Volcano House

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park


Perched on the rim of Kilauea Caldera, Volcano House has long enjoyed its unique status as the park's only hotel. Eco-conscious renovations have upgraded the restaurant, bar, fireplace lobby areas, gift shops and 33 spacious, if quite plain and thin-walled, rooms. Modern upgrades include hotel directory delivered by QR code. Pay up for a volcano view – otherwise, what's the point?

Both Rim Restaurant, serving better-than-average modern island fusion crafted from local ingredients, and Uncle George's Lounge, a small bar with food, have enormous windows overlooking Kilauea Caldera – one of only two places you can get a full view of the caldera post-2018 eruption. If you can't spring for a room, treat yourself to a beer with a view. Free bike rental for guests. Reserve well in advance.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park attractions

1. Kilauea Visitor Center & Museum

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

2. Volcano Art Center

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3. Sulphur Banks

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

4. Steam Vents & Steaming Bluff

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

5. Niaulani Campus

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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…

6. Puʻu Puaʻi Overlook

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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…

7. Kilauea Iki Overlook

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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…

8. Kilauea

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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…