Big Island Circle Island Tour with Pickup from Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts Collection
Pickup 7:00–7:15 am | about 10 hours door to door | $245 per person | Max 14 guests
Mauna Lani sits on ground that mattered long before there was a resort here: Kalāhuipuaʻa's ancient fishponds and lava-tube shelters are a short walk from the pool deck. Guests who choose the Auberge property tend to care about that layer of the island — the history under the luxury. Our Circle Island Tour is built for exactly that curiosity, led by owner-guides who grew up with these stories rather than reading them off a script.
We pick you up at the resort's arrival court between 7:00 and 7:15 am — your guide confirms the exact time by phone the night before — and deliver you back roughly ten hours later with the whole island threaded together: the sacred, the geological, and the delicious.
A day that completes the Kalāhuipuaʻa story
The fishponds outside your room are one chapter of Hawaiian ingenuity; the tour supplies the rest of the book. Heading south from Mauna Lani, the coastline your van follows is the same route chiefs once traveled between settlements. Above Kailua-Kona you'll see how upland farming complemented the coastal fishponds, and at Punaluʻu — the famous black sand beach near the island's southern tip — the connection between volcano and shoreline becomes literal: sand born from lava meeting the sea.
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is the day's centerpiece, and the return along the Hamakua Coast adds the rainforest chapter: Akaka Falls plunging past ancient gulches that once carried sugar cane flumes. From your first pickup the touring runs about two and a half hours of stops and scenery before Punaluʻu; nothing about the day feels like transit.
The practical part
$245 per person for the Full-Day Circle Island Tour, about 10 hours door to door from Mauna Lani. Maximum 14 guests in a luxury Mercedes Sprinter van; lunch stop, bottled water, and snacks included; pickup and drop-off free; free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead. Mornings on the Kohala Coast are mild, but bring a warm layer for the crater rim's 4,000-foot elevation.
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 Mauna Lani, Auberge
Does the tour cover Hawaiian culture and history, or just scenery?
Both, inseparably — our owner-guides narrate the island's history, legends, and geology throughout the day. Guests staying at Mauna Lani often tell us the cultural thread was the part they didn't expect and loved most.
What time is pickup from the Auberge and where?
Between 7:00 and 7:15 am at the resort's arrival court. You'll get a call from your guide the night before confirming the exact minute.
We'd rather not spend a day with a big bus group — how big is this tour?
Never more than 14 guests, in a luxury Mercedes Sprinter van rather than a coach. It feels like touring with friends, not boarding a shuttle.
Is this the same tour that picks up at the Fairmont Orchid next door?
Yes — Mauna Lani and the Fairmont Orchid are on the same 7:00–7:15 am Kohala corridor run, so neighbors and split-property groups can book the same departure.