Mauna Kea Summit Adventures

WONDERFUL!!! Greg our guide was excellent, very knowledgable. They took great care of us from start to finish. I HIGHLY recommend this company!

Great adventure, Greg our guide was very informative, the trip was long, so be prepared for a 8 ½ hour total trip, well worth for the wonderful sunset and amazing star gazing, was toward the end of our trip and was one of the major highlights, thanks for the trip

A wonderful once in a lifetime adventure. Our guides were very knowledgeable about the area, observatories, history of the islands and of course the stars!!! A lot of attention was paid to our comfort given the cold and altitude. The trip was well organized giving time for shopping, eating, star watching and bathroom breaks. The supplied parkas and gloves were a necessity.
I’m glad we didn’t try this on our own and chose to tour with Mauna Kea Summit Adventures

Wonderfully well-​organized and comfortable way to see the sunset from the summit of Mauna Kea, followed by some great stargazing a little further down the mountain.
Our guide, Jim, was very knowledgable and enthusiastic.
The supplied parkas and gloves were warm and clean (and very necessary since it was about 32 degrees and windy at the summit).
The vegetarian lasagna and brownie dinner was filling and the dinner break gave us time to acclimate to the altitude.
All in all, a great experience for the price.

Fantastic operation. Very professional guides and very well planned out.
This is the second time that we tried to get on this tour, the first time we tried to go, the company called us the morning of and told us that the weather was going to be bad and that the tour was going to be cancelled. I was glad that they did so because I would rather have the trip cancelled than pay all that money, spend all that time and see nothing.
Got picked up at the Queens Mall on time, got into the 14 passenger bus and off we went. The driver/​guide was extremely knowledgeable about all Hawaiian Island topics and kept us entertained and educated the entire trip. About an hour ride to the vistors center where we took a dinner break, the vege lasagne was piping hot and also got a brownie for dessert.
We were given parkas and gloves then onwards to the peak to catch the sunset. The scene was spectacular! You can see all the pictures from the other Unilocalers, there is no way I can describe in words what you will see so I will let the pictures do the talking.
After the sunset, we drove back down to the visitors center for another restroom break and then the guides planned out the star gazing portion of the trip. I have to admit that I know nothing about astronomy but the guides once again did a fantastic job at describing what we were looking at before we got a chance to view it thru their fancy telescopes.
Pricey, yes, but there really isnt a way that you can duplicate the same experience yourself as the guides definitely made the trip.

We had David and Greg as our guides. They were awesome!!! So much knowledge and very friendly. The trip was totally a must see on anyone’s bucket list! The ride up is bumpy but the views are spectacular and the star gazing was awe inspiring. I highly recommend this to anyone except people who are having health issues or breathing issues.

David, our driver/​tour guide was very professional! He is a physical geologist by profession, so his analysis of the geology, flora and fauna were deep and very informative. He grew up in Hawaii, so the social and cultural examinations and analyzes were authentic. Greg, the other guide in an astronomer/​geologist. He gave both groups thorough star gazing experiences with their top of the line telescopes. The image I saw of Saturn last night was the same image from Griffith Observatory telescope.
I highly recommend this company for the Mauna Kea Tour.

Guides Jim and Greg were incredibly knowledgable and entertaining. The trip is an awesome experience for the sunset at 14,000 feet, star show with and without telescopes, and even a view of hot lava on Kileaua Crater as we came down Mauna Kea. You have to do it.

Our guide was a little quiet, which led to conversations about politics and golf (I guess the guy in front of me was bored) but the views were amazing and the coats n gloves were warm, and the dinner was hot and the snacks were welcome. Great experience with a guide is so much better than going yourself only to get stopped because you dont have 4 wheel. The public stargazing was a circus and I counted my lucky bountiful stars that I was not in THAT overcrowded throng, but with a manageable group of 16 instead. It was very spiritual and magical to go up that mountain. And I felt safe with the guide and the van that took us up there. It was a little pricey, but what experience of a lifetime isn’t? Thanks!

Jim and Greg were awesome star guides. This was the highlight of my trip to the Big Island second only to the manta night dive. We had great weather wasn’t too cold, could even see the glow of lava from the park when we were coming down mountain. Do this trip you won’t be sorry

This was a fantastic trip for me and my wife. The guides were very friendly and knowledgeable, the meal was good, and the views were awesome.

The tour is a must see for anyone in the Big island. You don’t get to go above the clouds to often and watch an fantastic sunset. The tour guide was a masters in astrology so was well informed of the various aspects and definitely knew what he was talking about.
Don’t miss watching the «kilauea volcano» from the point where you star gaze. On a clear summer night, you’ll be able to see the yellow haze from the molten lava.
PS: For Vegans and vegetarians, skip the dinner option as they usually contain eggs.

We were very happy with the driver/​tour guide; he knew all about the island, history, volcanos, politics of the island, about all the observatories, types of telescopes, etc. He was prompt, explained timing and what would happen, provided lots of opportunities to use bathrooms, but didn’t hurry anyone. Dinner was good, not fancy. Kudos for keeping plastic to a minimum. The view from the top was predictably awesome. The real treat was the star gazing; Amazing telescopes! The guide was excellent at explaining things and putting all those ultra-​large astronomical numbers in context. Thumbs up!

The stargazing tour on Mauna Kea was one of the highlights of our honeymoon last month. There was a crowd of about 100 people waiting to look through the public telescopes at the Mauna Kea Visitor’s Center — we drove right by the crowd, and had a private tour nearby with about 20 people. One of our guides set up 2 telescopes, while the other guide pointed our constellations I’ve never been able to find on my own. The craters on the moon showed up so beautifully through the telescope, it looked like a glossy photo. The dinner they served us was quite good. Some of the other reviewers didn’t like the vegetable lasagna, but I thought it was surprisingly hearty and tasty. The brownie for dessert was delish, too. The parkas and gloves they loaned us (even the toughest people in our group had the hoods up) fit well, and were toasty warm. A well-​led, thoroughly enjoyable tour.

Truly majestic place. Everyone visiting the big island should definitely go here. The pictures one can take here are simply awesome.

Thanks Chris brought us to the unforgettable sunset view with the Mauna Kea Observatories, and the fantastic star gazing experience with his ‘lightsaber’ :-p
Not only knowledgeable Information Chris provided, but also drove safely. A Must for everyone traveling to Big Island :)
Btw, I saw many many Gemini shooting stars!

This was one of the highlights of our Hawaii trip. A MUST for anyone visiting the Big Island.
Blake and Chris were excellent and very knowledgeable tour guides. The buses were comfortable and safe.
The views are spectacular. WAY above the clouds!
On the way you stop at lava fields, the visitor center for supper, the observatories at the top. We saw the shadow of Mauna Kea as the sun set. And oh the sunset!
The brownies were good too!

The entire experience I had with this company was simply fantastic. Blake was the guide/​driver during this trip. Very professional, courteous, efficient and informative. Loves his job and he is good at what he does. Very safe driver as well.
The sunset was breathtaking, even after the sun went down we lingered to enjoy the beautiful scenery.
After the sunset we proceeded to head down for the stargazing part of the tour. We all took turns staring at the telescope in awe with mouth agape. I can go on and on. My life has been enriched after this trip. Best $ 203 I have ever spent.
MKST is the authority when it comes to summit tours.
Tip:you can opt out of the dinner and save $ 9. You are allowed to bring your own snack if you chose to.

This review is specifically for the reservationist and not the tour itself.
My husband and I booked our tour over a month ago; this was one of the things I was most looking forward to during our stay on the big island. As luck would have it, he got horribly sick 2 hours before we’re set to meet up with the tour. Nothing could be done about it, so I called to see what the chances were of us trying for another date before we leave on the 27^th (which is ten whole days away).
The woman I spoke with immediately got terse with me, explaining that I didn’t call to give them enough time to fill our spots and they’d have to charge our card. She went so far as to demand what was wrong with him, and stated I’d need to get a doctors note. To top it off, she hung up on me before I could get a word in edge wise.
I was in shock. I get that they’re a business, and I’m not happy about canceling last minute either. But when you work in customer service (like I do — been doing it for over 15 years now), you learn to build a sense of patience and empathy with whomever you’re speaking with. Even if you have to deliver bad news, like the fact that we’d need to be charged anyway.
When I first dialed the phone, I was completely willing to eat the cost if it meant they could put me on the waiting list for a spot later this week. But now, I just don’t want to give them anymore of my money. The woman I spoke with made me feel stupid and selfish and small, and that didn’t need to be the case.

Must do when in the Big Island if you love the big sky or just an enthusiast. Don’t know when I’ll be back but definitely will do again.

This is a must do activity! We drove with Chris as our guide. He was fantastic. He narrated the whole trip to the top and answered any questions with knowledge and humor. This company was the only group tour who set up telescopes at the top after the amazing sunset. We even had a tasty lasagna dinner with the most luscious brownies for dessert. The star show was great also! The guides used laser pointers to show the constellations and points of interest and quickly set up and changed the telescopes for amazing images of planets binary stars and other sights! We highly recommend.

When coming to the Big Island, do yourself a favor & get a 4×4! Then you can treat yourself to the coolest sunset on the planet, located at the Mauna Kea Summit — & I mean this in a myriad of ways
Above the cloud layer, you can see all the telescopes in their majestic glory. As the sun sets, the landscape & accompanying views are completely, magically, cool!
Also cool? The temp. It was almost 32 degrees at 13,796 ft & the windchill was brutal. We had to escape back to the car & warm up then go back out for a few min… be sure to bring layers & any fleecy, downy item you can think of!
The roads are gravel, steep & have no lighting or guardrails but not dangerous — just take it slowly & let the jerks pass you as they must — your 4×4 will need all its might to get you up, up, up… or you can partake of the «shuttle» concept that locals have locked onto… everywhere you go these days, there are locals w/​their 4x4s, willing to take you down into the valley, up to the mountain top, etc… (we had our own so no need to bother)
We saw lots of tour buses filled w/​tourists & also lots of people like us who had rented 4x4s.
Not having the 4×4 to take us back in 2008 & no locals’ «shuttle», Sis & I sure missed out on a treat — ’cause this was WAY COOL!

In my reviews I try to avoid all-​encompassing absolutions such as «everyone must do» something or «everyone must visit» somewhere. There are very few things in the world that are for everyone. And this is one of such experiences. Unless of course you just hate nature because you’re «bona fide city guy/​girl». But then you wouldn’t come to Hawaii, would you?
One feature that TripAdvisor has that Unilocal doesn’t have is rankings. Mauna Kea Summit is ranked as the #1 attraction on the Big Island.
Before going I understood that there were two main concerns with this activity. One was the altitude sickness. Second was driving on a potentially dangerous road. Here’s what I have to say about those concerns.
ALTITUDE SICKNESS: yes, I felt a bit weird. A little lightheaded, mildly nauseous, slight difficulty breathing, minor tingling sensation in my hands and feet. Pretty much exactly how I feel on a Monday morning before having to go to work. Anyone who can tolerate 10 hours a day of mundane corporate office labor under stress and 3 hours a day commuting can handle the elevation of 13 000 feet.
DRIVING: certainly there was no shortage of people who drove themselves. Most people drove trucks and Jeeps, but I have also seen convertibles. I think it really depends on your appetite for driving on unpaved narrow winding roads. If you plan to stay significantly past the sunset, mind that in addition to it all you would be driving in the dark.
One time I was driving from Kona to Hilo, and as I was passing the intersection of Highway 200 and Mauna Kea Access Road I saw a service truck towing a minivan that looked disabled. Thought I’d mention it for completeness.
Me personally: I chickened out and decided to take a tour. I went with Hawaii Forest and Trail, which I’ll review separately.

If you are coming to the Big Island it is an absolute must to check out the summit! It is a magical experience to be at such a high elevation (13,796ft) for sunset.
It is required to have four wheel drive to make it up to the summit however. If you do not have it on your rental I know there are tours they go all the way up. If you don’t want to spend the extra money then just going to the visitor’s center at 9,000ft is a great experience as well. They is a great stargazing program there every night.

Put this on the Bucket List.
If…
You’re visiting Hawaii
You live in Hawaii
You’re in good health
You’re not pregnant
You haven’t been diving in the past few days (look up Decompression Sickness, or The Bends)
Then DO THIS.
Seeing the Milky Way literally shine in the night sky with your naked eye is indescribable. On my last trip up there, we were lucky to make it to the summit just before sunset and were able to stay for several hours after dark to take night photos. It was blisteringly cold with the strong winds, even with many layers and two layers of gloves. But worth the suffering.
The tallest mountain from base to summit, in the world. And you can drive up? What a cool deal. 4×4 needed. And unfortunately, the options for 4×4 rentals are limited. You’ll be breaking contract for most rental companies, but there are a few that allow it. Google it.
Mauna Kea is to get to from any side of the island, which was not always the case. Saddle Road has been repaved and cleaned up to make the drive smooth and relatively quick.
Best advice I can give you is make to extra effort the day or two before to hydrate and be healthy. Then take the time to acclimate for at least 30 minutes at the visitor center. Altitude sickness sucks.
If there is a lot of snow, and the weather is good, you could be in for some fun. Bring the boogie boards!

They took great care of you! Greg our guide was informative and helpful. Had a great experience and the views were amazing. The stargazing after the summit was great complete with telescopes and hot chocolate. Would definitely do again.

Okey so i got up 3: am drove 2,5 hours to get to Mauna Kea from the south parts of Big Island. It wasnt hard to get there and its pretty straight forward, but as we got to the Onizuka Visitor Center i got cold feets due to the signs saying «Only authorized veichles beyond» etc. So we decided to stop at the visitor center and settle with a little worse view. But i was wrong, staying at the center wasnt anything special at all, except for the bright star sky before the sun break through.
I read so much about this place and thought that even when not going to the summit, it should be an amazing experience.
So I guess I was wrong… dont go here unless you go all-​in (to the summit).you live you learn!

WOW. This is an incredible adventure and worth every penny. It began through the easy online booking process. We received first class service to book and confirm our reservation. The day before we even got a call to help ensure we knew of the pickup point. Our pickup location was easy to find and included fee and plentiful parking. Our guide was Jim who immediately displayed a humorous and excited attitude even after doing this for some time.
The bus wasn’t any bus but a 4 wheel drive truck with comfortable seats. A small negative was the air conditioning was weak although this was only an issue for about the first 35 minutes. The drive up to the summit included an excellent narration by Jim and it was not recorded! We stopped a few times before reaching the visitor center.
This is where we had dinner. The dinner was a vegetarian lasagna that had excellent texture and flavor. Although I’m not a vegetarian, this was very tasty and filling. The brownie for dessert was moist and fluffy. You definitely don’t suffer on this trip when it comes to food!
After dinner we drove up the summit over some rough roads. The vehicle handles it easily but be warned — it is bumpy! As you go up there are a couple of stops to take photos. Then you reach the top with the observatories. Absolutely incredible and amazing to hear about the incredible science and would going on at 14,000 feet. Be aware that there’s less oxygen at this altitude. Drink plenty of liquids and have a sugary snack. This will help with the feelings at the top.
You will have plenty of time for sunset photos and other site seeing at the top. Take an extra camera! An phone or tablet built-​in won’t capture the greatness.
After that you head back down the hill for an hour or so of star gazing. Talk about incredible. You see the entire milky way with your own eyes. Be sure to keep your eyes shielded from excess light since other tours and goofballs on other tours use white light killing your night vision. You will observe several objects with 11″ scopes that really amaze. Note the scope size is based on my memory.
After this you head back down to the pickup point. This adventure took literally about 7 hours. DO IT! Of all the things my wife and I have done this is at the top.
Key note is to wear long socks especially with tennis shoes. It is cold at the summit and sandals or athletic socks will get your feet cool or cold. The provided parkas do an excellent job keeping the rest of you warm and cozy. Kleenex is good to have as the altitude and temperature will probably make you a little runny.

After reading some of the other reviews, I will preface this by saying that we had beautiful weather (little to no wind, cloudless, ~40°, no moon) so we were set up for a pretty spectacular tour from the get go.
I spent all day raving to my coworkers about «the highlight of our trip» so I thought I would leave a review. Again, the variables of our tour were perfect. We were also with Jim, who was very friendly and very knowledgeable. When a couple of the guys in our group started to feel ill, he took the time to get then calm and make sure they were doing okay.
The summit was beautiful but the stargazing was what really set the tour apart; MKSA took us away from the visitor’s center (read: away from the throngs of people and what light the center has,) to a spot that they apparently have exclusive use of, and showed us several very cool things over the course of about an hour and a half. Our entire group had a great time; everyone was really glad we did this.
It’s definitely something I’ll continue to recommend people do once, if only for the stargazing. Now that we’ve done it, we’ll just drive up with the Jeep next time.

Simply great in every way! They showed up on time and delivered on everything they promised. The stargazing at the end was an unexpected bonus.
I would go with them again.