Evening Volcano Explorer from Hilo

Tour was great! We learned so much about the history of the island and volcano. Tiffany was our tour guide and she was so friendly and helpful! Thank you Tiffany for the photos and for a great experience.

Awesome views! Don our guide was knowledgeable and worked with us to give us a truly customized tour.

I want to start by warning folks to double check on the actual tour website so you know what you’re really signing up for. The Viator page has apparently been outdated for well over a year, promising dinner and wine tasting. According to our tour guide, that hasn’t been a part of the tour since before Covid but neither Viator nor the tour company have bothered to update these third party pages despite several complaints from past customers (different third party sites offered a variety of experiences that are not a part of the tour that you actually paid for). Aside from the annoyance of being misled and the fine print that keeps you from being reimbursed in any way for the poor maintenance and upkeep of their services, the tour was phenomenal. Our experience was absolutely incredible and we know it has everything to do with our tour guide Don. We lucked out and basically ended up getting a private tour to ourselves. The entire day, Don was giving us recommendations on things to do, see, and visit. It’s also very clear that he loves his job and is passionate about the island and the Volcanoes National Park. The amount of knowledge he has on the plant life, different lava formations, volcano eruption history and how it’s impacted the locals and the surrounding terrain… his passion showed through and was truly contagious. He made the desert-like landscape seem all the more beautiful and full of life. He also did his best to make the most of our day by taking detours to show us other highlights outside of the typical tour and then other trails to check out if we return on our own time. Seeing him go out of his way to really give the best experience to visitors was unexpected. He really went above and beyond for us and absolutely made up for any disappointment over the booking inconsistencies. While I would caution folks and suggest they book directly through the website to double check what is actually promised, the tour itself is absolutely worthwhile, especially with Don. Viator gets a rating of 0-1 stars from us but the tour with Don as our guide is definitely a 5 star experience.

The tour guide was super cool but I feel like If I had gone on my own I could’ve been done within a few hours and had the rest of the day to do other things or even explore the park even more. There were no hikes, we didn’t visit any winery like it said, and it felt like we spent more time driving than actually experiencing the park. Definitely just go to the park on your own unless you want a full lesson on volcanoes

We had an excellent time on our tour with Spencer. He was a wealth of knowledge and gave us so much information throughout the entire tour. He is passionate about the island and exudes the Aloha spirit we have come to love when visiting the islands.

Great experience would recommend this tour. Guide was informative allowing extra time at some spots. The volcano crater looked great at nights unfortunately it was raining but this did not spoil the view. Barb S. ..Australia

Absolutely amazing tour! The guide was extremely knowledgable and ensured that everything ran on time. Highly recommended if you're staying in Hilo.

This was a great trip - well worth it. Our guide was excellent, she made the trip for us. The places we visited first before going up to the viewing platform for the Volcano were amazing - the lava tubes, the garden that is forming on the cooled lava which had previously flowed down to the ocean, the steam rising on a field with orchids growing. We also were taken to a Winery and given a tasting of their very different wines with a BBQ type meal and a glass of wine of our choice to follow, which was excellent. We were also shown round the Winery, then it was off to view the Volcano from a platform. On arrival, it was foggy but as we were due to leave it cleared and we were able to see the fire arising from the Volcano and spitting up molten lava. It was some distance away and the only thing I would change is, it would be great to be a bit closer and see the lava flowing.

Jessica was amazing, informative and humorous. This trip was very informative. We appreciate the snacks, the thoughtfulness of the wet towels, the dinner as well as seeing a live volcano. I even had a orchid to Pele and apparently it worked as the volcano spurted while we were watching! We had a small and friendly group. It was 6 hours but the day went fast, yet they got us back in time knowing we had to drive back to Kona.

The tour was amazing! Our guide, Campbell, was knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor! He tailored the tour to us and never rushed us. The volcano crater at night was unbelievable! Highly recommend this tour!