Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park covers 354,461 acres of Hawaiʻi Island, from sea level to the 13,681-foot summit of Mauna Loa. It takes in the summits of two active volcanoes, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, and dates from 1 August 1916. UNESCO named it an International Biosphere Reserve in 1980 and a World Heritage Site in 1987. In 2025 it had 1,877,854 recreation visits, 31% more than in 2024.

Kīlauea has been erupting in short episodes since December 2024, so what a visitor sees depends on the day. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the park's own pages and alerts, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's updates, Volcano House's site, the state airports' pages and NOAA's normals.

What was Kīlauea doing on 26 October 2026?

Kīlauea was in a pause on 26 October 2026. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), in its update at 8:10 a.m. Hawaii time, put the volcano alert level at ADVISORY and the aviation colour code at YELLOW. Three earthquakes had shaken the summit area in the previous 24 hours.

The eruption is episodic: 55 fountaining episodes since 23 December 2024, all from vents in Halemaʻumaʻu crater. Episodes have usually lasted under 12 hours, with pauses of days to weeks between them. The latest pause lasted almost two months.

Episode 55 came on 17 October 2026. Fountains rose from the north vent from 3:19 to 9:03 a.m., up to 720 feet high, and lava covered 75% of the crater floor. The alert level stood at WATCH, colour code ORANGE, while it lasted.

HVO forecast episode 56 between 31 October and 6 November 2026. That window is the observatory's own forecast; on 15 October the Park Service had written that "Forecasting is not possible". HVO also warns that the location of the activity could change, although so far it has stayed inside a closed area of the park.

The Park Service says Kīlauea is "viewed by many Native Hawaiians as the home of the volcanic deity Pelehonuamea". In its words, "She is said to reside in Halemaʻumaʻu crater".

Where on the caldera rim can you see the glow?

Kīlauea's eruption is visible from open viewpoints along the caldera rim, while the eruption area itself stays closed. Even in a pause, a faint glow may still be visible at night. On 26 October HVO reported a continuous moderate-to-strong glow overnight from the west vent.

Crater Rim Drive West leads to the Welcome Center, Kīlauea Overlook and Uēkahuna, which the park says usually have more open parking. Uēkahuna is the highest point on the rim, with views over the caldera and Mauna Loa. Crater Rim Drive East leads to Kīlauea Iki, Nāhuku, Devastation Trail and Chain of Craters Road.

During an episode the park suggests coming before sunrise or after sunset. Its car parks can be full by 10 a.m., and Uēkahuna holds 70 cars and Kīlauea Overlook 36. Fog or rain can hide the crater entirely.

Bring a headlamp, warm clothes and a rain jacket. Tephra, the ash and Pele's hair that fall at the summit, is a hazard too. The park recommends eye protection, long sleeves and a dust mask, and asks visitors not to handle it. A dust mask does not filter vog, the haze that sulphur dioxide forms downwind, which the park calls "hazardous to everyone". The park's own advice at the viewpoints is short: "Watch quietly".

Which parts of the park were closed on 27 October 2026?

On 27 October 2026 the park's alerts listed seven notices, five of them closures.

• Mauna Loa Road was closed past Kīpukapuaulu to Mauna Loa Lookout for tree removal, through 28 October 2026.
• Kīpukapuaulu Trail was closed for hazardous trees.
• The Sulphur Banks bridge was closed; the boardwalk was open from the Steam Vents side.
• Upper Kahuku Road was closed beyond the boot decontamination station, though the Kahuku unit had reopened after Hurricane Lala.
• Hilina Pali Road beyond the Maunaiki trailhead closes to cars from Monday to Thursday, 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., for shoulder work until about 19 November.

On 7 October the park also closed Halemaʻumaʻu Trail and part of Byron Ledge Trail, 1.3 miles in all, after more than 200 shallow earthquakes in a week. Neither closure appears in the current alerts, and we found no release saying the trails had reopened. Check with a ranger before walking either.

Mauna Loa itself was at NORMAL, colour code GREEN, on 1 October. Since its 2022 eruption hikers cannot reach the summit cabin from the Mauna Loa Trail.

Where is the visitor centre while Kīlauea Visitor Center is shut?

Kīlauea Visitor Center has stayed shut for renovation since 18 February 2025. On 15 October 2026 the park said the work was 95% complete and on track to reopen in late 2026; full new exhibits are due by late 2028.

Until then the Welcome Center at Kīlauea Military Camp stands in for it. The centre is 1.25 miles past the entrance station and opens from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. daily, with a park store. The park itself stays open 24 hours a day.

Jaggar Museum, at Uēkahuna, was removed after the 2018 earthquakes, and the park says it will not be rebuilt. The old loop of Crater Rim Drive is not drivable either: the section to Keanakākoʻi admits walkers and cyclists only.

How long are the walks to Nāhuku and Kīlauea Iki?

Nāhuku, the Thurston Lava Tube, is a 1.5-mile round trip from Kīlauea Iki Overlook, and the Kīlauea Iki Trail is a 3.3-mile loop from the same overlook. The distances in the table are the park's own.

Nāhuku's car park has only 14 spaces. The park suggests visiting before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m., and asks walkers not to follow Crater Rim Drive on foot. Souvenir collectors took the drips that once hung from the ceiling after the tube's discovery in 1913.

The Kīlauea Iki Trail crosses the floor of a crater that held a lava lake in 1959, when its vent fountained to 1,900 feet. The Kahuku unit, an hour's drive south, opens from Thursday to Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; its Palm Trail is a 2.6-mile loop.

Why does the ground steam at Kūkamāhuākea?

At Kūkamāhuākea, the Steam Vents, a shallow body of magma heats the rainwater, according to the park. The steam keeps deep-rooted trees from growing there. The park describes the steam as "a manifestation of Kū, one of four primary akua".

The Haʻakulamanu (Sulphur Banks) Trail starts at the same car park. Its gases carry carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide. The park says people with heart or breathing conditions, pregnant women, infants and young children should avoid the walk.

What is left on Chain of Craters Road now the Hōlei Sea Arch has gone?

Chain of Craters Road still runs 18.8 miles down to the coast, but the Hōlei Sea Arch at its end has collapsed into the Pacific. The Park Service said on 1 October 2026 that the 90-foot arch was standing on 23 September and gone by the night of 27 September, possibly during Tropical Storm Nolo. People have since entered the closed area near the site.

The road has no food, water or fuel along its length, and phone signal is limited. Vault toilets stand at Maunaulu and at the end, where the car park holds 37 cars, and an emergency phone is at the Puʻuloa trailhead. The park describes the coast at the bottom as often hot, dry and windy.

Lava has cut the road before: Maunaulu buried it in 1969, and the Puʻuʻōʻō eruption of 1983 to 2018 covered nearly 9 miles. The Puʻuloa boardwalk, 1.4 miles there and back, passes about 23,000 petroglyphs. Dogs may go on the road only as far as Puʻuloa.

Is the $55 Tri-Park pass open to visitors from abroad?

The $55 Hawaiʻi Tri-Park annual pass is not open to visitors from abroad: the park sells it to US citizens and residents only. A car from abroad pays the $30 entrance fee instead, which admits the driver and up to 14 passengers. A motorcycle pays $25, a visitor on foot or by bicycle $15, and children under 16 enter free.

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes is not on the 2026 list of eleven parks with a $100 non-resident surcharge, so visitors from abroad pay what Americans pay. The park takes no cash. Print passes bought on Recreation.gov or save them as a screenshot, because phone signal in the park is limited.

The $250 non-resident annual pass does not pay off in Hawaii alone: a car pays $80 in all at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes, Haleakalā National Park and Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau. The park's last fee-free day of 2026, 11 November, is for US citizens and residents only. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors lists the parks that do charge the surcharge.

Vehicles over 26 feet long or 8 feet wide are kept to a few roads. They may drive Crater Rim Drive to Kīlauea Visitor Center, the Steam Vents and Uēkahuna, and Mauna Loa Road to the Kīpukapuaulu turnabout.

Can you sleep on the rim at Volcano House?

Volcano House, on the rim of Kīlauea's caldera, is the only hotel inside the park for the general public, with 33 rooms. The Park Service lists no other lodging inside the park and points visitors to Volcano Village, just outside the boundary.

Nāmakanipaio closed after Hurricane Lala in August 2026. It is missing from the park's later closure lists, but no release announces that it reopened, so confirm with Volcano House. A tent there rents for $40 a night on top of the site, and stays run to seven nights at most. Nights drop to the 30s to low 50s°F.

Nāmakanipaio and Kulanaokuaiki are not booked on Recreation.gov. Kīlauea Military Camp's food and recreation welcome all park visitors when space allows.

How much colder is the summit than Hilo?

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes' summit, at about 4,000 feet, averages about 10°F cooler than Hilo by day and 14°F cooler at night. The park says it may be rainy and chilly at any time of year. The park's weather station near Kīlauea Visitor Center gets 96 inches of rain a year, almost ten times as much as Kona's airport.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs, lows and rainfall. Visits barely follow the seasons: in 2025 January was the busiest month, with 181,117, and October the quietest, with 125,237.

How do you reach Hawaiʻi Volcanoes from Hilo or Kona?

Hilo's airport, about 29 miles from Hawaiʻi Volcanoes by our own routing, has inter-island flights on Hawaiian and Southwest. Kona's airport, on the island's west coast, takes transpacific flights as well as inter-island ones.

The park has no shuttle and no public transport inside it, and rideshare is very difficult to find. Hawaiʻi County's Hele-On bus stops at the Volcano House junction, but we could not confirm its schedule. After Hurricane Lala, on 28 August, the park advised west-side visitors to use Saddle Road or Highway 19 rather than Highway 11 through Kaʻū. No later release withdrew that advice.

The park keeps Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time, ten hours behind UTC all year, with no daylight saving. It is five hours behind New York until the mainland's clocks go forward on 14 March 2027, and six hours behind after that. It is one of the places in our guide to Hawaii.