Big Island Hawaii Volcano Adventure

It was long, but a pretty good tour.

Be prepared to stay all day. Tour guide was good and we saw the highlights of the island.

This was such a fantastic experience. Didn't see lava flow though as the only way to see it while we were there was in a helicopter. Got to walk on past lava fields which was pretty cool. Definitely worth doing.

Everything was on time and well explained by our tour driver, he was very kind to all the group.

There was no chance at all to view molten lava - the overview implied that there would at least be a chance. The guide was great - very informative and friendly. The sights we did see were very interesting, but if you are out to see active volcano action, this is not the tour for you.

This was a great experience.

Nice tour, but a bit too short. It would be better to spend 10 minutes more in some places.

This tour wasn't really what I expected. The tour starts in the morning with a stop at Rainbow Falls, which is nice. You get a quick tour of the city of Hilo. Then you make a stop in the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory. You will not leave here without buying something in the gift shop. They give you free samples and that is enough to make you start looking in the store for these items. The Hershey Kisses with the macadamia nut are excellent! Then, you go to a Orchid green house which I could have skipped. Then lunch. This consumes half your day. Then you finally get to the Volcano National Park. I expected to see lava with everything I read and seeing an active volcano. The only thing you see is steam coming from the crator. At night this steam glows red. Most people flew in for the day, but I stayed on the Big Island. The city of Hilo (pronounced HE-lo) is one of the wettest cities in the world so expect rain. My recommendation is to stay on the Big Island for a couple of days and do this tour as a self guided tour. It is interesting to see. You will want to go to the Mauna Loa. I would have spent more time there than the tour allowed. The Big Island is beautiful with white sand, black sand and even a green sand beaches.

Viator's web site lists Kona Airport as a pickup spot--it's a mistake! Pickup is at Hilo. The tour was okay, but we were disappointed that we didn't get to see lava or get anywhere closer than what appears to be several miles from the main steam plume. The tour took us to two spots we really liked, the 1992 lava beach, which was a great walk, and another section of steam vents which was pretty and atmospheric on our cloudy day. Lava tube and waterfall were less exciting.

The title of this day trip is Volcano Adventure but probably should be called Island tour and volcano adventure. Before we got to the main event of seeing the volcanoes and lava flows we had to visit a Macadamia Nut farm, and Orchid farm and also toured Hilo on a coach. The time spent at these places was way too long and the time spent at the volcano was way too short in comparison. I was disappointed not to be able to spend longer at the crater and also at the lava flow where we got an hour (this also included eating lunch). In saying that, the volcano is stunning - venting steam/gas (at least on the day we visited). Due to increased gases in the air the volcano park is now closed in places but there isn't anything you can do about mother nature! It was a great experience but i do believe that the timings are all wrong and if the trip is called Volcano Adventure then this should be the main focus.

The tour is completely mis quoted. This is a complete big island tour with valcano a part of it. Its good but not that great

overall we liked the volcano part of the of the tour. The driver was very regimented about how long to stay at each part. If you were late he laid on the horn. we felt rushed. I would not do this again

(Positive) You get to see the Hilo side of the island without renting a car.
(Negatives)Too much time was spent on the bus. Maybe too much stops were crammed into the day but on average we were given 15-20 minutes whenever we got off the bus to see anything. Always felt very rushed by the time limit. And then when we actually got back on the bus we would spend another 5-10 minutes waiting for latecomers. The guide spoke so softly it was extremely difficult to understand what he was saying even with the volume cranked up. The guide was also the ddriver and all the explaining was done on the bus while driving, he never accompanied us to the actual sights but always waited on the bus. As most tours, so much depends on the guide and ours wasn't very professional.

It was just ok for me. My friends who came with me enjoyed it more. I didn't get to see any lava, not the fault of anyone that's how it goes. For me, it was a long day. Could have done without the stop at the orchid store - it's just a store, not some garden. Kinda disappointed with the waterfall stop because there was only one waterfall to look at. Also, I called ahead to see where the pick-up point was at Hilo Airport, and the rep on the phone told me to meet the tour bus on the wrong side of the airport. I just happened to see the tour bus drive by and park on the other end. Since the airport is small, everything turned out ok, but I was panicking for a minute.