Kailani Big Island Day: The Rim at Volcano House and Hot Towels on the Way Back

A day put together around two things most island tours skip: what you eat and what you travel in. Lunch is at The Rim, inside the Volcano House, at a table reserved for this operator's guests. The menu runs to freshly caught fish, grass-fed beef and local vegetables, and the window behind it holds the Kilauea caldera and the active Halema'uma'u Crater. Local musicians play while you eat. The vehicles are Mercedes-Benz Sprinters with high roofs, flip-down monitors, phone charging and surround sound. Near the end of the day there are refreshments and hot towels before the last stop. The route: Greenwell Farms for Kona coffee, with the roasting and the brewing explained by the people who do it; the Punalu'u Bake Shop, southernmost in the United States, where the donuts are on the house; Punalu'u Black Sand Beach, where honu often bask, though no guide can promise them; over an hour inside Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, with Kilauea and Mauna Loa and a short walk through the Thurston Lava Tube; Big Island Candies for something sweet; and Rainbow Falls, 80 feet, dropping over a natural lava cave into the Wailuku River. The drive back crosses Saddle Road, with Mauna Kea on one side and Mauna Loa on the other, and passes Parker Ranch and the island's cowboy country. Pick-up times are staggered by location: 7:00 at Waikoloa, 7:30 at Kona airport, 7:45 at the Kona Target, 8:15 at Keauhou.