Mo was great and made it worth it.

Mo was very friendly and informative on Polynesian culture..She made our trip fun and was an excellent bus driver. Excellent story teller

Would highly recommend this tour, even though we had a showery day, Dexter, our guide, kept us fully entertained with his knowledge.

the volcanos were not active so we only saw smoke. the volcanos blew the very next day so we were both very dissapointed.

Dexter our driver was knowlegable and knew all about Hilo. He was very kind and always was mindful that we were comfortable. What a great guide for out of state travelers.

Went on Hilo highlights with Gabriel. Thoroughly recommend. Gabriel's knowledge was excellent and a good sense of humour too! We had a great tour and saw a lot of the island. Thank you Gabriel 🙂

Dexter our tour tide was amazing! The volcano tour was great and the tour company arranging the airport arrangements created peace of mind!

Dexter was an amazing tour guide. Very knowledgeable and friendly. Helped all us ladies out of the bus by holding out his hand. It's the little things that count. Bonus was the Crater was erupting!!!

The views on the heli were amazing and were a great end to the already nice views we had during the tour some breathtaking views . Loved how we would cruise along to the exact points in the film. As for keeping with the schedule, Uncle Larry was awesome and took care of me from airport pickup to heli check in to airport drop off at the day’s end. Mahalo!!!

This was an amazing and awesome day starting with flying too and from Oahu to The Big Island, touring around with Dexter our very knowledgeable tour guide and driver. Seeing the volcanos and steam vents and the waterfall. Lunch was provided and I really enjoyed it. The helicopter ride option over the volcano was incredible, I’ve always wanted to fly in one of those. Overall an amazing and huge day 🤩🤩🤩

When the volcano is not active it's not worth flying all the way there. Dexter is a nice tour guide and he does is best to make your time worthwhile

Good guided tour. Was expecting to see Volcano crater closely. Road trip guide Dexter was amazing. lovely time in the Black ocean beach.

Tony, my guide and driver was amazing, making up with his vivacity and gift of the gab for the quiet of the dormant volcanoes. I was lucky to have Tony by my side as he has lived much of his life almost on a rift. Thus, he provides experience and insight of an eye-witness. Everything during the tour went smoothly and always on time. A lot of awe-inspiring views and places, fuelling reflections on the instant changeability and unpredictability of nature. Yet, most of all ask for Tony!

Had another great day with tour driver, Kimoke'o. Going to hate to see him go as our tours with him are coming to an end. Would definitely recommend him for anyone else.

The trip was wonderful. It was NCL - best of Hilo tour! On May 14, 2024 The guide Albert was very knowledge, and we had tons of fun! Thanks!

We booked the trip up as part of our holiday in Hawaii, and it didn't disappoint. The tour bus was waiting for us once our plane landed and once we had a full coach we departed. Dexter the tour guide was fantastic and told us so much about Big Island. The helicopter trip was also fantastic.

FANTASTIC!! so well organised, with easy instructions and everything went smoothly! THe ground tour was great, lovely guide that was very knowledgeable and went out of his way to accommodate all. the Helicopter just took the tour to new heights and really help take it all in! Not to be missed

Kimokeo was a wonderful tour guide. Very Knowledgeable about the history and so kind. Find him you will really enjoy his tour! Mahalo.

Mahalo was the best diver and guide has the best 3 days ever and would def recommend to all my friends and family

Great experience. We did not do the helicopter part. Our guide Dexter was the best! If you go in this tour, ask for him. What a treat!

Wesley was our Blue Hawaiian chopper pilot - awesome soundtrack he put together for us plus knowledgeable and humorous commentary as we flew over the 2 "active" volcanoes and saw down into many craters from volcanoes past! Most recent eruption was June 2023 so there was no red lava to see. Dexter was our coach driver who guided us around Volcano National Park to reveal ground level views of volcanoes and waterfalls. Lots of information from this guy who has lived on Hilo all his life. Long day out from Honolulu to Big Island (aka Hilo) for this Volcano tour but well worth it. My favourite part was 45 minutes in the helicopter and coach stop to walk through a lava tube.

Lets start with AMAZING! The experience with Polynesian Adventure was “Top Shelf” from day 1. The day I booked our tour on line, confirmation was sent and our trip was set. We continued to receive reminder emails and details of our adventure over the next several weeks. Three days and two days before our adventure we received phone calls to confirm everything and received more details to help us through the process of getting there. The staff on the phone was extremely helpful and was able to answer every questions I had. Very professional, courtesy and easy to talk to. You could tell they had a smile on their face just by the sound of their voice. Between their detailed information and my research of the information they gave me, the movement from our hotel to the Honolulu airport, to the Hilo airport went seamless. Now, we get to the best part. The tour / adventure. We met Dexter (Dex) at the bus and he checked us in and let us know he would be our tour guide for the day. We couldn’t have gotten a better tour guide than Dex. The amount of time he has spent on Hilo played a significant role in his knowledge of the island. That amount of time just happens to be his entire life. Born and raised. I don’t want to insult Dex, but I venture to guess he is, at a minimum, in his mid 60’s. He was such a pleasure to spend the day with and his knowledge is invaluable. Such a great person. Thank you Dex! After the bus tour, the “thrill” part of the adventure was about to begin. The Helicopter Tour with Blue Hawaiian. On behalf of my family, let me just say, “Awesome.” My family had never ridden in a helicopter before. Being the military for 28 years (now retired) I have ridden in many helo’s. For their first and my 1000+ in a helo, we got spoiled. This helicopter was the Lamborghini of helicopters. The EC130 Eco Star seats 7 (including the pilot) and there’s not a bad seat in the house. Our pilot, Wesley, was outstanding. Great knowledge, personable and a pleasure to talk to. He has over 20 years of helicopter flying experience and you can tell he’s right at home in the driver’s seat. He gave us some spectacular views of waterfalls, Kilauea and Mauna Loa, other craters, lava fields and many others. You just can’t get the full picture of the power of a volcano walking on the ground. Seeing if from the air at 1500 feet gives you a perspective like no other. Thank you to the rest of the staff and crew at Blue Hawaiian. You all played a significant role in the whole tour experience. From the time we arrived, your professionalism did not go unnoticed. I know there’s a significant cost involved in a tour like this, but if you get the chance, it’s worth the price. If you do the Oahu to Hilo day trip with helicopter tour like we did, you will be worn out buy the time you get back to your room. The next day you will wake up and say, “Damn! That was awesome.” My hats off to everyone at Polynesian Adventure and Blue Hawaiian Helicopters. Another special thanks to Dak and Wesley. You two are great and wish nothing but the best for you and your families. Mahalo to everyone! Sincerely, Team Johnson

We were promised buses with restrooms. I asked for a “luxury” trip. The bus not only had no restroom on board but was an old bus and had no phone chargers available. I would like to have taken more video and photos but ran out of battery. I will NEVER book a trip with this company again.

We did a day trip to Hilo from Oahu and everything was smooth sailing from start to finish. Communication was spot on from Polynesian Adventure having received emails, text messages and a personal phone call a day (or 2 I can't remember) prior to my booking. Due to that I felt very comfortable/confident and assured with my booking. As for the experience itself I felt that I lucked out in regards to my tour guides: Ethan from Blue Hawaiian Helicopters was superb-he was beyond entertaining, super funny/witty and very knowledgable about the terrain we flew over; Dexter was our land tour guide and driver. He is Hilo born and raised so I could tell that he was very proud and passionate in sharing his home with us. He took us on extra stops that weren't listed on the website's itinerary which made the trip feel even more personalized and unique. These extra stops were some of the parks close to the black sand beach and a tiny town called Honomu. Although the helicopter tour was rad, we didn't get to go over the Kilauea crater due to current weather conditions. I am just thrilled we got to fly as I know there are possibilities of not flying at all because of weather hazards. Unfortunately we also missed the eruption too by 1.5 days! UGH! But overall it was still a memorable and enjoyable experience. My favorite was Akaka Falls-the lush landscape totally made you feel like you're in another world. I HIGHLY recommend this tour if you're looking for a quick getaway or something additional to your Oahu vacation.

The tour guide was amazing, he kept it fun. However, our whole day revolved around those that were taking the helicopter tour so our visits were cut short. Everything had to be done before their tour which was by 2:45 (our tour was until 5:45) After dropping off those taking the helicopter tour, we had a few hours left to “figure out what to do next” until our flight. I paid a lot of money for this tour and was very disappointed in the planning. I would keep the groups separate, those doing the helicopter tour and those who are not. It’s not fair to lose time because everything needs to be done prior to the people doing the helicopter tour.

Our tour guide was Dexter! Super knowledgeable, patient and kind. Our tour started at 8am and ended around 4pm. The tour price includes flight tickets. Definitely recommend this tour! Learned a lot about Hilo, and stopped at a lot spots. We started at Volcanoes National Park, then went to Thurston Lava Tubes, Rainbow Falls, Akaka Falls, black sand beach, and the queen’s garden. Loved the tour, thanks Dexter!

It would have helped immensely if our flight was on the day of the tour. Tour was Jan 25 but flight they provided was for Feb 20. Total failure and ruined the high light of our 50th anniversary.

What a complete joke!! The flights from Oahu to Hilo that were booked for us were due to land AFTER the bus tour pick-up time. I (not the tour company) noticed this the day before and had to get this company to book us on an earlier flight. The Bus Tour was great and Dexter (driver/guide) was so chilled and knowledgeable - this was truly memorable. We were then dropped off at Blue Hawaiian Helicopters for our Volcano Helicopter flight to be told that it had been cancelled the day before and no other flights were available that day!! The whole reason I booked this trip was for the helicopter flight. The tour company had NOT notified me that they flights were cancelled as I would have cancelled the whole trip with a full refund versus waking up at 4am spending $100 on taxis to and from HNL airport and being stranded for 4 hours in the middle of nowhere. To say I am disappointed is an understatement as this was 3yrs in the waiting/planning and when you spend c$1000 each the customer service was shocking. If you do book triple check everything….

This was not worth the money. We booked months in advance. They did not inform us that we wouldn’t be eating at Volcano House. They didn’t even give you an option what to eat. It was a half a portion of a turkey club, a tiny cookie, and tiny bag of chips (which was whatever they put in your box). The sights were beautiful, but since our helicopter tour was cancelled they charged us more for the land portion than the flying portion which was the main reason we book this. I looked on their website and it only costs $238 for the land portion. We got charged almost twice. The macadamia nut farm was closed, but the information said we were going. I understand they can’t help what is closed. It’s just I feel like they should inform you what they aren’t going to.

Had a wonderful day sightseeing. Bus tour was informative and fun. Wesley, our pilot, was amazing on the helicopter portion of the tour.

Day trip through the volcano national park was excellent, Hugh our guide was clearly enthusiastic about his job. Was slightly disappointed to not be able to walk through the lava tube, this has been closed for over a year and this should have been noted on the site. Would like to see a tour that does not involve funneling tourists to nut farms, coffee farms, chocolate factories etc. Helicopter part was actually very uncomfortable, with myself being forced up against the door and one of the other tourists partially sitting on my lap in the front. Husband was very comfortable in the back as only two of them were sitting there. Missed out on seeing the rainbow falls and black sand beach (both visible from helicopter though)

Our Driver Anthony was very good on schedule and very informative. Nikki was another driver she was very good too. Trip was on time and very nice.