Maunakea Stellar Explorer from KONA

Overview

For an out-of-this-world experience, check out Maunakea Stellar Explorer from KapohoKine Adventures. This thrilling adventure is the only Big Island star tour to feature nighttime astronomical observing AND safe daytime solar viewing with all ages welcome! Our in-house stellar explorers are the best and most experienced in Hawaii with one having created the Mauna Kea Visitor’s Center and operated it for a decade. Others on staff have written noted articles and reviews for well-known astronomy magazines and have worked at world-class observatories.

City: Big Island of Hawaii

Wed 23 Oct

Other dates

You can choose the date already on the booking website

Starting at $263.76

Make a reservation

Wed 23 Oct

Starting at $263.76

Make a reservation

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What's Included

Hotel pickup and drop-off

Bottled water

Driver/guide

Dinner

Jackets

Additional Info

Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
Public transportation options are available nearby
Suitable for all physical fitness levels

What To Expect

Kailua-Kona

The adventure starts with dinner.

Saddle Road

Next, you’ll travel across Saddle Road between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, two of the tallest and most massive volcanoes on Earth. Your National Park Service trained guide will discuss the volcanology, geology, and history of these monstrous wonders, as well as providing in-depth narration on the various lava flows and flora and fauna that you’ll be passing by. Lastly, your guide will take you to one of our preferred locations on Mauna Kea for nighttime stargazing.

Mauna Kea

You’ll observe deep sky and planetary objects through a large aperture Dobsonian telescope under one of the darkest and most pristine skies on planet Earth! Our Dobsonian telescopes are a true purist’s experience to view the night sky. Their fast focal ratio enables you to see sprawling wide field views of objects that simply aren’t possible with the types of telescopes used by other tours. Depending on what is visible in the current sky and weather permitting, you’ll observe galaxies, nebula, star clusters, planets, double star systems, the moon, and much more; all the highlights and showpiece objects like you’ve never seen before! Afterwards, warm up with Kona coffee and hot chocolate before returning to your resort. Warm jackets provided. This tour does not visit Maunakea’s summit out of deference to Native Hawaiian concerns.

Cancellation Policy

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

Traveler Photos

Reviews (70)

Jenifer_R

Aug 2022

Adam was a great tour guide. We had an amazing and fun experience. The stars were amazing and Adam had a lot of very interesting knowledge and information about plants on the island.

z3girl

Jul 2022

We booked this tour via a local (Kona) tour agency based on their recommendation after I told them we were interested in doing a Mauna Kea summit tour. At the start of the tour though, our guide Marcus outlined the itinerary for the evening and it soon became clear that we would not be going up to the summit. Even more disappointing, we barely left Saddle Road, and could have done this drive easily ourselves. While this could easily be viewed as a problem with the booking agency, I am mentioning it in this review as there was at least one other couple in our group who were similarly disappointed with the tour not going to the summit after booking through a different booking agent and expressing the same requirements. The fact that two agents don’t seem to know enough about this tour to sell it correctly points to an issue with the company not accurately describing the tour to those who are supposed to be selling on their behalf. Marcus, our guide, did a great job with narrating the evening and was an excellent host. No complaints there, but the so-called dinner was another huge disappointment. For the price we paid for the tour as a whole, the dinner was completely underwhelming. The “garlic prawns” were simply 4 small prawns and a cup of white rice. Honestly, we’ve had better catering provided on the snorkelling tours we’ve done, and those tours are less than half the price of this one. All in all we certainly wouldn’t recommend this trip to anyone - if it were to provide value for money I’d be expecting an improved quality dinner, some seating around the telescope so that we can view the stars more comfortably, a quality photo or two of us against the stars (not just an offer to take photos with our own camera against the sunset) and at least an attempt to take us some way up the summit road, for better viewing of the sky. As it was the tour did not represent value for money at all.

Krysten_G

May 2022

KRYSTAL WAS AMAZINNGG!!! This was honestly a life changing experience for me. My stay in Hawaii was for almost a month and out of everything I did even island hopping between Oahu and Kona, this was the highlight of my entire trip! Dinner was tasty, the trip there was scenic and Krystal was very knowledgeable. Not only this the star gazing along with Krystal's expert knowledge made this the experience of a lifetime! I almost cancelled because I injured my leg the day prior but they were able to accommodate me. Thank you so much Krystal! This was amazing!