Big Island Hawaii Self-Guided Driving Tour: Explore Coastline, Jungles and Hawaiian Culture

Embark on a self-guided driving tour of Hawaii’s Big Island, exploring its stunning coastline, lush jungles, and rich Hawaiian culture. Discover pristine beaches, hike dormant volcanoes, and learn about the island’s fascinating history and ancient burial grounds.

Duration: 4 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Hilo - Hilo is a town on Hawaii, commonly called the Big Island, in the state of Hawaii. It’s known for Wailuku River State Park, featuring Waianuenue, or Rainbow Falls, with its colorful mist effects. The bubbling basalt-lava rock pools known as the Boiling Pots are nearby. To the south is Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, home to rainforests and…
What's Included
  • Great value: One purchase per car, not per person. More affordable than bus or guided tours!
  • Easy-to-use app: download Action’s Tour Guide App onto your phone
  • Perfect narrator: nothing can beat listening to a great voice. Proven with tons of rave reviews!
  • Offline maps: no signal, no problem! Works perfectly without cellular or wifi.
    -…
What's Not Included
  • Attraction passes, entry tickets, or reservations
Additional Information

Purchase one tour per car, not per person. Everyone listens together!
Get a taste of paradise on Hawaii’s Big Island. This driving tour guides you along the island’s picturesque coast and through lush jungle scenery. Lounge on pristine beaches, hike atop dormant volcanoes, go snorkeling in crystal-clear water, and more—all while learning about the…

Location
Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.0
(31 Ratings)
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Ett_m
Jan 5, 2025
2025 audio tour of Hawaii Big Island: east coast start. - We loved the tour in general. This tour is well worth it if you don't have days and days on the island to explore on your own. We started out on the east coast and went up north and around the top end of the island. But: if you plan to start out at around 8am as we did, AND stop and do and see stuff along the route, you will not finish in one day (before dark). The island is really a road around the perimeter with a cut through across dark and unlit roads if you want to get back to your hotel. Just be prepared for anticipated potty breaks or "eats" that may be far and few between. We learned a lot about the Hawaiian culture, tsunamis, cowboys, kings and queens, waterfalls, and more. We hiked the entire way [all paved paths but many stairs up and down] at the Akaka Waterfalls stop between the 2 falls, Akaka and Kahana. We did not see the Botanical Gardens for time's sake. We had to abort to return to the hotel by dark and may complete the tour, particularly black sand beach and Volcano Natl park today. The good news is we can always listen to the narrative at any time to learn more even if we are not right there. Tip: I recommend taking a photo of your password so if you have to "start up again" you don't have to search your email for it. Type it in, and the tour is yours once again. The narrator is clear. The start point was a bit difficult to find as we were not sure we were pointed in the right direction, but it turned out ok and the map followed right along. Sometimes the road he says to turn on is not was was labeled on the street sign so we had to guess for these and hope it was correct. Some stops have admittance fees, picnic tables, and restrooms, but some did not, so plan for your drive. Interesting to learn about the climate change as Hilo in the east is very wet and rainy while the west coast terrain is dry and scrubby and very volcanic. Bring a light jacket or rain gear for some of the rain forest stops like Botanical Gardens and Waterfalls. Also non slip shoes as the paved and boardwalk surfaces can be slick when wet. Bring your phone or camera charger to keep you taking pictures the whole way! Enjoy!
Review provided by Viator
Patti_h
Nov 28, 2024
fantastic - I loved the fun facts during the trip. The drive took us places we never would have found on our own. The extra tips of how to better access the sites were handy as well. If we took a detour, the app would catch up with us when we got back on the road. I will definitely search for these driving tours in other travel destinations in the future.
Review provided by Viator
Sally
May 23, 2024
Family vacation in Hawaii - We enjoyed the places we visited,interesting information along the way too. However we couldn’t complete in one days trip. Too much to see and weather conditions weren’t good.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gregorylb
May 13, 2024
Amazing Experience and A 'Must Have' for Appreciating the Big Island - The app was easy to use. It had many, many points of interest that were easy to find. The information was very informative & interesting. We has a MUCH better appreciation and understanding of the Big Island thanks to the self-driving guided tour. Highly recommend for an equally awarding experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elaine_r
Jan 8, 2025
A Good Overview of the Southern Island - The landscape was beautiful and varied; the stories were interesting. The trip as far as Hilo took longer than we expected. Is there a second half to take us back to the departure point? Can we take this tour, starting much earlier, in a few months?
Review provided by Viator
Sandradk650ap
Nov 25, 2024
Self tour - For the price it was a good spend. It had lots of information about the history of the island. At first it was a bit confusing but once we figured out how it worked, we enjoyed all the places we stopped along the way!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Road63861887751
Nov 3, 2024
Comprehensive Tour - This tour was comprehensive but took us 8 hours and we didn’t finish. We utilized a few stops and would have liked to make more stops but ran out of time. I wish this was a multi day tour trip as you need it. Learned a lot about the history of the Big Island.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kimberley_p
Apr 1, 2024
Kona coast - Traveling the Kona landscape was a great experience. The island has a very beautiful landscape and very relaxing. The guided tour made the drive fun and educational. Would definitely recommend.
Review provided by Viator
Alison_v
Apr 29, 2024
Disappointing - The app worked on the northern part of the Big Island, but not in the southern part. When it worked, it was great. However, we missed so much information when the app stopped working on the southern tour. It would not connect after trying over and over. It was a long drive and I know we missed so much!
Review provided by Viator
Gail
Jan 28, 2024
big island self guided driving tour. - Good things: enjoyed educational tidbits/history of the island while driving Not so good: -literally have to start at the designated local (not just the town, but the exact parking lot) or it won’t begin -every time you stop/restart, I had to start the program, tell it to resume where left off, and it catches up, but not until it goes through the same intro, over and over again… -it will mention a point of interest is coming up, but most of the time does not give you a specific place/road where to turn off at -randomly cuts off explanation early some times -many times I had already passed what is starting to be discussed - to make it better, it would also be nice if they go into more detail about suggestions where to park at each location, how long the walking path may be to get there (eg. Captain cook monument, we were not sure where to park or enter the trail, how long it was- we Google searched and found it was a 3.7 m hike and had only an hour, so knew there was no chance we could make it happen to get there and back in our time frame, but had no idea based on this guides description). That sort of info would be very helpful for the driver.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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