With its dramatic landscapes, active volcanoes, rare black sand beaches, and lush rainforests, riding in a helicopter above the Big Island on these Hawaii tours will take your breath away. From your perch in the sky, you’ll get stunning views of the Big Island’s unique beauty, hovering near gorgeous and remote waterfalls not accessible on land and getting up-close views of the volcanic calderas of Kilauea and Mauna Loa, the two sister volcanoes in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
These helicopter Hawaii tours are excellent and well-established in terms of safety and professionalism, with pilots who are flight experts and experienced tour guides, providing historical, ecological, and cultural background about the Orchid Isle as you fly over different areas. The tours are open to all ages, including children, so it’s a memorable family outing. And conveniently, they all depart from Hilo airport, which is only 30 miles from our Hawaiian national park vacation rental. So, reserve one of these helicopter tours and add some adventurous sightseeing to your stay on the Big Island!
Paradise Helicopters
Paradise Helicopter’s team, made up of founder Calvin Dorn and a crew of seven pilots, is the only Big Island tour operation offering “doors-off” helicopter tours, where you’ll feel the clean ocean air blowing through your hair and experience the majestic scenery without a window or door in the way. It’s the most exciting way to take an airborne tour and is exceptional for getting photos and videos midflight. Their Lava and Rainforest Adventure Tour is offered for $469 per person, while the doors-off version of the same tour is just slightly more, at $499. You’ll hover above the cascading and colorful water of Rainbow Falls in Hilo, cross over the dense rainforests and cliff-lined coast along the eastern part of the Big Island, and finish off by flying over the summit and monstrous crater of Kilauea.
For the best views during the 1-hour journey, request a seat up front next to the pilot. And with the island’s ecological welfare in mind, they also offer the option to offset your trip’s carbon footprint and have endemic trees planted. Check their website for current deals, sometimes up to $50 off the Hilo tours.
The Paradise team embodies the aloha spirit and supports the Hilo and Volcano Village-adjacent community, including in the aftermath of the destructive Kilauea eruption in 2018, when they donated $10-20 from every flight to displaced residents.
Safari Helicopters
Flying tours for over three decades, the crew at Safari Helicopters are not only seasoned pros, but they offer the cheapest helicopter tour out of Hilo. Their 55-minute Volcanoes National Park and Waterfalls tour is a reasonable $319 per person, and if your group is smaller than six, you’ll be grouped with other tourgoers. Or, you can reserve a private tour for $1,680, which makes it even cheaper per person with a group of six.
Their tour focuses on Kilauea and the surrounding area, including the East Rift Zone, where the most recent volcanic activity has occurred. You’ll also get to see the newly-formed black sand beaches from high above, including Isaac Hale Beach Park – and then you can step foot on that same black sand later in your stay, getting two equally incredible experiences of the same wondrous volcanic beach!
Blue Hawaiian Helicopters
Blue Hawaiian Helicopters is the veteran of the bunch, having been flying tours on the four major Hawaiian islands since 1985. Like the other tours, their 50-minute Circle of Fire outing features Kilauea, its Halemaumau crater (where Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, is believed to reside in Hawaiian folklore), and the rainforests and volcanic valleys surrounding Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Their rate is $389 per person, with knowledgeable and entertaining in-flight narration from their pilots, who are all certified State of Hawaii tour guides.
One unique offering from Blue Hawaiian is their high-definition video recording of your tour, which is available for purchase after your flight. And their video expertise is legit – their helicopters and crew filmed the iconic footage for all of the Jurassic Park films.
A Few Helicopter Tour Tips
Book early in your trip. Bad weather comes and goes and your first selection might be cancelled. Booking early in your visit will allow you to go another day should your first date be cancelled.
When signing up for your tour, you’ll need to give the exact weight of everyone in your group, as the tour operation uses this info to calculate the weight balance for every helicopter flight. When you arrive for your tour (plan to get there an hour early to get safety instructions), you’ll be weighed discreetly again to verify that the total group weight adds up correctly. And if you weigh over 240 pounds, expect to pay extra for a “comfort seat,” which varies depending on the tour operator.
Although the floral designs on your Hawaiian shirt are perfect on any other day on the Big Island, bring a dark-colored outfit to wear on your helicopter tour. Wearing darker colors helps to avoid reflection in the glass windows of the helicopter, making for better viewing, pictures, and video.
Plan your helicopter tour early in your trip, as this allows for leeway in case of less-than-ideal weather (helicopter flights can get canceled due to wind, rain, or fog – all are common on our side of the Big Island). If you schedule your tour for the last day or two of your stay and inclement weather gets in the way, you’ll wish you had more time to squeeze it in.
When you stay in our Volcano Vacation rental, make sure to book ahead and take in the Big Island’s volcanic terrain from a bird’s eye view aboard a helicopter!
