Hawaii Outdoor Guides

This company, guide Dominik, and their 12 hour tour far exceeded my expectations. I would recommend anyone new to the Big Island spend the day with them. Each stop was worthwhile, the tour was fun, meals spectacular, guides fantastic, and more. I couldn’t believe how much we experienced in one day. I never felt rushed or bored either. It is a well put together tour that made the time fly by. These folks know the island, best stops, and the Big Island culture. I would highly recommend letting them take the wheel and show you the Hawaii they know and love.

I was a little hesitant about a 12-​hour tour but Dominik made our trip well worth it!
He was excited about the activities we were doing and very knowledgeable.
He kept is on our toes and kept things interesting. Never a dull moment, he reconnected us with nature, the island, Pele and so many others.
He was very familiar with the park we visited and knew the ins and outs, very experienced.
Great trip for a group of friends, a family or even a couple.
The iPads filled the small gaps of empty space, very handy.
On another note, I left my phone in a jacket he let me borrow and he drove a half hour to bring it back to me, good people!
An active, naturalistic, historical tour, very satisfied.

Went to Kona looking for a tour guide/​group for my friends and I and words can’t express how grateful we are to Dominik!
I actually got 3 referrals for a tour guide company from the local café in Kona while having breakfast. We were looking for a small group tour to accommodate us.
The 1^st two tour guide companies were booked for that Saturday OR they charged way too much for a day tour for my group of 5 friends.
When I called Hawaii Outdoor Guides, Dominik answered and listened to my request of what we wanted to see on the Island and the special needs of my group. Although he was booked for that Saturday, he surprised me when I asked him if he had a tour available that same day since we flew into Kona early that morning. To my surprise, Dominik was able to accommodate my group that morning and showed up at our hotel within the hour! His price was reasonable and we couldn’t have asked for anything better.
Dominik customized our small group tour within minutes and my friends and I were excited about our personalized small group tour.
We opted for a Hawaii Grand Circle tour which started at 11am to about 9pm. We drove along the Hamakua Coast, Puukohola National Historic Site, had lunch at the Village Burger, went to the Waipio Lookout, Rainbow Falls, Volcano National Park, short hike to Thurston Lava Tube, walked the black sand beach of Punalu’u, and had dinner at the local L&L BBQ restaurant.
Dominik was very knowledgeable about Kona and gave us good information about the Island and it’s history. He told us about the climate, tropical plants, animal life, and even played the Nose flute during our hike at the Thurston Lava Tube. He was very accommodating and even found us a local vendor selling mungosteen and lychee fruits at one the the farms.
Dominik was very professional, friendly, and knowledgeable tour guide. I would highly recommend him for your Kona Island Tour.
Thank you, Dominik!

Awesome tour, Dominik was very informative and showed us a good time. And the best part, for a private tour it did not cost us as much as the other company. Will definitely recommend it to my friends.

That was the best tour I’ve ever been on. Katie was AMAZING! Super knowledgable and friendly, and we saw SO MANY awesome sites. Katie knew all the great photo spots, and lunch was so tasty, and it was 12+ hours of perfect and

Amazing tour by Dominik. Great overall experience, and learned a ton. I highly recommend this tour for anyone that visits the Big Island. They provided snacks and kept my interest up the whole time. I am kind of a info geek, so it was nice having Dominik fill my cranium with Hawaiin history.

I did so much research before visiting Big Island. This tour was excellent. It was very informative and so much fun. I totally recommend!

My wife and I can attest to all the great things about Katie, and then some. My wife and I lucked out and ended up having a private tour of Greenwell Coffee Farm, Punalu’u Black Sands Beach, Volcano National Park and Kilauea summit. The hike in Volcano National Park was awesome since Katie showed us the different native plants along various pathways, kinda like your personal National Geographic/​Travel Channel companion. It was a long 12 hour day, but hanging out with Katie talking about not only the island, but about life in general was great, so much conversation that my wife and I never used the included iPads.
Look nowhere but Hawaii Outdoor Guides if you’re new to the big island and are looking at a guided tour.

Simply amazing! Katie was an absolutely phenomenal guide!!! She was super friendly, enthusiastic, knowledgeable of Hawaiian culture and told us many interesting facts about plant life, climate and the history of Hawaii.
I highly recommend this tour, especially Katie, if you really want to hit all the best photo spots, gain a local’s perspective of Hawaii and to have a really fun day exploring the island. We could not have had the adventure we did just going to the parks on our own.
Thanks Hawaii Outdoor Tours!

Katie was a wonderful guide! So sweet and such love and respect for the island! She has a huge heart and made all the places we visited special. We did the coffee farm, lava tubes and volcano park. It was a great day and we learned a lot. Thank you again Katie!

We went on the volcano & coffee tour with Hawaii Outdoor Guides, and the service was nothing short of exceptional. From the call the day before to confirm, to the moment we were dropped off back at our hotel, the trip was fantastic!
We had Dominik add our guide, and he was incredibly knowledgeable, polite, and every bit a gentleman. We went to the Greenwell Coffee Plantation, Ka Lae, the black sand beach, and then very informative hikes in Volcano National Park.
It was a long day, but VERY worth it!

One of the most incredible days on a vacation. Katie is such a knowledge base of information and very nice. We were there the week of January 28, 2013

I was so excited about going on a tour of the Hawai’i Volcano National Park today, and a coffee farm tour, temples, turtles, and mini-​hikes. So I admit to being disappointed when we got a call this morning at 8:30 telling us they were running late… and then another call… and then, canceling the tour and refunding our entire tickets (about $ 176 each, I think). (The reason was a broken door handle which had been repaired but then broke again this morning.) Katie was so apologetic… she offered us a FREE tour of just the Volcanoes when the van was fixed, so we said «yes» and spent from 12:30pm to 8pm enjoying a guided tour of Hawai’i, cutting through the middle to Hilo and the Rainbow Falls, then going on to the Volcanoes… Lava! Lava tube! Hot lava glowing in the dark!
Tasty lunch, dinner & snacks, ukulele and Katie’s lovely voice during the lunch. Only 5 of us tourists, making for a fun and friendly little adventure. Not bad for a guided tour that has to shave off 4 hours and refunded us! I would definitely recommend Hawaii Outdoor Guides to anyone who prefers a more intimate, less «sheep-​like» tour of this beautiful and strange island. Mahalo, Katie! You were awesome.

Hawaii Outdoor Guides is a top notch way to tour various Hawaii landmarks, Volcanoes National Park and also get in some light hiking along the way.
First of all, the groups are small. For our day, there were four of us plus Katie our Tour Guide. Even though we did not know the other couple when we started the trip, we quickly discovered that they were warm, interesting and pleasant making for an even better day.
The day lasted about 12 – 13 hours and the weather was perfect. Katie, the tour guide is really exceptional. She is genuine, thoughtful, smart and attentive. As we started out, Katie stopped off and picked up some smoked Marlin for use to snack on.
This tour includes iPads that have island facts and details about our various destinations. This was a very nice touch but Katie was the best source of knowledge. The iPad really came in to use on the late drive back. (I fell asleep watching a movie. :)
Overall this tour is an amazing and educational way to see a large portion of the island. It also included drinks, snacks, lunch, homemade dinner and dessert!
I highly recommend Hawaii Outdoor Guides and Katie.
John in San Francisco

Katie and Dominic were amazing! We had an awesome adventure camping in volcanoes, boogie boarding, snorkeling, learning Hawaiian history and visiting historical sites. We were super happy with their knowledge about the plants, animals, geography and history of Hawaii.
They had no trouble accommodating us with vegetarian meals and plenty of local deliciousness.
Also Katie was very helpful in assisting us to find a perfectly unique and beautiful spot for our wedding in Hawaii. She even was in the ceremony!
Not a touristy run of the mill resort adventure, this was exactly what we were looking for and would recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone wanting to explore Hawaii up close and personal.

I went on the all day Volano Tour which included a stop at the Greenwell Coffee farm and the Black Sand Beach. The stops are well planned and well thought out with nice breaks that included snack, ukule, hearty lunch, and loads of historical and nature sights. The highlight of the trip was of course the Volcano National Park and we were the envy of all other tours when my guide set up to do a faboulous stir fried seafood meal (which was honored by the guide as I had requested it). It was one of the best meal I had in HI as we ate under the stars and along the crater. The time you spent with the HOG guides are never dull rather they are so informative, I learned so much about Hawaiian history, native/​invastive plants, birds, crater formation, and so on. My guide Katie definitely took her time to research and studied everything she has to show to us and you know right away this is not just another tour but a special journey into the beauty and history of the Big Island. I was abe to see and learn so much in a matter of a day. I highly recommend doing a tour with them and will probably come back soon to check out their camping tours.

Had an amazing time on Hawaii Outdoor Guides Volcano Tour! My guide was so friendly and offered me a snack and water right away so I felt there was first class service for my tour. We went to the popular sites inside Volcano National Park and also some less common trails. There were only 4 people on my tour. Seeing the glowing lava at night is an experience I will never forget. My guide knew a lot about the history of Hawaii, like important chiefs and stories to enrich my experience. She even played the ukulele for us! If you do one thing in Hawaii it should be a Volcano tour with Hawaii Outdoor Guides!