My fiance and I are honeymooning in Maui in January. However he would really like to see the volcano on the BI (not just from the air). Is it possible to take a trip there from Maui, land, see the volcano and fly back all in one day? If so what is the best way do experience this. I've seen the Volcano tours offered from Maui, however I don't believe they actually let you see it on the groung. Any info will help. Thanks!

Possible, though not necessarily convenient. You would need to take an inter-island flight to Hilo, rent a car, and drive up to Volcano NP. It's only about a 25 minute drive from Hilo airport to the NP visitor center, but it is a further 45 minutes down to the end of chain-of-craters road, and then a hike of varying length (occasionally as short as 20 minutes, more often an hour or so) out to where the lava is flowing.

Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Air do frequent inter-island flights. I think nearly all the flights go via Honolulu though, which adds quite a bit of time (you should double check this point). You can use frequent flyer miles from many of the big FF systems (5000 each).

If I were doing it, I would spend the extra to spend the night up in Volcano village (various B&B there), even if it meant not using a day already paid for in Maui. The lava is fascinating at night.

I second the above poster recommending staying overnight to experience the lava flows. I will top a previoust post titled "tours to the volcano"

let me add for you (if you are new here); use the text search box at the top of the page. Putting in volcano will get you lots of usefull threads. Also take a look at the VNP web page

I have done this several times, renting a car and flying round trip thru Roberts Hawaii for about $225 total for the day. You will be able to spend several hours at Volcanoes National Park.

Roberts Hawaii was located in Honolulu and I wasn't able to make the arrangements in any way other than by phone and in person. Maybe now there is a way to reserve through the internet.

Thanks for all the helpful info. I am new on these boards, can ya tell? Also the volcano search was also very helpful thanks curmudegeon! Would our best bet on this subject be to just wait until we get there and see what we can get or book ahead?

Postal-is that $225 the approx price for one person?

I would suggest booking in advance. Friends of ours wanted to go from Oahu to the BI for the day, tried to book a few days ahead and found they were sold out for the next several days. I personally would just fly over and rent a car instead of doing the tour. I think you'll find that it's more economical and also you get to see what you want at your own pace. The 5000 FF miles per ticket is a good idea. That's what we've always done for interisland flights. It's not a bad value as interisland flights usually run close to $150 roundtrip. I believe AA, NW, and UA miles can be redeemed at 5000 per roundtrip on either Hawaiian or Aloha, probably some other programs too.

I recomend spending one night near the volcano rather than the exhausting schedule of two interisland flights plus hiking and touring VNP. B and Bs in Volcano village run 100-150 a night and include breakfast, so you may save quite a bit over your Maui hotel. The volcano is easy to tour on your own if you have the time.

Also, note that interisland flights become more expensive the closer you get to day of departure. I think the cheapest rates are 2 weeks or more in advance.