Kīlauea has been erupting in on-and-off episodes at its summit since December 2024, and the park entrance is a 45-minute drive south of Hilo on Highway 11. The rest of our five: Maunakea stargazing, the Onomea scenic drive, helicopter flights from Hilo airport, and Rainbow Falls inside the city itself.
If you’re deciding whether Hilo deserves a night or two: every pick here sits within an hour of downtown, so one night covers most of this list. The catch is the rain, which falls here far more often than on the Kona side and is the reason the hills around town stay green. Bring a rain jacket, and if you get one clear evening, spend it on Maunakea.
- Our 5 favorite activities:
- Stargazing
- Scenic Drives
- Waterfalls
- Seeing the lava
- Take a Helicopter tour
- Our favorite places to eat in Hilo
5 Favorite activities close to Hilo
Hilo lies on the youngest side of the island, and a short drive to the southeast takes you to the Puna district and the thermal ponds at Pohoiki. See our complete list of things to do in Hilo.
Stargazing
Stargazing is our favorite of the five. The drive up Saddle Road to the Maunakea Visitor Information Station at 9,200 feet works for any car, and the station made our list of stargazing spots in Hawaiʻi; going higher than the station requires 4WD or a tour. The station’s nightly telescope program hasn’t returned since it stopped in 2019, but staff run a sky talk after twilight on clear nights, plus one free reservation-only telescope evening a month.
Read more in our Mauna Kea visitor guide.
Telescopes at the Maunakea observatories, Hawaiʻi: the Subaru Telescope, the W. M. Keck Observatory, and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility
Scenic drives and hot ponds
Everything around Hilo grows fast and green because of the rain, and two scenic drives close to Hilo show it off: the Onomea (Pepeʻekeo) scenic drive just north of town, and what is left of the Kapoho-Kalapana “red road” in Puna. The 2018 eruption buried that road’s northern end along with the old Kapoho hot ponds; our hot ponds guide covers what survived, including the new thermal ponds that formed at Pohoiki.
The Kapoho-Kalapana road (“red road”) in Puna, photographed before the 2018 eruption buried its northern end and the Kapoho-area hot ponds
Waterfalls
Try to see at least one of the four waterfalls in or close to Hilo; Rainbow Falls is minutes from downtown. With more time, or on a day trip toward Kona, continue up the Hāmākua coast.
The volume of the rainbow falls (or Waianuenue) changes on a daily basis. This is what the falls look like after a good rain upstream
Seeing the lava
Kīlauea has been erupting in episodes at its summit crater since December 2024: fountaining bursts separated by pauses of days or weeks, with the glow visible from overlooks in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park while an episode runs. Check our lava viewing guide before you go, because between episodes there is no lava to see on the surface.
The Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park entrance is a 45-minute drive from Hilo on Hwy 11, just past the Village of Volcano. We rate the park the single best destination in the state.
A guided group crosses a hardened lava field at sunset
Helicopter tours
Hilo is the most popular departure point for helicopter tours: flights from Hilo Airport reach the waterfall country and Kīlauea’s summit in under an hour.
The short flight time makes Hilo departures cheaper than comparable tours from the island’s west side. Read more about helicopter tours from Hilo.
A tour helicopter circles a smoking vent, lava glowing below.
Culinary highlights: our favorite places to eat in Hilo
The first thing to try in Hilo is the strawberry mochi from Two Ladies Kitchen.
The Hilo farmers market is a central place to pick up fresh produce and souvenirs for the people back home. And have you ever heard of a “loco moco”? The loco moco is a favorite local style dish with steamed rice, a hamburger patty, fried egg and brown gravy. Many restaurants serve them, but Cafe 100 calls itself the “Home of the Loco Moco” and serves more than 30 varieties.
More of our Hilo picks are in the Restaurants in Hilo guide.