Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park spans 325,605 acres of the Big Island, climbing from wave-battered black lava coastline at sea level to the 13,680-foot summit of Mauna Loa, the world's largest volcano by volume. Two active volcanoes anchor the park: Kīlauea, one of the world's most continuously active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, which last erupted in November 2022. The park's main hub sits at about 4,000 feet near the Kīlauea caldera, roughly 30 miles southwest of Hilo on Highway 11. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, the park draws about 1.5 million visitors a year, ranking 23rd of 63 national parks, with volcanic activity serving as the main draw year-round.

Active lava and eruptions: Kīlauea has erupted frequently since 2020, with multiple episodes of lava lake activity inside Halemaʻumaʻu Crater visible from the caldera rim at night; eruption status changes often, so check nps.gov/havo before your visit. Kīlauea Iki Crater: a 1959 eruption left a one-mile-wide lava lake that hardened to a walk-able black floor still crossed by steam vents; the 4-mile loop trail descending into it is the park's most popular hike. Nāhuku (Thurston Lava Tube): a 500-year-old tube where molten rock once flowed, now an 0.3-mile lit walk through a cathedral-sized tunnel of dark basalt. Chain of Craters Road: a 19-mile paved descent from the summit caldera to the coast, passing pit craters, lava flows from multiple eruptions, and ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs at Puʻu Loa.

By car The main park entrance is on Highway 11, about 30 miles southwest of Hilo and 100 miles southeast of Kailua-Kona. From Hilo, drive south on Highway 11 through Keaau and Mountain View to the park entrance near Volcano Village. From Kona, take Highway 11 south around the island's southern tip; allow 2 to 2.5 hours. No shuttle serves the park interior; a car is required.

By air Hilo International Airport (ITO) is roughly 30 miles from the park entrance and offers inter-island and some mainland connections. Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport (KOA) is about 100 miles away on the island's west side. Rental cars are available at both airports.

The Hawaiian Islands formed as the Pacific Plate moved northwest over a fixed mantle hot spot, a rising plume of unusually hot rock. The Big Island sits directly over the hot spot today, which is why Kīlauea and Mauna Loa remain active while older islands to the northwest have long gone dormant. Mauna Loa has produced more lava by volume than any other volcano on Earth; its base on the ocean floor extends more than 30,000 feet below sea level, making it the tallest mountain on Earth when measured from its base.

The park's two main lava types reflect different eruption styles. Pāhoehoe forms when low-viscosity lava cools slowly, producing smooth, ropy surfaces and hollow tubes when flowing lava drains from a hardened shell. ʻAʻā forms when lava moves faster and cools more rapidly at the surface, creating the sharp, clinkery rubble that covers much of Chain of Craters Road. Both types appear side by side throughout the park.

The 2018 eruption dramatically reshaped the landscape. A series of fissures opened on Kīlauea's lower East Rift Zone, producing lava flows that buried Leilani Estates and filled Kapoho Bay with new land. At the summit, the withdrawal of magma caused the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater to collapse roughly 1,600 feet over several weeks, more than doubling the caldera's depth. Post-2018 eruption episodes have partially refilled the crater with a new lava lake.

Nāhuku (Thurston Lava Tube) formed about 500 years ago when surface lava cooled and crusted over while molten rock continued flowing through the interior. When the eruption stopped and the lava drained, a hollow tunnel up to 20 feet high remained. Lava tubes can extend for miles; this one is accessible because a section was excavated and opened for public use in 1913.

Nēnē, the Hawaiian state bird, are frequently seen along the caldera rim, near parking areas, and on the lava fields; the park hosts one of the largest resident populations in Hawaii. Do not feed them; nēnē that approach humans for food lose their foraging instincts and become dependent on handouts. The ʻōpeʻapeʻa, or Hawaiian hoary bat, is the only native land mammal in Hawaii and hunts insects at dusk near the forest edges around the caldera.

Native forest birds including ʻapapane, ʻamakihi, and ʻōmaʻo (Hawaiian thrush) inhabit the park's ʻōhiʻa lehua forests between about 3,000 and 7,000 feet. The ʻōhiʻa lehua, the dominant native tree, is the first plant to colonize new lava flows and provides the primary food source for the honeycreepers. Hawaiian hawk (ʻio) and pueo (Hawaiian short-eared owl) hunt in open areas.

The coastal sections of Chain of Craters Road provide access to black sand beaches and lava benches where Hawaiian green sea turtles haul out to rest. Hawaiian monk seals occasionally appear on the coast as well. Feral pigs, cats, and mongooses are present throughout the park and are managed as threats to nesting birds and native plants.

Native Hawaiians (Kānaka Maoli) have a continuous cultural relationship with the volcanoes that predates written history. Pele, the Hawaiian volcano deity, is believed to reside in Halemaʻumaʻu Crater. The lava fields, craters, and coastline hold hundreds of sites of cultural significance, including the Puʻu Loa petroglyph field, which contains over 23,000 carved images, one of the largest petroglyph concentrations in Hawaii. Trails across the lava connected communities on opposite sides of the island for centuries.

Western contact began in 1778 with Captain James Cook's arrival in the Hawaiian Islands. Missionaries and naturalists reached the volcano in the early 1800s and sent accounts of the lava lake back to Europe and America, drawing travelers from around the world. Mark Twain visited Kīlauea in 1866 and described it as "the most unutterable of all spectacles" in his dispatches for the Sacramento Union.

Geologist Thomas Jaggar established the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on the caldera rim in 1912, beginning systematic scientific monitoring of the eruptions. Congress created Hawaii National Park in 1916, the same legislation that established the National Park Service. The Kīlauea and Mauna Loa sections were combined with Haleakalā on Maui under one administration until 1961, when Hawaiʻi Volcanoes became its own park. UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 1987. The 2018 eruption, the most destructive in modern Hawaiian history, altered the park's landscape and led to significant trail and road reconstruction that continued through the early 2020s.