Take a scenic drive to an amazing working cacao farm where you can learn all about the art of…read moregrowing cacao. Chocolate lovers of all kinds will appreciate this event. Serene setting, knowledgeable hostess (host) We were greeted by the "security "dog named Darwin and knew this was the adventure for us. Travel with curiosity, be ready to have a Chocolate experience.

Had a wonderful visit to the orchard in the beautiful coastal area north of Hilo. Fascinating…read moreeducation around the production of chocolate and gave us a whole new appreciation for "good chocolate" and the efforts that go into growing, harvesting, fermenting, and roasting to bring beans to a bar. The tasting brought the whole experience to life! Jude and April were exceptional hosts and extremely knowledgeable of the entire endeavor. Our best adventure on the Big Island! Mahalo!

Hector was a wonderful guide for us in Hilo! Drove us to Volcano Park, Rainbow Falls, and other…read morepoints of interest. He had a good sense of humor and was flexible in accommodating our requests. An 86 year old mother was with our group and he was mindful to caution her about risks in certain areas; when she needed to stay in the van, he graciously kept the AC running so she was comfortable. We were in Hilo during a very hot few days! Thank you SO mych, Hector , for a great tour of Hilo.

Yes definitely recommend this tour Hector was great even made unscheduled stops to get poke bowls…read morevery informative very easy going take his tour don't waste money in the ncl island tour or the hop on off tour

Johnny was amazing! We flew into Hilo at the last minute from another island to see Kīlauea…read moreerupting. He met us at the airport in the afternoon and took us to the top of the volcano even though it was a long and rainy drive, then got us safely to a hotel. He's also a knowledgeable guide. Thanks Johnny!

Picked up at cruise port and dropped off at Hertz rental in airport. Half way on the trip driver…read moreturns off meter and claims trip will be $33 instead of the customary $15 to $17 because this is her business and she can charge this. Gave us a phone # 808756-888 to call for a car when we needed to return. Major ripoff!

I took a hike to view the lava flow with Chris in 2008. It remains one of the most outstanding and…read morethrilling experiences of my life. We hiked in the dark with headlamps to a place where we could see the brilliant glow of the lava in the dark. Chris is a local and native to the region; what looked like the surface of the moon to us was familiar to him and he regaled us with all sorts of stories and history. I have since referred several of my friends to look him up over the years and plan to visit again soon. As to the gentleman who gave a 1-star review, may I point out that while Chris is an excellent guide, he cannot control whether or not the lava is flowing any more than he can control what direction the wind (vog) is blowing. However, he still had to take that man on the hike and deserved to be paid for his work. I wish my photo was of a higher quality, but digital photography wasn't as great in 2008 as it is now.

Big Island Outfitters is actually one amazing Big Island native - Chris Arruda. We had called a…read morefew big companies about lava tours our first few days on the island and got no response or were told there was no lava to see. Digging deeper, we turned up a few good reviews for Chris and shot him an email. He responded right away, and we extremely professional and helpful when we called to get more info later that day. We met early the next morning at 3.30 AM in Kalapana to hike into the remains of the subdivision where lava was flowing. Chris was super helpful in guiding us where to hike, providing hiking sticks, and stopping for ample breaks to readjust gear and drink water. It took about 1.5 hours to reach the lava, and we could see the glow in the distance from about 30 minutes away. We stayed near the lava for over an hour, and Chris was great about letting us take lots of pictures and explain what was happening with the lava. Hiking out also took about 1.5 hours, and again, Chris made sure we were taking breaks and going at a good pace for the whole group. He's a great guide and told us a lot about the history of the area and lava flows and we really enjoyed the whole 4 hours thoroughly - well worth getting up at 2 AM and driving for an hour! He also does all other kinds of outdoor tours on the Big Island - going up the mountains, kayaking, camping, etc. Would definitely recommend reaching out if you're interested in anything outdoorsy and want a knowledgeable, experienced guide. A few photos of our tour are below - our friends were amazed by how close we got and how great the flows were. We'd recommend anyone spend the cash to go on a lava tour with Chris - easily one of the best parts of our trip to the Big Island.

We found Ricky's Tours while we were cruising on Holland America to Hawaii. We found Ricky to be a…read morevery knowledgeable guide. Though not a native, he grew up in Hilo and has so much information about the Hilo and Kona areas. As he drives along on the tour is a wealth of knowledge. We took two tours with Ricky. He has a brand new Ford van that seats up to 14. It is comfortable and the A/C works great. He has a sometime partner, Mel, that will add his van for large groups. I highly recommend that you contact him if you are interested in touring either Hilo or Kona.

Ricky was awesome, he was referred to us by Richard from Hawaii Eyes Tours in Maui. Ricky was…read morefriendly and very knowledgeable and taught us as he drove us. It was a five hour tour and well worth every minute of it.

Don't do it. You can't do the tour and for some reason their website is still accepting payments…read moreeven though the tours aren't happening. In April of 2022, I sent friends who were on their honeymoon on the Big Island here because my husband and I did the tour in Feb of 2021 and I really liked it. Well, the tours are closed and the website does not specify that at all so the payment was taken via website and my friends showed up only to be told that the tours are All cancelled. They did mail her a refund several weeks later. If I notice that their website indicates there are no tours and stops accepting payments, I'll take this review down because I really like the people who ran this business, so I'm not sure why they have to leave their website up but this is just a warning to anyone looking for more info.

Love the waipio lookout. Wish we have more time to explore the whole valley. It's hard to find…read moreparking. Have to park on the side street and u need four wheeler to go down steep road. Anyways can't wait to go back already

The past week I had called JP Taxi for a ride to the airport. We had been taking Ubers in the past…read moreand for an early morning ride and the XL Ubers in the past few years were somewhat a horror story. Like twice my ride was coming to do my pickup and all of a sudden was canceled. Twice we had driver if a older Toyota forerunner once the rear area had so much dog hair that my luggage had so much hair on it and I was a bit worried to bring it into the house before I had to brush off the hair and hoped didn't have bugs. Same driver picked us up and the inside was so messy with rubbish from candy wrappers and all kinds of paperwork in the doors and just looked like it hadn't been cleaned for sometime, plus no A/C. I had called JP taxi and told him what time to pick me up and he was exactly on time. Taxi was clean and he was very friendly also. He told us to call him when we got back into town and we did. Very friendly and prompt on pickup times.

Jerry is such a sweet man, very friendly and talkative. He's always our ride to wherever we gotta…read morego and makes our day each time. He's also very honest, we left our phone and he returned it without hesitation. He accepts apple pay and square.

MALAMA KA 'AINA = "to care for the land" How do you care…read morefor the land? Plant a tree! After I read Brandon's review, I knew I had to bring my kids to see this place. We've planted trees at our house, but we've never planted a Koa tree on the slopes of Mauna Kea, Hawaii's tallest volcano. The tour was scenic, taking us up to high altitudes on a 4x4 vehicle so we could see the entire forest in various stages of growth. Our guides were fantastic and really knew the land, pointing out various trees and special wildlife. My kids got to see an 'Io, a Hawaiian hawk, which is protected as an endangered species and only found on the Big Island. I had never seen one before so that was pretty cool to see it out in the wild. GRAND TOUR (3.5hr): This is a unique experience you will find nowhere else in Hawaii. I am going to tell you about our experience (2 adults, 2 kids) on the Grand Tour which included a Koa legacy tree planting 'session'. We have been to the Big Island many many times before, but this is definitely one of my favorite things we've ever done. LOCATION: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/hawaiian-legacy-tours-honolulu?select=1V96336NehN9GNpR3D1WHQ This is on the BIG ISLAND, HAWAII on the slopes of Mauna Kea. They have an office in Honolulu (Yelp has it listed in Honolulu), but that is not the location of the Koa tree forest, or where the tour is. You can't really put this one in your GPS. We came from Kona side (took about 90 min from Waikoloa), but you can come from either Hilo or Kona. If you go to their website to get directions, the directions will say "turn right after at Donna's cookies at the Kukaiau Ranch sign...drive 3.3mi through a winding road in the Eucalyptus forest...through the guard shack, pass the Kukauia Estates sign, watch for cows and horses, up 1.2mi to Umikoa Village, keep going until you see 3 houses". The scenery as we drove up the volcano looked like something straight out of a movie. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/hawaiian-legacy-tours-honolulu?select=W0asouZ0IBNyY2ebCUwY1Q GRAND TOUR PRICE (3.5hrs): $180 per adult (includes one Koa tree for planting) $90 per child (ages 5-18, does not include a tree) PLANTERS TOUR PRICE (2hrs): **you get to plant your tree but don't get to see all of the forest** $110 per adult (includestree for planting) $55 per child (ages 5-18, no tree) VEHICLE USED: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/hawaiian-legacy-tours-honolulu?select=KEF6e5VBy39RdKtCOrEgLw We rode on the Kawasaki T-Rex, which was a yellow off road vehicle. If you are the type to get car sick, you will get car sick on this. There is a roof but no windows. The sun/rain up on the volcano can be unpredictable and the weather can change quickly. We went during the summer but it was cold and rainy for parts of our tour. Bring sunscreen and rain jackets, you never know what it's going to look like until you get there. THE FOREST Because of the unique climate on Mauna Kea, the type of Koa tree that grows here is not grown anywhere else in the world. We have lots of Koa trees on Oahu, but they aren't valued like the ones grown on the Big Island. They started to clear the forest over a century ago to make room for farming and ranching, which wiped out almost all the Koa trees. Now they are trying to save the forest, so they have put up fences and gates to keep out the pigs, cattle, and hunters to allow the trees to grow once again. PLANTING THE KOA TREE We found our spot up in the middle of a field and my kids got to plant their baby trees. We got the certificate which has the GPS coordinates of each tree so we can go back and visit the tree later when it's part of a large forest once again. You can put a name on the certificate to dedicate the tree to someone you love. Or not. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/hawaiian-legacy-tours-honolulu?select=gCS2he__69NonE-OPB7cLA http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/hawaiian-legacy-tours-honolulu?select=_Jvwca3lb2GFQOtznWOl4g THE TOUR Besides planting the tree, which was pretty neat, the tour took us up and down the entire forest. Our tour was bumpy, rainy, fresh, and definitely educational. We saw the lone koa tree, which was left behind from over a hundred years ago, and saw different forests at various stages of growth. We learned about different flora/fauna and wildlife only seen on the slopes of Mauna Kea. I don't remember any toilets during our 3.5hr tour, but I think they were going to put one up at the top of the vista soon. So while it seemed like $540 was a ridiculous amount of money to plant 2 trees, I hope someday my kids will see their GPS certificate for their koa tree and take their kids back to the big island to show them the koa forest and teach them about MALAMA KA 'AINA.

We went to the Legacy Tours again in 'Umikoa. Again it was fabulous! I am beyond thrilled with…read moreour tour guides Richard L. and Emi. We had a bit of a hard time finding the house because it was different from before. But it is actually easier now since it is on the bottom of the hill and Emi was waiting outside for us. Then same yummy scones and cinnamon tea! Yum!! The day was gorgeous...blue skies, perfect weather. Emi remarked it was the most gorgeous day she had ever seen to date. Richard even drove our ATV to the lookout so we had a different view from our first planter's tour. We got a peek and use of the state of the art hidden outhouse and were able to plant our kitty and two koa seedlings without any Big Lebowski moments...all with a gorgeous view of Mauna Kea's snow top and a partial view of Hale'akala. I remember a few years ago when no one was allowed to pick lehua blossoms for Merrie Monarch Festival because of some mold or fungi epidemic on the Big Island. Luckily they have a huge forest of ohi'a lehua trees of all three colors here that are healthy due to the elevation of the mountains. The ride was the perfect blend of informational, seriousness, and fun (with a few safe moments of catching air before returning to our seats and only because I expressed a love of thrill). We totally love this tour and are sure to do this again. They also have cool investment opportunities of purchasing 100 koa seedlings with payouts to the investor and corporate opportunities for carbon credits. Great great company and staff. Thank you so very much Richard and Emi. Also thank you for the amazing photos of us sent to our email and the certificate with our special RFID number. Really appreciate you all. Will be back soon. Highly highly recommend as a cool way to give back to the islands when visiting here or even if you're a local. p.s. Emi thanks for the great photos! They looked professional with the way you capture light beautifully. So thrilled. A deep thank you.