Epic Tours Mauna Kea Stargazing Tour Honest Review
I took the Epic Tours Mauna Kea Stargazing Tour on the Big Island Hawaii and experienced an incredible night sky that I’ll never forget!
While I thoroughly enjoyed myself, it raised the question: is it really worth the cost?
Spoiler Alert! Sadly, I don’t think so…but maybe it is for your budget
✅ PROS
- The tour is only 2 hours long (while all other Mauna Kea stargazing tours are 8+ hours long)
- They schedule tours around moon phases to avoid bright full moons that diminish starlight
- Guides are casual and love their job
- FREE Milky Way photos
❌ CONS
- You don’t get to look through the telescope, star photos are sent to the guide’s phone from the telescope
- There’s very little structure to the tour so after the initial “star lecture” it was just Q&As for an hour or so
- It’s frickin’ expensive!
In this comprehensive review, I’ll break down the details to help you decide if this Epic Tours Stargazing Tour is the right fit for YOU and your next Hawaiian itinerary.
⚠️Please Note: This tour DOES NOT take you to the top of Mauna Kea for sunset. However there’s enough time for you to drive up the mountain to see sunset on your own before meeting Epic Tours at a pre-determined location nearby.
Stargazing tours are not allowed to stargaze at the summit of Mauna Kea anyways since it closes to the public 30 minutes after sunset and reopens 30 minutes before sunrise.
Epic Tours Stargazing Tour Includes:
- 2hr stargazing experience led by an astronomer and astro-photographer
- Complimentary photos of you with the Milky Way available for download
- Parka jackets and blankets to keep warm
- Hot chocolate to drink
The Meet Up
My confirmation email gave me specific directions to where we would be meeting up. It can change from tour to tour so you won’t know before booking where you will be meeting.
After checking out sunset on Mauna Kea, I met the group down Mauna Loa Observatory Rd, a few miles over a dark, winding paved road through a rocky lava field.
It was a little sketchy at night as the curves were a bit tight and some of the road dips were deeper than expected.
There were times I couldn’t see what was on the other side of the bump. But I drove it slowly and it was fine.
The meeting spot was just a gravel pullout from this deserted road. The white company van was sitting there as well as a couple of other cars that had beaten me.
The original start time was supposed to be at 8pm but the weather was being a pill.
Epic Tours uses the Mauna Kea webcams to determine how thick the cloud cover is.
About an hour before the tour was supposed to start, I received a text saying that they were postponing the start time by 45 minutes to wait out the passing clouds.
As they continued to monitor it, they texted again to move it to 8:20pm.
I was a little early to arrive but that’s because I had no where else to be at the moment. I parked the car, facing the road as instructed in the confirmation email.
I got out to take a look at the stars and could tell our guides, Dylan and Malia, were still setting up chairs and the telescope.
So I waited in my car until Malia came over to check me in as well as the other guests waiting in their cars.
The Stargazing Tour
photo credit: Dylan Reader/Epic Tours
Beach chairs were set up in a row facing north towards Mauna Kea.
As we waited for the lecture to start, we could just sit and enjoy the sky on our own. We could also watch the headlights of cars zigzagging down Mauna Kea, which was silhouetted in the night sky.
We were offered oversized parkas and blankets to use to stay warm. I definitely took the parka.
While the temperature was warmer than expected, about 65°F, the wind was also blowing a little. The extra layer of warmth definitely was appreciated.
Our guide was Dylan, a college kid majoring in astronomy, who was the exact kind of person you want telling you about space. I have never in my life met anyone as geeked out and excited to talk about stars.
He started the evening with a spiel on what to expect from the evening, general astronomy, how the Big Island is the most ideal place on earth to star gaze due to the lack of atmospheric pollution, and pointed out constellations.
photo credit: Dylan Reader/Epic Tours
His green laser pointer was incredibly effective in pointing out specific stars and constellation patterns in the sky for us.
After Dylan’s 10-15min introduction, he kind of left the conversation open-ended. He told us he would just be standing there with his telescope and we could ask as many questions as we wanted.
Which we did.
If there was some dead air, he would fill it with some interesting factoids that popped in his head.
I felt it was a bit awkward to have an official talk for just a few minutes at the beginning and then leave it up to us to come up with the rest of the lecture topics.
If the group was shy or didn’t have many questions, I could see the tour being a bit lacking. However, Dylan did a great job leading the star conversations, both with and without questions. It just felt odd that there wasn’t an official script to follow.
However, this also means that every tour is unique and no two nights are the same.
Epic Tours had just upgraded to a brand new, fancy telescope and this was their second day using it. Dylan was super excited to be playing with it.
This telescope took several minutes to capture each image of deep space and afterwards would send the photos directly to Dylan’s phone.
Gone are the days of looking at stars through an eyepiece. With manual or lower-end telescopes, you can only see in black and white.
However, this high-tech telescope captures the colors of space, creating more detailed and vibrant images.
photo credit: Dylan Reader/Epic Tours
Dylan chose some nebula and our nearest galaxy to show us, but he also let us request objects in the sky to photograph.
I asked about photographing planets, but since they reflect light rather than producing their own, they’re difficult to capture with this particular telescope.
Still, Dylan gave it a try for my sake.
This telescope captures a series of photos in one session, each with different exposures and layering.
At one point, we were able to glimpse three of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, but no details of the planet itself.
Now, while I think it’s awesome to get super detailed photos of space in real time, to be honest they could have pulled those photos from Google and we wouldn’t have known the difference.
Throughout the evening, we kept a watch out for shooting stars. I saw 4 of them that night!
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Personal Galactic Photographs
photo credit: Malia Cedar/Epic Tours
Our tour included complimentary professional photos of us with the galaxy. Malia, our astrophotographer, took each group aside individually to take pictures with the Milky Way.
We walked back to the road, guided by her redlight flashlight, which lit the ground to keep us from tripping on the lava gravel.
I was briefly worried about missing out on astronomy information, but we could still hear Dylan pretty well while taking our pictures.
Malia gave us the option to do 3-4 poses. If we weren’t sure what to do with our hands or bodies, she had pose ideas ready for us to try.
Since her camera required a slow shutter speed to capture the starlight, I had to hold my pose for 15–20 seconds. That doesn’t sound long, but with my arms outstretched for some poses, I started feeling a little silly by the end.
photo credit: Malia Cedar/Epic Tours
Still, it was worth it to get the incredible shots with the Milky Way.
One of the couples on our tour got engaged during their photo session. A proposal under the stars! So romantic! 😍
End of the Night
photo credit: Malia Cedar/Epic Tours
After everyone had their pictures taken, we sat back down and were offered a cup of hot chocolate. While it wasn’t a particularly chilly evening, I could see how a warm drink would be a welcome sight on colder nights.
Plus, it was actually decent hot chocolate—creamy and not watered down.
At this point, everyone was free to leave at their leisure. Dylan was committed to staying for two full hours but mentioned he often stays longer, and you’re welcome to stay as long as you like.
I was one of the last to leave, wanting to soak in as much stargazing as possible to make the trip worthwhile.
Then, it was a windy drive back to Saddle Road and off to bed cuz it was waaaaay past my bedtime!😴
Epic Tours Stargazing Tour Includes:
- 2hr stargazing experience led by an astronomer and astro-photographer
- Complimentary photos of you with the Milky Way available for download
- Parka jackets and blankets to keep warm
- Hot chocolate to drink
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