The Big Island of Hawaii is home to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the Nāhuku Lava Tubes. The lava tubes are an especially cool and interesting geological feature that you can only experience in limited places around the world. As one feature of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, it is well worth your time to stop in and explore this attraction.

---

This post is one chapter on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter “X” or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.

---

---

Nāhuku Thurston Lava Tubes: Visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, United States of America

---

The Big Island of Hawaii is known for having one of the world’s most active volcanoes in the southern part of the Island. It has experienced regular eruptions over the last thirty years. When the volcano is not actively erupting, the volcanoes can be visited through a visit to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

About Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:

The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park aims to educate about the two large volcanoes in Hawaii; the Kīlauea and Mauna Loa Volcanoes. Each of these volcanoes are among the most active in the world and still add land to the Island of Hawaii. The Mauna Loa Volcano is earth’s most massive mountain, with an estimated volume of 19,000 cubic miles. The park itself showcases the results of seventy million years of volcanism, migration and evolution in the Hawaiian Island’s Emperor Seamount Chain.

With all of this wonder, a visit to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is likely to be a highlight of your trip to the Big Island. If you are an outdoor’s person, make sure that you give the park enough time on your journey to the Big Island, as there are plenty of features in the park that are well worth exploring without being rushed.

Getting to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:

On the Big Island’s southern edge, there is a national park known as Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. From the Big Island’s West Coast, the tourist destinations are quite a ways away. It took us more than two hours to travel to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park from The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort.

Make sure to schedule an early departure if you’re going to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park so you have all day to explore. You won’t run out of things to do because there is more than enough there to keep you busy for several days’ worth of sightseeing.

Visiting Nāhuku Lava Tubes:

On arrival to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we paid the entry free for the park. The fee during our visit was USD and valid for seven days of entry.

The Nāhuku Thurston Lava Tubes is accessed off a small parking lot beyond the Kīlauea Iki Overlook. We attempted to get parking at the Nāhuku Lava Tubes parking lot at 4:30 PM on the date of our visit. However, it was completely full.

We ended up turning around and parking at the Kīlauea Iki Overlook parking lot. From there, we walked back towards the Nāhuku Lava Tubes.

The Nāhuku Lava Tubes are located a short distance (less than fifty meters) from the trailhead entrance in a lush rainforest. There is a short ramp down the walkway. The pathway is set up to be walked in a single direction, although there are no directional signs pointing this out.

After landing on the bottom level, it’s a very short walk to the lava tubes entrance. It’s a popular spot to stop and take photographs, so make sure you collect one your photo stream.

Lava Tubes form when an outer crust of lava forms around a flowing liquid river that continues to flow. When the eruption stops, the liquid drained out, leaving the hardened lava tube behind.

This particular tube was discovered by Lorrin Thurston, a newspaper baron who was instrumental in overthrowing the Kingdom of Hawaii. The Lava Tubes are more commonly known by their Hawaiian Name: the Nāhuku Lava Tubes.

Inside the Nāhuku Lava Tubes:

Entering the Nāhuku Lava Tubes itself is a very “Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark” experience. The sight of entering a dark tunnel without light is a particularly spooky experience requiring some nerves in order to set into darkness without any safety net.

Further on in the Nāhuku Lava Tubes, there is artificial lighting that light some of the floor way for the lava tube. It has a particularly creepy experience that can only be experienced in person.

Eventually continuing along the Nāhuku Lava Tubes for about seven minutes, you end up at the other end of the forest. The short one third of a mile walk is a pleasant one. During our visit at about 4:30 PM, we only shared the tubes with one other group. The Nāhuku Lava Tubes would be especially popular with children, who come to wonder in the excitement of it all.

We enjoyed a short walk back towards the Nāhuku Lava Tubes Trailhead and were treated to some Kīlauea Iki Crater views on the way back.

After the Crater Rim Trail, we went on Café Pesto Hilo Bay Restaurant in Hilo for dinner and then back to the The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort for the night.

My Thoughts on Visiting the Lava Tubes Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:

The Nāhuku Lava Tubes were a particularly creepy natural experience in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It was pretty weird to get the experience to wander through this partially lit tunnel, and pop out the other end.

If you’re visiting the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, make sure that you make time during your visit to stop by and experience the Nāhuku Lava Tubes.

---

If you’ve visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, what was your favorite feature of the National Park ?

---