Its a long hike but definitely worth it. For the hike, you need to be in decent physical shape but not necessarily in great shape. The path is steep. It took us about an hour to go down the base of the crater and come back up. Along the way, you will find amazing plants. I will strongly recommend to not rush it and take in the scenery. The hike is beautiful. For parking, you may want to park at the Lava tube because the start of the hike and the lava tube are easily accessible from there. Even if you park at the lava tube, you should hike to the iki trail's parking lot as there are a no. of look out points along the way. Its about 15 mins to get from lava tube to Iki trail's parking lot. The Iki trail is within the Hawaii Volcano National Park. So the entrance fee of $30 that you will need to pay at the park's entrance is all that's needed. The entrance fee gives you access to the park for 7 consecutive days.

Incredibly unique hike through a diverse range of ecosystems and volcanic landscapes. Pick up a guide book for the trail for $2 at the Visitors Centre. The moderate hike takes 2-3 hours depending on pace and how many stops/photos you take. The lava tubes are along the route, so recommend the short walk through the tubes as well. Highly recommended to experience the crater first hand while you're in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park!

The Kilauea Iki Trail was as impressive as I had hoped. You’ll start at the trail head and have 2 choices: down through the rain forest to the volcano floor or along the rim. Going down the volcano side, through the rain forest, is a bit of a trek. It’s somewhat steep and nothing is level – it’s all down: when going down and it’s all up: when going up. On this morning it was cool, but I can see it turning hot – bring water! The forest had a calming effect for the hike and every once in a while, there was a view. Along the rim, there a fair amount of vista views – the trail was relatively flat, but I’d still wear good hiking shoes. Check out my pic of the caution sign. Also I have a pic of my foot alongside of a steep edge of the trail – no railings here. At the bottom of the volcano, see my pics. it was like being on the moon: desolate and eerily quiet. In one my pics, you can see the trail beyond my hat. This is an interesting and diverse trail that you won’t find in many places.

This is a must-do in Hawaii Volcano National Park. It’s as close to what I imagine walking on Mars, or the moon, would look like. Hiking boots would be best, but tennis shoes will do. Definitely start in the west, rather than the east, as the west side is quite steep and rocky. Going up those rocks and huge steps will definitely be harder than going down them. Also recommend starting early in the day, as the sun can be quite brutal across the crater. We started at 7:45, finished at 9:45. Very rewarding hike.

This is a great experience! Walking clockwise, you switch back down, approximately 600 feet to reach the floor. Walking across the floor is easy until you reach the other rim. You climb up a series of stairs, and switch backs to reach the top.

A hike that shouldn’t be missed. Go early to get a parking space. We went counter clockwise which is the best direction. Don’t miss the Lava Tube at the rim. You can also park at the Visitor Center which adds some flat length. 400 ft vertical elevation change and uneven surfaces makes it a moderate hike. Lots of families so it is not hard if you are in fair shape. Rain forest at the top and desert at the bottom so wear layers. The National Park is chilly most of the time at the rim. Bring water for the hike.

This rainforest trail was thrilling and exciting to hike the rim then onto the face of a live volcano. We travelled counterclockwise through a lush path along a flat trail then to down along a steep and rocky drop into the crater. The route across is lead by rock piles to mark the path which is helpful because there are some rock hopping and weaving to make your way across. As you continue on the trail it turns into finely ground gravel and flattens out before it turns uphill to loop out. The step sections are switchbacks so go slow. Make sure you wear hiking shoes and bring a raincoat and water bottle for the trek.

Amazing hike. Just as advertised in the reviews and description - a 3.6 mile loop with 2 difficult sections - a relatively steep descent (stairs that are uneven) and an ascent that is also steep with uneven height between the steps. Outside of that, a moderate hike with some footing issues with volcanic dust/rock but fairly easy. Took us (we are fast walkers), about 90 minutes to do the loop and take some pictures. Beautiful scenery. Parking at the lava tube was packed (it was noon or so when we got there). Recommendation would be to park at the overlook and start the trail there. Pack some snacks (nut bars, trail mix, etc, with water bottles). Was warm (85 degrees) but we are from Texas and the heat was very manageable. Wish I had more time in the park - would have done a few more trails too. We only did the sulphur banks and this trail. There are several others that would probably be very beautiful as well.

Everything said about HVNP and this trail is absolutely true. Incredible landscape. A must do hike. For the average person who does not exercise, this is going to be a moderate hike. By the time we walked across the crater and started the ascent back up, my elderly parents (age 75 and 80) had a difficult time ascending the steep steps and required some assistance, but they both managed to finish this hike. We took around 4 hours. I would do this hike again!

A hike unlike any other I've done. It was hard to wrap our heads around the scale of the lava floor...and the trail goes across only a tiny part of the entire crater! The hikes down to the floor and back up pose only mild difficulty. Where the trail isn't obvious, it's well-marked with rock cairns. It looks barren in photos, but in person we found the landscape uniquely beautiful. The hike took about 2.5 hours; we finished around 11 AM and were glad to be done as it had gotten pretty hot by then.