Hawaii Tourism Blog

As the world’s largest active volcano, and one of the five volcanoes that make up the Big Island of Hawaii, Mauna Loa volcano is a monstrosity worthy of her own tour. This is not to say, of course, that Kilauea, Mauna Kea, Kohala and Hualalai should be ignored when exploring Hawaii’s volcanoes, but there is something truly awe-inspiring about standing on one of the most well studied and potentially dangerous volcanoes on Earth.

Is Mauna Loa Volcano Really the Biggest Volcano on Earth?

Technically, Mauna Loa’s younger sibling, Mauna Kea, is actually the tallest mountain on the planet, beating Mauna Loa’s height by about 120 feet. The reason Mauna Loa is considered to be the largest volcano, however, is the sheer volume of the lava which comprises the mountain; estimated at approximately 18,000 cubic miles, Mauna Loa actually starts its monolithic pile up about 26,000 feet below the sea floor. Furthermore, Mauna Loa has an area of about 2,035 square miles and comprises 50.5% of the island of Hawaii.

When will Mauna Loa erupt again?

Mauna Loa began erupting somewhere between 700,000 and 1,000,000 years ago and has been growing ever since. Since 1832, there have been 33 documented eruptions from Mauna Loa, with the most recent being in March of 1984. Despite the relatively quiet last couple of decades, scientists estimate that Mauna Loa has erupted approximately once every six years over the course of the last 3,000, and she has been intensely monitored by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory since 1912. Most scientists speculate that we will all see her loose her fiery glory again in our lifetimes.

Hiking the Mauna Loa Volcano

As a mountain over 60 miles long, 30 miles wide and 13,680 feet above sea level, there is no shortage of options for places to take a good hike. Whether you want a laid back, 3-4 mile hike up the historic cattle drive route, known as Puu Oo Trail, or would rather challenge yourself to the hike up to Mokuaweoweo, Mauna Loa’s caldera summit, you’re sure to find plenty of excitement along the way. In fact, there are actually several endemic and endangered species which you may be able to spot while hiking up Mauna Loa’s northeastern, cloud forest flank. A few of these species include: akiapolaau, omao, iiwi and apapane.

Mauna Loa volcano is a central part of the Big Island’s ecosystem and geography, and no trip to the island would be complete without paying your respects.

The Kilauea volcano is easily one of the most well known features of the Hawaiian landscape – and for good reason! Kilauea may well be one of the most active volcanoes on earth and her wrath is nothing to be sneered at – it was just short of 20 years ago that the seaside village of Kalapana was lost forever under the molten lava spilled from Kilauea’s gut.

Kilauea is housed in “Pele’s Playground” or what is modernly referred to as Volcano National Park. As the Hawaiian goddess of fire, Pele holds an esteemed position in both traditional and modern Hawaiian folklore. To this day, it is considered foolhardy to take any lava rock off the islands for fear of “Pele’s curse.” Indeed, there may be something to it. The post offices are flooded yearly with lava rocks from woe-begotten souls, pleading with Pele to take back her property and take back her curse!

Nonetheless, Pele’s Playground is well worth spending some time in. The park not only houses such natural wonders as the Kilauea Iki Crater, the Jagger Museum, and the Thurston Lava Tube through which visitors can walk as they marvel at the act of creation to which can be witnessed live at the lava flows. If you’re lucky enough to be there when weather conditions permits, it isvisibile

The visitor’s center does an incredible job of painting the picture of this creation for you, step by magical step. They also help you identify the various kinds of lava that you see as you walk around the park, from Pele’s “tears” and “hair,” which are razor sharp shards of volcanic glass littering the entire grounds, to the rough, pockmarked aa, which will cut your feet if you were foolish enough to walk barefoot.

Of course, one of the best ways to fully immerse yourself in the geography and lore surrounding the Kilauea volcano is to simply take a tour, guided by a knowledgeable local who can give you the inside scoop. No matter how you decide to do it, however, a visit to Kilauea is an experience everyone should have at least once in his or her lifetime!

Maui is renowned for its beautiful beaches, world-class snorkeling and sunny disposition, but if you’ve never taken the Haleakala tours to the summit of the volcano, you’re missing out.

What’s neat is that there is a variety of ways to do this. The two most popular ways involve starting in Kahului and taking the Road to Hana, a 52-mile road that takes you on hairpin curves along the North Shore coast all the way to Hana town where you can then head up to the volcano. Or, you could simply hop on a helicopter and fly directly to the crater – depending on the time you have available and your personal preferences.

Either way, once on Haleakala’s 10,023 ft pinnacle (named Pu’u Ula Ula or “Red Hill”) you’ll be treated to a breathtaking 360 degree view of the Big Island, West Maui, Molokai, Lanai and beyond out into the wide-open blue.

Haleakala takes up three-quarters of the island of Maui, and like all the Hawaiian volcanoes, is known as a shield volcano. Shield volcanoes are named because of the way lightweight lava spreads out in a “shield” formation.

Haleakala is also the world’s largest dormant volcano and has a crater 7 miles wide. This crater is believed to be the location where Maui, a Hawaiian demigod, once snared the sun and held her until she agreed to move more slowly across the skies. It is traditional to watch the sun rise on the top of the summit as a form of paying homage to this legend.

Although Haleakala is still technically considered “active,” this rugged beauty hasn’t erupted since the 1600s. However, the sheer alien-like quality of the crater, devoid of everything but lava cones, doesn’t make that eruption hard to imagine!

Of course, the Haleakala tours aren’t the only sights to see while you’re on this side of the island, but they are certainly some of the most worthwhile! Maybe you can pay a visit to a Pele, another well-known Hawaiian demigod while you’re there. In any case, Maui is full of breathtaking sights that are beyond imagine!

If you are anything like me, you wait till the late minute to make plans, which almost cost me, when I wanted to take one of the Oahu volcano tours.  What happened was, we were vacationing during peak tourist season and many of the tours we wanted to take were completely booked up.

We knew we wanted to take a day trip from Oahu to Maui or the Big Island, but were unsure about which one to book.  We figured we could just hop on with one the tours whenever we were ready and head out one morning to go.  When we got there, they said that they did not have enough room for us to go with them and told us we should have made reservations.

Thankfully we shopped around:

Once we got back to our vacation rental, we started to look for a site that could get us reservations.  That is when we found Hawaii Tours and not only made plans to visit Maui’s Haleakala, but we were also able to get in to the Polynesian Cultural Center which was said to be sold-out.

The Oahu volcano tours that go to Maui are incredible.  We followed the tour to the crater rim and were able to see forever.  One interesting thing we learned was that the rim of the Haleakala Crater is one of only a few places in the world that you can see the phenomenon known as the Brocken bow effect.

This phenomenon only happens in a few places in the world.  The Brocken bow effect happens when, the Sun focuses and magnifies the observers shadow and projects it across the cloudbanks.  The effect can also create the illusion that the shadow has a rainbow around it.

The Polynesian Cultural Center:

The Polynesian Cultural Center was also an experience that we will never forget, which we would not have attended if it had not been for Hawaii Tours.  If you are going to take a trip to Hawaii, my advice is to check out Hawaii Tours and make your reservation upfront.

Thanks to Hawaii Tours, we were able to see most of what we wanted to see. We also learned that when we return, we are going to shop their site at the same time we buy our  airline tickets to insure that we can go on one of the Oahu volcano tours or any of the other tours we might want to take.

Taking in Big Island volcano tours may very well be one of the most fascinating ways of understanding how our earth was formed. When you consider that Hawaii is the most geographically isolated group of islands on our planet, that 90% of the native flora and fauna exists only here, and that the Big Island volcanoes are some of the largest and most active volcanic mountains you can find anywhere, a day spent touring this area is well worth your time!

Can I see active lava flows if I take a Big Island tour?

Yes, you can – weather and environmental conditions permitting anyway.  You should always heed warnings about the safety of getting too close to the lava as there are several potential hazards in doing so including: poisonous gas, suddenly changing flows (which could trap you), crumbling landscape and shards of glass. Ask your local ranger for the best places to visit.

What is this about Big Island volcanoes being the biggest and most active?

There are five separate volcanoes that make up the Big Island of Hawaii and Mauna Loa is the biggest of these by far. In fact, not only does Mauna Loa take up half of the Big Island’s mass, but when you consider her volume from bottom to top, she actually takes the prize for the largest mountain on Earth! (Her estimated height is approximately 56,000 ft, making her over ¾ of a mile taller than Mount Everest.)

Mauna Loa may be the biggest volcano on the planet, but her northern neighbor Mauna Kea is actually considered the tallest mountain – beating Mauna Loa by about 350 ft. This makes her an excellent place for star-gazing. In fact, the world’s largest optical and infrared telescopes actually reside in the W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea’s summit!

Yet, despite Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea’s awe-inspiring size, they come nowhere close to reaching their youngest sister’s level of volcanic activity. With over 61 eruptions in recorded history and owning the record for the longest lasting eruption (which started in 1983 and continues to this day,) Mount Kilauea is perhaps the most volcanically active mountain ever known.  Not only can you visit the core of Kilauea’s activity while on a Big Island volcano tour, but you can also see the remnants of Kalapana, an ill-fated Hawaiian village covered by Kilauea’s 1990 eruption.

As you can see, the Big Island has a lot to offer the curious visitor, and there is no better way to get a personal understanding for that history and the process of new earth created than by embarking on Big Island volcano tours!

I have been fortunate enough to have been able to take some of the best Hawaii volcano tours and I can tell you that no Hawaiian trip is complete without seeing just how the islands where created.  Besides, you can also see what it looks like when fire meets water and creates new land.

Big Island tour from many places in Hawaii:

Without a doubt, most visitors want to see Kilauea’s continuing lava flow into the ocean, but there are several ways to do that.  One popular way is by air, aboard one of the many Hawaii volcano tours in a helicopter.

Aboard a helicopter tour visitor can get as close to the lava flows as possible.  Not only will visitors see the breathtaking lava flows firsthand they will also get to see some of Hawaii’s remote rainforest waterfalls and valleys.  These Hawaii volcano tours vary from 45 minutes to two hours in duration.

If an aerial tour is not for you and you want to see Kilauea with your feet firmly planted on the ground then look into one of the many guided hiking tours.  These tours take visitors to the trailhead where they hike through the remnants of towns that have been swallowed up by Madam Pele’s fury.  In many cases, hikers would never know that they are walking over places where people once lived, until they start seeing street signs poking out of the cooled lava flows.

Unique and magical tours to Maui:

Though Kilauea is the most popular of the Hawaii volcano tours available, there are also other tours on other islands.  One such tour will take visitors to the top of Haleakala on the island of Maui.  This might be one of my favorite Hawaii volcano tours.

Upon the rim of Haleakala you can feel like you have been transported to another world.  This place is pure magic and one of only a couple of place on the globe that people can see the Brocken bow effect firsthand.

The phenomenon happens when the sun and weather is just right, but is usually best in the morning.  What happens is really just an optical illusion where the viewers shadow is magnified across a cloud bank while projecting a halo like rainbow around the head of the shadow.

The best way to be sure you’ll see what you want:

Whenever I go to Hawaii, I usually visit Hawaii Tour to make my reservation upfront, because I know how busy tourist season can be and how hard it is to get tours at the last minute.  If you are going to the islands and what to take any of the Hawaii volcano tours, you should check out Hawaii Tour before you leave home and make reservations to insure your trip to paradise allows you to see everything you want to see and more.

Visiting Maui means sunshine and great beaches, but that’s far from all it has to offer. Hana tours off the east end of the island afford the opportunity to take the road less traveled – and come back with some amazing stories to tell.

The island of Maui can be broken up into 3 distinct regions: Central Maui, Iao Valley and Haleakala Volcano. Because you’ll most likely be flying into Kahului, in Central Maui, there’s no better way to get a feel for the island than to simply head east along the 52 miles of winding road known as “the Road to Hana.” Even better, hire a tour guide to drive you along the hairpin curves in a limo van so that the only thing you have to worry about is getting your camera out fast enough!

Touring the Road to Hana

The Road to Hana will take you through the quaint sugar mill town of Paia, and if you schedule the right tour, you’ll likely head up through Wailuku where you can visit quirky shops and get a feel for Maui’s history at the Bailey House Museum before heading over to Iao Valley. The Iao Needle is a spectacular, 1200 ft tower of lava completely grown over by lush vegetation – making the area a stark contrast from the otherwise mostly volcanic landscapes.

Hana itself has enough treasures to induce you to stay awhile once you get there. As if the opportunity to step away from the crowds weren’t enough, Hana also offers the spectacular 92-ft drop of Wailua Falls.

The ethnobotanical Kahanu Garden you can learn about the traditional and medicinal uses of the native flora and four  distinctly different beaches that offer views of  such rarities as lava walls, sea caves and both black and red sand beaches.

Rounding your Hana Tour Off at the Top of a Volcano

Of course, no trip to Maui would be complete without touring the world’s largest dormant volcano: Haleakala.  Like all the volcanoes in Hawaii, Haleakala is a shield volcano, thanks to the lightweight lava that spreads easily over the land. The crater itself is 7 miles wide and the view from the summit affords a 360-degree panorama of the Big Island, West Maui, Molokai and Lanai. Conveniently enough, several Hana tours take you right to the top, giving you the most complete view of Maui that any visitor could hope to have!