Big Island Circle Island Tour with Pickup from Holua Resort
Pickup 8:00–8:15 am | about 10 hours door to door | $245 per person | Max 14 guests
Holua Resort sits up the slope in Keauhou at Mauna Loa Village — tennis courts, quiet pools, and villa space that groups and families book when they want room to spread out. It's the kind of base where mornings start slow. Ours starts only slightly less slow: your pickup window is 8:00–8:15 am, the gentlest on the island, because Keauhou is already on the tour's southbound path.
Here's a detail guests at Holua enjoy: the resort's name honors hōlua — the ancient Hawaiian sport of sledding grass-and-lava slides at terrifying speed — and Keauhou's slopes held some of the most famous courses. Your day with us runs on the same geography, just at highway speed with better seats.
The essentials first
This is our Full-Day Circle Island Tour: $245 per person, roughly 10 hours door to door from Holua Resort, never more than 14 guests in a luxury Mercedes Sprinter van. Included are your lunch stop, bottled water, snacks, and free pickup and drop-off at the resort. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours ahead, and your guide phones the night before to confirm your exact pickup minute at the resort entrance.
From Mauna Loa Village around Mauna Loa itself
There's a neat symmetry to starting at Mauna Loa Village: the tour effectively circles the real Mauna Loa — the largest active volcano on Earth — whose long shield shoulder you'll trace all day. Southbound from Keauhou, count on about an hour and a half of touring, coffee country and coastal overlooks included, before Punaluʻu's black sand and basking turtles.
Then Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, where the island's newest land is being made; Hilo for the island's rainy-side character; and Akaka Falls, the 442-foot ribbon in the rainforest. The evening crossing brings you home to Keauhou among the first drop-offs — back to the villa with the whole island now in your head as a single connected story.
Traveling as a group from Holua
Villa groups often fill four to eight of our fourteen seats in one booking. If your party wants to sit together — or wants the van essentially to itself — book early and tell us your group size; with a 14-guest cap, a large Holua group can turn the day semi-private without paying private rates.
What's included
- Free hotel pickup and drop-off
- Lunch stop, bottled water, and snacks
- Volcanoes National Park, Akaka Falls, black sand beaches, and more
- Owner-led guiding in a luxury Mercedes Sprinter van (max 14 guests)
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours
Your guide phones the night before to confirm your exact pickup time. Staying outside our pickup corridors? Meet us at Queens' Marketplace on Waikoloa Beach Drive.
$245 per person — Book Now
Questions from guests at Holua Resort
Our group has 8 people at Holua — can we all ride together?
Yes — the van seats 14, so a group of 8 books together, sits together, and effectively sets the tone of the day. Book early to secure the block of seats on your preferred date.
What time and where is pickup at Holua Resort?
Between 8:00 and 8:15 am at the resort entrance. Your guide calls the night before with the exact time, so the whole villa knows when to be downstairs.
Do we actually see Mauna Loa on the tour?
You spend the whole day on and around it — Mauna Loa's slopes make up most of the island's southern half, and inside Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park your guide will point out where its 2022 flows came down. Kīlauea, the more active neighbor, is the park's centerpiece.
Is the tour suitable for the grandparents in our group?
Very often, yes — walks at each stop are short and mostly on maintained paths, the van is comfortable, and the pace allows resting aboard between stops. Tell us about mobility considerations when booking and your guide will plan the day accordingly.