Big Island Grand Tour: Volcanoes, Coffee, Wine & Turtles

The Grand Circle Island Tour with a visit to Volcanoes National Park by Kailani Tours is truly spectacular. A once-in-a-lifetime experience! Besides delicious shopping opportunities (delectable doughnuts and hand-made candies), we visited a Kona coffee farm, a black sand beach where we saw five very large majestic sea turtles sunning, beautiful Rainbow Falls, and the Volcanoes National Park. We were treated to a line of fiery volcanic activity and heavy smoke. Before exiting the park we visited the amazing Nahuku Lava Tube which a person can walk through on a loop road. If you are fortunate enough to have Jack as your guide, you are in for a treat! Jack has a remarkable knowledge of island history and geography, the native people of Hawai’i their legend, culture, and language, and the flora and fauna of the island that changes with elevation. Jack was genuine and very likable. We left with a new friend: “A hui hou kakou!”

I was fortunate enough to have Kavika as my tour guide and he was absolutely outstanding! The interest and knowledge he has of the island oozes from his pores - it was contagious and hard not to share in his passion. We were so lucky that Kilauea was active on the day of our visit ... so much so that we went back up the crater to get a glimpse of lava pouring out - what a sight! I'm so grateful for all that Kavika shared with us on our trip - I would take the same trip with him again. Thank you!

We got picked up at our hotel. Toby was our guide and driver. He gave us a lot of information about the island. We saw a lot. We drove through the city of Kona and saw historic buildings. We spent sufficient time at a Kona coffee plantation and took photos at a new lava flow. We went to the southernmost bakery in the USA and viewed the southernmost point in the USA. We walked along a black sand beach looking for green turtles. We were amazed to see Kilauea volcano is very active and spouting steam high in the air. We missed the lava output by two day. We have been told that visitors may see lava every two weeks or so. We walked though a lava tube and watched (and felt) multiple steam vents erupting. We walked though the farmer’s market in Hilo (and ran into good friends). We walked around Rainbow falls. Then, almost 10 hours from the beginning, we were on our way back to our hotel. We will have a lot of photos and stories for our friends and family

This tour was fantastic! Our guide Jack was awesome. He was super informative and really passionate about the island. He’s originally from the mainland but has been living on the Big Island for years, so he knew so much history and local insight. We kicked things off at a coffee farm, which was really cool. Learned how coffee is harvested and even got to see the process in action. From there we stopped at Punalu‘u Bake Shop; the southernmost bakery in the U.S. and picked up malasadas and other pastries (so good!). Then it was on to Black Sand Beach, where we got to see green turtles up close. The beach is beautiful but definitely touristy since a lot of tours stop there but still, it was a perfect place for a quick visit. Jack even treated us all to malasadas there, which was such a nice touch. Next up was Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on the Hilo side. No lava flowing that day (just white smoke), but the crater itself was absolutely awe-inspiring. Lunch was a simple but tasty bento box, and it was fun sharing the meal with another family on the tour who were celebrating their father/grandfather’s legacy. Everyone was friendly and it felt like a little community on the road. After lunch we stopped at Rainbow Falls, which was stunning, and wrapped things up at Big Island Candies. The shortbread cookies and rocky road chocolate were amazing and definitely a foodie highlight for me! Huge shout-out to Stacy who helped me book this trip. She was so courteous, followed up with us, and made the process easy. Overall, such a memorable day and I’d 100% recommend this tour.

We originally booked the Volcano tour with dinner as we really wanted to see the volcano at night. We were contacted by the tour company two days prior to advise our booked tour would not run due to lack of numbers. Okay so these things happen. We agreed to move to the lunch tour and we enjoyed the tour. However we believe this was a cheaper tour and a week later they have still not responded to two emails requesting a partial refund. Very disappointed

This tour was one of the best tours that we experienced. It was a full day but we were able to see much of the Big Island. It included everything that we had on our list. It was amazing how diverse the island was including the Volcano National Park and experiencing the black sandy beach with turtles sunning themselves by the water. The tour included a great variety ranging from a coffee farm, local bakery and farmers market. We loved the small group and our tour guide was fantastic. Thia was very knowledgeable, full of energy, and always considerate of the needs of our group. It was a wonderful experience and now we plan to go back to the big island and spend a few days exploring the beauty of the island.

Great day trip for our 1st time on the Big Island. Toby was our guide and driver and was exceptional. We travel a lot now that we’re retired and can say this was one of the best tours and the best guide we’ve experienced!

Thia the tour guide answered even impossible questions. Unbelievable knowledge. What a tour. It was 11 fantastic hours all made fun by Thia.

This tour was one of the highlights of our trip to Hawaii. Our tour guide, Kawika, went above and beyond the tour description. During the drive he kept us entertained with stories about the formation and habitation of the islands including both amusing tales and historic events that kept the attention of the entire group. It was truly an educational day for everyone in our group. Visiting the active volcano, walking through the lava tube, seeing a live coffee farm and open air market were all great experiences, and an honorable mention goes to the warm malasadas he provided. A definite 5 star tour.

Brett was entertaining, funny, informative, and knowledgeable. We saw and did the whole island in a day, and I didn't have to drive. We did a little hiking, saw some awesome views, sites, and trails. Lunch was good, we had enough water and snacks. We learned so much more than we would have by ourselves. The Kona coffee farm was very informative. The views of waterfalls, volcanos, and coastal regions were breath taking. Thank you, Brett and Crystal, we very much appreciated this trip.