Big Island Circle Island Tour with Pickup from Kona Coast Resort
Before choosing your base, read Kona or Hilo: where should you stay? and Do you need a rental car on the Big Island?
Prefer a day just for your group? Explore private tours with pickup anywhere on the island.
Pickup 8:00 am | about 10 hours from Kona and closer to 11 hours from Waikoloa | $245 per person | Max 14 guests
Kona Coast Resort guests are the settle-in type: condo living on the Keauhou golf fairways, groceries from the KTA down the hill, coffee on the lanai while the vacation-planning debate unfolds. If your group is negotiating between beach days, snorkel trips, and 'shouldn't we actually see the volcano?', this page is the case for the volcano day, minus any of the driving.
Pickup is at the resort's front entrance at 8:00 am. The night before, your guide calls with the exact time so everyone in the condo knows the plan.
The case for handing over the car keys
Plenty of Kona Coast Resort guests have a rental car in the lot, and the circle-island drive looks tempting on a map, until you do the math: 220-plus miles, six-plus hours of driving, with the best stops unsigned and easy to miss. On our tour those hours become the experience. The van leaves Keauhou and tours south through coffee farms and fishing villages, reaching Punaluʻu black sand beach after about an hour and a half of stops and stories.
From there: Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park while the day is young, a proper lunch stop, Hilo's old bayfront, and Akaka Falls on the rain-fed Hamakua Coast, landscapes your condo side of the island simply doesn't have. You're back at the resort around ten hours after you left, and nobody in your group spent the day staring at a centerline.
Numbers worth knowing
The Full-Day Circle Island Tour is $245 per person, capped at 14 guests in a luxury Mercedes Sprinter van. Included: free pickup and drop-off at Kona Coast Resort, bottled water, and snacks. We stop in Hilo around 1:15pm and guests buy their own lunch. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours in advance.
What's included
- Free hotel pickup and drop-off
- 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)
- Restrooms are available at every scheduled stop.
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours
Not included
- Lunch (Hilo stop, guests buy their own)
- Gratuity
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 Kona Coast Resort
We have a rental car, why take a tour instead of driving the loop?
Because the loop is 220+ miles and 6+ hours behind the wheel, and the best stops are the ones self-drivers miss. On the tour, an owner-guide narrates the whole island, handles every decision, and everyone in your group gets to look out the window.
Where does the van pick up at Kona Coast Resort?
At the main entrance at 8:00 am, with your exact time confirmed by your guide's phone call the evening before.
Can we bring our own cooler or snacks from the condo?
You're welcome to bring personal snacks and refillable bottles. Bottled water and snacks are provided on board. We stop in Hilo around 1:15pm and guests buy their own lunch.
Is there much walking on the tour?
Stops involve short, mostly gentle walks, beach viewpoints, crater overlooks, and the paved Akaka Falls loop trail. Guests of a wide range of ages and mobility levels do this tour comfortably; tell us about specific needs when you book.