We drove to the town of Pahoa, which was affected by Lava flow back in November 2014. It was pretty impressive to see closely how thick actually Lava can be, and how much it can destroy on ist way. There were also some People that died under the flowing heat, which made me very sad. Pahoa is a Little town 15 minutes away from Hilo, so it’s pretty easy to reach.

After our short stop in Pahoa we went up to Volcano to visit the Volcano National Park. The Park is really huge, and surrounds two craters that are still active. It was quite interesting to see the earth fuming everywhere. The shorter part of the trail takes around 2 hours and it’s a pretty easy hike, so it won’t be a big Problem if you’ll bring Kids. It took us around 1 hour to drive up there. There are entrance fees: 10$ for vehicles and 5$ for pedestrians.
The park includes the pretty volcano house, a Hotel with Restaurant overlooking the active crater, and the Volcano art Center, which Features a lot of local art, mostly inspired by the heat and the volcano goddess Pele.

Today instead, we decided to visit the closer located Akaka Falls, a beautiful state park fullfilled by jungle plants and the lovely cascades coming down from the hill. It’s a nice asphalted trail, so it can even be walked in flip Flops. The entrance for pedestrian is 1$ if you park your car just before the park Begins.

Later we went back to Hilo to see our homebase by day. It’s a lovely vintage City overlooking the bay, the most buildings were built back in the beginning of 1900, and there are plenty of Little cafes, vintage Shops and Restaurants for every taste. Another pleasant surprise was the Farmer’s Market, which Features a lot of local Food and fruits, and some Souvenirs.
If you have more time, make sure to visit the art deco building of the Tsunami Museum. For those who want to hit a lovely beach, Richardson Ocean Park was my favourite, as I showed in my latest post.

I am a big fan of colorful places and vintage homes, that’s maybe why I liked Hilo so much. I really hope to come back soon to this lovely place. And my host Kawehi just made it a lot better <3.