Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

Christmas time in Hawai’i makes for a truly tropical holiday .

Once upon a time I went to Hawai’i in the middle of December. We stayed just outside of Kona in Holualoa. My main goal of the whole trip was to explore Volcanoes National Park. Sidebar, I went to Maui in high school and decided to hang back at the hotel while my family went to Haleakalā. Looking back, I feel like it truly the biggest mistake of my high school life, but hey, I guess that’s not a bad “biggest” mistake.

A day trip to the Volcanoes National Park was a perfect way to accomplish my goal of visiting this volcanically active National Park. To get there from Kona, we took a portion of the famous Hawaii Belt Road, which follows the entire perimeter of the island and is made up fo SR 11, 19, & 190.

So we set out and started our journey going south down state route 11. One of our first stops was about 20 minutes at the Coffee Shack. Grab a coffee or breakfast as this place has an incredible view and delicious local coffee.

About an hour and a half down SR 11, Punalu‘u Beach, is a must stop. Although a little rough for casual swimming, watch for turtles, and experience it’s famous black sand beach, created by lava following into the ocean.

In just another hour down SR 11 you’ll come to Volcanoes National Park. Walk around the vents to experience the power of an active volcano.

The Volcano House is the only lodging inside this national park. We had a delicious lunch and to picked up our hiking medallions for Cameron’s hiking stick. A lovely group of people were playing Christmas music on their ukulele’s in the lodge, and it was magical!

After we left the National Park, we cut through the middle road on Route 2000, back toward Kona. Our journey back was quite an adventure, as the road climbs to over 6,600 feet to the top of Moauna Kea and decends back to sea level, where you eventally meet up with highway 190. The breaks in our car were definitely over worked and we almost ran out of gas, so be sure to have a full tank and gas up along the way!

I finished the day happy to have complete my goal of visiting Volcanoes National Park and enjoyed a candle lit dinner along the ocean while taking in the Mele Kalikimaka spirit of the island.

Now I’ve officially been to four of the eight islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands! Do you have any goals to accomplish in Hawai’i?