Hawaiʻi Guide · Audio Driving Tour
Chain of Craters Road BETA
A one-way 18.8-mile descent inside Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, dropping 3,700 feet from the summit of Kīlauea to the coast. Pit craters, rift-zone lava fields, a pali descent with 2,000-foot drops, ancient petroglyphs, and coastal cliffs near the dead end where lava repeatedly covered the former road. ~17 curated segments.
18.8 miles
~45 min driving
9 curated stops
Free self-guided audio tour
~45 min
total driving time
18.8 mi
total distance
9 stops
curated stops
2-3h
suggested day
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Intro
Intro
Audio is temporarily paused while the mileage narration is refreshed to match the current 18.8-mile NPS figure. -
HAVOMILE0.4First of four pit craters in the opening 1.5 miles. Covers the pit-crater primer and previews Puhimau (0.9), thermal hotspot (1.3), and Koʻokoʻolau (1.5) so the driver doesn't need a separate trigger for each.
Audio is temporarily paused while the crater-dimension narration is refreshed to use the current metric and imperial figures. -
2 min from previous stop · 1.2 miHAVOMILE2Side-trip stop. User explicitly wants it included because the lookout is genuinely good, but framed honestly as a 30-minute detour each way.
Audio paused while the vehicle closure is active -
1 min from previous stop · 0.6 miHAVOMILE2.2
Small roadside pullout, unfenced 150×165 ft pit. Arrival narration previews Hiʻiaka (MM 2.5) and Pauahi (MM 3.1) so those don't need their own triggers.
Approach Cue (~12-15 sec)Show transcript
Coming up on the right in about a quarter mile, Devil's Throat—a small roadside pullout. Park on the shoulder, cross the road to a dirt path, and walk carefully to the edge of a 165-foot pit. No guardrails, crumbling edges.Arrival Narration (~45-60 sec)Show transcript
You're standing at the edge of a pit, and the ground just ends. Devil's Throat is 150 feet wide and 165 feet deep—a collapse crater where magma drained and the earth fell in on itself. No fence, no railing, just air between you and the bottom. The edges aren't stable, so stay back from the lip. You're standing on the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea. The craters along this road—Hiʻiaka at mile 2.5, Pauahi at 3.1—line up like beads on a string, each one marking a point where magma pushed up or collapsed. This entire stretch sits on top of an active rift. Pauahi is the massive one, with a boardwalk that gives you a real view of its scale. Mauna Ulu comes up at mile 3.6. Stay back from the lip here, and keep moving makai—toward the ocean—down the road. -
4 min from previous stop · 1.8 miHAVOMILE3.6Spur road off the main drive, half a mile to a parking lot with restrooms. Hike to Puʻu Huluhulu is 1 mi one-way, legitimately interesting. Full Nāpau trail requires a permit.
Approach Cue (~12-15 sec)Show transcript
Mauna Ulu turnoff coming up on the left in about a quarter mile. Short spur road to a parking lot with a restroom. The Puʻu Huluhulu hike is one mile one-way and gives you a real sense of what fresh lava fields look like up close.Arrival Narration (~45-60 sec)Show transcript
You're standing on volcanic ground that's still young—the black lava field around you came from Mauna Ulu, a vent that erupted between 1969 and 1974. That eruption built a 400-foot shield and pushed flows all the way down to the coast, erasing six miles of the old Chain of Craters Road beneath stone. The one-mile walk to Puʻu Huluhulu, a small cinder cone mauka of here (toward the mountain), crosses both sharp aʻā and smooth pahoehoe from those '74 flows. Watch for kīpukas—pockets of forest the lava split around instead of burying. You'll end on top of the cone with views toward Puʻu ʻŌʻō, the vent that kept Kīlauea erupting for 35 years starting in 1983. The trail markers are reflective because the path isn't always obvious on black rock. Pack water; there's no shade out here. When you head back to the car, Mau Loa O Mauna Ulu is the next stop, about two and a half miles down the road. -
Connector · HAVO 2 min drive · 1.1 mi
Mauna Ulu to Mau Loa Connector
Show transcript
You're driving through the Mauna Ulu flows from '69 to '74. Forest used to grow here—now you're on a ribbon of asphalt cutting through black lava. The pahoehoe surface tells you the story if you watch it. Where it's ropy and twisted, the flow was still moving under a skin that had already cooled. Smooth sheets mean it spread out flat and solidified. See those dead tree trunks poking up? Those are lava trees. A flow wrapped around a living trunk, the wood burned away, and the lava kept the shape. Everything around you arrived here in living memory. -
2 min from previous stop · 1.1 miHAVOMILE6.2Roadside pullout overlooking the 1969–74 pahoehoe field. Also the trailhead for the Keauhou Trail (8 mi to the coast, most visitors skip it).
Audio is temporarily paused while the village-history narration is refreshed to match current NPS wording. -
Connector · HAVO 10 min drive · 5.6 mi
Mau Loa to Kealakomo Connector
Show transcript
You're heading into the pali descent now—pali means cliff in Hawaiian, and you're about to drop about two thousand feet from where you are down to the shoreline. The road cuts across the face of Hōlei Pali in switchbacks, so take it slow. The grade is steeper than it looks and there's almost no shoulder out here. As you get lower, the forest opens up and you'll see the coast spread out below you, ocean all the way to the horizon. You don't want to be the person tailgating a rental car that has just realized it's on a cliff. -
10 min from previous stop · 5.6 miHAVOMILE9.6Wooden pavilion perched 2,000 ft above the sea at the top of Hōlei Pali. Handicapped-accessible. The pali descent starts seriously after this point.
Approach Cue (~12-15 sec)Show transcript
Coming up on the mauka side in about a half mile: Kealakomo Overlook. You'll see a wooden pavilion right on the edge of the pali, perched 2,000 feet above the sea. Handicapped-accessible. The serious descent starts after this point, so pull in and take a look.Arrival Narration (~45-60 sec)Show transcript
You're standing 2,000 feet above the sea, and the wind up here will knock you off balance—strong enough that it's a better place to lose your lunch than eat it. Look makai, toward the sea, and you're staring at black lava frozen mid-pour, the flow visible in actual waves down the pali face. Underneath all that rock is the former Kealakomo village site, covered by Maunaulu flows during the 1969–1974 eruption. The Naulu Trail starts here and connects to the Nāpau Crater Trail if you want a long day-hike. Most people spend ten minutes taking in the scale and moving on. Back on the road, you're about to start the real descent, and the hairpin turn at mile 11.5 catches people off guard, so take it slowly. -
Connector · HAVO 7 min drive · 4.2 mi
Kealakomo to Alanui Kahiko Connector
Show transcript
You're coming down Hōlei Pali now, dropping fast. That hairpin at mile 11.5 is sharp—brake well before you hit it. By mile 12, you've dropped to about 1,000 feet and the landscape dries out noticeably. The road swings close to the ocean here. You'll see pullouts with coastal views along this stretch. If steam's rising offshore and the park's posted active lava alerts, that's where lava is entering the ocean. Most days it's just blue water against black rock cliffs. Alanui Kahiko pullout is at mile 13.7—that's where the old road shows through. -
7 min from previous stop · 4.2 miHAVOMILE13.7Arrival narration covers both the Alanui Kahiko pullout (MM 13.7 — buried old road) and Hōlei Pali lookout (MM 14.4 — cliff-face view) as one beat. Those two pullouts are close enough that a second GPS trigger would clutter the playback.
Audio is temporarily paused while the lava-flow attribution is refreshed to match current USGS wording. -
Connector · HAVO 3 min drive · 2.5 mi
Alanui Kahiko to Puʻuloa Connector
Show transcript
You're on the coastal bench now—flat ground between the pali and the ocean. Everything around you is young lava, flows from the last few hundred years. Keep your eyes open for nēnē, the state bird. They're endangered and they don't understand cars very well, so slow down if you see them near the road. The petroglyph trailhead is coming up on your right. -
3 min from previous stop · 2.5 miHAVOMILE15.9Approximately 23,000 ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs. The 1.4-mile round-trip trail reaches a boardwalk at the main site. Piko holes are the most common image. Vog risk at dusk.
Audio is temporarily paused while the trail-distance narration is refreshed to reflect the current 1.4-mile round trip. -
Connector · HAVO 4 min drive · 2.2 mi
Puʻuloa to Coastal Turnaround Connector
Show transcript
As you continue toward the coastal turnaround, remember that older photographs show Hōlei Sea Arch here, but it collapsed in September 2026. Ahead, the lava fields meet the Pacific, and the road reaches its coastal end. Follow posted signs and barriers when you arrive. The cliffs are unstable, so keep well back from the edges and stay out of closed areas. We'll finish at the turnaround, then return along the same road toward the summit. -
4 min from previous stop · 2.2 miHAVOMILE18.8NPS confirmed October 1, 2026 that Hōlei Sea Arch was standing September 23 but had collapsed by the night of September 27. The exact time is unknown. The photograph shows the arch before its collapse. Check current park conditions, stay out of closed areas, and keep back from unstable cliff edges.
Approach Cue (~14–16 sec)Show transcript
At the coastal turnaround, follow the posted signs and park in a designated space before exploring on foot. This is the former Hōlei Sea Arch stop; the arch has collapsed. Stay out of closed areas and keep back from the cliff edges.Arrival Narration (~41–44 sec)Show transcript
At the coastal end of Chain of Craters Road, you may remember a photograph of a rock arch stretching into the Pacific. That was Hōlei Sea Arch. It has collapsed. The National Park Service confirmed that it was still standing on September 23, 2026, and had fallen by the night of September 27. The exact time is unknown. Take in the coastal scenery from permitted areas, following every posted barrier. The cliffs are unstable and can collapse without warning. Keep back from the edges, and don't enter the closed area to look for the arch's remains. When you're ready, return along the same road toward the summit, with the lava fields you passed on the way down ahead of you. -
Outro
Outro
Show transcript
You're headed back up now, and the drive back always feels faster once you've seen it once. The light's going to shift on you though — afternoon sun hitting the pali differently, shadows stretching across the rift zone. You'll probably see more steam rising off the summit caldera as things cool down. When you reach Crater Rim Drive, you've got options. Kīlauea Iki trailhead is right there if you've got energy left. The summit caldera overlooks and the old Jaggar Museum site are within a few miles, along with the Thurston Lava Tube. You covered about two percent of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park today. Not bad work at all.
This tour is created with AI from HawaiiGuide route content and read by the computer-generated Mele and Kani voices. Hawaiian names and place names may occasionally be mispronounced — mahalo for your patience as we refine.
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Hawaiʻi Weather Forecast
Today’s Weather Brief · Audio · ~45s
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Dry conditions on Oʻahu today, with breezy wind in exposed areas. Drier weather continues through Wednesday as moisture clears out.
A medium-sized northwest swell will bring elevated surf to north and west-facing shores tonight through Sunday morning—conditions may briefly reach advisory levels. East-facing shores stay rough through the weekend. Winds remain breezy through Sunday, easing slightly Monday and Tuesday before picking up again Wednesday. A Small Craft Advisory is active through Monday morning for most coastal waters due to wind and sea state. Scattered showers arrive Thursday into Friday.
South and west shore beaches work well through Sunday for calmer conditions. North shore is worth watching tonight and Sunday morning if you're drawn to bigger waves.
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