STAYING AT KILAUEA LODGE CAN ENHANCE VOLCANO VISIT.

Byline: - Eric Noland

VOLCANO VILLAGE, Hawaii - It's difficult enough to tackle Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in a day, but factoring in a drive from Kona, the Kohala Coast or even nearby Hilo will only complicate the undertaking.

Fortunately, an excellent lodging option lies just one mile from the park entrance. It is the Kilauea Lodge, which offers a dozen rooms and a couple of cottages in this serene little town.

Its location enables visitors to marshal their energy for explorations of the park and is particularly handy for those who want to view active lava flows just after dark at the end of Chain of Craters Road. The 25-mile drive back to the lodge in the dark is more than enough to take on.

The inn is housed in a Depression-era YMCA, but don't let that put you off. There is no institutional-green paint, balky plumbing or pervading smell of disinfectant. Innkeepers Albert and Lorna Jeyte undertook an exhaustive refurbishment in 1986 and have produced a delightful property, with comfortable appointments and an excellent restaurant.

The lodge is a welcome alternative to the Volcano House, which perches on the rim of the Kilauea Caldera on the grounds of the national park. The Volcano House and its mediocre breakfast and lunch buffets are overrun with tour-bus patrons and other visitors throughout the day.

The Kilauea Lodge has more the feel of a mountain retreat. Sitting at 3,700 feet, it experiences much cooler temperatures than those found in Hawaii's beach areas, and the region routinely receives 100 inches of annual rainfall. Out the windows of your room or the dining room, you won't see the ocean or mountains, but rather rain forest.

Thus, the comforters on the beds and the wood-burning fireplaces found in some of the rooms, as well as an outdoor hot tub for communal use, are welcome features. Other nice touches include the work of the local artist community displayed on the walls and vases of fresh flowers in the rooms.

The inn sits on a side road that parallels Highway 11 from Hilo, and with this seclusion and the frequent rainfall, it's easy to zonk out through the night.

At dinner, the German heritage of Albert Jeyte, who doubles as the chef, is evident in the hearty dishes and preponderance of game: rabbit, duck, venison, antelope. The wine list features a number of reasonably priced selections, as well as a lot of split-bottle options.

We found the service to be hit-and-miss at both dinner and breakfast (the latter is included in the room rate), but the experience was generally pleasant - made all the more so by the gentle contemporary Hawaiian music playing on the sound system.

A fire burns most nights in a distinctive stone fireplace in the restaurant. Turns out the kids at the YMCA wanted it to be unique, so a letter-writing campaign implored service organizations around the world to send a distinctive stone from their area. The fireplace was constructed of whatever arrived in the mail.

Rooms at the Kilauea Lodge start at $125 per night (breakfast included). Some of the rooms are in a refurbished YMCA dormitory, but we enjoyed one of the seven rooms in the Hale Aloha Building, constructed in 1991. Information and reservations: [phone]; www.kilauealodge.com.

F YOU GO

GETTING THERE: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is on the southeast side of the Big Island of Hawaii. It is 28 miles from Hilo along an improved Highway 11. It is a 98-mile drive from Kona along the southern edge of the island, 97 miles from the Kohala Coast around the north end (each of the latter two drives requires two hours or more).

COSTS: A fee of $10 per vehicle is charged for admission to the park. It is good for seven days.

TRAVELER TIPS: Gas up in advance. No gasoline is sold in the park, and the stuff you can get at the general store in nearby Volcano Village is priced about 20 cents higher per gallon than what you'll find in Hilo. Lunch is best done picnic-fashion on a drive or hike in the park. The best option for sandwiches to go is JP's Volcano Cafe, at the corner of Old Volcano Road and Haunani Road in Volcano Village. Be sure to pop into the Volcano Store while waiting - it's the classic general store from Hawaii's plantation era, with a weathered, wood-plank floor. The store also has an impressive collection of Hawaii-related books.

VOLCANO ART CENTER: Stop in here if only for a slice of regional history. The center, right next to the Kilauea Visitor Center, is housed in an 1877 building that provided the first accommodations for curious travelers drawn to the Kilauea volcano. The center has an extraordinary display of Hawaiian arts and crafts on display, most of it for sale. If you're looking for items of high quality, skip the various volcano-area gift shops and come here.

INFORMATION: The national park's automated main number, [phone], can route you to current eruption and lava-flow information. Mercifully, it's not difficult to get a real person on this line - then to be transferred to the Kilauea Visitor Center, where the rangers are very helpful. The park's Web site, www.nps.gov/havo, also has lava-viewing information - it seems to be updated daily. Click on ``in depth,'' then on ``viewing lava'' to get comprehensive information about lava danger and hiking precautions.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) Just a mile from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea Lodge is housed in a former 1930s YMCA that has been thoroughly refurbished.

(2) The Halemaumau Crater fascinated Mark Twain when it was a lake of fire in the late 1800s.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor

Box:

(1) IF YOU GO (see text)