United States
Hawai'i Volcanoes
Molten lava meeting the ocean in a hiss of steam on an island still being born.
The ground radiates heat through the soles of your boots. Steam vents hiss from cracks in rock that did not exist a generation ago. At the crater rim, the glow of molten lava reflects off the underside of the gas plume — an orange pulse that brightens and fades like something breathing. Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is the only place in the United States where you can watch new land being made.
Kīlauea, within Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island, has been one of the world's most continuously active volcanoes since 1983. The lava lake in Halema'uma'u Crater is visible glowing from the overlook on most nights. Chain of Craters Road descends 3,700 feet from the summit to the coast, passing lava fields that buried the road itself in 1995 — the pavement ends exactly where the flow stopped. The Thurston Lava Tube, a 500-foot cooled lava channel, is naturally ventilated and framed by ferns growing in the moisture rising from its interior. In 1990, lava flows engulfed the community of Kalapana — street signs and house foundations remain visible at low tide on the black lava coast, a reminder that this island is still under construction.
Family
Children who have only seen volcanoes in textbooks will stand at the crater rim and understand geology in a single moment. The lava tube walk and steam vents are accessible for all ages, and the drive down Chain of Craters Road turns a science lesson into an adventure.
Couple
The crater glow at dusk — watched from the rim with the smell of sulphur and the sound of shifting rock — is one of the most elemental experiences in the national park system. It demands nothing but presence.
Friends
Hiking across fresh lava fields, exploring lava tubes by torchlight, and watching the caldera glow after dark gives a group the kind of raw, edge-of-the-earth experience that indoor activities cannot replace.
- Kīlauea has been one of the world's most continuously active volcanoes since 1983 — the lava lake in Halema'uma'u Crater is visible glowing from the overlook most nights.
- Chain of Craters Road descends 3,700 feet from the summit to the coast, passing lava fields that buried the road itself in 1995 — the pavement ends where the flow stopped.
- The Thurston Lava Tube, a 500-foot cooled lava channel, is naturally ventilated and illuminated — ferns grow at both entrances in the moisture rising from the tube interior.
- The Kalapana community was engulfed by lava flows in 1990 — street signs and house foundations remain visible at low tide on the black lava coast, accessible from the end of the Chain of Craters Road.
Fresh-caught opakapaka at a Volcano Village restaurant surrounded by tree ferns.
Macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup at a bed-and-breakfast near the caldera.
Poha berry jam from a farmer's market in Volcano, sweet-tart and local.
Pedra de Lume
Cape Verde
Float in a salt lake inside an extinct volcano, crater walls rising on every side.
Vale do Paúl
Cape Verde
Sugarcane terraces spill down a volcanic crater into the greenest valley in the archipelago.
Monastery of St. Anthony
Egypt
Earth's oldest inhabited monastery, wedged into a Red Sea mountain canyon since the fourth century.
Hoang Su Phi
Vietnam
Rice terraces so vertiginous they look like topographical maps carved directly into the sky.
Lander
United States
A river vanishes underground and resurfaces a quarter-mile later in a pool of giant trout.
Craters of the Moon
United States
A lava field so alien that NASA trained Apollo astronauts on these flows for moon missions.
New Orleans
United States
Jazz spilling from doorways at 2 a.m. while beignet sugar dusts your collar.
Savannah
United States
Spanish moss dripping into squares where horse hooves echo on cobblestones after dark.