The best Big Island attraction, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a winery on the world’s most active volcano! See the best of the National Park which includes Kilauea Volcano Overlook, Halema’uma’u Crater, Steam Vents, Kilauea Iki Crater.
Plus experience Rainbow falls, learn about turtles, native plant life, lava flows and much more! You could also use this time to go to Akaka Falls instead of Punaluu or the winery.
This tour has MANY customizations, you are paying for more time than the other Volcano tour. How you use that time is completely up to you. To get the most out of the National Park really takes a full 3-4 hours but we are happy to drop some of the stops in the Park so you can see the other things on your list. This tour has several customizations including: a stop for lunch OR no lunch, winery OR coffee, 2 different black sand beaches, a stop at Big Island Candies OR Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Farm, a waterfall, and several other stops.
This tour does NOT include samples at the winery or meals. Some places give free samples, others do not.
For the BEST lava choose a 4 AM start if you are staying on the island and can get up early.
Tour: 7.5 hours Price: $1395
This tour starts anywhere in Hilo, if you are in a hotel or vacation rental please include your hotel or address you are staying.
Cruise Ship Pickup: We pick up at the Port of HIlo, we will have a sign that says your name and will meet you at the “pre-arranged pickup” area. 9 AM is the best start time to let some traffic subside, it does not reduce your time. If you are on a ship that docks at a different time we change your start time. We guarantee to get you back to your ship in time.
Hilo Airport Pickup: Please fly in as early as you can, we pick you up right at the airport and we adjust our pick-up time to your flight information. Please include the flight numbers in the booking details. For your return flight, we need to have you at the airport 30 minutes prior to boarding.
Driving Over from Kona/Waikoloa: We often have people meet us in Hilo so they can explore Hilo after the tour. We can customize your start time to whatever you would like as long as it’s no later than 11:00 AM. We meet at the Hilo Safeway/Target parking lot.
The price listed is for all 11 seats in a Mercedes Sprinter van. This custom private tour starts anywhere in Hilo. We only do private tours and everything is customized to your interest, mobility, fitness, and other factors. We do not have cookie-cutter tours, we want you to see as much as possible of what you want to see in the amount of time you book.
Lunch (breakfast if you do sunrise): This tour has time for a sit-down lunch, most people want a local culinary experience while looking at the world’s most active volcano. You can grab sandwiches from Safeway or Subway, please tell us at the beginning of the tour as we would need to stop there before heading to the National Park. If you would rather skip lunch you may do that as well.
The tour includes the “must see’s” in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the Park takes about 3-4 hours. We have spent more time and less depending on the weather and your interests.
Optional Stops/Sights and frequently requested are listed below. We can usually fit 1 to 4 of the Optional stops depending on time:
* Volcano Winery (usually about an hour, $10 and $20 flights) OR Hilo Coffee Farm
* Big Island Candies or Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Farm
* Akaka Falls (this will not allow time for the other options).
This is a 7-8 Hour Tour so it is possible to see all these locations with this tour and we guarantee to get you back on the Ship on time.
rk1020292023-02-24Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Tour with Big Island VIP Tours There is some much to say about the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park tour, let me sum it up by saying you absolutely do not want to miss it! To do it right I highly recommend Big Island VIP Tours! The booking experience was super easy and it is where the amazing customer service began for me, when I booked the tour I selected the wrong date, Rob noticed the conflict in my comments and the date I selected and called me to verify the date I would be in Hilo. I was so grateful for his attention to detail on every aspect of the experience or we would have completely missed the tour. Let me talk a little about Rob, our guide for the tour. Communication was great, he checked on us throughout the day of the tour to verify when the ship would be arriving, what time we planned to get off the ship and as we exited the terminal he was right there with that easy to spot Mercedes Sprinter Van. It was raining hard as we exited the terminal, he spotted us and pulled as closely as possible and jumped out with an umbrella to walk us to the van. He was always there two anticipate every possible need throughout the day and made the entire day a huge success. But it went even further, he also gave us a plan for our next day in Kona, we were undecided on what we were going to do but his recommendations were amazing for Kona as well.During the tour Rob provided great information on everything from the lava flows, to the different lava activities from eruptions over the years. While we saw many large tour groups in the park, they never were where we went, we were able to get to things they just could not do with a bus load of people. We walked out on lava fields to see the different types of lava and scenery throughout the park. The day after the tour we received a link to all the pictures Rob took during our visit, his experience and knowledge enabled us to see the best sights and learn the history of the different volcanic activities over the years. Drinks and snacks were available throughout the day and Rob even knows where the best restrooms are located! Amazing day and the high point of our trip.
Janice L2023-02-20Early Morning is the Way to Go Took a very early morning tour with Dash, who was very professional, engaging, and knowledgeable. We would have definitely missed most of the things we saw with him, had we been on our own. Loved walking around on the lava, were fascinated by the active caldera, and even walked through a lava tube. Dash has intelligence and experience that belies his age, and we enjoyed his quiet humor. Definitely a worthwhile tour.
dawgbytes2023-02-16Cliff Notes for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park If you want to make sure to see all the best things there are to see with the most knowledgeable people, take this tour! Jodi’s knowledge of volcanoes is amazing. We could have spent all day with her listening and asking questions. She is truly passionate about volcanoes and such an easy, fun personality. Can’t wait to do this tour again when we return. This will be on our list for sure. We took the 5am tour, and I wouldn’t see the volcano any other way now. We had the viewing area to ourselves, and the pictures that Jodi took of us and the volcano were amazing. She provided a tripod for us to setup our cell phone, so that we could take our own pictures, and provided binoculars. Every detail was accounted for during our tour from the informational video in the van, snacks, waters, and the parting gift. We received our pictures promptly after the tour also. One Note: Please dress appropriately. We wore closed toe shoes, hiking pants, water resistant clothing, wind breaker and hats. It did rain on us some after we saw the volcano, but we didn’t notice since we were dressed appropriately and were so enthralled by the sites and information. Professionalism throughout! You will not be disappointed! This was the highlight of our trip hands-down! Thanks so much Jodi for the wonderful memories!!
Sandhillshunter2023-01-31Definitely a must! Big Island VIP was outstanding and worth every penny! Jodi (owner) was our main guide for this tour and she was outstanding and provided excellent volcano/island history. My wife and I like private tours, as we don't want to just "see" something, but we want to learn about it as well. Jodi didn't disappoint us on this, as she was able to answer my many (probably annoying) questions. This tour was definitely one of the high points of our vacation. Thank you for the excellent tour!
JBN7232023-01-20Kilauea Volcano VIP Treatment This tour exceeded my expectations and they were high to begin with. The owners, Jodi and Rob, flexed with our unanticipated schedule change, suggested an earlier Park visit to get a better view of the Kilauea Volcano, provided interesting and knowledgeable content on volcanic activity and local eruption history, added great insight on plant and animal life in the park, made frequent viewing stops, and overall made the tour super enjoyable.The Kilauea eruption is one of the most incredible sights I have seen. Big Island VIP got us setup and in the best location and time for viewing the activity.They took to a of photos of our park visit and made them easily and quickly accessible.They are friendly people and fun to be with.We hope to take another of their tour some day!Highly recommend Big Island VIP.
Chocolatelover7552023-01-03A must-see your Big Island VIP is a must-do tour if you are visiting the Big Island. Their volcanoes tour provided another perspective to an already incredible park.The structure of the tour is one of the biggest reasons to go with Big Island VIP. Unlike other commercialized tours, Big Island VIP offers private tours. Not only does this allow flexibility, but it makes the tour feel much more personal.The guides are excellent too. For our tour, we had Rob, a charismatic and fun guide. He was extremely knowledgeable about not just the park but the island. In a way, it’s best to plan this tour for the beginning of your vacation, as he provides advice for other activities on the island. Rob was dedicated to making sure we had an enjoyable and comfortable experience. We could really tell his passion for the park and the tour.The biggest selling point is the tour itself. It is one thing to see the park, but it is another to learn about it. Rob’s knowledge on geology provided a new insight. We visited the park before, but after our tour with Rob, we will never see the in park the same way. Rob took us off the beaten path, allowing us to see parts of the park few get to see. Even though we had a 2 hour tour, Rob doubled our time, making sure that we had the full experience. Along the way, he took excellent pictures. Giving us something to remember the tour by.In short, Big Island VIP offers a tour that few other companies can match.
Cyndy M2022-12-23Awesome tour! The tour was awesome! They truly went above and beyond! So knowledgeable and thoughtful as well! 10/10. Definitely recommend.Colleen K2022-12-19Big Island VIP are the BEST This was by far our favorite day. Even though the weather was not cooperating Rob and Jodi found a way to make it work. We all loved the tour and Rob accommodated all of our requests (even stopping at Target on the way back to the ship for a curling iron purchase). You won't see that on all your excursions! That's why it pays to go private. It was very comfortable in the van and everything was provided and we did need umbrellas for part of the day.My only regret is that they are not available on all the islands! I've never had such great communication on any trip. So don't hesitate to book them if you get a chance.
Samantha B2022-12-09A must-do adventure This tour was absolutely amazing. Our tour guide, Skylar, was great. Very knowledgeable and laid back. I brought my elderly mother and aunt, and Skylar was so accommodating. They weren’t able to walk or hike a lot so he geared our tour around what they could do but also kept it adventurous for my cousin and me. The pictures Skylar took for us turned out wonderful. If I could have, I’d have given them a 10 out of 5.
Julie Rist2022-11-25Book Now! You won’t be disappointed!! The Volcano National Park was amazing and Rob was FABULOUS! This tour was the top highlight from our trip! The van was very clean and was for our family only—a feature we really appreciated! Meeting Rob at 5am was the best way to see the volcano and the changes sunrise brings. Rob was passionate, informative and helped us understand what we were looking at. After the tour concluded, we had breakfast at the Volcano House with a tremendous volcano view. Rob took many fabulous pictures that were emailed to us after the tour concluded. The other highlight was the list of key activities emailed to us before we arrived in Hawaii. This list was amazing and we were able to do many of the activities during our week on the Big Island! A truly GREAT resource to help newbie visitors prioritize what to see and do. You will not be disappointed if you book with Big Island VIP tours. An amazing experience! Thank you Rob for an fantastic day!
We are Licensed by the State of Hawaii PUC as an Official Tour Operator in the up to 14 Passenger category. TSA certified pass (TWIC) allows us to pick you up at the cruise ship pier in Hilo & Kona.
