We're doing something similar in June. Staying at The Bay House in Hilo Wed - Fri and then Saturday morning heading to Kauai for two weeks. The Bay House gets great reviews on Tripadvisor. Check out bayhousehawaii.com

Try the Country Goose B&B: www.countrygoose.com

I think your itinerary sounds fantastic (I don't know about permits, sorry). If you're staying in Volcano that first night you should consider heading down to the lava flow, even though I know you plan to do it the following night as well. You don't have to hike all the way out-you can walk to the end of the road (1/2 mile), then veer right about 100 yards to where they usually have rangers stationed with a telescope (you'll see the group). It's different every night, and it's sort of addictive. I only meant to go one night and ended up going 3 because it is just so captivating.

The Volcano Art Center website has a great link for B&Bs in the area, look under Volcano Runs then Travel Information. We stayed at Country Goose last summer and loved it. You won't need permits on any of the hikes you mention except for the one to the eruption point, that one I'm not sure of, it may go outside the park boundaries. You just pay the $20 park entrance fee at the gate.

There is nothing to do there at night! If it's clear and no moon, there will be zillions of stars.

On the hike to the lava flow, pay attention to the recommendations about long pants and gloves, if you walk over the recently cooled lava, it is SHARP.

Hawaii volcano's NP has a very good website and you can get all kinds of trail maps. To my knowledge, no permits are needed. You can hike to the summit of Mauna Loa which, if memory serves, is around 13,000 feet.

http://www.nps.gov/havo/visitor/hike.htm

Take very good hiking shoes and poles, much of the terrain is very difficult.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Mauna Loa is a 4-day hike, isn't it?

I will be staying at Volcano House - turns out there WAS vacancy!

My updated itinerary:

Tuesday: Drive from Hilo Airport to HVNP. Drive down Chain of Craters to view lava flow.

Wednesday: Morning - view Thurston Lava Tube, hike Kileau Iki (4 miles) and Halema'uma'u Trail one way (3.5 miles) [these are short hikes, 2-3 hours each], Evening - Drive down Chain of Craters (20 miles), hike to lava flow (again).

Thursday: All day - hike Napau Trail to eruption point(14 miles)[Has anyone done this? I've seen some photos where people are literally playing with flowing lava.]

Friday: OPEN as of now, what should I do? Black sand beach? Green sand beach? Akaka falls? Kayak with dolphins?

Afternoon - Leave BI for Oahu for 4 nights

Back from HI - saw everything as mentioned in the itinerary but added a manta ray dive in Kona.

www.walktheearth.us/hawaii/hawaii

blog and photos here!

Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us. You put a lot of work into your web page and it shows.

I leave tomorrow morning for a two week trip the BI and Molokai and couldn't be more fired up after looking over your photos.

walktheearth,
What a treasure I found when I found your website today. Since we leave in one week for a week on BI and 5 days on O'ahu, your site was full of fantastic information, very well done and beautiful. Unfortunately, we can only spend two days in VNP, but we won't have trouble keeping busy the whole time. We are staying at Chalet Kilauea, Volcano B&B for the night we are there. Staying at Kona Hawaiian Village the rest of the time. Thanks for sharing!