How To Explore Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park On Your Own (And In One Day)
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park can easily fill an entire day—and we think it deserves one.
There is a lot to see here, but you don’t need to stop at every overlook, hike every trail or know much about volcanoes before you arrive. If this is your first visit and you have one day, these are the places we think are most worth your time, along with a few things we’ve learned that can make the day easier.
Know Before You Go
Admission: The current private-vehicle entrance fee is $30, covers everyone in the vehicle (up to 15 passengers), and is valid for seven days.The park is cashless, so entrance-station purchases are by credit or debit card. National park passes are also accepted.
Check Current Entrance Fees & Passes: https://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/fees.htm
Hours: The park is open 24 hours a day, although individual facilities have their own operating hours.
Parking: There is no separate parking fee. Most major sights have parking nearby, but lots at popular summit stops can fill quickly, so earlier is usually better.
Bring: Water, comfortable walking shoes, sunscreen, rain protection and a light jacket or sweater. Kīlauea’s summit is around 4,000 feet above sea level and can be surprisingly cool, rainy or windy even when the weather is beautiful at the coast.
Fuel: There are no gas stations inside the park. There is also no food, water or fuel available along Chain of Craters Road, so take care of those things before heading down.
Before you leave: Check current park conditions. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is an active volcanic landscape, and roads, trails and viewing areas can change or close with little notice.
Check Current Park Conditions: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park – National Park Service
If you are visiting on a guided tour: Park admission is generally handled as part of your tour, so you usually will not need to purchase a separate entrance pass.
The AHV One-Day Route Suggestions
1. Nāhuku (Thurston Lava Tube)
AHV MUST-DO
If you arrive early, we would go here first. A short walk through native Hawaiian forest takes you into Nāhuku, a lava tube formed when the outside of a lava flow hardened while molten lava continued moving beneath it. Eventually the lava drained away, leaving the passage you can walk through today. It’s easy, unusual and doesn’t take a huge chunk out of your day.
Allow: About 30–45 minutes.
AHV Tip: Parking is the problem here. There are only 14 spaces at Nāhuku, and the lot can fill quickly. Earlier is better. If it’s full, don’t spend half your morning circling and waiting for a space. Keep going and try again later.
2. Kīlauea Iki
DON’T MISS IT—EVEN IF YOU DON’T HIKE IT
At minimum, stop at the overlook. Kīlauea Iki was the site of an extraordinary eruption in 1959, when lava fountains reached incredible heights and a lake of molten lava filled the crater. Today, you can look down onto the hardened lava lake and, if you’re up for it, walk across it.
If You Want One Great Hike, Make It This One
The Kīlauea Iki Trail is approximately 3.3 miles and usually takes 2–3 hours. You descend about 400 feet from the crater rim, walk across the old lava lake and climb back out through the forest. It’s a real hike rather than a casual walk, but if hiking is one of the things you came here to do, we think this is where you should spend the time.
If you have to choose: Hike Kīlauea Iki or save that time for some of the park’s shorter walks and the full drive down Chain of Craters Road. Both make for a great day, and you don’t have to do everything.
3. Devastation Trail
AN EASY ADD-ON WE REALLY LIKE
We like this one more than its name might suggest. The approximately one-mile round-trip walk takes you through an area buried by cinder during the 1959 Kīlauea Iki eruption. Today you’ll see the stark volcanic landscape alongside the plant life that has gradually returned.
This is a particularly good choice if you don’t want to spend two or three hours hiking Kīlauea Iki but still want to get out of the car and walk through volcanic terrain.
Allow: About 30–45 minutes.
4. KĪLAUEA SUMMIT & CALDERA
AHV MUST-DO
Don’t rush through the summit area. Kīlauea changed dramatically during the 2018 eruption and collapse, and the scale of the caldera is difficult to understand until you’re standing along its rim. There are several viewpoints around the summit, but you don’t need to stop at every one.
Uēkahuna
If it is open, this is one of our choices. Uēkahuna is the highest point on Kīlauea and gives you a broad view across the caldera toward Halemaumau. It’s also an important place in Native Hawaiian tradition, so take a little time here rather than treating it as simply another photo stop.
Kīlauea Overlook
This is another excellent view of the caldera with very little walking required.
AHV Tip: If Kīlauea is erupting, don’t automatically head for whichever overlook someone recommended online six months ago. The location of activity changes, and the best viewing location changes with it. Check the park’s current eruption-viewing information that day.
5. KŪKAMĀHUĀKEA (STEAM VENTS) & STEAMING BLUFF
DO NOT SKIP THIS
Rainwater seeps into cracks in the ground, reaches rocks heated by the magma below and comes back to the surface as steam. It’s one of the easiest places in the park to actually see evidence of the heat beneath you, even when Kīlauea isn’t actively erupting.
Stop at the Steam Vents themselves, and if you have time, walk at least part of the nearby trail along Steaming Bluff, where steam rises from numerous cracks in the ground with the caldera beyond it.
AHV Tip: Take a short video here, not just pictures. The steam moving and curling out of the ground is part of what makes this stop so cool, and a still photo doesn’t really capture it.
6. HAʻAKULAMANU (SULPHUR BANKS)
WORTH IT IF YOU HAVE TIME
This isn’t just more of the same. At Haakulamanu, volcanic gases rise through the ground and leave colorful mineral deposits at the surface. You’ll see white and yellow deposits along the trail and probably smell the sulfur before long.
It’s an easy walk, but volcanic gases can be irritating. Pay attention to posted air-quality information, particularly if anyone in your group has respiratory or heart problems, is pregnant, or is very young.
Running behind? This is one we’d cut before the Steam Vents.
VOLCANO HOUSE
OUR PICK IF YOU’RE READY FOR LUNCH
If you’re hungry while you’re exploring the summit area, Volcano House is where we’d go. The historic hotel sits right on the rim of Kīlauea caldera, with large windows looking across toward Halemaumau, so it’s a pretty great place to sit down for lunch in the middle of your park day.
The food is above average, for what it is. We aren’t going to tell you that lunch at Volcano House will be the culinary event of your Hawaii vacation, but for a restaurant sitting inside one of Hawaii’s most visited attractions, it’s surprisingly good and doesn’t have the tourist-trap feel you might expect. We also really like the gift shop, so if you’d like to pick up something from the park, give yourself a few minutes to browse while you’re there.
AHV Tip: If you’re not hungry and aren’t interested in the gift shop, you don’t need to make Volcano House a separate stop just because it’s on our list. Keep exploring the park.
7. CHAIN OF CRATERS ROAD
AHV MUST-DO—IF YOU HAVE THE TIME
Chain of Craters Road is 18.8 miles from the summit area to the coast, dropping approximately 3,700 feet along the way. We wouldn’t spend precious time trying to stop at every crater and every lookout. The drive itself is part of the experience. You’ll pass craters, old lava flows and enormous stretches of land reshaped by eruptions as you make your way toward the Pacific. Stop when something genuinely interests you, but keep moving toward the coast.
A few places we think are particularly worth considering:
Pauahi Crater
An impressive crater right along the road and an easy stop.
Maunaulu
The landscape here was transformed by the Maunaulu eruption, which lasted from 1969 to 1974. It’s worth a look if you want to see relatively young volcanic terrain without adding another major hike.
Kealakomo Overlook
A worthwhile stop as you descend toward the coast, with a broad view over the lava-covered landscape and out toward the Pacific.
Puuloa Petroglyphs
FOR THE RIGHT PERSON
This is an important and fascinating place, but we don’t automatically recommend it to everyone doing the park in one day. Puuloa contains approximately 23,000 petroglyphs and is one of the most extensive petroglyph fields in Hawaii. Reaching the boardwalk requires about a 1.4-mile round-trip walk over uneven lava, so allow approximately 1–1½ hours.
If Hawaiian history and culture are especially interesting to you and you have the time and walking ability, absolutely consider it. Stay on the trail and boardwalk and never touch the petroglyphs.
If you have to choose: For most first-time visitors, we would choose the Kīlauea Iki hike over Puuloa. If you’d rather avoid a longer crater hike, Puuloa can be a very worthwhile use of that time instead.
8. HŌLEI SEA ARCH & THE END OF THE ROAD
IF YOU CAME THIS FAR, FINISH IT
At the bottom of Chain of Craters Road, you reach a completely different side of the park, with black lava, high sea cliffs and the Pacific stretching out in front of you. From the parking area at the end of the road, walk about 1,000 feet beyond the gate to the designated viewpoint for Hōlei Sea Arch, a roughly 90-foot natural arch carved into an old lava flow by the ocean. Allow about 20–30 minutes for the walk and viewpoint, and stay within the designated viewing area and well back from the cliff edges.
Remember: One thing that’s surprisingly easy to forget while you’re happily driving downhill: you have to drive those 18.8 miles back up. Keep that in mind when you’re looking at the clock.
Frequently Asked Questions
We Don’t Really Hike. Will We Still See the Park?
Absolutely. See Kīlauea Iki from the overlook instead of hiking it, walk Nāhuku, see the summit and Steam Vents, and drive Chain of Craters Road. You can have an excellent day here without doing a strenuous hike.
We Love Hiking. Where Should We Spend Our Time?
We’d choose Kīlauea Iki. Give it the 2–3 hours it deserves and don’t feel like you need to make up the time afterward by rushing through everything else.
We’re Running Behind. What Should We Cut?
Keep Nāhuku, the Kīlauea summit, the Steam Vents and Chain of Craters Road if your schedule allows. We’d cut Sulphur Banks first, then Devastation Trail, and see Kīlauea Iki from the overlook rather than hiking it.
It’s Already Mid-Afternoon. Should We Still Drive Chain of Craters Road?
Maybe, but look at the clock before you start. It is 18.8 miles to the coast and there is no road out at the bottom, so you have to drive all the way back. If you need to return a rental car, get to the airport, make a dinner reservation or simply don’t want to drive an unfamiliar road after dark, work backward from the time you need to leave the park. Don’t start down Chain of Craters Road just because we called it a must-do.
We Have a Flight Later. How Much Should We Try to Do?
If you have a flight to catch later that day, we’d plan to do less rather than trying to squeeze everything in. Give yourself a firm departure time before you start exploring and build in more driving time than you think you need. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is not the place to spend the afternoon checking your watch and worrying about a flight. If your schedule is tight, concentrate on the summit area, Nāhuku and the Steam Vents. Save the full Chain of Craters Road drive for a day when you aren’t racing a clock.
Is Nāhuku Claustrophobic?
It’s a cave, so if enclosed spaces really bother you, keep that in mind. But this isn’t a technical caving experience. The main lava tube is developed for visitors, and most people walk through it comfortably.
Will We See Lava?
Maybe, but never count on it. Kīlauea is an active volcano, not a scheduled attraction. An eruption can begin, pause or end, and viewing conditions can change quickly. If Kīlauea is erupting during your visit, check the National Park Service’s Current Eruption Viewing Information before deciding where to view it. Don’t rely on a blog post—including this one—to tell you which overlook will be best months from now.
Is the Park Still Worth It if There’s No Lava?
Absolutely. This is important because we don’t want you to judge your day at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park by whether Pele happens to be putting on a show. Walk through a lava tube, look down into Kīlauea Iki, stand along the enormous summit caldera, watch steam rise out of the earth and drive across miles of old lava flows until you reach the sea. Visible lava is extraordinary when the timing works, but it isn’t what makes the park worth visiting.
Can We See the Lava Glow at Night?
If Kīlauea is actively erupting, nighttime can be spectacular. Even when lava isn’t especially easy to see during daylight, an active eruption can sometimes produce a red or orange glow that is much more visible after dark.
Kīlauea Overlook and Uēkahuna are among the summit viewing areas used during eruptions, but the best place changes with the activity. Follow the park’s current guidance that day rather than planning around one particular viewpoint in advance. Bring a jacket, rain protection and a flashlight or headlamp. It gets genuinely dark here, and the summit can be cold and wet at night. Many guided volcano tours also plan their timing around the possibility of nighttime viewing when Kīlauea is active. If you’re visiting on a tour, your guide will determine the best available viewing location based on conditions that day.
A Few Park Rules Worth Knowing
You don’t need a long list of rules, but these matter:
- Stay on marked trails and behind barriers, and don’t enter closed areas. Around an active volcano, closures are there for a reason.
- Don’t remove lava rocks, plants or other natural or cultural objects, and don’t stack rocks or otherwise alter the landscape. Never touch petroglyphs.
- Give nēnē and other wildlife plenty of space and never feed them.
- Keep children close around crater rims, sea cliffs, steam vents and uneven lava, and pay attention to volcanic gas and air-quality warnings.
- Finally, don’t underestimate the weather at the summit. Bring the jacket even if you think we’re being ridiculous.
Have A Little Time Left?
If you’re leaving the park toward Hilo and still have daylight, Rainbow Falls is one of the easiest additions to your day. It’s in Hilo, doesn’t require a hike to see and won’t turn the end of an already full day into another major excursion.
But don’t leave Hawaii Volcanoes National Park early just so you can say you saw one more thing. If you’re having a great day in the park, stay in the park.
Getting There
From Hilo
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is approximately 30 miles southwest of Hilo via Highway 11. Allow roughly 45 minutes under normal conditions.
From Kailua-Kona
The park is considerably farther from the Kona side. Allow plenty of driving time in both directions and check current road conditions before leaving.
If all of this still feels like too much information, here’s the day in one line:
Go early. Walk through Nāhuku. See Kīlauea Iki. Spend time along the summit. Don’t skip the Steam Vents. Then, if you have the time, drive Chain of Craters Road all the way to the coast.
If you’re hungry around lunchtime, Volcano House is our pick. If you want one real hike, make it Kīlauea Iki. If you’re running late, don’t try to cram everything in.
And if Kīlauea happens to be erupting while you’re there, consider yourself very blessed.
