Corgie

Here is my dilemma:

After spending a week on Kauai we will land in KONA at 10:00 am. After getting car and luggage we want to drive to Volcano via Hilo with maybe a stop at Aka (?) falls Assuming we get to Volcano park at around 1:00 pm, would we have time to do the following with one overnight?... or should we stretch it to two. Or how about doing the trip in reverse, heading north to Volcano with one evening at Volcano and then one at Hilo before heading up the coast (stoping at falls, sight seeing etc. before heading to Kona for 4 more nights? Any advice would be appreciated.

Here are some of the things we would like to do @ Volcano

1. Drive around and check out the park. Do chain of Craters road and hike out to Lava. See Lava @ night.

2. Hike IKI trail. Thursten Lava tube, Devestation Trail.

I think it is important to add that we are REALLY into hiking and I think it comes down to this: Is the Hilo side worth the extra day to explore on the return trip to Kona?

Thanks again. I hope someone can make sense of this rambling post...

scigirl

If you land in Kona at 10:00am it will be later than 1:00pm when you get to Volcano National Park. Allowing an hour or so to get luggage and get the car, plus 3 hours for the drive, plus anytime to stop and explore sites, eat, etc. along the way - I'd estimate that you'll reach the park in the late afternoon/early evening.

If you really like to hike I'd suggest spending 1 1/2 to 2 days in the park. There are loads of fantastic hikes.

Any reason you can't fly into Hilo and out of Kona (or vis versa)? That would save you from driving back and forth across the island and make the trip a bit more efficient.

Hilo itself is a relatively small town - fun to walk around in and maybe grab lunch. But, you could cut your time short there in order to see more of the park or more of the surrounding area rather than exploring the town.

JennyL

We did four nights in Kona, then three nights in Volcano. We drove to Hilo one day and looked around and enjoyed it. I personally think it gets a bad rap-when we were there it was not raining (May). With that said, it could be done in a few hours. We drove south from Kona, spending the whole day stopping at various beaches, including a hike to the green sand beach. On the way back, we went north stopping at the waterfalls. I just wanted to put my vote in for going to Volcano first. We did a few hikes at VNP, and it was interesting, but I wished that my last days in Hawaii were spent near the beach. I spent part of my time at VNP wishing I had spent more time in Kona. Just my two cents. Everybody likes different things, I know. Have fun.

thatwelshwoman

we spent just one night and day at volcano np last november and it was not nearly sufficient we felt we rushed hiing the trails and such.stay two days if you can. where are you lodgeing?

Corgie

I am looking into Volcano Inn (not Volcano house) or some "lodge" name escapes me now. Leaning toward V.I. because it is cheaper and looks really nice on web-site.

So maybe 2 nights Volcano or should we do 1 night Volcano, one night Hilo?

Corgie

opps posted too soon. I was going to add that after 2 nights Volcano, we would still have 4 nights Kona for snorkelling exploring etc. Is that reasonable?

JennyL

I would do two nights Volcano, rather than one night, Volcano, one night Hilo, since I don't like to move around that much. It isn't that far from Volcano to Hilo (45 minutes-1 hour). In fact we drove down to Hilo from Volcano after hiking one day to hear a musician that we liked, then back to Volcano later that evening. If you started having a really good time in VNP, you could spend less time in Hilo. We stayed at Carson's, which I understand has changed hands since we were there, but I wish we had stayed at Kilauea Lodge. I think 4 days in Kona would be enough to get a flavor, but there is never enough time to spend in this beautiful area, in my opinion.

Corgie

Okay, thanks so much everyone for the advice. Our interisland flight is already booked to fly into Kona and we have a direct flight from Kona back home to YVR so I think we are going to go with 2 nights Volcano via the southern route and then travel the nothern route, past the waterfalls on the way back for our last 4 nights in Kona. That way we will be able to really "do" the park, check out Hilo and enjoy the drive back. We can then spend our last four days just doing mild sightseeig and beaches/snorkeling on the Kona side. We will have already done a week in Kauai so we will get ample beach time there too (I hope)! JennyL, how is the hike to the Green sand beach? My guy wants to do it but it seems quite out of the way....was it worth it or are there other hikes that would be a better choice/use of time? Thanks again!

JennyL

The green sand beach is interesting and a little challenging to get down to, but the hike to get there is like walking through a pasture for three miles. It is out of the way, and I would probably skip it because it is time consuming, and there are so many other beautiful beaches to see.