Must-see attractions in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

  • Smoke plumes from the Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii.

    Kilauea

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Kilauea volcano lies at the center of activity in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. The unassuming bump on Mauna Loa's southeast flank would be easily…

  • Kilauea crater fumarole expelling fumes. 467882084 Cloudscape, Pele, Kilauea, Geology, Fumes, Exploding, Wide Angle, Big Island, Hawaii Islands, Day, Island, Volcanic Crater, Fumarole, Volcano, Earth, Cloud, Fog, hot spot, sulfide, Gas, Crater, Halemaʻumaʻu

    Halemaʻumaʻu Crater

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    The original Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook off Crater Rim Dr was closed in 2008 due to volcanic activity and the very real threat of death. For the next decade,…

  • Petroglyphs in lava rock at Pu'uloa along Chain of Craters road, in the Volcanoes National Park. 1200494920 ancient, archeology, art, artwork, carving, chain, civilization, craters, culture, draw, drawing, hawaii, hawaiian, heritage, hill, historic, history, icon, indigenous, island, landmark, lava, loa, long, message, national, native, old, outdoors, park, petroglyph, polynesian, pu'u, pu'uloa, puu, puuloa, road, rock, sacred, spiritual, states, stone, symbol, travel, tribal, tropical, united, usa, volcano, writing

    Puʻu Loa Petroglyphs

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    The gentle, 1.3-mile round-trip to Puʻu Loa (roughly, 'hill of long life') leads to one of Hawaiʻi's largest concentrations of ancient petroglyphs, some…

  • This is a shot of the Kilauea Volcano from the Kilauea Overlook in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, this is a panoramic shot of the caldera of the large Volcano on the south side of The Big Island of Hawaii 1488714858

    Kilauea Iki Overlook

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    When 'Little Kilauea' burst open in a fiery inferno in November 1959, it filled the crater with a roiling lake of molten rock fed by a 1900ft fountain…

  • Kilauea Visitor Center & Museum

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Stop here first on your visit to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Extraordinarily helpful (and remarkably patient) rangers and volunteers can advise you…

  • The smoking crater of the volcano Mauna Loa on Big Island, Hawaiian archipelago, in Volcanoes National Park, after the eruption of lava in the summer of 2018, from the air

    Mauna Loa

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    The world's largest subaerial (above water) volcano, Mauna Loa (Long Mountain) is so massive that you feel its presence more than see it. Even when it…

  • Hawaii, Big Island, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, hiker taking photos along a trail through native rainforest at Thurston Lava Tube.

    Thurston Lava Tube

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    On Kilauea's eastern side, Crater Rim Dr passes through a rainforest thick with tree ferns and ohia trees to the overflowing parking lot for ever-popular…

  • Tourists view the Sulphur banks that can be found walking along the boardwalk in Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, Hawaii. Volcanic gases steam from the ground as sulphur vents / steam vents 1285860174 steam vents, sulphur vents, volcanoes national park, sulphur dioxide, attraction, tourists, trail, crater rim trail, soil acidity, pathways, cracks, magma, sulfur, rotten egg, hydrogen sulfide, h2s, so2, ground water, emitted, ha'akulamanu, vaporizes, steaming bluff, wahinekapu, tourist attraction, volcanic gases, sulphur vent, sulfur vent, sulphur bank, steam banks, big island, hawaii

    Sulphur Banks

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    A wooden boardwalk weaves between misty, rocky vents stained chartreuse, yellow, orange and other psychedelic colors by tons of sulfur-infused steam…

  • Footprints

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    A short, 0.8-mile walk down the Mauna Iki trail from the Kaʻu Desert trailhead on Hwy 11 brings you to a field of scattered footprints preserved in…

  • Mauna Ulu lava flows in Big Island Hawaii 1213642177

    Mauna Ulu

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    In 1969, eruptions from Kilauea's East Rift Zone began building a new lava shield, Mauna Ulu (Growing Mountain). By the time the flow stopped in 1974, it…

  • Hilina Pali Overlook

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    This serenely beautiful overlook looms 1700ft above the coastal flats of Hilina Slump: a semidetached landmass sinking 4in each year, and which may be…

  • Making free-form glass art, Fahrenheit 2400, Volcano Village, HAVO.

    2400 Fahrenheit

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Michael and Misato Mortara form hot glass into sculptures and vessels as complex and beautiful as the Big Island. Visit in the morning, or just after…

  • Puʻu ʻOʻo

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Puʻu ʻOʻo vent saw the longest-lasting and most voluminous of the Kilauea's eruptions, oozing an estimated 80 to 160 million gallons of lava per day, or…

  • Jaggar Museum

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    There's plenty packed into this small one-room geology museum including real-time seismographs and tiltmeters recording earthquakes inside the park (and…

  • Kaʻu Desert

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Although the Kilauea rain shadow keeps this area relatively dry, it's not a true desert; but what rain does fall is highly acidic from the upwind…

  • End of the Road

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Sort of. The road ends where the lava says it ends, having consumed this coastal section of Chain of Craters Road repeatedly since 1969. Currently there…

  • Mauna Loa Lookout

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    A narrow, winding and potholed drive along lonely Mauna Loa Rd passes heavily forested kipuka (volcanic oases) as you come ever closer to the world's most…

  • Old Pulu Factory

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Ancient Hawaiians used pulu, the golden, silky fibers found at the base of hapuʻu (tree fern) fiddleheads, to dress wounds and embalm the dead. In the…

  • Volcano Art Center

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Near the Kilauea Visitor Center, this sharp local art gallery spotlights museum-quality pottery, paintings, woodwork, sculpture, jewelry, Hawaiian quilts…

  • Steam Vents & Steaming Bluff

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Creating impressive billowing plumes in the cool early morning, these vents make a convenient drive-up photo op. Hot rocks below the surface boil…

  • ʻAlae Lava Shield

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    The once-awesome ʻAlae crater did not go easily. The Mauna Ulu eruption had just filled the 1440ft-wide and 540ft-deep crater with a lake of molten lava…

  • Kealakomo

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    About halfway along Chain of Craters Road is this coastal lookout (elevation 2000ft), with picnic tables and commanding views. That inky black snake's…

  • Niaulani Campus

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    On the edge of an old-grown ohia forest, this campus of the main Volcano Art Center gallery in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park showcases spillover and…

  • Volcano Garden Arts

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Do your Big Island art shopping at this gallery and studio in the fern forest. Walls and tables overflow with paintings, handicrafts and jewelry produced…

  • Kilauea Overlook

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    A pause-worthy panorama that was closed at time of research with an expected reopening date in 2020. It's most remarkable for the 6-ton volcanic bomb…

  • Holei Sea Arch

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Constantly brutalized by unrelenting surf, the coastal section of Chain of Craters Road has sharply eroded lava-rock pali (cliffs). Visible from near the…

  • Lava Tree Molds

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Near the start of Mauna Loa Rd, there's a turnoff to some neglected lava tree molds – deep wells that formed when lava flows engulfed the rainforest and…

  • Puʻu Puaʻi Overlook

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Pu'u Pua'i (Gushing Hill) formed when cinder and ash spewing from the 1959 Kilauea Iki fountain was carried southwest on the wind, piling on the rim and…

  • Volcano Winery

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Perhaps recognizing that grapes from Mauna Loa's volcanic soil may never erupt onto the world stage on their own merits, this winery creates some very…

  • Akatsuka Orchid Gardens

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    Drop in to this touristy showroom for a visual and olfactory feast of floral hybrids. Although we cannot confirm whether theirs is indeed the world's…

  • Makaopuhi Crater

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    This jaw-dropping, mile-long crater is the largest in the East Rift Zone. Although once accessible by road, it's now 5 miles along the Napau Crater Trail,…

  • Lua Poholo

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    A deep pit crater on the northeast edge of Mauna Loa's summit caldera. The crater collapsed inward when lava left the summit.

  • Cone Crater

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    A prominent, semicollapsed volcanic crater along the Mauna Iki Trail.

  • Twin Pit Crater

    Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

    True to their name, these dual yawning craters are just west of Cone Crater on the Mauna Iki Trail.

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