A great helicopter tour of much of the island - This was a great helicopter tour for my wife and me and our teenage grandchildren. We did it with the doors off, which was particularly fun. Our pilot, Julien, was very nice and informative about what we were seeing. We flew to the north of Mauna Loa summit and then headed south to Kilauea, then proceeded up the Hamakua coast and past Waipo and Pololu valleys. We then flew past Hapuna Beach where we were staying, which was also fun. The tour took about two hours. If you want to do the tour with the doors off, I recommend (as does the tour company) that you dress warmly if you're prone to getting cold.

Big Island Experience - We had a great experience from the time we arrived at the heliport. The staff was welcoming on the ground and our pilot was very informative and even though there were areas that were cloud covered he was able to maneuver around to provide us a wonderful view of the island.

Great tour! - Very enjoyable! We just missed the actual eruption of Mauna Loa, but were able to see the lava that was still cooling, and of course the smoke. Amazing to be able to fly over volcanoes in a helicopter--a very unique experience! Due to the weather, we weren't able to access the entire island, but they were very flexible in changing the plans to our liking, and ultimately we agreed to a partial refund, which they did with no fuss, and made it very easy! If Mauna Loa decides to erupt again, we'll definitely be back with these guys!

Such a great tour! - I rarely write reviews, but everyone at Mauna Loa Helicopters really deserves my time. The helicopter looked very new and in good operating condition. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. We had an incredibly wonderful time. Kylie who checked us in was so sweet and informative. Mike our pilot was enthusiastic and basically fantastic! His narration of the trip was the perfect amount of talking. Not too much and not too little. We felt very safe flying with him. We were able to ask questions as we flew along which was cool. We couldn’t stop saying “Wow!” during the flight. It was so amazing and beautiful! We have traveled a fair amount in Hawaii and the world, but this really was a trip of a lifetime.

Amazing - This is a fabulous way to see the whole island. You get to see Dow in the volcanos. Our pilot was knowledgeable and super fun!!!

Mauna Loa Helicopter private experience - I was a great experience to see the whole island. We saw the Kilauea creator rim with the lava flows, several waterfalls, Hilo town, Kona coastline. Our pilot was very good and he explained all the areas of interest that we flew over. It was very interesting to see and it was 2 hours in duration. If you want to see the whole island and get some great pictures this is the best way to do it. I would suggest taking gravel before it though because we were nauseated. Overall I would recommend it as the best way to see all the sites of the big island by taking Mauna Loa Helicopters private experience and knowing they have an excellent safety record gives you some peace of mind.

Experience of a lifetime! - This was an experience of a lifetime!! It was our big splurge for our trip and well worth it. I still visualize our tour as I'm falling asleep at night! The company is incredible, from the service we get as we're making the reservation, to the service during the flight to afterwards when he called me up to say I had forgotten something on the helicopter. Mike was an incredible pilot and guide. The tour itself was amazing, I'm not sure if my favorite part was gong over the caldera, or in the waterfall area. We could see the lava very clearly, as well as the piece of road that had fallen about 500 feet. Then, in the waterfall area, we went up into Waimea canyon, saw the tallest waterfall in Hawaii, then up and over back to Kona over areas you cannot see any other way.

A tad pricey, but well worth it!! - This was a great experience- we are Big Island veterans- we’ve seen a lot of the sights from the ground but seeing them from up above made for a breathtaking experience. Our Pilot, Mike Piatt made us feel safe and comfortable and although he didn’t tell us anything new about the history of the island or the volcanoes, it was still pretty cool to hear his perspective and see it from the sky. We got to see Kilauea in all its glory and then some pretty cool waterfalls in Waip’io and Waimanu valleys. On the way back, we got to see all the great coral reefs on the kona coast .. it was well worth yhe price!

Excellent and very professional company! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! - Absolutely amazing experience and extremely professional staff and communication from beginning to end! Our pilot, James, even texted to see if we wanted to tour the island early due to some weather, which we are glad we did. The tour itself was breathtaking, but I wanted to give a huge acknowledgment of some quick thinking that really showed how much they care. It was myself, my wife, and my 7-year-old daughter. About 30-40 minutes in, our daughter got air-sick and then threw up. While they have "aloha" bags available, it wasn't enough for our daughter's event. He was able to radio in and even get an unplanned "detour" and landed us at Hilo so she could clean up. Something I am sure he didn't have to do but did! Talk about going an extra mile! 2nd half of trip, she was much better and James had her counting how many waterfalls she saw. She counted 220! I'm sure there are even more! Anyway, I cannot state enough how awesome of experience this was and how professional of company this is. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! I don't always give 5-stars but this was absolutely a 5-star experience/company.

Just wasn't for us - Very safe flight, pilot very professional and knowledgeable giving the tour. Was probably our bad for doing this on last day of trip, we had already seen just about everything in person. North side of island with steep cliffs and many waterfalls was amazing, and inaccessible any other way. The rest was sort of meh. Other companies' copters we saw during flight were much closer to the action, as in much lower to Kilauea crater and cliff walls than we were. Perhaps a function of our smaller copter, Idk but was disappointed by that. For the three of us, $1600 for a birds eye view of mostly farmland, trees, lava rock, was not worth it. We were mostly bored and took one pic the entire flight (a small orange dot of Kilauea lava).