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We've compiled the best of the best in Puna - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Tree molds that rise like blackened smokestacks formed here in 1790, when a lava flow swept through the ohia forest. Some reach as high as 12 feet. A meandering trail provides close-up looks at some of Hawaii's tropical plants and trees, and there are restrooms and a couple of picnic pavilions and tables. Mosquitoes live here in abundance, so be prepared.
This park was one of the few coastal parks in the Lower Puna region spared in the 2018 Kilauea eruption. A breezy ironwood grove overlooks rocky shoreline cliffs and offers a pavilion, picnic tables, and restrooms—but no drinking water. The park is significant for the restored section of the old King's Trail system, which circled the coast in the pre-contact era. In those days, regional chiefs used the trails to connect coastal villages and for the transportation of food and materials. Views take in the rugged coast, rocky beach, and coastal dry forest. There's good shore fishing here, so you might see some locals with a line or two in the water.
Dating from the 1930s, this historic church, now a community center, is known for its colorfully painted folk-art interior. It was moved to its present location in 1990 just ahead of the advancing lava flow that destroyed the Kalapana area. The church was built by a Belgian Catholic missionary priest, Father Evarist Gielen, who also painted the detailed scenes on the church's interior. Though similar in style, the Star of the Sea and St. Benedict's (in South Kona) were painted by two different Belgian priests. Star of the Sea also holds several stained-glass windows and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
