All Reviews for Day Trips: Volcano Tours from Oahu

1st time riding a helicopter - a great experience. Everyone was professional and welcoming.
Enjoyed the ride immensely.

A bit of a rocky start as we were to meet group picked up at Waikiki at airport. Group was late and no contact with Veltra guide had us nervous for a while. Once settled and arrived at Hilo, 'Captain' Bob took over as our guide. Our group of 10 toured all sites as mentioned and Bob was an excellent guide throughout. He made the tour much more interesting with his extensive knowledge of the island history, geography, plant and animal life, food, climate, etc. He also shared quite a bit science knowledge related to the volcanoes. All was delivered with humor and was very enjoyable. Keep in mind Hilo is known for the amount of rain received - you are advised to bring appropriate clothing.

Amazing tour and very informative. A great way to see the whole island.

What a great day on the Big Island. If you travel to Kona make sure to put this tour on your itinerary.
Our guide was Nickels and he was the most knowledgeable young man and very patient and pleasant too. He took us to all of the places you should see on the island and even managed an unscheduled stop to the southern most bakery in the US. Even our teenagers we're attentive and even asked questions. It's a long day(@ 12hours)but I didn't want it to end. We truly enjoyed this tour.

John Kala was our tour guide and made the trip well worth. We had so much fun and learned so much. It was very personable. I will definitely recommend this tour to any and all who inquire.

The Tour was great. We only had a day so You cover a lot of ground in short space of time which suited us brilliantly. There was a lot to learn and the guides etc were knowledgeable. The only disappointing thing is that when we booked i felt you were led to believe you would actually see the Volcano up fairly close and your MILES AWAY. !! Also that if you were lucky you may see flowing molten larva...which is rubbish....YOU WONT. It is a HUGE day as the flying from Island to Island isn't made easy and you have far too much down time in the Airport with quite officious airport staff

It was my first vacation to the Big Island of Hawaii and I booked a full day circle tour with Wasabi Tours with my boyfriend, in order to get acquainted with the island's landscape and popular destinations. Our tour guide, Kala, was absolutely phenomenal! Not only did he show us all of the beautiful sights and landscapes that the island has to offer but he was also an encyclopedia of information! You could ask Kala almost anything about the island and he would almost certainly have the answer. Kala was a historian, a geographer, a geologist, a horticulturalist and even a sociologist all in one! He was a great story teller! Kala was also extremely hospitable, professional, warm, and inviting--right from the start to the end of the tour!Somehow he managed to keep enthusiastic for the 10+ hour long day. Kala mentioned he used to work in the high end resorts in the North Shore and you can really tell that he did, as he provides extremely professional service. He really went out of his way to make sure the guests were all getting the most out of the experience. When we learned the lava was really high in the Volcanoes National Park, Kala made a few separate attempts to return to the site, as the grounds were extremely steamy that particular day. He REALLY wanted us to see the lava, but it is so sad to say the weather did not cooperate that particular day despite Kala's greatest efforts. Despite this bad luck, we were fortunate enough to see all the other beautiful sites that Wasabi tours promises to take you! Finally, to top the day off, Kala knew how much I wanted to see some of the Hawaiian Honu (sea turtles), and he found me some of those as well! Overall, Wasabi Tours does a really great job preparing a fun and informative day for guests. Ultimately, a big thank you to Kala for keeping us entertained and showing us around the tropical paradise of Hawaii!

Mahalo!

Justine & Sam.

Jane was our guide on the Volcano Adventure bus tour and did an outstanding job. Not only was she very knowledgable, but also extremely courteous, friendly, and patient. It was also a good tour-group, and we had a terrific time. thanks for everything! :-))

Tour guide was very friendly an had a lot of cool and interesting things to talk about. I was lucky enough to be on the bus with only 11 other people so it seemed very private. While I didn't see everything I wanted to see, I still saw some incredible things. Overall, I would recommend this tour if your thinking about it.

Be prepared for a long day (18 hours) and take a waterproof warm jacket. Hugh, our driver/ guide was great and the tour is outstanding.

We were out in Honolulu on our first trip to Hawaii. My girlfriend and I purchased the Small Group Circle Island, Waipio Valley & Volcanoes National Park out of quite a few similar guided tours around the Big island. It was a fun experience that helped us learn quite a lot about the Big Island, geographic facts, ancient legends, etc. This drive is about 10 hours or so and is on and off the beaten path. Different from Honolulu and Oahu, this mostly rural island has its own culture, farmers’ markets, tropical rain forests, and black, green, and white sand beaches. Our tour guide was awesome (and I totally forgot his name) and a great story teller. He was punctual in picking us up from the Kona airport. Although the weather didn't really cooperate that particular day, it was rain and cold, our tour guide made it fun with providing us all kinds of great information as well as a really smooth ride. It was obvious he loves what he does and where he lives. The sights and landscapes were incredible - black, green and white sand beaches, lava fields, waterfalls, etc. Our approximately 250 miles tour (long but fascinating) touched at first the Parker Ranch in Waimea the bay-side town of Hilo and an orchid nursery. We stopped at the Waipio Valley Lookout, a must see location. The lookout offers sweeping views of the valley, which is breathtakingly beautiful even though the weather was very cloudy and it probably took away from the experience. We stopped at the Mauna Loa a macadamia farm and packaging place for lunch and snacks. We stopped at the Rainbow Falls very close to Hilo. It is a shorter visit with great photo ops. An absolutely fabulous view and yes, we did see a rainbow. At the Volcano National Park we saw smoke but no lava flows from the viewing area but walked through a lava tube. The black sand beach is one that is different to anything else we saw so far. We counted 12 turtles resting on the beach. My girlfriend and I highly recommend this guided tour.

I had Paul as my tour guide and had an amazing experience. Got to see a lot of cool places and Paul was very knowledgeable and very friendly. Will definitely book another tour when I come back to visit the big Island.

Was very informative but spent most of the morning at touristy places and then the volcano park in the afternoon. Was bit disappointed we didn't see lava or get to go up the observatory on Mona Lua. The information the guide provided was worth it though.

Really great tour that included so much of the island. Loved the stop at Mona Loa and the Orchid Producers. Jani, our driver was extremely knowledgeable and gave us a great deal of inside information about the island, Hawaii. The stop at Rainbow Falls gave us a beautiful view info about Hina's home. If I could change anything, I'd shorten the tour by about one hour. The kids (6 and 10 years old) were really exhausted by the end of the day. Then again, no trouble getting them to bed that night :-)

Great tour, love it. The driver Hugh our tour person was informative and great. Would love to go on the Kauai trip soon as well hope to be able to visit again.

I was really excited to visit the big island since it was my first time. We were staying on Oahu but wanted to see volcanos. The trip was exactly what was published but they didn't mention that most if the time was on the bus. We were hoping when we got to the national park we would be able to hike a little but everything was very short stops. I would not recommend if you are an active person and want to explore.

The name of the tour is Volcano Adventure but the actual volcano-related activities are very limited and a disappointment. They pick you up at 5:00 am and by 2:00 pm you have not done any volcano activities. It felt like we were being taken to places just to spend money: a dinner, a macadamia plant, an orchid greenhouse, another restaurant. And when the volcano activities finally start, you do not get anywhere near the active volcano. You can't see it at all. The tour's material show pictures of flowing lava and they say that "This tour company cannot guarantee the viewing of active lava flow". This is very misleading. The reality is that they know for a fact that you will not be anywhere close to the flowing lava because, as they explain once you are in the bus in the Big Island, there are simply no roads to get to it.
They kids got really bored and were very disappointed. So were we...

We had such an amazing time. We had Capt Rob as our guide and he was great. The volcano tour was great and Rob was very accomodating for breakfast and lunch needs knowing most of us had come over on planes from Oahu.

Flight was a huge disappointment. If you have the choice fly Hawaiian not Go! Airlines. We were dropped off at the airport in Hilo at 6pm and our flight back to Oahu didn't depart till 8:30. Not much to see or do at such a small airport. It ruined our day and destroyed our dinner plans for the evening. Everyone else on the tour were flying with Hawaiian and departed straight away. We were not given a choice in airlines but wish we had.

Good. Well recommended Good guide. Slightly d is appointed with some commercial stops

- It's a really long day and not sure it was worth it. The only thing you can get at the Big Island that you can't get at Oahu is the volcano.
- Flight was cancelled. Didn't notify us until we called them, after waiting for the shuttle for 15min at 5am. Then they woke us up again in the morning to reschedule. We later learned that it is common for Go! Airlines to cancel flights/be late. So I would recommend to go with Hawaiian Airlines instead; it's a bit more expensive, but likely because it is more reliable. FYI, the number listed on your voucher has normal business hours so if you have an early pick-up, you should call them the day before and get the dispatcher number in case you need to contact them early.
- I noticed they gave us longer times at spots with shopping areas (even if there was not much to see, e.g. the nut factory) and very little time at some of the nature vistas (like 5-7 minutes). so it felt a bit rushed.

We very much enjoyed this tour, our tour guide Captain Ron was informative and entertaining and also attentive to our needs (appropriate bathroom breaks, breakfast needs, etc). The volcanoes are amazing! We have 3 kids (Ages 14, 11 and 8) and traveled with friends who have teenage/young adult children and a good time was had by all. My kids loved climbing on the lava rocks and it kept them entertained. The sites in Hilo that we went to were beautiful. Since there was 10 of us, we decided to save a little money and use Go! Airlines instead of Hawaiian Air. Big mistake. They were 2.5 hours late on the flight back from Hilo to Honolulu, which was a big deal with 10 very tired people who were already jetlagged. After reading the reviews for Go! Airlines, it seems like this is a very common occurrence. The ticket agent sent us to the wrong gate, and there was very little communication as the why the flight was late or when we were leaving. Spend the extra cash and fly Hawaiian.

this tour can't say it's bad, but can't say it's good.
we have spent a lot of times on volcano but some of the places we stop by seems repeated.

we have arrived to airport very early and wait for couple hours to fly back to Oahu.

the tour should be more well organised the time and make the tour more fruitful

The tour is amazing. See what the lava does is spetacular. Our guide is so funny. I really recomended.

Positives: our flights were on time and without incident with greeters ready for us at the terminal.
Our tour guide was fun and enthusiastic.
We made it to all places on itinerary without being rushed.
Negatives: I found it unusual compared to other tours that the guide stayed with the bus which meant we didn't get any feedback while visiting sites, only in between.
The coordination of three different groups of customers on different incoming and outgoing flights a) took a lot of time b) distracted the tour guide

If I had to do it all over again I would look for a tour where all customers are on the same flight or leave if customers haven't arrived at designated time / spot within 30 minutes of start time.

We took the Big Island Volcano tour from Oahu last week - it was a long but enjoyable day.

Leroy was our guide/driver, and he was everything you could want from a tour guide - friendly, knowledgeable and patient. All of the places visited were interesting. There was no lava to be seen, just steam rising from Kilauea, but we knew to expect this when we booked. Leroy allowed just the right amount of time at each stop, and told us a lovely story about Pele, the goddess of fire, on the trip back down the mountain.

The only slight downside was that the GO Airlines flight back to Oahu was delayed by 2hrs, so it made for a very long day.

Make sure you wear sturdy shoes and take a jacket as the temperature drops significantly when up on the mountain. We were blessed with good weather, but I am told that it does rain quite a bit on the Big Island, so perhaps also take a foldup umbrella.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful island with us !

We enjoyed the tour of the Big Island and our guide John was very knowledgeable and pleasant. We did not appreciate having to wait nearly an hour upon arrival at the 'Big Island' airport for a second plane to arrive with further passengers. Also, as with all other tours, MANY fewer stops at commercial places where one is expected to buy would be great. There is more of value one could do in the time than trawl shops.

It was our first time to visit the islands and we based out of Oahu. The flight on Go! Airlines over to Hawaii was excellent, I've been on smaller planes. Sharon our tour guide gave us a lot of history and knowledge about the islands and we were glad that we chose this tour at the beginning of our trip because every where we went after that was much better because of Sharon's explanations during the tour about the history of the islands, plants and even the hula dance. Thanks to everyone that made this tour a very enjoyable experience.

Me and my daughter recently did the Volcano Tour and we were lucky enough to have a wonderful, knowledgable Tour Guide by the name of Jane. I hope you relay to her once again how much we enjoyed the Tour. I have traveled 18 different countries and been on many tours but I enjoyed the casual way that she conducts her tour. She tells you what you need to know - answers all questions. She keeps you entertained full time and is very careful about what her people do and where they are. She stays with her visitors. I truthfully, enjoyed her tour better than any I have ever been on. She really is an asset to your company and good at what she does. I am really glad we took the tour as we have been to Hawaii 7 times and this is on the top of the list of what we have experienced. All other tours were good but this one was really good. Thank you and Thank Jane for such a wonderful - educational amount of entertainment you provided. Thanks again.......Audra E. LeGasse

Great day trip! I went on this trip with my husband for our anniversary. Our bus driver Dennis was very knowledgeable and friendly! Lots of different things to see and do from rain forest hikes, lava fields, black sand beaches, and an active volcano! Great for anyone who doesn't have a chance to stay on the big island.

The tour was outstanding and was a highlight of our vacation. It was seeing something new and so different from our normal area and it really showed how powerful mother nature and Pele really are.