3-Day Volcano Hawaii Experience – USA

Today you’ll fly to Hawaii Island (or Big Island), where you pick up a rental car. The drive to Volcanoes National Park takes about an hour and you will stay in a chalet with a tropical garden in Volcanoe, a town on the edge of the park. Get settled in, then drive to Mauna Kea, where there are telescopes on the 4205m high volcano that allow you to view the starry sky. If you get to the top late in the afternoon, you can watch the sunset first and then stargaze, not forgetting to bring a jacket or fleece, because at this altitude and with a strong wind, Hawaii feels a little less tropical.

Start your day among the volcanoes at the park’s Visitor Centre, where you’ll be told where you can find lava that is currently flowing and where you can attend a ranger talk, learning more about the park and the origins of volcanic Hawaii. A great way to explore the park is to drive the Chain of Craters Road that leads you along the jagged coast, where high waves splash against the black lava rock.  Alternatively, put on your hiking boots and trek to Kileuea Iki crater, walking through the thick rainforest before suddenly finding yourself on the rim of a large crater, with steaming cracks in the lava crust. After dark, drive to the Jaggar Museum, where you have a beautiful view of a volcanic crater giving off a smouldering orange glow and with a bit of luck the lava will shoot up like a fountain.

Today you’ll continue your journey on Big Island or one of the other islands of Hawaii. If you don’t travel until the afternoon, you can re-enter the national park today. Take another hike to one of the craters or drive the Crater Rim Drive, stopping along the way at lava tunnels, lookouts and steaming vents (groundwater that is so hot that it comes out of the ground as steam). If you are traveling to Kona on the south coast in the afternoon, stop at Punalu’u Beach, a volcanic, black sand beach, where turtles regularly rest.