anneofingleside

We are planning to visit the Big Island for a week next summer. I am thinking of dividing our time between Hilton Waikoloa and the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Would you recommend this?

How far a drive from the Hilton are the volcanoes? If it's quite a distance, I'm thinking of staying the first two or three nights of our trip there, then transferring to the Hilton for the remaining four or five nights.

Which hotel would you recommend at the volcanoes park? We have two little kids so we won't be doing anything strenuous, like hiking or biking. We just want to sightsee and watch the lava. Thank you!

curmudgeon

I tend to think of it as being around a 2 hour drive down to the volcano area. If you want to see the lava at night (can be very interesting), it is definitely worth staying in the area. The only hotel in the area is the Volcano Lodge in the park, which definitely is a bit ragged around the edges. There are a number of B&Bs in the town of Volcano, 5 minutes away (with a range of prices; you tend to get what you pay for). We spent one night in the area, but there was enough of interest that we could have used two.

The actual flowing lava is quite a ways from the park entrance/headquarters, about 45 minutes drive, with potentially a 1 hour plus hike after parking (sometimes shorter, lava locations vary). If you do the hike, be prepared: flashlights if at night, plenty of water, hat/sunscreen in day, solid shoes ... recently cooled lava is challenging to hike over, lots of sharp edges and sometimes slippery in the rain. Lots of people take small kids out there, but you have to know how much they can walk (or you carry them). The visitor center can tell you how long the hike is when you get there. If you don't plan to make the hike out to the active lava, one night is probably enough for this area.

anneofingleside

Thanks, curmudgeon. We have small kids and cannot do the hike. Are there things worth seeing and spending a night there if we don't do the hike? Things that don't involve hiking, biking, climbing and other things little ones can't do?

curmudgeon

To me, the chance to get up close to the lava is what makes the Volcano a "must see". There are, however quite a number of other points of interest around the park, and I would still consider it worth a day. The road north from Hilo has a number of interesting stops as well.

KimV

Volcano National Park has a movie in the visitor center and there is also a Lava tube to go through. Not sure how old your kids are, but when else will they have the chance to be so close to an active volcano? I wish we would have planned on more time at the Park.
The black sand beach with all the sea turtles were very cool also.