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Mauna Kea Summit Sunset and Stars Free Astro Photos Hilo Kona Waikoloa Pick Up

Mauna Kea Summit Sunset and Stars Free Astro Photos Hilo Kona Waikoloa Pick Up

Overview

Delight in the awe-inspiring sunset at the top of Mauna Kea, the highest point in the Pacific.
Your guide will share historic accounts of the Big Island. Stand amidst the world’s largest collection of research telescopes.
Two of the eight telescopes which took the first photos of the black hole are here.
Sip a hot beverage during your private star show and view planets with a Celestron telescope.
Your guide will take astrophotography photos of you with a DSLR camera and email them to you.

City: Big Island of Hawaii

Sun 29 Dec

Other dates

You can choose the date already on the booking website

Starting at $259.00

Make a reservation

Sun 29 Dec

Starting at $259.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

Experienced tour guide

FREE night photo with our professional camera

Snacks and a hot beverage

Professional Celestron telescope

Jackets and gloves to keep you warm

Transportation in a comfortable 4X4 van

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
Not recommended for travelers under 13 years old
Face masks required for travellers in public areas
Face masks required for guides in public areas
Hand sanitiser available to travellers and staff
Social distancing enforced throughout experience
Regularly sanitised high-traffic areas
Gear/equipment sanitised between use
Transportation vehicles regularly sanitised
Guides required to regularly wash hands
Regular temperature checks for staff
Temperature checks for travellers upon arrival
Paid stay-at-home policy for staff with symptoms

What To Expect

Mauna Kea Summit

One of the best places to see the sunset and stargazing and it's also the highest mountain on earth. Comfortable 4X4 passenger van as transportation.Jackets and gloves provided to keep you warm. Experienced tour guide to talk about our history and show you our amazing night with a laser pointer. Get close to the stars with our professional Celestron telescope and get a nice photo with our DSLR camera.

Cancellation Policy

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

Traveler Photos

Reviews (445)

MyOwnHorizons

Jul 2021

This is the Mauna Kea tour to take, 100%! We actually had pretty nasty weather for our tour. The sunset was completely rained out (apparently this is very rare in the summer months). But the guides can't control the weather, and it was thanks to them that this was still a 5-star experience! Altogether we interacted with four different guides, and each was passionate and knowledgeable about a different subject. Tony, who drove us from Waikoloa to the base of the mountain and back, is a great storyteller who has had a very adventurous life, and has some absolutely mind-blowing stories about his experiences with volcanoes. You wouldn't even believe them if he didn't back them up with amazing photos and videos. Kara and Richie (not sure about the spelling) were the guides on our summit van. Kara knows a lot about the geology and nature of Hawaii, while Richie is a native Hawaiian who told us really cool stories from Hawaiian folklore and gave great travel tips for the rest of the Big Island. Finally, the guy who drove the other summit van (I never caught his name) was the expert on the stars and the telescope. Between the four of them, we felt like this tour would have been money well spent, even if we didn't get either sunset or stars! But, again thanks to the guides, we did get to see the stars after all. As the sky began to clear up, they stayed out quite a bit later than the tour was supposed to run so that we could see all the constellations, the milky way, the rings of Saturn, and the moonrise. Just as we were packing up to leave, we even saw a spectacular moonbow! :O Altogether an amazing experience despite non-ideal weather. Mahalo nui loa!

W2172MCjessicas

Jul 2021

Excellent guide with great knowledge which made the tour very worthwhile. The experience was unique with a very friendly group, and the view was superlative.

Maria_R

Jul 2021

This was an expensive disappointment. Some of this was our own fault, some was due to the tour provider, and some was just Mother Nature and bad luck. Here’s how it went down: we were picked up in a bank parking lot and then driven about an hour to another parking lot, where more people joined our party. Tony, who drove the bus, was engaging, regaling us with stories from the nearly 40 years he’s lived on the island. From the second parking lot, it was another long drive up saddle road to the base of the Mauna Kea road. From there, we split into two 4x4s of eight people and drove to the Mauna Kea visitor center. All of the other tour groups were eating warm cooked meals. Our group got no food, but we did get 30 minutes to wander around the visitors center. Then we hopped back into the 4x4s and went up the mountain. Along the way our driver (Hunter) told us a few things about the mountain, but it felt very scripted. It turns out that even though this is labeled as going to the summit, you don’t go to the summit. Instead all the tour buses from all the tour companies park by the telescopes, which is not the actual top (this is out of respect for Hawaiian beliefs, which makes sense but still felt like the tour name was false advertising). We were given warm jackets to wear And gloves. Then they took our pictures one by one as we held a sign that said „Mauna Kea summit” (even though we were not at the summit). Here’s where the bad luck comes in. As Soon as we got up there, the whole area was enveloped in clouds. So we had no views of the surrounding area or even of a sunset. Just some Orange clouds. Then we all trooped back in the van and drove down below the clouds for the “stargazing” part of the trip. All of the tour buses park in a parking lot near the visitor center. We had to wait in the van while our hosts set up some snacks (dessert foods like biscotti) and “cup of noodles” for us to eat. Even though We’d been asked to fill out our dietary preferences when we registered, there were no vegetarian cups of noodles. Fortunately we had granola bars In or packs; others in our group went hungry. We milled Around for awhile while our guides set up the telescope. The moon was extremely bright, so couldn’t see many stars. Each person got to look through the telescope twice, for about 45 seconds in total. First we saw the moon, and then we saw Saturn. Our guides told us that Jupiter wasn’t visible even As we could overhear the group next to ours looking through their telescope at Jupiter. The guides pointed out a few constraints with a laser pointer. That was about 15 minutes. And we each got our picture taken twice with a DSLR. Then we milled about bored some more until we were herded back on the van and drove down. On the way down, one of the vans ran over a wild pig. Finally we got back to Tony and listened to his stories on the long, long ride back to our car. My advice: choose your tour company wisely, pick a night where the moon isn’t shining, and understand that this tour is going to be a gamble.