Day Trip From Oahu To Hilo: Volcano Adventure

Fantastic experience… Volcanoes National Park was breathtaking and our driver, Albert, was very knowledgeable and provided us with lots of interesting information. He was also very courteous and well organized

I am glad we left Oahu to see the national park and other beautiful parts of the big island. The weather at the top where you look out at the volcano was windy and rainy but still great! It was so cool to go from the outlook over the volcano to seeing what the cooled lava looked liked and then to change drastically to a tropical eco system to walk through the lava tube. Then we got additional site setting that included things like beautiful waterfalls. I would recommend it for sure!

Did tour thru NCL, and we had a great time. Our guide Albert Nelmida was fantastic, very knowledgeable. He was also our guide the next day for our tour of the West side of Kono.

He was very kind, friendly, understanding very clear.

Where do I begin? This trip/excursion was extraordinary! Our driver and guide, Albert Nelmida was very knowledgeable and engaging. You will gain an extensive history lesson and helpful information on HI way of life. We were taken to an active volcano, which was majestic, and some popular bakeries. We drove through a rainforest, saw the picturesque Liliewokalani Gardens and received language lessons. This trip was well with the time and investment!

Not enough stops. Don’t like kick back stops . Don’t need candy stops right after ship breakfast. Wish I knew how much it rains before I signed up. Driver Albert was knowledgeable, friendly and informative.

Awesome experience with Albert. Lots of laughs and very knowledgeable.

Albert was great! Very knowledgeable. We were with the Mississippi Lions band.

Company communicated well and provided exact instructions so no confusion. Tour needs to be about 3 hours shorter though. We had to circle back and pick up those who opted for a helicopter tour, which means site information was repeated once they rejoined us. Do not need to get out at some sites to look around for "20 minutes" such as the kings statue; I'm all for hearing about the local history but some stops just aren't necessary. The volcano portion and waterfalls were great though and the guide was informative but extremely repetitive (heard about the clock tower meaning 3-4 times). Lunch option was so-so but the Chocolate shop stop was great. We got to see things that we can't see in Indiana but not sure I would recommend due to the length of time required for the day (at airport by 5am, flight 6-7am, return flight 6:55pm so not back to hotel until 7:30/8pm if no delays).

I would like to go again, the views were amazing.

Great experience, our tour guide/ driver was very knowledgeable and helpful. Explained lot of history and sightseeing places in details

It's pricey and all day but worth it. Our tour guide Dexter was amazing, very knowledgeable and nice. The volcano waterfall and lava tube was incredible.

We took a tour bus around the big island. Albert was our tour guide. We planned to view the volcano eruption until it was closed for safety precautions. Albert was more than pleasant and did his best with last minute closures. He was knowledgeable about the island's history and thoroughly answered our questions 👍🏽😊

Minimal volcano adventure. The volcano adventure mentioned in the title is minimal; instead, they take you to other places, which takes up a lot of time. The lunch is poor and lacks atmosphere. Taxi rides to and from the airport are expensive. The messages—especially SMS—are hard to follow. The only positive is the tour guide’s personality.

Unfortunately I can’t really recommend this trip and it isn’t a reflection of the travel company as such- it’s all just a bit boring and was very expensive for the quality of the experience. We were up very early to be at the airport for 5am, arrived and had a while hanging around for the helicopter trip which was cancelled due to weather conditions- this is absolutely one of those things and not anybody’s fault. There are no cafes open at that time at the airport to get a coffee so we were pretty tired already when we started the rest of the trip minus the helicopter. Steam vents and waterfall were decent for a few minutes and a picture opportunity and then nothing particularly of interest was seen for the remainder of the very long day. Much of it in fact was spent on the highway. Lunch was a sandwich and bottle of water in the van and there were no other refreshment opportunities throughout the day which we felt was lame given the early start and sandwich at 11am. There was a brief stop at a cookie factory and although we aren’t big cookie fans we were at least able to buy an overpriced box to stave off the hunger. Our guide was very pleasant and the company were extremely responsive in issuing refunds for the helicopter element so that’s a positive but even so - after the refund we still paid £1k for 2 of us and it just wasn’t worth it to spend the best part of the day inside a van feeling tired bored and hungry. I appreciate that the tour company can only show what is on the island and they can’t magic amazing sights out of thin air but nonetheless they could at least provide more than a sandwich and 1 bottle of water throughout the duration of a very long and costly day. We arrived back at our hotel at 10.30pm feeling quite deflated and sadly would not recommend this trip to others .

We had the most amazing day with Sean! He was a fantastic tour guide! We started with a stop at a cute local coffee shop. as we drove to the volcano, he provided so much historical information about the big island. The Hawaii National Volcanoes park was so picturesque. The lava tube was very different than caves and such we have seen at home in Wisconsin. Rainbow Falls was beautiful and the black sand beach was amazing. We saw a lot of turtles! Our lunch stop at the farmers market was fantastic. We highly recommend this tour to see the volcano and the experience of the environmental differences between the islands.

The day was gloomy but Alberta sunny personality and story telling made the day brighter. he was very helpful with both my toddlers and even had our stroller set up before we stepped off the bus.

We had the day with Albert who was an amazing guide- we were traveling with our fourth grade class trip from Oahu (Noelani Elementary), and Albert was knowledgeable, funny and friendly. Loved his banter and was great shepherding such a large and crazy crowd around the Big Island. Mahalo Lu Noa!

Knowledgeable and likeable tour guide.

Albert was great and very informative! Bus was freezing! What good experience.Would have 'liked a little bit longer time to walk down and see more of the volcano..

Steam vents were really cool. Great views of the crater because it was a beautiful day. Tour guide was really educated and gave us a lot of information about the islands!!! Robin was great!

I booked this trip so my friend who had never been to Hawaii could see the sights on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Because we flew from Honolulu to Hilo, we had to be at the airport at 5 am for a 6 am flight. The tour guide found us right away and we took off earlier than expected. We toured Hilo, visited a black sand beach, saw a statue of King Kamehameha, viewed Rainbow Falls, and of course, we went to the Volcanoes National Park. There were 12 people in our tour group, so we did not have a full size bus, but rather a van-like mini-bus. The ride was rough at times. We saw the Kilauea Volcano from two different angles, which was great, and the steam vents are adjacent to the path to see the caldera, which are also interesting to see. We were given limited time at each stop, and there was no lunch break planned. Although the tour guide had a supply of chicken wraps, it would have been better if we'd had time for even a quick meal. The day was lovely and the sights were memorable.

The one day trip from Honolulu to the island of Hawai'i was good in the sense that we got to see Hilo, Kilauea, a couple of waterfalls, and King Kamehameha's statue. We had to be at the Honolulu airport at 6 am, which meant being picked up at our hotel at 5 am. There were 12 people on this tour so we had a small van-like bus that offered a rather rough ride. When we stopped at several spots, we were given a small amount of time at most stops. Most of the time that was adequate. However, there was no plan for a lunch break; the driver offered chicken wraps, but even those would have to be eaten while traveling. It was great to see what we saw, but it felt a bit rushed to me. For the price I paid, the day was not worth it.

Albert is very kind, taking out my kid's stroller ready each stop. Id really appreciated it. Also,i love hearing stories the whole trip.

I went with the princess cruise excursions. The volcano and macadamia nut factory was amazing. It was very educational and a very beautiful walk around the rim of the active volcano. You could definitely feel the heat coming off! Albert was very good at teaching us about the island and about the culture. I would recommend getting him if you can 😁

Great tour package with amazing tour guide Albert. He explain everything in details, very knowledgeable with all the places we went Nice views of volcano crater .

They lied about the itinerary. They changed it last minute. then tried to charge us more for a helicopter ride That we already paid for. Did not go in trip. Waiting for refund.

Our tour guide was a lovely person who genuinely shared the love of his home town. We saw sights we wouldn’t have otherwise seen but through a local’s eyes. He also shared some of his hand made baskets with us, a lovely and thoughtful touch. I’d give him 5 out of 5. The tour company however, was less than stellar. They never emailed my flight info to me despite calling them (glad I did as at least I discovered which airline we were on). They also did not ask about food allergies for lunch or allow us the opportunity to share out TSA pre-check number. I’d give them 2 out of 5.

Gabriel gave an excellent tour. He was informative and entertaining from the gardens to the caldera. I didn’t need it, but the bus wasn’t restocked with toilet paper. However, there were restrooms along the way.

Great experience Gabriel was excellent we really enjoyed it. Will definitely recommend this tour Thank you The Powell's Farmington Hills, Michigan

Gabriel was excellent tour guide. He always pointed out shortcuts and highlights. We were on Carnival Radiance. It was a great experience for the whole family.

Albert was a fantastic tour guide! He is very knowledgeable on the history of Hawai’i. Very entertaining bus ride traveling to our different destinations as he told us all about the history of these beautiful islands. Definitely my favorite guide of this trip so far!!

Our tour guide Gabriel was informative and was great. I would recommend a long sleeve shirt when you visit and maybe a rain jacket

Our guide Dexter. He was outstanding. A great day touring Hilo and Kilauea Volcano. Dexter provided us an amazing experience!

Took this tour when we were in Hilo with the Holland America Konigsdam MVP and Mac nut. Great tour, great guide. Thank Gabriel

Wow...... what a day. I was initially stressed as our plane was running late but Dexter waited for us and had no issues. He was so knowledgeable and gave us great commentary. We stopped at several locations before Kilauea (which was my bucket list spot to visit). We saw so many sights of Hilo before being dropped back at the airport. Both myself and my husband had the best day!!

Gabriel was an awesome tour guide. It was a fun day trip up to the top of the volcano. Bring a jacket as it is cool up at the top

Gabriel was an excellent tour guide! He gave us a lot of great information about the history behind the tour in a very clear & educational way.

5 out of 5. Well informed and attended to all the bus riders needs. I would recommend our driver again and recommend to anyone

Albert was an excellent tour guide. His patience, knowledge, and professionalism was great. He’s an asset to the tour!

We were very lucky. We had clear weather and lots of activity at the volcano. Robin our driver heard that the volcano was active and rearranged the scheduled route to give us maximum time and some awesome views. We were part of Carnival Cruise excursion and it was an amazing experience. My only negative about the whole experience is that the air conditioning system was poorly maintained and ran constantly at full because of dirty return air filters and running at full the noise level drowning out or driver narrating. We couldn’t understand most of what he was saying. Temperature was also too cool.

Volcano tour. Robin was great!!! Lava was flowing how cool. Robin knew his stuff. So much knowledge & he changed up schedule to make our trip so much better.

Robin was an Excellent guide! Loved that he went over some pigeon language! He got us everywhere we needed and we got to sew LAVA!!!! We had a great day!

Great excursion from our carnival cruise. Our driver Robert was fantastic. He was very knowledgeable & made the trip fun

Booked this tour whilst aboard NCL’s Sun. The Polynesian Adventure Tour bus picked us up right at the pier. Our driver Gabrielle was very pleasant and greeted us at the steps of the bus. He whisked us off to The Big Island Candies store as our first stop. You can see their production line as well as shop their store for all their products. We were able to sample some of their sweet products as well as coffee. There are clean restrooms available at the store. We then departed for Volcanoes National Park, about 45 minutes away. Gabrielle provided some great narration (and some comedy) as we drove. Our first stop was Uēkahuna, the furthest lookout from the park entrance. It offered possibly the best view of Kaluapele (Kīlauea Caldera). There are a number of viewpoints within a short walking distance of the parking lot. There are restrooms located at the parking lot. After spending some time here, we then left for Kūkamāhuākea (Steam Vents). Here you can see steam rising from rifts/fissures in the ground. We then stopped at the Kilauea Military Camp, where the temporary Park Visitor Center is located. There is a small souvenir shop here as well as park rangers available to answer questions and provide printed literature. As we were leaving the park, we had a quick stop at The Volcano House, a hotel with 2 gift shops and restaurants.

We had a wonderful tour with Dexter to see “The Big Island” seeing a volcano has been on our bucket list for a while. It wasn’t erupting but it was smoking and Dexter showed us and shared photos of it erupting in August. We also saw a macadamia nut plantation and the Dole pineapple plantation as well as a macadamia nut cookie and candy factory. We toured Hilo and a beautiful waterfall amongst other worthy sights like a black sand beach. Dexter was a native and extremely knowledgeable about everything on the island.

Gabrielle was very entertaining and accommodating. Not a fan of stopping at the military base. Waste of our precious time. Greatful to see the volcano but ditch the chocolate “factory” and “base”

Albert was good at sharing his wealth of information with our group. He was very friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed our day with him.

Robin did a great job showing us various overlooks for the volcano. We saw the crater from different angleswith a short walk from the bus to each viewpoint.