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Best Mauna Kea Summit Tour (Free sunset and star photo!)

Best Mauna Kea Summit Tour (Free sunset and star photo!)

Overview

We will take you to the summit of Mauna Kea to see the sunset and we will do stargazing afterward (not at the summit). Our most unique part is that our guides will take the photo of the sunset and stars for you using their DSLR camera.
All photos are free of charge and you will get it to your smartphone at the end of the tour.

City: Big Island of Hawaii

Tue 09 Sep

Other dates

You can choose the date already on the booking website

Starting at $260.00

Make a reservation

Tue 09 Sep

Starting at $260.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

Snow parker, Ski pants, and Gloves

Admission Fee for Mauna Kea

Free DSLR camera photo of stars with you in it! (weather and moon phase permitting))

BLT or Vegan sandwich (Please let us know by day before the tour or it will be automatically a BLT)

4x4 Passenger Van to the summit

An astronomical telescope

Additional Info

Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
Not recommended for pregnant travelers
Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Please check the message on Viator. We will send a message about pick up time and location after the confirmation of your booking.
Please note that pick up location has a free parking lot but we do not take any responsibility or liability for any damage or loss caused through the parking
Please note that in times of bad weather sunset or stargazing are not 100% guaranteed and moonphase will affect the visibility of the stars.
Not recommended for person weight more than 300lb
Not recommended for person having respiratory problem such as asthma
Guest under 16 years old or older than 70 cannot participate

What To Expect

Kailua-Kona

Pick up guests from each pick up location starting from Target in Kona. (pick up time varies depending on the season) 14:00-15:00pm Target's parking lot meet in front of the Mcdonald’s that is in the Target parking area (74-5453 Makala Blvd, Kailua-Kona) 14:45-15:45pm/ Queens’ Market Place Please meet up at the backside parking area of Queen's Market Place in front of Island Gourmet Markets (69-201 Waikoloa Beach Dr #201, Waikoloa) 15:30-16:30pm/ Gilbert Kahele Recreation Park (44-5400 Daniel K. Inouye Hwy, Waimea)

Onizuka Astronomy Complex

Onizuka Visitor Information Station We will take a break at the Onizuka Visitor Center at an altitude of 2,800m or 9,000ft for early dinner and altitude acclimatization. We also change clothes for winter clothes here depending on the weather. Also gift shop is open for guests to purchase the items. (No food or drink sale)

Mauna Kea Summit

Mauna Kea summit at an altitude of 13,796 ft (4,205 m) At the peak of Mauna Kea, you will see most of the observatory at the summit and we will be watching the sunset from the highest peak oin Hawaii. Enjoy a fantastic moment！

Onizuka Astronomy Complex

After the sunset, we will do stargazing using our refractor telescope and laser pointer. Our guide will explain about the star, constellation, and planets. Also we will take the astro photo with you in it! (The location of where we will do the stargazing may varies depending on the weather conditions)

Kailua-Kona

Returning to the pick up locations starting from Gilbert Kahele Recreational park.

Show 2 more stops

Cancellation Policy

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

Traveler Photos

Reviews (1000)

avidreader93

Jan 2025

The guide, Koki, was excellent and very informative about the stars, planets, and constellations. Definitely a must do when visiting the Big Island. The photos turned out great. The entire tour from pickup to drop off was about 7 hours.

Rhonda_R

Jan 2025

Felt like we were in another planet, great experience, very cold , but suppled parkas and hot chocolate. our guide, Wes, was very knowledgeable

Suechu_T

Jan 2025

This review is for our tour guide Wes (who is awesome). My husband and I booked this tour during our short stay in Hawaii. For our booking, there were two pick up spots (a McDonald’s parking lot and Queens Market parking lot). We initially booked the McDonald’s parking lot pick up because that was the only option available. A day before our tour I was looking at the website for details and noticed that the McDonald’s parking lot option was available for my timeframe (maybe someone cancelled). I messaged the tour group through the Viator website to see if we could switch to the pick up location and they responded the same day. They went ahead and switched it for us which I thought was very nice. And give us more time to do other things. So I really appreciate it how responsive and quickly they were. Our tour guide was Wes and my impression of him based on his stories is that he’s a very down to earth, easy going guy. He’s been a tour guide for this company for 7-8 years and knows the roads really well which made me feel safe. It’s a long drive but I gotta say, he’s very efficient and quick while making the drive feel safe. He shared stories about himself, his culture, history of Hawaii, and current events. I overall really liked the tour. I was also impressed that he did it in both English and Japanese (since there were two groups in my van that were from Japan). At the Summit, you enjoy the view and Wes takes some photos for you on his camera and with our phones. It was freezing so make sure to wear pants, shirts, bring a jacket if you have one, don’t wear open toe shoes…They have ski pants and jackets for you but it was freezing when I went (it’s winter/january). Another thing that I felt made the tour worth it was the fact that we were allowed to stay in the parking lot to star gaze while the other cars were escorted out by the Park Rangers due to ice on the street (again it’s winter so may not be an issue for you if it’s not cold/windy). The company/your guides seem to have a really good relationship with the Rangers to allow them to stay. And it made the experience really fun. It’s chilly but they provide you hot chocolate (during the star gazing) and a BLT sandwich as a dinner snack (which was better than I expected). Overall, I would recommended this tour with Wes. We really enjoyed our time.