Haleakala Eco Tours - Sunrise & Daytime Summit Guided Sightseeing

I searched all the available tours for the sunrise at Haleakala and found this one wounded the best suited for me and I was not disappointed. We were able to be picked up from our hotel (Hyatt regency on the west side of... the island) which was a huge help as me and my husband do not drive. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Our driver was Chris who was a huge credit to the tour, was very welcoming. He took the time to ask different groups and couples where they were from and bonded with us. The summit was incredible, you couldn’t believe how high up you were! It does get cold up there but coming from England it was like being back home (so do dress up warm and change later for the towns). Although it was a cloudy sunrise, the experience was still amazing with all the knowledge Chris gave and offering to take amazing photos for us all. It may be a once in a lifetime experience but we still would want to do it all again.

On the ride to the summit, we stopped for everyone to be fitted with bicycles and gear. I signed up for a tour. The sunrise at the summit was phenomenal. The ride down however was a bit uncomfortable because I was the... only one on the bus. We were mainly watching the bikers, making sure they got down the mountain safely. We stopped in two towns where Rory let me get off and walk around, but it wasnt much of a tour.....it was a bus ride to the sunrise and back. It's not what I paid for but I did get to see the sunrise. Also, my friend was suppose to go but got sick as we left the motel. Eddie was the driver to the summit and had to stop for her. Luckily we hadnt gone far so he returned her to the motel and I did the 'tour' on my own. Rory was the driver coming down and he was great doing what he was supposed to do. I tried to get a refund for my friend to no avail. They said she must have a dr note. Since she wasnt sick enough to go to the dr, she lost her money. It was a beautiful sunrise but all in all I was disappointing in the day. Make sure if you want a tour, you aren't going with bikers. The description did not make that clear.

We (4 adults) booked the Classic Daytime Hakeakala tour several weeks in advance. About 15 hours before the start of the tour we received a call indicating that the tour was cancelled, then an hour later we were contacte...d informing us that they worked out their problem and the tour would go as scheduled. We truly appreciated the pick-up and drop-off at our Lahaina resort. The four of us were combined with a bike group so some of our tour time was spent listening to their instructions and safety review. We all went to the crater summit together, absolutely beautiful, however, in order to get the bike riders to their starting point on time we did not have enough time to go into the Visitors Center to learn more about Hakeakala. After the bikers were dropped off we thought we would be stopping in some of the towns we were passing through - especially Paia, but we made only one stop in Makawao, returning back to our resort much earlier than we had expected based on the listed tour duration. While we were pleased with what we were able to see, we felt we did not get the full Classic tour. Our guide, Dan, was very knowledgable about the geography, culture, myths/stories of Hawaii, geology, plant life and origins of the areas through which we passed.