There’s plenty for families to do at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. You can still take in the sites and explore with a toddler. We recently spent a day visiting the park for our second time. (Our first trip to the island of Hawaii was in 2014 on our honeymoon.) You could spend days here, or you can squeeze in quite a bit of adventure in just part of one day.
What we did at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with a toddler:
- Thurston Lava Tube. Though the walk is somewhat dark, it was easy for V to walk through it. It isn’t long at all. (You can find other lava tubes to visit, but they might not be suitable for toddlers.) Hold your toddler’s hand in any wet areas. Rain boots wouldn’t be a bad idea.
- Admire the craters/views from the viewpoints. Bring snacks and water!
- Drive to sea arch and grab ice pops from the stand next to the ranger station. Along the drive you can stop and see the craters and lava rocks. At the end of the drive you park and walk toward the sea arch. It isn’t a long walk. You have to keep an eye on your children here because the barrier wall does not extend all the way. Then grab some popsicles for $6 each (It’s worth it on a hot day.) for the drive back. There are restrooms here as well.
- Lunch at Volcano House. We admired a view of the volcano from our table. Our toddler loved looking out the window at the smoke.
Have you been to the Big Island or Hawaii Volcanoes National Park?
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Marette Flora is the founder of Floradise blog and personalized gift shop. Marette is a passionate storyteller and creator. She attended the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication.
She is passionate about creating helpful and meaningful things.
We spent our honeymoon in Maui and I remember thinking that I hope I’m brave enough to bring a baby/toddler there one day! Your trip is very inspiring and I love the video!
So beautiful! And there is so much exploring to do! What a great trip!
This sounds like such a lovely time! So great that you did it all with a toddler, too. One of my main concerns with having my first baby eventually is not being able to travel and do things, so I love reading stuff like this and knowing that there’s ways to make it work!
I didn’t get to go there when we were in Hawaii and we really wanted to!! Next time!!
I have been to hawaii once and never made it here! I will next time tho!!!