Greta’s cabin is super cosy, very well thought out and equiped.
The kitchen is great, with spacious countertops and great pots and pans to make scrumptious dinners from local farmers marker finds.
The outside yard is landscaped but feels very natural, which we loved. So lush and beautiful with tropical plants and flowers. Every day a family of birds came by to peck in the grass while we prepared breakfast.
We did not see much of Volcano Village itself so cannot comment in the atmosphere there, as we were either outside the town or hanging at the cabin and in the yard because we loved it there so much.
We had our 3yo daughter with us, who was in awe the moment we pulled into the driveway.
She loved to lie down on the living room corner bed and listen to the birds outside.
The yard was truly wonderful for her, with all sorts of fun corners to explore, some wild nature, wet mosses, and amazing plants to look at.
We originally came to spend time in the Volcano park to watch the active lava and steamy caldera - but as we found out after booking our vacation, the eruption in 2018 has put an end to the lava activity at Kilauea. Probably for some time.
The park is still recovering from the structural damage, with some permanent closures like the Jaggar museum, and some possibly temporary ones like the Thurston lava tube.
So we ended up switching gears and taking a day to visit Hilo and the Onomea Bay Botanical gardens, and another to drive to the southern tip of the island, stop by the Punalu’u bake shop (lunch at Hana Hou accross the street was great too), visit the Kula Kai lava caves in Ocean View, and go looks for crabs and turtles at Punalu’u black sand beach.
The day we actually spent at the volcano park ended up being mostly foggy and rainy, so the available hikes and views were probably not as great as they could have been. The volcano remains elusive to us!
But our drives to hilo and punalu’u were absolute highlights and we are so glad we switched gears to explore the island more.
Volcano Village does put you right smack in the middle of the south/east area so it’s a good place to be for a few days, and you are away from the heat!
The Volcano Cottage was a wonderful family time in a landscape that felt magical to us. Unforgettable!