Kīlauea Iki Overlook

Kīlauea Iki Overlook is a roadside viewpoint on Crater Rim Drive, looking into a mile-long crater whose floor sits about 400 feet below the rim. It’s worth a stop even if you’re not planning a hike: the scale is hard to take in from above, and the crater holds one of Hawaiʻi’s defining eruption stories.

The large cinder cone on the left is Puʻupuaʻi. Beyond the crater, Mauna Loa rises on the horizon. Keep both in the frame with some of the broad crater floor; that gives the view its depth and helps show how far down the old lava lake sits.

Kīlauea Iki was a seething lava lake during the eruption of November 14 to December 20, 1959. Fountains reached up to 1,900 feet, and falling cinders built Puʻupuaʻi. The eruption also gave scientists early measurements that helped them understand Kīlauea’s magma reservoir system.

This is also the trailhead for the popular Kīlauea Iki Trail, which descends to the crater floor. The overlook is a quick roadside visit; the trail is the longer commitment if you want to walk across the landscape you’re seeing from above.

There’s auto parking, a restroom and interpretive information here. Crater Rim Drive gives you direct access to the viewpoint, and the trail starts at the same stop.