Which helicopter company would you recommend on the Big Island? Which tour? Definitely want to do the HVNP thing, and thinking that the helicopter is better than driving there. we are staying on western side of island, and thinking it would be better to see it from the air. See more in less time! Let me know what you think. Thank you!

My husband used Blue Hawaiian helicopters for his tour of the volcano and lava. He was very impressed with them; both the personnel and the equipment were top-notch. He did the tour from Hilo, but they do have tours from Waikoloa. However, I would recommend the drive and seeing the park in addition to the helicopter ride, unless you are really pressed for time on this trip.

I'll agree that you need to see VNP from both land and air. There are many things that you can't really appreciate as much from the air, but the air tour also lets you see the actual Pu'u O'o vent, which is off-limits for land hiking. (We actually did a Cessna flight with Mokulele Air since my Mom gets airsick on helicopters.)

The drive from Kona is not bad. You can do a round-trip in a day, although it will be a long day. The Big Island scenery is amazing,a dn the drive is well worth your time. Stop off at the black sand beach, too. Great scenery, and there are usually turtles in the water!

My family of four did the Blue Hawaiian tour from Waikoloa over the Volcano back in 2002. We were staying in Kona, and I wasn't enthusiastic about making the long round-trip drive in one day (I don't enjoy long trips in the car). This made for a relatively costly, but very exciting trip for the four of us: we saw valleys and waterfalls along the north shore up close, and flew over the volcano and saw some actual red lava. That said, upon landing my wife stated that one day we should visit Volcanoes National Park, and see it all up close. We did just that this month-- we did not "see it all" (we did not hike after dark) but hiking about on foot, while driving around Crater Rim Road, was endlessly fascinating and well worth a visit, if you have any interest. We did not hike strenuously: we parked the car along the way, followed the marked trails, and soaked up the amazing scenery. If you're sticking to a helicopter tour, though, Blue Hawaiian seemed both competent and professional. I would recommend them based on our experience. I get airsick in prop planes, so I took the precaution of taking Dramamine prior to this, my first helicopter flight. I had no problems, for the record.

Thanks LouNJ! we'll probably end up doing both air and land tour. That seems to be the best.

We did the Volcano "Ring of Fire" tour last Tuesday (8/2) afternoon with Blue Hawaiian out of Hilo. Well worth it. Beats hiking 6 miles to see red hot lava. But I also agree with the above, and recommend exploring the park. We explored old lava tubes, tree molds, and hiked to see the petroglyphs.

You're welcome, tommyd! I hope you have a great time.

LouNJ-a bad day in Hawaii is still Hawaii!!! Really looking forward to returning. 26 more days!

tommyd: you are right about Hawaii! It will be great.