A 442-foot ribbon of water, a 0.4-mile rainforest loop, and a $5-a-person entry fee. The falls are easy. The question is the rest of your day, and that is what the tours on this page solve.
Every listing verified by Kekoa Kalani, Akaka Falls tour guide and island nature specialist
Eight real listings stop at or sit beside the falls. No dedicated falls-only bus exists, and honestly none is needed: the park visit takes under an hour. Every product below pairs the falls with the rest of a Big Island day, and every rating shown is the platform's own figure.
Review count is the honest proxy for how many travellers a tour actually carries. These three lead their categories.
About 11 hours · Wasabi Tours Hawaii
The full circle in one long day: Volcanoes National Park, Punaluu black sand beach, Rainbow Falls and about 35 minutes at Akaka Falls, admission included. The most-reviewed Akaka Falls stop on either platform.
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About 10 hours · Wasabi Tours Hawaii
The waterfall-first day: Waipio Valley Lookout, the Hamakua Coast drive, about 40 minutes at Akaka Falls with admission included, and a private-waterfall stop at Kulaniapia. Pickup on the Kona and Kohala resort side.
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About 2.5 hours
Zipline over the 250-foot KoleKole Falls and the Hamakua treetops, a few minutes' drive from the Akaka Falls park gate. The classic add-on to a falls morning.
Check Price & Availability →Most visitors sleep on the dry Kona side, a 90-minute drive from the falls. These two Wasabi Tours days solve the crossing with hotel pickup, and both include park admission. The waterfall tour gives the falls 40 minutes; the circle-island day gives them 35 and adds Volcanoes National Park.
Most reviewed in this category
The full circle in one long day: Volcanoes National Park, Punaluu black sand beach, Rainbow Falls and about 35 minutes at Akaka Falls, admission included. The most-reviewed Akaka Falls stop on either platform.
The waterfall-first day: Waipio Valley Lookout, the Hamakua Coast drive, about 40 minutes at Akaka Falls with admission included, and a private-waterfall stop at Kulaniapia. Pickup on the Kona and Kohala resort side.
Staying in Hilo, or docking there on a cruise morning? The falls are 11 miles up the Hamakua Coast. Aloha Aina runs the same Hilo day on both platforms, so compare the two dates and book whichever is open; the Viator version holds the longest Akaka Falls stop of any listing here, a full hour.
Most reviewed in this category
Aloha Aina's GetYourGuide version of the Hilo day: Akaka Falls, Rainbow Falls, Volcanoes National Park and the Onomea scenic drive, with park entries included in the package.
A Hilo-side day built around the falls: a full hour at Akaka Falls with admission included, then Volcanoes National Park and Hilo town. The longest Akaka Falls stop of any listing on this site.
Same operator as the GetYourGuide listing below; compare both and book whichever shows the better date.
A shorter Hilo waterfall circuit for travellers who want the falls without committing to a volcano day. Fits a cruise-ship morning.
The Akaka Falls zipline is real, but it does not fly over ʻAkaka Falls itself: the lines cross KoleKole Falls and the Hamakua treetops a few minutes from the park gate. It is the natural second half of a falls morning, and the most-reviewed line carries more than 1,100 Viator reviews. See both zipline options and how they differ →
You cannot swim at Akaka Falls. The lookout is fenced, the gorge is closed, and the rule is posted at the trailhead. If getting into the water is the point of your day, book a guided swim day at a waterfall where it is actually allowed.
Most reviewed in this category
You cannot swim at Akaka Falls itself, so this is the honest answer: a Native Hawaiian guide takes you to a waterfall you can actually get into, with the stories that go with it.
The honest answer first
ʻAkaka Falls State Park charges non-resident visitors $10 per vehicle to park plus $5 per person to enter, credit card only, Hawaii residents free, and the loop trail needs 30 to 45 minutes. If you have a rental car and you are already on the Hilo side, drive yourself. We say that plainly because the numbers are on the official state park page and pretending otherwise would be silly.
A tour earns its price in three real situations. You are staying in Kona or Waikoloa and would otherwise spend three-plus hours of your vacation driving. You are off a cruise ship in Hilo with a fixed all-aboard time and no car. Or you want the falls folded into a bigger day, Volcanoes National Park, Rainbow Falls, the Hamakua Coast, with someone else handling the wet-side roads and the park entries. Every listing above includes admission, so the fee question disappears into the ticket.
ʻAkaka Falls free-falls 442 feet down a green gorge on Kolekole Stream, more than twice the height of Niagara. The fenced lookout puts you close enough to feel the mist when the flow is up.
The 0.4-mile paved loop winds through banyan, bamboo and wild orchid. There are stair sections, so it is not fully step-free, but most visitors walk it in under 45 minutes with photo stops.
The falls sit above Honomū on the old sugar coast. The drives in, Onomea Bay's four-mile scenic route especially, are half the reason the tours route this way.
Pick your date and check it against the most-reviewed listing. The small-group days cap at 13 or 14 seats per departure, per their own listings. Most listings here cancel free, so holding a spot early costs nothing.
Opens the operator's official listing, where the live price and open departures for your date are shown. The falls flow year-round, but small-group seats on popular dates do sell through.
Non-residents pay $5 per person to enter plus $10 per vehicle to park, credit card only; Hawaii residents enter and park free with ID, and children 3 and under are free. No timed reservation exists, though the state encourages paying online before you arrive because cell reception at the park is poor. Every tour on this page includes admission, so on a tour you never touch the fee kiosk. Full cost breakdown here.
It is a 0.4-mile paved loop, not a real hike. Budget 30 to 45 minutes including photo stops. There are stairs in both directions, which matters with a stroller or limited mobility. The trail, step by step.
Yes, and it takes so little time that the real question is what you pair it with. A 442-foot waterfall 15 minutes off the highway with an easy paved loop is the best effort-to-reward stop on the Hilo side. The honest caveat: it is a lookout visit, not a swim or a trek. Our full worth-it verdict.
Akaka is the taller and more dramatic of the two at 442 feet; Rainbow Falls is an 80-foot wide fall right in Hilo town that takes five minutes to see. They are 25 minutes apart, and most Hilo-side tours simply visit both, so you rarely have to choose. The full comparison.
No. The gorge and plunge pool are closed to access and the loop is a fenced viewing trail. The nearest legal waterfall swimming is on a guided swim-and-hike day at a private falls near Hilo. Where you actually can swim.
45 minutes covers the loop and the lookout for most visitors; an hour if you linger. That is why tours give it 35 to 60 minutes and spend the rest of the day on Volcanoes National Park, Rainbow Falls or the Hamakua Coast. Timing a visit right.
Both Wasabi Tours listings on this page state that Akaka Falls admission is included, and the Aloha Aina days from Hilo include park entries as well. Check the inclusions list on the listing for your date; that page is always the authority.
Kekoa Kalani is a Big Island tour guide and island nature specialist who has been bringing visitors to ʻAkaka Falls since 2015 and guiding professionally since 2018, serving more than 1,000 international travellers by his own count. He checks every listing on this site against the operator's official page and the park's own rules: inclusions, pickup points, time actually spent at the falls, and cancellation terms.
Kekoa does not operate any of the bookable departures listed here; the operators named on each listing do. More about Kekoa and how this site works →