Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Experience From Oahu

The tour was excellent! Mel was an amazing tour guide and we all learned a lot about the big island and the volcanoes there. Definitely worth it!

Even with the Labor Day holiday and Hurricane Lowell on the horizon, Mel still managed to guide us through an epic excursion that we will never forget. We saw lava in real life from Kilauea! Mel is so knowledgeable and an all-around great person. He really is a special person and leads a very special tour. I didn't want to leave Hawaii without seeing a volcano. That was delivered and then some. The day was so well planned out. The airfare was booked for us. All we had to do was show up. Worth every penny.

The trip is worth it..our driver very informative..it was beautiful and it's nice the group was small

Personally felt a "Must visit" when in Hawaii for holidays!! Mel the driver cum tour leader is experienced and knowlegeable not only about the Volcanoes National Park but Big Island as a whole. He is friendly and sincere.

Jim Carey is amazingly knowledgeable of Hawaiian history which is paramount during area tours. He truly cares and should be a full time guide.

Saw volcanoes NP, black sand beaches and much of Kona and Hilo area. Our guide told us much about history and took us to coffee farm to taste the famous Kona coffee. We also got to taste macadamia chocolates.

We had a wonderful time and learned so much about the island and volcano from our tour guide Mel. Highly recommended!!

Mel was a great tour guide with tons of informations and great tips to make the most of our day. This tour has it all from beaches to rainforests, coffee making and volcanoes! An action packed day.

Great experience. It allowed us to get a good first impression of the Big Island. The guide and the people at the administration were very kind and super Helpful

Fantastic guide, Mel, and great trip! Highly recommend. Especially thorough explanation of and introduction to volcanoes.

I always want to go see this part and I finally did. But our guide was from military background and he still taking care like we are in military. I feel so bad for family from Europe. The father was carsick and they don’t speak English very well and the way our guide care about them was like I said MILITARY.

Awesome experience. Got lucky to see the volcano eruption. Our guide Henry was extremely informative and knowledgeable.

Coldest part of trip was on airplane. Guide very knowledgeable and entertaining. Well worth the time.

I had an excellent day with Mel our tour guide who not only drove us all around Big Island but also shared his Hawai’i and his extensive knowledge on the islands, its history, geology and more. Flying in from Honolulu to Kona is a 47 minutes flight with a very easy pickup. The tour takes you aroud the south east cpast of the island up to the volcano, the highlight of the day with its breath taking lookouts. We even had time for a lava and sea lookout before the lava tube. Overall a great experience that I would definitely recommend with eyes closed. You can do the tour flying in from Oahu for the day or if you are visiting Big Island directly.

This was an incredible tour and a day very well spent! Our guide Mel was fantastic. Most knowledgeable guide I've ever had. He had a deep and vast knowledge of the science behind the volcanoes as well as the history of Hawaii. He was a pleasure to talk to as well. All around great tour and well worth the time and money.

I thought I reviewed this, but it was a Great Experience. Brandon was an amazing guide. They booked everything including air and he texted us where he was as soon as we landed. There were 9 of us in a Van and he knew the history very well. We made several stops and he accommodated bathroom breaks, which was great for me. He was flexible with time. Brandon stopped and let us all make photos at the entrance sign. We went the Lodge and sat right on the edge of the Volcano. The gift shop had bookmarks (see attached) that I've never seen at any other National Park (loved them, I got them all). We stopped at the Black Sand Beach and the Punalu'u Bakery (Southernmost Bakery). Amazing view~ I would highly recommend this tour ~

Our guide Henry was very knowledgeable, he shared alot of island stories. The lava tube was pretty cool along with the little trail walks! Highly recommended.

1. You start at one side of the island and finish on the other side. 2. Light rain jacket. 3. Lots of time in the van. 4.

We had one day on The Big Island and couldn’t have chosen a better way to spend it! Mel was the BEST guide on this amazing island. The itinerary was perfection.

A great day out- well organised-flights and pick up were well planned and the tour was very informative. We saw turtles!! - a very big bonus and the volcano was warming up and gave us a a little excitement. Mel did a great job especially with the rude people on the tour who were continually late.

We had an excellent time. A great way to see the Volcano and sites of the island. Our lunch stop was delicious and the turtles on the black sand beach were fun to see.

The volcano was erupting!! Amazing once in a lifetime experience. Mel was very knowledgeable but he did talk/teach The entire day. Lunch stop was not good at all. I'd suggest taking snacks with you for sure. The bakery was totally overloaded. I think the coffee plantation stop was good, informative and interesting but way too long and cutting that would help with the lunch stop and time at the volcanic craters. The Black Sand Beach and the Sea Turtles were REMARKABLE!! The day was remarkable and well worth the money but Aloha Sunshine Tours needs to adjust that lunch stop.

Had a fantastic day, Mel was a great tour guide, very organised and informative. We always knew where we needed to be, and lots of bathroom stops! Mel our guide had an amazing knowledge of the history of Hawaii, the culture and the science behind the islands and volcano’s. We saw everything that was on the itinerary. Small group tour.

My mother and I visited Oahu last week for my birthday, but we really wanted to see a volcano so we looked for transportation-included volcano tours. Originally we booked with another company but they canceled a day before our trip. Luckily though, we found Aloha Sunshine Tours and we were fortunately able to book last minute. Thank goodness for this because our tour with MEL / MELVIN was amazing and something we will remember forever. On the day of our booking, we arrived in Kona to meet Mel. Immediately upon meeting him, I could tell we were in good hands. He was friendly, an extremely great story teller, and very knowledgeable about the history of his home. For lack of a better term, I feel I got to experience the lesser seen parts of the volcanoes national park, and Hawai'i in general. I learned so much, saw an amazing volcano, some beautiful turtles, land formations, and plants! Logistics for travel, park admission, lunch, etc. were extremely simple and well thought out. Mel made my birthday trip to Kona, Hilo and Volcano National Park more memorable than i could have imagined. This is one trip, I will never forget. Thank you Aloha Sunshine and Mel!

Traveling with someone who knows the local ins and outs is the way to go. It really enhanced the experience rather than trying to do it on our own. It also made it efficient so that we could get so much done in one day.

Mel was excellent and very knowledgeable of the volcanos Nd the Hawaiian culture great job I highly recommend

First they rescheduled it from 2/12/2024 due to “technical difficulties with the van” to 2/13/2024. Paid for transportation myself from the hotel to the airport and got rescheduled twice for flights and finally after 3 1/2 hours get informed that Kona airport is not accepting any flights as they are fixing the runway. This could have been communicated to 8 individuals early. Very disappointing. Better communication needed.

Johnny Aloha is the BEST TOUR GUIDE.. he’s very cool guy and learned a lot from him!! He is best recommended, 100% satisfaction! Awesome tour indeed!!!

This trip was amazing, Mel is super knowledgeable, funny and keeps you informed about every site you visit. The places are amazing and I loved every single thing about it! I can’t recommend Mel enough, he’s that person you can find 1 in a million!! He picked us up and dropped off at the airport on time. You NEED to take this trip if you’re willing to see the Kilauea! The only con is that it says it includes snacks, water, juice and soda, it DIDN’T. We only had water, so we needed to do some stops to get our own snacks. I think the tour provider should change the “included” section!

I did this trip from Oahu. Everything was perfectly organized. We visited southern half of the Big Island, especially the Volcanoes National Park. Mel was a great tour guide.

Our family of three with two adults and one 11 year old all enjoyed this tour! It's a long day as we did inter-island travel but each stop was so interesting with beautiful views that we didn't feel the fatigue! There was so much history to every site and our guide Mel was happy and eager to share it all with us. Even other people on other groups tried to follow ours after overhearing Mel describe what we were looking at so thoroughly. Great job Mel and great tour! Coolest part was the lava tube!! And the coffee is DELICIOUS!

Fabulous trip. Wonderful tour guide. Detailed geographic explanations. Reliable. Convenient. On time.

Mel was great in sharing his culture and history with us on this tour. We didn't get a chance to see the waterfalls, but that was partly due to some flight delays and construction. Overall, would recommend this tour for those looking for a one day tour of Hawaii Island.

Our family toured the Big Island and it was amazing. The black sand beach was beautiful, the sweet bread bakery had delicious marsaladas, and the volcanoes were simply astounding. However, it was our tour guide Mel that made this tour so remarkable. He has a depth of knowledge in all aspects of this island…the culture, history, science, and his own familial roots is what brought this tour to life. His willingness to share his passion for the island is what will stay in our minds for forever!

Our tour guide Jonny was hugely entertaining and heaps of fun. The tour was long, but didn't feel long, it was a really good way to see the island.

Visting the National Park has been on my bucket list forever, so to have the opportunity was already a plus for me. Tour Company was amazing from booking, any follow up, check in day prior and through the day with 'cousin Mike'. The knowledge shared from pick up to drop off on the day from the history of Hawaii, volcano park, tourism history and for other stops over the day was fantastic - the way the conversation flowed did not feel like a script but really engaged us through the day. Although we didn't see any actual lava (happened the week after we left) was still taken away by the view and the experience. Would highly recommend Tour Company and day trip to anyone!!

My partner and I booked a tour from Oahu to Hawaii with the sole intention of taking a helicopter ride over the active volcano. Upon arrival in Hawaii, we were crushed to find out that Aloha Sunshine Tours booked the helicopter for the wrong date! While they were willing to arrange an alternate visit, the trip would have interrupted our return home. Upon speaking with Jason about compensating us for the missed portion of our trip, he misquoted the price we were charged (which affected the refund), argued with me about the amount Aloha charged my card (even though I was looking at the charge on my bank's APP at the time), and then hung up on me. This was the only bad experience to an otherwise beautiful holiday. Please beware!

Henry was a magnificent tour guide. Friendly, helpful and super knowledgeable. Lots of information and bonus extras.

This tour was excellent! Tough we had to drive to the airport really early in the morning, it was well worth it! Once we arrived on the Big Island we met our driver and guide, Mel, who took good care of us for the rest of the day. We were able to visit many places and he was never upset if someone was a bit late returning to the bus. Mel provided us with a lot of interesting information about the history and culture of Hawai'i which made the experience richer by far. Mel was very personable and he told us little stories at each location which, again, made our experience so much better than if he had just dropped us off at the locations. Kudos to Mel!

What a perfect day with Mel! He is so knowledgeable and knows his local stuff! From pickup to drop off we were immersed into all things Hawaii. The history, the culture, we even had a pronunciation test haha. It was a long day but we all definitely left a bit more knowledgeable and aware and I’m my case just wanting to know more! Thanks Mel we had a great day!!!

This trip, led by Mel, was amazing. I learned so much, because Mel is willing to share so much of the history of the island and his own life. You get what you give with Mel. The more you interact, the more you learn. I will say, my family are introverts, and we were also horribly carsick and taking dramamine/zofran, so if mel caught us asleep, we are guilty, lol.

Staying on Oahu & only wanted a day trip to the Volcanos National Park. We are not "tour" people, but we didn't want the logistical headache of scheduling flights, rental car, and driving around unfamiliar territory so we broke down & booked this tour. Wow! Exceeded all expectations. I thought we would be on a crowded bus, but we were in a van with only one other couple. The driver, Mel, was incredibly knowledgeable and explained everything we were seeing as we drove. I was also concerned about the 8-hour day confined in a vehicle. I should not have worried. Plenty of stops along the way AND The driver was very considerate of all our needs. Plenty of opportunities to buy snacks, use restrooms, and learn interesting things. The driver even noticed that we were originally booked to return to Oahu out of Kona at 8pm. He researched and found out he could save us 4 hours of time by re-booking out of Hilo! Kudos to Jason at the main office for making it happen! When you book, ask for Mel! 8th generation Hawaiian who is passionate about his home and sharing it with his visitors. 👋 This was one of our top ten National Park experienced! Thank you Aloha Sunshine Tours!!!

If there’s any one thing about this tour that made it worthwhile, it was definitely our tour guide, Mel. He was incredibly fantastic! Facts +Mel was patient, allowed us to enjoy each stop, allowed for plenty restroom breaks, clearly described where we’d find the restrooms, and kept us on time since we had to return to catch out flight back to the other island. +Very insightful, provided entertaining/exciting facts about each of our destinations +Smooth ride, great driver +kept us entertained between each stop with historic & cultural stories. +was able to make split second decisions to provide alternate destinations if one of our spots was unavailable (ironman blocked off Kona Town) All in all, it was an amazing time. I highly recommend Aloha Tours & encourage you to ask for Mel if he’s available! 🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙

We loved our Volcano tour!! If you book it, request Mel! He is very knowledgeable about Hawaiian culture and volcanoes. He shared wonderful stories and taught us much we would not have learned any other way. He kept the tour moving smoothly and on time despite airline delays that were out if his control. Highly recommend!!

From the time we were picked up at Hilo airport it was an amazing tour. Our guide Mel was so informative with history and lots of personal stories as well. He made this tour very memorable with his knowledge of all the stops we did and places we passed. Highly recommend this tour and I hope you have Mel as your guide.

Mel, our tour guide was amazing sharing so many cool things about Hawaii life, history and volcanoes. The family really enjoyed the experience.

What a great and fun filled day! We really enjoyed this tour! The day was setup well and the transportation from start to finish was easy and well put together. Mel was a great guide and kept people engaged.

Mike think ok care of us with all the reservations and made it easy. In the big island, Mel gave us an amazing tour! Lots of history and insight to the Hawaiian culture. We are so glad we spent a day with this tour!

We had an INCREDIBLE day on the Volcanoes tour from Oahu. Neil was our guide and was SO knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and helpful. The travel went smooth and was definitely worth the day trip to see the Big Island. We loved seeing Kona, the local farm experience, and the Black Sand Beach! We also spent a good amount of time at the volcano and walked the lava tube and saw the steam vents as described. This tour was a highlight and would definitely recommend!