Visitor center · Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
A helpful stop for trail advice, maps and a park-store browse.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes audio tourRecorded for this place
Welcome Center and KMC: Advice and a Food Break“You're coming up on the Welcome Center at Kīlauea Military Camp, a useful stop if you want help choosing a hike. Rangers and volunteers can talk through your options, and the park store has books and educational gifts.”
Plays as you drive up to Welcome Center in the Parkwolf Hawaiʻi Volcanoes Tour Guide.
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“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
The Welcome Center is a compact park-information stop at Kīlauea Military Camp, about 1¼ miles past the park entrance station. It is handy before choosing a hike or heading around the summit: rangers and volunteers can talk through conditions, routes and the day’s programs. Ask here before setting off, especially if you’re planning a walk near the caldera.
The Hawaiʻi Pacific Parks Association runs the park store, with books, posters and other educational items; proceeds support park programs. The orientation displays include a scene of Native Hawaiian voyaging and maps for the summit area, so this is a useful stop if you’re still getting a sense of the park’s layout.
The building is on the right just beyond the entrance station, near the flagpole. Use the ballfield lot, not Kīlauea Military Camp’s guest parking. Portable toilets are behind the center. It’s listed as wheelchair accessible, and wheelchairs are available.
The Welcome Center itself isn’t an overlook. From the ballfield parking, pass the flagpole, cross Crater Rim Drive at the marked crosswalk and follow Crater Rim Trail to the closest caldera overlook, about 0.27 mile each way with a 26-foot drop. The walk takes roughly six minutes one way. The viewing area looks across the vents, caldera and summit crater; what you can see depends on volcanic activity and weather.
Wildlife
600 sightingsHawaiian Goose (Nēnē)Most seen around 5 PMSighting map
35 sightingsGreen Sea TurtleMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
36 sightingsHawaiian Hawk ('Io)Most seen around 11 AMSighting map
41 sightingsBlack NoddyMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
96 sightingsWhite-tailed TropicbirdMost seen around noonSighting map
24 sightingsHawai'i 'ElepaioMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Hawaiʻi Volcanoes. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyHaʻakulamanu (Sulphur Banks) Trail1.2 mi · 36 min · 0.4 mi awayA short boardwalk walk past yellow sulfur and rising steam.
EasyCrater Rim Trail3.8 mi · 2 hr · 0.9 mi awayA 3.8-mile out-and-back from Kīlauea Overlook to Volcano House.
ModerateHalemaʻumaʻu Trail1.6 mi · 1.5 hr · 1 mi awayA short rainforest descent opens onto Kīlauea’s caldera floor.
EasyKūpinaʻi Pali (Waldron Ledge) Trail1.2 mi · 54 min · 1 mi awayA short paved route to a broad caldera view
EasyKīpukapuaulu Trail1.2 mi · 1.3 hr · 1.9 mi awayA shaded loop through an ancient forest island in younger lava.
ModerateUēaloha (Byron Ledge) Trail2.2 mi · 1.5 hr · 2.3 mi awayOpen cinder, forested ledge, and views of Puʻupuaʻi.
EasyKeanakākoʻi Crater Trail2 mi · 1.3 hr · 2.3 mi awayAn easy walk on a former road reaches a 115-foot crater.
EasyDevastation Trail1 mi · 1 hr · 2.3 mi awayA short paved walk through cinder from Kīlauea Iki’s 1959 eruption.
Lodging · At the trailheadKīlauea Military Camp (KMC)Lodging, dining and recreation at a historic park camp.
Sight · 0.4 mi awayKūkamāhuākea Steam Vents and WahinekapuA short walk pairs summit steam with a view into Kīlauea's caldera.
Sight · 0.5 mi awayTree MoldsSee what a tree leaves behind when lava moves through a forest.Sight · 0.8 mi awayHaʻakulamanu (Sulphur Banks)A short walk to yellow sulfur, altered rock and rising steam.
Sight · 0.9 mi awayKīlauea OverlookA short walk to a huge view into Kīlauea's caldera.
Sight · 1 mi awayKaʻaueaA raised hula platform and traditional hale facing Halemaʻumaʻu.
Sight · 1 mi awayVolcano Art Center Gallery (1877 Volcano House)Local art fills a small gallery inside Kīlauea’s 1877 hotel.
Lodging · 1.1 mi awayVolcano HouseA historic hotel on Kīlauea’s rim, with the caldera at the table.Parkwolf’s Hawaiʻi Volcanoes ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
