Big Island Hawaii Self-Guided Driving Tour

4.1
(43 reviews)

2 to 3 hours (approximately)
Offered in: English

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/text to download the separate Audio Tour Guide App by Action while connected to WiFi or mobile data. Enter the password, download the tour, and enjoy it offline. Follow the audio instructions and route from the designated starting point.

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

Great value: One purchase per car, not per person. More affordable than bus or guided tours!
Easy-to-use app: download Action’s Tour Guide App onto your phone
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!
Attraction passes, entry tickets, or reservations

Meeting and pickup

Meeting point
You can choose from multiple locations at checkout.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

Duration: 2 to 3 hours (approximately)
  • 1
    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: The tour is over 300+ miles long, with more than 210+ audio stories, and takes about 7-8 hours to complete. Buy once, use for one year! Ideal for extended visits and return trips over the next 12 months.

    5 minutes Admission ticket free
  • 2

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

    5 minutes Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    Quiet peaceful location to just sit and relax

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

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

    Admission ticket free
  • 3

    Small Waterfall

    5 minutes Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

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

    Admission ticket free
  • 4

    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
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • 5
    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
  • (Pass by)

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

    Admission ticket free
  • 6

    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
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

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

    Admission ticket free
  • 7

    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
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • 8
    Kailua-Kona

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

    5 minutes Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

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

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

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

    Admission ticket free
  • 9

    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
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • 10

    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
  • (Pass by)

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

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • (Pass by)

    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.

    Admission ticket free
  • 11
    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

Additional info

  • 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
Supplied by Travel with Action

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Tags

Bus Tours
Private Sightseeing Tours
Audio Guides
Historical Tours
Car Tours
Adventure Tours
Low Supplier Cancellation Rate
Low Last Minute Supplier Cancellation Rate
Short term availability

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

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Rating

4.1 Based on 43 43 reviews
5 stars
22
4 stars
12
3 stars
3
2 stars
3
1 star
3
from per group (up to 4)
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