Local tour instead of Excursion

[Greg in GA]

I was wondering if anyone has ever hired a local tour company in Hilo to do Volcanoes National Park and maybe a waterfall viewing. My friends and I were wanting a more personal tour than the one the ship offers.

 

Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

Greg

[lambs2]

It is so very easy to do that with your own rental car. VNP has a visitor's center and rangers give regular talks there, plus the intro film runs about every hour or so. With a good guidebook or even just the VNP brochure you get when you pay your $10. per car entry fee you can easily do your own tour at your own pace. After VNP we also drove to Banyan Drive and several waterfalls in the area. All are easily reached by car and the signage is easy to understand. I have also heard about Green Tours at Hilo. Someone here may have used them.

[Greg in GA]

Thank you Lambs! I appreciate your help.

I think we may go with renting a car as you suggested.

[bleuseas]

I agree with Lambs. We rented a car and stopped at the visitor center for more information. The main drive is easy and in a circle that returns you back to where you started. You will see plenty just doing this. There are a few places you can turn off and see other interesting things too (petroglyphs etc.).

 

We turned down Chain of Craters Road not knowing what to expect. It is about a half hour drive through the sites of many eruptions over the years. I've never seen so much lava. Come to think of it I'd never seen any lava before this! The road dead ends where the lava flow cut it off and you can see the steam rising up out of the sea where the lava is flowing into the ocean.

 

Rent your own car. You can go at your own pace. Much nicer and more inexpensive than a tour too. I used the Big Island Revealed book and read it aloud while DH drove. It tells you what you're seeing step by step and what they recommend you stop and see or should just skip over.

 

Another cruiser I was with rented a car and did rainbow falls (best in the morning for rainbows) before heading out to VNP. There is plenty of time to do both.

[Greg in GA]

Thank you very much for the information! I think you just made the decision for me.

[bleuseas]

Glad to help. You won't regret it. Enjoy!