Sample a cross-section of outdoor sights on the Big Island during this shore excursion exploring Volcanoes National Park, waterfall, black sand beach and more. Discover the postcard-perfect Rainbow Falls before visiting the amazing volcanic steam vents and unique geology around Kilauea Volcano. Before your day is done, check out an ornamental Japanese garden, snack on treats at a local candy shop, and visit a gorgeous black sand beach. A guide, park entrance fees, and round-trip port transport are included.

Explore the Big Island's top scenic sites and volcanoes on a shore excursion
Volcanic steam vents, lava tubes, smoking calderas and unique geology of Volcanoes National Park
Visit the ornamental Japanese garden, Liliuokalani Gardens
Scout for sea turtles on the gorgeous Richardson Black Sand Beach
Covered by Viator’s worry-free policy: guaranteed on-time return to your ship

What's Included

Port / Hilo Hotel pickup and drop-off
National Park fees
Bottled water
Professional guide

What to bring/wear: Walking shoes, light sweater, camera, hat, sunglasses
Souvenirs
Gratuities
Stop is made to purchase food

Meeting And Pickup

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End point

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What To Expect

Spend the day enjoying an adventure in paradise during this shore excursion exploring the giant volcanoes, beautiful waterfalls, rare plants and tasty treats of the Big Island. If you’re looking for a great way to sample all the amazing scenery Hawaii has to offer, this is a great way to do it.

Start your trip from the Hilo Port in the morning, heading to Hilo for a glimpse of this historic town before moving on to Rainbow Falls, a picturesque waterfall that looks straight out of a movie. After Rainbow Falls, your adventure really kicks into high gear as you journey into Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and up to the summit of its massive Kilauea Volcano.

Continue your day by stopping to view some of the Big Island’s most beautiful rare orchids at the Akatsuka Orchid Garden, where more than 500 of these gorgeous plants (some worth more than $20,000!) are on display. If you’re feeling hungry, have no fear because your next stop is at a local candy shop where you will get to snack on tasty locally made high quality chocolate and treats

Cap off your epic Hawaiian adventure by stopping at Richardson Black Sand Beach. This unique dark-colored seashore is produced by the slow erosion of the local volcanic rock. Keep your eyes peeled on the beach for the resident sea turtles that like to hang out on shore. You are returned back to the Hilo Port in the afternoon.

Banyan Drive (Pass By)

Liliuokalani Gardens (Pass By)

Hilo Downtown Improvement (Pass By)

Rainbow Falls

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Big Island Candies

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Nahuku - Thurston Lava Tube

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Richardson Beach Park

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Manono Street Marketplace

35 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Vehicle: 12-14 passenger van or mini bus max 25 pass mini bus
Not wheelchair accessible
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HOTEL : You can meet us at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel to join this tour.
CRUISE PASSENGERS : We have special permits to pick up directly from Hilo port
We will ensure your timely return back to the ship in Hilo Pier for this activity. If your ship is delayed and you are unable attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details

DEPARTURE TIMES: Because we are a shore excursion company we schedule our departure times around a ships arrival and departure.
Infants must sit on laps
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
Easy tour - Involves walking over relatively level terrain, possible gravel or uneven ground in some areas. Lava tube is .4 of mile long with descending and ascending steps. Comfortable walking shoes & light jacket recommended
Most travelers can participate
WALKER / WHEEL CHAIR: We must be informed before you arrive if you are bringing a walker or foldable wheelchair in order allow space.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 24 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Traveler Tips

There is ample time to see everything without feeling rushed.

excursion started on time, stoped to early for lunch (11.30)no coffee option available, rainbow falls nothing to get excited about.excellent guide

If you can avoid a cruise ship day I would highly recommend.

Reviews

4.5

553 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

Showing 1-10 of 553 reviews

The volcano crater was...

Susan_C, Sep 2023

The volcano crater was unexpectantly huge. It was "awsome!". Hannibal, our driver /guide was fantastic. This trip is a definite must do for all visitors.

Great tour guide

Victoria_W, Sep 2023

Our driver/guide Edmund was brilliant..Great persoanlity and knowledge if the island. We had a number of stops to see the volcano, lava tubes, visitor centre and the japanese garden which were well timed and didn't drag on for longer than needed. Really enjoyed the trip.

Underwhelming

Alan_M, Sep 2023

That our tour guide rarely accompanied us to the various sights. Spent most of the time telling how he escaped death in 2018 eruption also when asked for water that supposedly was included with tour he merely shrugged. There was no water yet all other buses from the tour company had coolers filled with water. On a six hour trip it would have been nice.

Great tour!

Suzanne_G, Sep 2023

Our driver, Volcano Bill, was great! His knowledge of the area and of Volcanoes was vast! We throughly enjoyed our tour. Pick up and return at port with plenty of time to dpare before departure.

Gardens and volcanoes!

Susan_A, Sep 2023

The weather cooperated on our busy day! From gardens to a lava tunnel, waterfalls and cookies, the volcano craters were the highlight of the day—truly amazing! Giovani was informative and entertaining.

Hilo Shore and Volcano tour

Gloria_M, Sep 2023

Dana, is an excellent tour guide. She was ver personable, and knowledgeable. It was aver enjoyable tour.

Great day to see Kīlauea erupt!!

Fred_Y, Sep 2023

We had a great day with Hannibal, he was funny and entertaining. Because there were an odd number of seats, I sat up front, to my wife’s chagrin. We shared a love for music and exchanged many stories which made the ride even more enjoyable. We saw everything listed in the itinerary, some highlights for us were Rainbow Falls, The Japanese Garden and even the final stop at Big Island Candies. Kīlauea by far WAS the highlight! What a treat that we actually got to see lava erupting which happened just two days prior to our visit. Amazing! I would highly recommend this trip and if you’re lucky enough to have Hannibal give you the tour, it will be a bonus.

A must do attraction

Richard_M, Sep 2023

This shore excursion was a wonderful experience. Ellen our tour guide was awesome and very knowledgeable about the island. The waterfalls at rainbow Falls was beautiful and being on top of a active volcano was pretty cool. I recommend this experience coming out to the big island.

Awesome experience

Gail_M, Sep 2023

The tour was awesome and we really enjoyed learning from Giovanni! Would definitely recommend this excursion!!

Felix was a great guide!!!

Karen_M, Sep 2023

The guide was so into the volcanos and sharing his knowledge with us. Felix made the tour better. He was very kind with the older passengers and encouraged them to do whatever they could on the tour.

Solo on this trip

Jamie_B, Sep 2023

Hannibal was our guide. I flew over from ohau to take this tour & i loved every single moment. I was alone but never felt alone. The bus was clean & cool. Hannibal was a wonderful guide. I learned alot. Personally i would have loved to have more time in the lava tube. But we nver felt rushed or anything. The volcano & the waterfall was the highlight for me. Thanks Hannibal you had wonderful stories i was never bored.

Take this tour of Hilo- Awesome!

Richard_W, Sep 2023

Loved this tour! We saw all the hot spots-Black Sand Beach and coastline, Japanese Garden, Banyan Drive, Volcanoes National Park with Steam Vents. Went in the Lava Tube which was cool! We spent just the right amount of time at each stop. Guide was great. He shared a lot of the Big Island knowledge and history with us. Love of Island and people was touching.

Uncomfortable Ride

Colynne_L, Sep 2023

We enjoyed the scheduled sights and our guide was good. Our issue was with seating. Groups were “counted off” in groups of 25. My sympathies if you are one of the last five—stuck in the back bench seat which appears to hold five, but is certainly no larger than to seat four. With all the other passengers assuming their seats were reserved (although, when asked, our guide told us that was not the case), the 6-1/2 hours were extremely uncomfortable. So thank goodness for the stops, because the five of us were absolutely sitting on top of one another. I realize the tour line wants to maximize revenue, but I’d guess that bad recommendations and reviews would eventually negate that.

Response from Host, Sep 2023

Aloha, I'm sorry to hear about your seating arrangement. We are working on adjusting this tour.

Awesome

Melinda_Y, Sep 2023

Geo was wonderful and I wish he could do all of our tours. He has lots of knowledge about the 8sland and we enjoyed listening

Hilo excursion with many stops.

Tina_A, Sep 2023

Gio (Giovani) was a wonderful driver and host. He gave a lot of information about the areas he stopped at. He was very precise to let everyone know what time to be back and waited patiently.

Our tour guide Donna was...

Alexis_A, Sep 2023

Our tour guide Donna was very informative made the trip fun and was all around a good person to do the tour with. Definitely would recommend this trip to others that want to see the big island and learn more about its history and volcanoes.

See the best of Hilo

Dianne_D, Sep 2023

Tour guide/driver was very knowledgeable, ensured we stayed on scheduled so but we still had plenty of time at each stop. We were lucky to see the volcano erupting which had only started 2 days earlier, a turtle basking on rocks close up, am amazing tunnel left by lava cooling, truely an unforgettable tour and recommend it.

I really loved seeing the...

Trevor_D, Sep 2023

I really loved seeing the caldera up close! There was relatively little volcanic activity that day, but you can’t get a view like that anywhere else! The guide was also very knowledgeable about the big island, from the topology to its history. The tour only scratches the surface of what the big island can offer, but you can only fit so much in just one day. But it’s a great start to exploring the island further on your own time.

Response from Host, Sep 2023

So true. There is so much to the volcano. And so glad we were able to show you so many sites. Thank you for the review.

The active volcano ...

Elizabeth_D, Sep 2023

The active volcano The lava tube And of course the rainbow falls. Everything we wanted to do in one trip.

Response from Host, Sep 2023

Thank you so much for the review.😁

Would go again if in Hawwaii

John_L, Sep 2023

The marvellous scenery, the lava tunnels were an experience well worth going to see. The coach driver was excellent, (Grace).

Response from Host, Sep 2023

Aloha John, thank you for sharing your feedback come again soon.😄