Exploring Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Kilauea Visitor’s Center

by Donald B. MacGowan

Rangers give lectures on a host of subjects at the Kilauea Visitor's Center, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Graphic from Photo by Donald B MacGowan

There are many wondrous, enigmatic and fascinating attractions on the Big Island of Hawaii, some better known than others, many out of the way and generally off the beaten track. Tour Guide Hawaii has produced an encyclopedic collection of the most up-to-date information, presented as short GPS-cued videos, in an app downloadable to iPhone and iPod Touch that covers the entire Big Island, highlighting the popular and the uncrowded, the famous and the secluded, the adventurous and the relaxing.

Kilauea Visitor Center

Kilauea Visitor's Center, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan

Newly remodeled and updated, the Kilauea Visitor’s Center is an outstanding resource of information on Hawaii’s volcanoes and the National Park; the not-to-be-missed, definitely first stop in the park you must make. The Center is run by enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff that has the most up-to-date information on viewing the eruption, hiking and camping, bird watching, stargazing and just about any other topic of interest to Park visitors.

Kilauea Visitor's Center Book Shop, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan

Available for sale in the Center are maps, guidebooks, books and videos about the volcanoes, Hawai’iana, history, plants and every topic you can imagine pertinent to the Park, even souvenirs. There are free brochures and pamphlets on various trails, attractions, hiking safety and lava viewing hazards and precautions. Starting at 9 a.m. and showing every hour on the hour is a 20 minute informative movie about the Park; the film changes from time to time, but always contains spectacular footage of eruptions, information on Volcanology and the natural and human history of the Park.

Kilauea Visitor's Center at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan

The Visitor Center is open daily from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m.; there are public restrooms, water and pay phones available. Tuesday evenings the Center is open until 9 p.m. for their “After Dark In The Park” series of free lectures that start at 7 p.m. Lecture topics range from natural history to geology to topics of local and regional importance and are presented by experts and community leaders. Call 808.985.6017 for the schedule of presentations.

The visitor's center has exhibits on about just about everything you need to know about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan

To see the new iPhone/iPod Touch App, please visit http://www.tourguidehawaii.com/iphone.html. The best of Tour Guide Hawaii’s free content about traveling to, and exploring, the Big island, can be found here.For more information on traveling to Hawaii in general and on touring the Big Island in particular, please also visit www.tourguidehawaii.com and www.tourguidehawaii.blogspot.com.

All media copyright 2010 by Donald B. MacGowan. All rights reserved.

Books on a variety of topics are for sale at the Visitor's Center, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Photo by Donald B MacGowan