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Big Island Hawaii Self-Guided Driving Tour

31 Reviews | Big Island of Hawaii, USA

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2 to 3 hours (approx.)

Mobile ticket

Instant confirmation

Overview

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 fascinating history of this island and the people who call it home. Plus, learn about Hawaiian history, visit ancient burial grounds, and really get to know this island’s rich culture.

After booking, check your email to download the separate Audio Tour Guide App by Action, enter your unique password, and access your tour. These steps require good internet/Wi-Fi access. From there, follow the audio instructions and the route.

Buy once, use for one year! Ideal for extended visits and return trips over the next 12 months.

This isn't an entrance ticket. Check opening hours before your visit.

What's Included

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.
Comprehensive route and stops: See it all, miss nothing, leave no stone unturned!
Go at your own pace: Start anytime, pause anywhere, enjoy breaks for snacks and photos freely!
Hands-free: audio stories play on their own based on your location. Easy to use!
Engaging storytelling: Uncover unique tales, history, and facts for a memorable journey!
Easy-to-use app: download Action’s Tour Guide App onto your phone
Great value: One purchase per car, not per person. More affordable than bus or guided tours!

Attraction passes, entry tickets, or reservations

See 5 more See 4 more

Meeting Location

Meeting point

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

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 the active Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes.Note: This 75-mile-long tour covers the essentials of the Big Island in 2-4 hours.Buy once, use for one year! Ideal for extended visits and return trips over the next 12 months.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

203 Kilauea Ave

The deck is a steel grid which creates a singing sound from the tires of cars driving on it.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Scenic Outlook Park

Quiet peaceful location to just sit and relax

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Honoli'i Beach Park

Popular with surfers, this picturesque cove is located less than two miles from downtown Hilo. It’s rocky bottom and occasional strong currents make it less of a swimming beach and more of a great spot for experienced surfers and watching surfing pros. Limited parking; must be able to climb down/up stairs to get to this beach.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Onomea Bay Trail

Discover this 0.8-km out-and-back trail near Pepeekeo, Hawaii. Generally considered an easy route, it takes an average of 13 min to complete. This trail is great for hiking and walking. The trail is open year-round and is beautiful to visit anytime. Dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve and Garden

The Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve and Garden is a nonprofit botanical garden and nature preserve

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Sugar Mill Road

Small Waterfall

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kolekole Beach Park

Kolekole Beach Park is a Hawaii county park on the island of Hawaii.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

19 HI-19

World Botanical Gardens and Waterfalls is a commercial botanical gardens with a large waterfall, located between Umauma and Hakalau, at the corner of Leopolino Road and Hawaii Belt Road, State Highway 19, 16 miles north of Hilo, Island of Hawaiʻi, Hawaii.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Laupahoehoe Train Museum

The purpose of the Laupahoehoe Train Museum is to preserve, promote and protect the historic, cultural, educational, social, civic and economic interests of the North Hilo and Hamakua districts, while highlighting the history of the railroads on the island of Hawaii.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Laupahoehoe Point Cemetery

On April 1, 1946 the Big Island of Hawaiʻi was struck by the so-called "April Fools Day tsunami", originating from the Aleutian Islands earthquake. Approximately 160 people on the island were killed. While the greatest number of deaths occurred in Hilo, the school building at Laupāhoehoe was inundated, and twenty students and four teachers were drowned. A monument to the dead now stands on Laupāhoehoe Point.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kohala Coast

As you drive 20-minutes north of Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport, you’ll marvel at the rugged lava fields surrounding you. You may not see it from Queen Kaahumanu Highway, but the Kohala Coast is where you’ll find some of the island’s finest resorts.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Anna Ranch Heritage Center

Anna Ranch Heritage Center is a former cattle ranch in Waimea, Hawaii County, Hawaii named for Anna Leialoha Lindsey Perry-Fiske (1900–1995).

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Hapuna Beach

The largest of the island's white sand beaches, Hapuna Beach has consistently been rated on international Top Ten lists of the islands’ best beaches.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kings Hwy Foot Trail

Get to know this 7.7-km out-and-back trail near Waikoloa Village, Hawaii. Generally considered an easy route, it takes an average of 1 h 44 min to complete. This trail is great for hiking and trail running.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Buddha Point

Picturesque lookout point offering sweeping views of the ocean, sunset & passing whales.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Waikoloa Beach

Waikoloa Beach is an area located on the South Kohala coast on the island of Hawaii and is located in the census-designated place of Puako. It can be confused for Waikoloa Village, a CDP in the same "ahupuaʻa" and is also known as "Waikoloa".

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kiholo Bay

Kīholo Bay is located in the ahupua`a of Pu`u Wa`awa`a in the North Kona District on the Big Island of Hawaii. the land surrounding the bay is flanked to the South by a lava flow from Mount Hualalai ca. 1801 and another flow from Mauna Loa in 1859.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kekaha Kai State Park

Kekaha Kai State Park, formerly known as Kona Coast State Park, is a beach park located along the north Kona coast on the island of Hawaiʻi. The main beach areas are Maniniʻowali Bay, Makalawena beach at Puʻu Aliʻi Bay, and Mahaiʻula Bay.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park

Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located in the Kona District on the Big island of Hawaiʻi in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi. It includes the National Historic Landmarked archaeological site known as the Honokōhau Settlement.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kailua-Kona

Public park with white sand beach & rocky shoreline, offering lifeguard-overseen swimming & surfing.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Hulihe'e Palace

Small beach & reef with generally calm water, making it a popular place to snorkel.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Magic Sands Beach Park

The Kuamoʻo Burials (also known as the Lekeleke Burial Grounds) is a historic Hawaiian burial site for warriors killed during a major battle in 1819.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kahalu’u Beach Park

Captain Cook is a census-designated place in Hawaiʻi County, Hawaiʻi, in the United States, located in the District of South Kona. The community, within the land division of Kealakekua, is so named because the post office for the area was located in the Captain Cook Coffee Co. during the early 1900s.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Lekeleke Burial Ground

Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located on the west coast of the island of Hawaiʻi in the U.S. state of Hawaii.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park

Pāhala is a census-designated place in Hawaiʻi County, Hawaiʻi, United States. The population was 1,356 at the 2010 census.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Honaunau

Kīlauea is an active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. Historically, it is the most active of the five volcanoes that together form the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Heavenly Hawaiian Kona Coffee Farm & Konalani Coffee Bar

Kona coffee is the market name for coffee (Coffea arabica) cultivated on the slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa in the North and South Kona Districts of the Big Island of Hawaii. It is one of the most expensive coffees in the world.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Hawaii Belt Road

The Hawaiʻi Belt Road is a modern name for the Māmalahoa Highway and consists of Hawaiʻi state Routes 11, 19, and 190 that encircle the Island of Hawaiʻi.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

87 Hawaiʻi Belt Rd

Pebble Beach got its name because instead of a sandy beach it's full of pebbles. The pebbles are black so it gives the appearance of a black sand beach but it won't be sandy here.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kula Kai Caverns

Centuries-old lava caves & tube systems once used by native tribes for shelter & water collection.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Black Sand Beach Apparel

Punaluʻu Beach is a beach between Pāhala and Nāʻālehu on the Big Island of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The beach has black sand made of basalt and created by lava flowing into the ocean which explodes as it reaches the ocean and cools. This volcanic activity is in the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Mauna Loa Observatory

The Hawai'i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) is a Mars and Moon ... located on a Mars-like site on the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawai'i Island.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is on Hawaii Island (the Big Island). At its heart are the Kīlauea and Mauna Loa active volcanoes. The Crater Rim Drive passes steam vents and the Jaggar Museum, which features volcanology exhibits and a viewpoint overlooking Halema'uma'u Crater. Thick ferns mark the entrance to the Thurston Lava Tube (Nāhuku). The Chain of Craters Road weaves over lava. Trails crisscross the park.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Show 32 more stops

Additional Info

Confirmation is instant and will be received at time of booking
Public transportation options are available nearby
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
How To Access: After booking, you’ll get an email and text with setup instructions and password (search “audio tour” in emails and texts). • Download the separate tour app by Action • Enter the password sent by email and text. • MUST download the tour while in strong wifi/cellular. • Works offline after download.
How to start touring: Open Action’s separate audio tour guide app once onsite. • If there is just one tour, launch it. • If multiple tour versions exist, launch the one with your planned starting point and direction.

Go to the starting point No one will meet you at the start. This tour is self-guided Enter the first story’s point and the audio will begin automatically Follow the audio cues to the next story, which will also play automatically. Enjoy hands-free exploring. If you face audio issues, contact support. Stick to the tour route & speed limit for the best experience.
Travel worry-free: Use the tour app anytime, on any day, and over multiple days. Start and pause the tour whenever you like, taking breaks and exploring side excursions at your own pace. Skip anything you don’t care about or explore bonus content for everything that interests you
Savings tips: Driving tours: purchase just one tour for everyone in the car
Buy once, use for one year! Ideal for extended visits and return trips over the next 12 months.

Frequently Asked Questions

(6)

Q: What is the cancellation policy for the Big Island Hawaii Self-Guided Driving Tour?

A: You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the tour for a full refund. For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the tour start time.If you cancel less than 24 hours before the tour start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.Any changes made less than 24 hours before the tour start time will not be accepted.Cut-off times are based on the tour local time (HST). Read more Apr 2025

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the tour for a full refund.

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Activity code: C-267535P21

Traveler Photos

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Reviews

4.13

31 reviews

Average 4.13 out of 5 stars based on 31 traveler reviews collected by City Boat Tours and partner sites such as Cool Destinations and TripAdvisor

5 stars

15

4 stars

10

3 stars

3

2 stars

1

1 star

2

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The answers provided below were previously given in response to questions from City Boat Tours customers.

Q: What is the cancellation policy for the Big Island Hawaii Self-Guided Driving Tour?

A:

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the tour for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the tour start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the tour start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the tour start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the tour local time (HST).

Apr 2025

Q: What's included in the price?

A:

The following is included:

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.
Comprehensive route and stops: See it all, miss nothing, leave no stone unturned!.
Go at your own pace: Start anytime, pause anywhere, enjoy breaks for snacks and photos freely!.
Hands-free: audio stories play on their own based on your location. Easy to use!.
Engaging storytelling: Uncover unique tales, history, and facts for a memorable journey!.
Easy-to-use app: download Action’s Tour Guide App onto your phone.
Great value: One purchase per car, not per person. More affordable than bus or guided tours!.

The following is NOT included:

Attraction passes, entry tickets, or reservations.

Apr 2025

Q: What is the minimum age for this tour?

A:

There is no minimum age for this tour, so bring your wee one along for an adventure..

Apr 2025

Q: My date is not available in the calendar, I am just checking to see if it is available?

A:

If a date or time is not listed on the calendar, it’s sold out or unavailable for another reason. Support cannot assist further if a date or time is not on the calendar.

If you find a date and time that works for you, book it NOW because things always sell out at this time of year.

Apr 2025

Q: Is this an accessible tour?

A:

Accessibility information for the Big Island Hawaii Self-Guided Driving Tour is as follows:

Public transportation options are available nearby
Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Apr 2025

Q: Where is the meeting point for this activity?

A:

Detailed check-in instructions – including meeting point address, Google map, and parking information – for Big Island Hawaii Self-Guided Driving Tour will be included in your confirmation email from City Boat Tours. Please be sure to double and triple check your email address is correct at checkout so this important email makes its way to you!

Mar 2024