Hawaiian Islands

Overview:

“Alo­ha” – the par­adise islands of Poly­ne­sian Hawaii are a blitz of sparkling gold­en sun kissed beach­es, blue turquoise waters swim­ming with marine life, rolling green val­leys, deep rouge canyons, lava spew­ing vol­ca­noes, dense trop­i­cal rain­for­est and some of the best and adven­tur­ous hik­ing trails, breath-tak­ing snorkelling and div­ing and roads on the plan­et. Awash with stun­ning nat­ur­al scenery, the 50th state of the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca Hawaii is made up of 136 gor­geous islands and along­side being an adventurer’s play­ground is also a place of deep spir­i­tu­al­i­ty, unique indige­nous cul­ture, and the sight of some of the most his­toric and world chang­ing events – which com­bined with the beau­ty of its islands help make Hawaii one of the most fas­ci­nat­ing, adven­tur­ous and tru­ly beau­ti­ful won­ders of the world.  

A true haven, of the 136 islands all but 7 remain inhab­it­ed and giv­en the ease of access and devel­op­ment you’ll find the true high­lights on the four “main” islands of The Big Island, Oahu, Maui and Kauai – which allow explor­ers to take on the best of Hawaii and immerse them­selves in local tra­di­tions and cul­ture while also enjoy­ing the best com­forts and lux­u­ry the world has to offer.  

Across these big four islands, you’ll find each is blessed with immense coast­lines and stun­ning beach­es, with each islands also hav­ing its own unique iden­ti­fy sand won­der – with the big island home to the Lava spew­ing and erupt­ing thrills of the Vol­cano Nation­al park and the tow­er­ing Mau­na Loa and impos­ing Kilauea, as well as a series of black sand beach­es where you’ll find curi­ous if grumpy tur­tles nest­ing.  

On Oahu – the gath­er­ing place – you’ll find not only the famed streets of Hon­olu­lu and the soft icon­ic beach­es of Waiki­ki and Lanikai but also the snorkel­ers par­adise of Hanau­ma Bay and for those who dare it the chance the cage dive with sharks at Shark Cove, with it being on Oahu you’ll also get the chance to immerse your­self in local Hawai­ian Cul­ture – with Oahu being home to the edu­ca­tion­al and explo­rative Poly­ne­sian cul­ture cen­tre – and for our mon­ey the tasti­est Luau across the islands.  

On Maui — you’ll find one of the great­est sun­rise on the plan­et, with the spec­ta­cle at the Haleakala crater being tru­ly jaw drop­ping and mak­ing the ear­ly start tru­ly worth it as you look out over one of the most stun­ning sights on the plan­et. Maui is also a favourite spot of Hump­backs, with whale watch­ing and dol­phin swim­ming avail­able across the island dur­ing the sea­son. But for us the real high­light of Maui are the twists and turns of the Hana High­way – an incred­i­ble 40 mile jour­ney tak­ing you past stun­ning water­falls, rain­bow coloured trees and some of the most stun­ning val­leys, beach­es and look­outs that show off the best of Hawaii – with the chal­leng­ing road being undoubt­ed­ly one of the great­est dri­ves on the plan­et.  

For those who jour­ney to the Gar­den Isle and the lush green­ery of Kauai, you’ll find not only gor­geous beach­es and the “pacif­ic Grand Canyon” in the Waimea Canyon, but also one of the most icon­ic and stun­ning sights on the plan­et, with the dra­mat­ic, inspir­ing, and stun­ning Na Pali Coast – made famous in Juras­sic Park – occu­py­ing part of the island’s north­ern coast­line. The incred­i­ble coast­line, which counts tow­er­ing cliffs, rolling streams, deep jun­gle, sparkling beach­es, rolling green val­leys, cas­cad­ing water­falls and deep val­leys amongst its won­ders, is a true spec­ta­cle, and you can explore it on foot on the great Kalalau trail, on air or by boat – with the sun­set here being par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial and roman­tic and the Na Pali Coast­line tru­ly encap­su­lat­ing the best of Hawaii’s nat­ur­al beau­ty.  

Along­side the nat­ur­al beau­ty and despite the geo­graph­i­cal dis­tance from main­land Amer­i­ca – Hawaii lies more than 3,750 miles off the coast of Cal­i­for­nia – events at Hawaii have tru­ly shaped and defined Amer­i­can his­to­ry. With it being the events at Pearl Har­bour on the Oahu Island on the 7th of Decem­ber 1941 which trig­gered the direct involve­ment of the Unit­ed States into the Sec­ond World War. Mak­ing for an impor­tant step away from an island get-away to under­stand and pay respect to the fall­en, today explor­ers can vis­it the remains of the USS Ari­zona and explore a touch­ing and thought-pro­vok­ing muse­um that under­lines the sac­ri­fices made in what is one of the key and defin­ing moments of the 21st Cen­tu­ry.  

A place like no oth­er, the unique blend of awe-inspir­ing sun­set and sun­ris­es, peace­ful daz­zling beach­es and turquoise waters com­bined with the nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­na of vol­canic activ­i­ty, the great Na Pali Coast lines, chal­leng­ing adven­tures and the sto­ried and influ­en­tial his­to­ry, spir­i­tu­al­i­ty and cul­ture tru­ly pro­vides some­thing for every­one across the whole of Hawaii, and there’s no doubt that an explo­ration across these incred­i­ble islands is both thrill-seek­ing, enchant­i­ng and life chang­ing and leaves explor­ers in no doubt that the par­adise islands of Hawaii are a true won­der of the world.  

Where:  

Although Hawaii stands as the 50th state of the Unit­ed States, it lies more than 2,000 miles from any oth­er state and main­land USA – with the 136 par­adise islands lying slap bang in the mid­dle of the Pacif­ic Ocean and just below the Trop­ic of Can­cer.  

 

Getting there:

Despite its long dis­tance from main­land USA – the Hawai­ian Islands – and par­tic­u­lar­ly ‘the big four’ are incred­i­bly acces­si­ble with the islands being served dai­ly by mul­ti­ple flights by mul­ti­ple routes both domes­ti­cal­ly and inter­na­tion­al – mak­ing flight the eas­i­est and cheap­est option to reach these incred­i­ble islands.  

Fur­ther with the Hawai­ian Islands, being the 50th state it makes entry also incred­i­ble easy as a flight from with­in Amer­i­ca is con­sid­ered domes­tic – mean­ing for those fly­ing inter­nal­ly you can avoid poten­tial­ly long lines at cus­toms (hav­ing already cleared them upon your arrival else­where with­in the Unit­ed States) and sim­ply breeze your way straight onto the gold­en shores that await you with­in Hawaii.  

For this rea­son, while you can fly direct to Hawaii from Aus­tralia, Japan or Cana­da for those vis­i­tors fly­ing inter­na­tion­al­ly, we’d strong­ly rec­om­mend bas­ing your­self out of the Unit­ed States and fly­ing on a domes­tic flight into Hawaii (Hon­olu­lu) for a cheap­er, smoother, and more enjoy­able expe­ri­ence.  

You’ll find the best port of call for fly­ing into Hawaii is the main air­port and cap­i­tal of Hon­olu­lu on the Oahu Island – which is served from states across main­land USA – as although there are direct flights to Maui, the big island and Kauai – the Hawai­ian cap­i­tal and the state’s main air­port serve as both a fan­tas­tic launch­pad to afford­ably and eas­i­ly reach the oth­er states and the island of Oahu and its fas­ci­nat­ing won­ders serve as a great place to begin your Hawai­ian adven­ture. 

Getting around the Islands: 

No trip to Hawaii should be lim­it­ed to just one of the islands and we’d rec­om­mend as a min­i­mum mak­ing time to explore the gold­en sands and nat­ur­al land­scapes and won­ders across at least the big four islands on any jour­ney.  

To get across the major and big four islands, the eas­i­est option is to sim­ply fly from island to island – with there being a range of flights across the islands that can quick­ly and eas­i­ly drop you from air­port to air­port to allow for your explo­ration on each island to being, with the major air­port on the Big Island being Kona, on Maui Kahu­lui and on Kauai Lihue – all of which are well ser­viced by flights and pro­vide for a great land­ing spot to being explor­ing each island.  

For those who take on a heli­copter tour on the islands – and we’d rec­om­mend tak­ing one over the Vol­cano Nation­al Parks on the big island and on the Na Pali Coast on Kauai – you can also find the option to extend your flight and be dropped off at anoth­er island, which makes for a great option­al way of trans­fer­ring between islands at your own con­ve­nience, with the poten­tial to save a few dol­lars – and also giv­ing you an extra spe­cial trip across the blue pacif­ic ocean onto your next island.  

In terms of get­ting around the islands them­selves and to the nat­ur­al won­ders across them, you’ll find a range of pub­lic trans­port avail­able on Oahu avail­able to you, par­tic­u­lar­ly around down­town Hon­olu­lu, and across all four islands there are a range of taxi and Uber options who can drop you of at the won­ders to allow you to explore. You’ll also find a range of tour options across all four of the main islands to get you close and allow you to explore the won­ders – with these tours being the log­i­cal and some­time only option for some of the won­ders – such as shark div­ing, heli­copter tours and trips to island reefs for snorkelling and div­ing.  

But to get the absolute best out of the islands and to ensure you get to explore the best of the islands won­ders, we’d real­ly encour­age and advise you to hire a car to explore the islands and reach some of the stun­ning won­ders. While this is par­tic­u­lar­ly rec­om­mend­ed for the island of Maui – where you’ll find one of the great­est high­ways in the world in the Hana High­way – which is a true high­light, you’ll also find stun­ning won­ders and roads across the oth­er three islands which are only acces­si­bly be car (see below) – so to get the best out of these islands we’d real­ly encour­age you to hire a car on each island to allow you to freely get around and tru­ly explore the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the islands of Hawaii. 

Best time to Visit: 

There is tru­ly no bad time to vis­it these incred­i­ble islands – so much of your time and date of trav­el will come down to your own per­son­al pref­er­ence and what you want to get out of the expe­ri­ence.  

For those who want to enjoy a rain free vaca­tion and warm weath­er, beach­es and water – then vis­it­ing between the months of March and Octo­ber are for you – when the skies are blue and the days and weath­er add to the par­adise feel of these incred­i­ble islands. Although do be warned that you’ll find crowds and prices at a pre­mi­um dur­ing the months of June and July dur­ing the sum­mer hol­i­days.  

For those who are pre­pared to chance a few wet days but want to expe­ri­ence the best of the surf and vis­it dur­ing whale watch­ing sea­son then the months of Novem­ber – March are for you, where you’ll find the weath­er cool­er but wildlife a plen­ty which can make for an incred­i­ble com­bi­na­tion and real­ly add to the mys­tique and beau­ty of the islands – with Jan­u­ary being a par­tic­u­lar­ly notable month for whale watch­ing enthu­si­asts. Again though do be warned that the months between Decem­ber – Feb­ru­ary are par­tic­u­lar­ly noto­ri­ous for crowds and price increas­es as peo­ple come to expe­ri­ence both Christ­mas and escape from the cold of Amer­i­ca Main­land.  

There­fore while Hawaii is a par­adise all year round – and you’re for in for a tru­ly beau­ti­ful expe­ri­ence what­ev­er time of the year you vis­it – for those who want the best of both worlds with warm days, whale watch­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and min­i­mum crowds we’d encour­age you to vis­it from the mid­dle march up to the start of April – where you can tru­ly enjoy the absolute best of these stun­ning islands.  

 

Explore:   

A nat­ur­al par­adise, the 136 islands of Hawaii are home to more than 100 stun­ning beach­es, curi­ous and rare wildlife, lava spew­ing vol­ca­noes, dense trop­i­cal rain­for­est, and some of the great­est hikes, dri­ves and div­ing and snorkelling on the plan­et – with the great island par­adise tru­ly being an explorer’s play­ground and hav­ing some­thing for every­one.  

Although all but 7 of these islands are cur­rent­ly called home by peo­ple, some of the Islands – for both cul­tur­al and prac­ti­cal­i­ty rea­sons are off lim­its – and giv­en the ease of access, beau­ty and won­ders that await you we rec­om­mend cen­tring your vis­it around the four “main” islands of The Big Island, Maui, Oahu and Kauai – where you’ll find the best of Hawaii and be able to ful­ly immerse your­self in the tra­di­tions, beau­ty and nat­ur­al won­ders of the Hawai­ian Islands.  

A place also of cul­ture and his­to­ry – with Oahu being the sight of the infa­mous pearl har­bour attacks which trig­gered America’s entry into World War II and the islands fea­tur­ing both cul­tur­al cen­tres and night­ly Luau’s to assist in edu­cat­ing about and pre­serv­ing local tra­di­tions – the beau­ty of the four islands can be explored on foot, by car, in the air and under­wa­ter, with the below being out top picks across the four select­ed islands that will help explor­ers expe­ri­ence the absolute best of the won­der of the world that is the trop­i­cal par­adise of Hawaii.  

 The Big Island (Hawaii) 

Home to the icon­ic Lava Spew­ing vol­ca­noes, glo­ri­ous black and green sandy beach­es, refresh­ing cof­fee plan­ta­tions, tow­er­ing water­falls, scenic dri­ves and world class snorkelling and div­ing, the tru­ly glo­ri­ous and serene “Big Island” lives up to its billing being not only the largest of Hawaii’s stun­ning islands – with 10 incred­i­ble dif­fer­ent micro­cli­mates – but a large island par­adise that encap­su­lates the full beau­ty and won­der of Hawaii.  

Offi­cial­ly named the island of Hawai’i and renamed both to avoid con­fu­sion and on account of its size, the jew­el of the big island is undoubt­ed­ly the Vol­cano Nation­al Park, that is home to the two main vol­ca­noes of Hawaii elec­tric active vol­ca­noes; the sub­ma­rine vol­cano of Kama‘ehuakanaloa, the vol­cano of Hualalai whose most recent lava flow now sits beneath the big island, the largest vol­cano on earth in the Mau­na Loa and the active and lava spew­ing Kilauea – with Kilauea being the place to be to grab those icon­ic pho­tos of Hawaii’s Vol­ca­noes at sun­set.  

Along­side the vol­ca­noes, the Big Island is a rich and diverse nat­ur­al par­adise, with the mul­ti­ple cof­fee and nut plan­ta­tions set against a back­drop of lush green rain­for­est, turquoise waters, explo­rative hik­ing trails – and even snow-cov­ered moun­tain peaks on cold win­ter days.  

You’ll also find the Big island rich in Hawai­ian cul­tur­al and a true par­adise for beach lovers, with the black beach of Punalu’u and green sand beach of Papakolea being true high­lights – and also home to colonies of log­ger­head tur­tles who rock up onto the beach­es to enjoy the stun­ning scenic beach­es, whose bright and colour­ful turquoise waters are home to not only kalei­do­scop­ic coral and swarms of trop­i­cal fish, but also man­ta rays and dol­phins – giv­ing explor­ers a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to swim with these fas­ci­nat­ing and beau­ti­ful crea­tures.  

A true par­adise and one that holds not only true buck­et list expe­ri­ences but some of the icons of Hawaii and the best nat­ur­al won­ders on the plan­et the big island is a true par­adise on earth and an incred­i­ble place to explore the won­der of the world of Hawaii, with the below being our top high­lights to explore when on the Big Island: 

Kehena black-sand beach 

Tru­ly liv­ing up to Hawaii’s rep­u­ta­tion as an island par­adise, the Big Island is blessed with some of the great­est beach­es in the world, none least among these is the fas­ci­nat­ing black sand beach of Kehena.  

Found with­in the Puna region on the west­ern side of the big island, the Kehena beach lies with­in the shad­ow of the Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park – putting it well with­in the range of a pos­si­ble erup­tion from Mau­na Loa at any moment – but this threat seems to both add and enhance the atmos­phere of the beach, with it becom­ing a hall­mark for the island’s surfer and hip­pie com­mu­ni­ty – with a fre­quent drum cir­cle, good surf and fre­quent nudi­ty all found on it’s black shores.  

Aside from the atmos­phere, Kehena is tru­ly beau­ti­ful in its own unique way, with the black rugged sand stretch­ing into the cool – if unpre­dictable Pacif­ic Ocean – which come togeth­er to make Kehena a true beau­ty spot and a fas­ci­nat­ing stop on your explo­ration of the big island.  

Papakōlea Beach 

From Black sand to Green– the Green sand beach of Papakōlea show­cas­es the beau­ti­ful diver­si­ty of the Big Islands beach­es, with the green sand beach — which is found against a back­drop of green cliff tops cre­at­ing an almost mirage effect and is one of only five green sand beach­es on the plan­et – being one of the most unique and fas­ci­nat­ing beach­es across the whole of Hawaii.  

Fad­ing effort­less­ly into the warm waters of the Pacif­ic Ocean, Papakōlea also lives up to its billing as being oth­er-world­ly through its acces­si­bil­i­ty, with explor­ers who wish to step upon its green sands fac­ing a dri­ve or trek across dif­fi­cult ter­rain along the bumpy South Point Road – which though a chal­lenge is well worth to wit­ness and explore the green sandy shores of Papakōlea.   

Punalu’u Beach

Formed from vol­canic ash, the black sandy shores of Punalu’u are set against a back­drop of both the dense trop­i­cal rain­for­est and the blue pacif­ic ocean to form what is a stun­ning nat­ur­al par­adise and of the best beach­es on the Big Island.  

But the real won­der of Punalu’u is it’s curi­ous – if some­times ill tem­pered res­i­dents – with the black sands being home to a colony of giant green and log­ger­head tur­tles – who can be seen dai­ly rest­ing and relax­ing on the black sands, although access to the tur­tles is strict­ly guard­ed and pro­tect­ed so you’ll have to be con­tent with snap­ping them in all their relaxed glo­ry from a series of view­ing points.  

A pop­u­lar beach – and for good rea­son – we’d advise head­ing to Punalu’u just after sun­rise, where you’ll get to wit­ness the tur­tles and enjoy it’s majes­tic black sand in almost iso­la­tion – before bus­loads of tour com­pa­nies arrive.  

 

Kalae — Snorkelling and Cliff Jump: 

A snorkellers par­adise the waters at Kalae, which is also known as South Point are both warm and crys­tal clear – but best of all they are home to some of the most beau­ti­ful coral on the plan­et, which attracts thou­sands of daz­zling bright­ly coloured shoals of fish – mak­ing the south point a true snorkellers par­adise.  

Found by tak­ing the road towards the Papakōlea beach, for those who want to go one step fur­ther after enjoy­ing a refresh­ing dip and snorkelling along­side the corals of fish – then south point is also home to anoth­er unique thrill-seek­ing expe­ri­ence with­in Hawaii – the great cliff jump­ing point of South Point, where you can sum­mit to the top of a cliff edge over­look­ing the Kalae waters, take a deep breath and let the adren­a­line surge through you as you head into the warm and beau­ti­ful Hawai­ian Waters below you – for a heart stop­ping expe­ri­ence in one of the most beau­ti­ful spots in the world.  

Dolphin Watching and Swim:

Along­side the incred­i­ble coral and div­ing found on the beach­es across the Big Island, the blue turquoise waters off the coast of the Kailua-Kona waters are also the known rest­ing spot of pods of peace­ful dol­phins – with sight­ings of these incred­i­ble mam­mals almost guar­an­teed through­out the year.  

Although view­ing pods of dol­phins glid­ing through the waters are itself is a true treat, the waters of Kona also offer the unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to swim and snorkel with these dol­phins on half day tours – although it is essen­tial that thor­ough research into any tour is con­duct­ed to ensure that any swim with a wild dol­phin is done eth­i­cal­ly – being sure to avoid tours where the dol­phins are chased by boats and of course avoid­ing Sea­World and cap­tiv­i­ty estab­lish­ments.  

Yet for those who feel com­fort­able enough engag­ing in a wild dol­phin swim – and a chance to tick off what is a true buck­et list item – you’ll have no bet­ter chance to do it that in the warm waters near Kona off the Big Island, and you can expect to pay at least $100 Usd for the priv­i­lege. 

So hav­ing got your snorkel gear fit­ted and with an under­wa­ter cam­era in hand – it’s time to jump into the crys­tal clear waters and swim along­side the friend­ly dol­phins – for what will be an expe­ri­ence you will be sure to nev­er for­get.  

Dive with Manta Rays 

Stay­ing on the Kailua ‑Kona penin­su­la – which is a true divers par­adise and home to some of the best coral in the world – you’ll have not only the unique chance to swim with dol­phins, but also snorkel or scu­ba dive with the might man­ta Rays – the largest rays on the plan­et – who come night­ly to feast on the plank­ton in the peace­ful and warm Hawai­ian waters.  

Helped by under­wa­ter light­ing set-up by local tour com­pa­nies, snorkellers have the chance to float above these incred­i­ble rays, while licensed divers swim among them, with both sets of explor­ers being care­ful to avoid the rays while tak­ing in their immense beau­ty and pow­er as the mighty Man­ta Rays – which can stretch-up to 18 feet in width — glide effort­less­ly over and between the watch­ing onlook­ers.  

A peace­ful, serene and pow­er­ful expe­ri­ence, you can expect Man­ta Ray expe­ri­ences to begin from $150 Usd – which is a price tru­ly worth pay­ing for what is a unique chance to swim with and feel the pow­er of these incred­i­ble Rays in what is one of the worlds great­est night time div­ing and under­wa­ter expe­ri­ence.  

 

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: 

Overview:

Out of fire and into the sea – the undoubt­ed high­light of the Big Island, the Vol­cano Nation­al Park, gives explor­ers the unique chance to wit­ness land being cre­at­ed, trek atop sum­mits and vol­cano floors of active vol­ca­noes – and at dusk watch the incred­i­ble active vol­cano of the majes­tic Kilauea burn bright­ly against under the Hawai­ian stars – for a show like no oth­er.  

A true chance to dive into an eco­log­i­cal and beau­ti­ful par­adise, the Hawai­ian Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park is blessed with two of the great­est Vol­ca­noes on the plan­et in the tow­er­ing Mau­na Loa and the erupt­ing Kilauea, which both sit with­in the more than 300,000 acres of this stun­ning nation­al park, against the back­drop of incred­i­ble fau­na, rain­forests and desert while sat on the edge of the pacif­ic ocean and at night-time under mag­i­cal twin­kling stars, and is ful­ly explorable by both Car, on foot and in the air.  

A tru­ly mag­i­cal and spe­cial place, these are out top hits when with­in the park to ensure you get to ful­ly immerse your­self in this incred­i­ble and sacred nation­al park and wit­ness the true pow­er of active vol­ca­noes: 

Kilauea:

Start­ing with the undoubt­ed high­light – the lava spew­ing active vol­cano of Kilauea whose lava spills into the incred­i­ble crater of Halema’uma’u crater – giv­ing you a great place to cap­ture some awe­some shots of bright burn­ing lava flow, Kilauea is the youngest – and thus more active of all the vol­ca­noes on the Big Island – with its immense pow­er hav­ing cre­at­ed over 870 acres of new land on Hawaii since its erup­tion in 1983.  

Believed to be more than almost 300,000 years old, Kilauea and its accom­pa­ny­ing fis­sure cones are tru­ly impres­sive and are eas­i­ly explorable through a series of hikes, dri­ves with a pletho­ra of incred­i­ble view­ing spots across the park avail­able to cap­ture this true scenic and beau­ti­ful vol­cano – in what is one of moth­er earth’s most spec­tac­u­lar and beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al won­ders.  

* As a word of warn­ing and to ensure your expe­ri­ence is as enjoy­able as pos­si­ble be sure to fol­low all the advice on stay­ing safe and keep your dis­tance when explor­ing as Kilauea has been the site of acci­dents and death 

Halema’uma’u Crater:

The home of Pele – the Hawai­ian god­dess of fire – and the home of incred­i­ble tow­er­ing steam vents, the Halema’uma’u crater is the site of Thomas Jag­ger Muse­um – with­in which sits an incred­i­ble obser­va­tion deck from where you can view the incred­i­ble steam vents ris­ing from this incred­i­ble crater – for what is both an incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty and an awe-inspir­ing expe­ri­ence.  

The Halema’uma’u crater itself sits with­in the much grander and wider Kilauea Caldera – and was up until the end of the last decade filled with molten bub­bling lava, with the lava pass­ing as a result of geo­log­i­cal move­ment as the crater top­pled with­in itself – forc­ing the craters floor to deep­en by more than 1,500 feet and giv­ing rise to the incred­i­ble steam vents and nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­non that is the Halema’uma’u crater.  

Ha’akulamnu Steam Vents Trail  

Along­side view­ing the ris­ing steam vents from the obser­va­tion deck of the Thomas Jag­ger Muse­um, for those who want to get a lit­tle bit more up close and per­son­al to the majes­tic ris­ing steam, you have the option of tak­ing on an incred­i­ble eco­log­i­cal jour­ney into the form of the Ha’akulamnu Steam Vents Trail – which will take you both up close and per­son­al to these stun­ning steam vents and to a series of stun­ning obser­va­tion points for some incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties.  

Begin­ning at the start of the Thomas Jag­ger Muse­um, the path – which is accom­pa­nied every step of the way by the strong smell of rag­ing sul­phur – takes you on a mile round trip on a paved then board walked rim trail, past the eco­log­i­cal won­ders and gem stones that make up these vents along the edge of the Kilauea sum­mit caldera to the tip of the crater of Kilauea sum­mit caldera,  allow­ing you to tru­ly wit­ness the incred­i­ble roar­ing stem as it descends from the core of the earth below into the mag­ic of the clear blue Hawai­ian sky – for what is a tru­ly beau­ti­ful and awe-inspir­ing expe­ri­ence.  

Crater Rim Drive & Hike.  

Along­side wit­ness­ing the mighty pow­er of Kilauea and immers­ing your­self in the won­der of the Ha’akulamnu crater and steam vent, an absolute must do while at the Hawai­ian Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park is dri­ve the incred­i­ble 11 mile of the mighty Crater Rim Dri­ve – which is a true jour­ney on a cir­cu­lar route and which takes you to both the eco­log­i­cal, nat­ur­al and pho­to high­lights of this stun­ning nation­al park.  

Cir­cum­vent­ing the whole of the Calderon of the vol­cano of Kilauea, the crater rime dri­ve gives you a true taste of the park, pass­ing by the breath-tak­ing overviews of Puu Puai and the Kilauea Iki Crater, the Thurston Lava tubes and drop­ping you off at a series of stun­ning trails – includ­ing the well named dev­as­ta­tion trail and Kīlauea Iki trail.  

The Rim Dri­ve itself is also doable as a day­long hike – although explor­ers who take it on would have to be con­scious of the impact that sus­tained expo­sure to sul­phur gas can have so for this rea­son we’d advise dri­ving the rim and stop­ping off at one of the hikes list­ed below, but regard­less of how you choose to explore this incred­i­ble road you can be guar­an­teed for a whis­tle-stop tour of some of the finest sights with­in Hawaii and some of the most unique and mes­meris­ing Vol­canic activ­i­ty on the plan­et.  

Chain of Craters Road & Holei Sea Arch 

For those who want to go a lit­tle fur­ther and enjoy fur­ther incred­i­ble views stretch­ing over the beau­ty of Ha’akulamnu crater then you can extend your jour­ney along the Crater Rim Dri­ve by tak­ing the chain of craters road – a short de-tour that offers yet more gor­geous pho­to stops and whose path ends abrupt­ly because of destruc­tive lava flow.  

The high­light of the chain of craters road is undoubt­ed­ly the  Holei Sea Arch – a pro­trud­ing sea arch that stretch­es off the edges of the Hawai­ian cliffs into the pacif­ic ocean, which when you catch the sun at the right time and get your angles right – allows you to cap­ture the sun shin­ing through this mag­nif­i­cent arch for a tru­ly spe­cial pho­to­graph.   

Reached by fol­low­ing the chain of craters road to its con­clu­sion and then walk­ing to the cliff edges, it’s also at this point where you can enjoy the unique nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­non of the cool ash and rem­nants of the lava flow meet­ing the sea for what is a unique com­ing togeth­er of some of the most beau­ti­ful of the worlds ele­ments.  

Kīlauea Iki Trail 

Back on the Crater Rim trail, and you come to what in our view is the pre­mier trail across the whole of the Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park, the four mile Kīlauea Iki trail which offers explor­ers a reach reward of stun­ning view­points, rich green rain­for­est, wildlife spot­ting oppor­tu­ni­ties and an abun­dance of pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties – as well as a chance to feel the true pow­er and heat of the Vol­cano Nation­al Park as you descend to the bot­tom of the crater floor.  

Begin­ning at the Kīlauea Iki Over­look, we’d encour­age you to begin ear­ly with some stur­dy walk­ing boots as the tri­al being by tak­ing you through some dense rain­for­est and pass­es some burnout shrub­bery – where you should keep your eyes peeled for wildlife – before descend­ing down to the crater floor, which was formed some 500 years ago. 

You can expect the road to be rocky in some places, but the jour­ney down is well worth it as you enjoy the unique expe­ri­ence of walk­ing along the crater floor – amidst steam vents, sul­phur and heat for what is tru­ly unique expe­ri­ence – before you take the road back up and on to con­tin­ue along the crater rim trail.  

 

Thurston Lava Tube 

Offer­ing the unique chance to walk with­in a lava tube and tru­ly go with­in the Vol­cano Nation­al Park, the Thurston Lava Tube is reached on a half mile trek which begins at a well sign post­ed trail­head just after the Kīlauea Iki over­look, with the first part of the trail tak­ing you down through lush green eco­log­i­cal­ly pro­tect­ed Hawai­ian rain­for­est on a well-defined path to the entrance of the Thurston Lava Tube and into the earth itself.  

Illu­mi­nat­ed dur­ing the day­time, the hike through the Thurston Lava Tubes, which were formed after the lava drained from the tube after a com­plet­ed erup­tion – with the nation­al park leav­ing them in almost there com­plete nat­ur­al state for a tru­ly authen­tic eco­log­i­cal expe­ri­ence.  

Tak­ing care on the slip­pery floor – and being sure to immerse your­self in the 400 foot long tube, you will find your­self slow­ly head­ing towards the light at the end of the tun­nel after a sharp U‑turn, from where you can pro­ceed back up the path with the unique claim to fame of hav­ing trekked through a daz­zling lava tube and tru­ly gone with­in the Hawai­ian Vol­ca­noes Nation­al Park.  

Mauna Loa  

The “Long Moun­tain” Mau­na Loa is one of the most active Vol­ca­noes on the plan­et – clock­ing in an incred­i­ble 33 erup­tions since records of it began in 1843 –mak­ing it respon­si­ble not only half of the land mass on the Big Island – but thanks to the near­by con­tin­u­ous steam vents – and the sheer height of Mau­na Loa, which stretch­es some 74 miles into the cool Hawai­ian Sky makes for one of the most dra­mat­ic and impres­sive land­scapes across the whole of the Islands.  

Mau­na Loa is also one of the few places in Hawaii where snow is vis­i­ble – with the vol­ca­noes’ top known turn a daz­zling white in the peak of win­ter – as its sum­mit stretch­es more than 75 miles into the cool Hawai­ian Sky at a peak of more than 10,211 meters – high­er than that of Ever­est. It’s this unique beau­ty, com­bined with the geo­log­i­cal activ­i­ty at its base and the promise of an erup­tion to come soon that makes Mau­na Loa one of the most unique and fas­ci­nat­ing spots on the Big Island.  

While sub­mit­ting and climb­ing to the rim is imprac­ti­cal for sev­er­al rea­sons, for explor­ers who to cap­ture the beau­ty of Mau­na Loa – before any impend­ing erup­tion – you have the option of head­ing to as series of board­walk look­outs to cap­ture this mag­nif­i­cent vol­cano, as well as tak­ing on a heli­copter flight – or tak­ing on the Mau­na Loa Strip Road.  

The Mauna Loa Strip Road 

The sheer beau­ty of Mau­na Loa is tru­ly dif­fi­cult to com­pre­hend, with its stun­ning vol­canic peak break­ing the Hawai­ian sky, backed by the incred­i­ble geo-log­i­cal fea­tures below and the back­drop of lush green Hawai­ian rain­for­est which stretch­es down to the blue Pacif­ic Ocean of Hawaii’s waters.  

While vis­i­ble from a stand­ing lev­el, and from view­points which stretch across the park, our pick for a tru­ly spe­cial pho­to spot – and to add a lit­tle adven­ture onto your trip is to take on the warm scenic dri­ve of The Mau­na Loa Strip Road – which is a gor­geous 11-mile road eas­i­ly dri­ve­able that slow­ly ascends you to the Mau­na Loa look­out point some 2000 metres above sea lev­el where you can take in incred­i­ble stun­ning views of the true won­der of Mau­na Loa against a back­drop of mag­nif­i­cent geo-log­i­cal activ­i­ty – for a tru­ly spe­cial spot and one of the best van­tage points across the whole of Hawaii.  

Helicopter tour 

While trekking though Lava Tubes, dri­ving the Rim Trails and tak­ing in the stun­ning views of Kilauea and Mau­na Loa from the incred­i­ble van­tage points are all immense ways to explore this stun­ning nation­al park, to tru­ly grasp and expe­ri­ence the full scale and mag­ni­tude of this incred­i­ble park — and for a view like no oth­er – a heli­copter tour over the Vol­cano Nation­al Park is tru­ly the way to explore this eco­log­i­cal par­adise.  

Offer­ing views of both active lava flows, steam vents and the two Vol­ca­noes from above – as well as the lish green rain­for­est, black sand beach­es and a series of water­falls found with­in the Vol­cano Park and across the Big Island — heli­copter tours depart from the main hubs with­in the Big Island – name­ly Hilo, Kona and Waikoloa – and you can expect them to last any­where from an hour to a half day, with prices com­ing in at around $250 Usd per hour – which is not cheap but tru­ly worth it expe­ri­ence this unique Nation­al Park.  

A true buck­et list expe­ri­ence, a heli­copter tour over the Hawaii Vol­cano Nation­al Park affords explor­er the unique chance to not only hov­er across the whole of the park for dra­mat­ic pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties, but if you’re lucky wit­ness erup­tions from the air for what is a poten­tial­ly mes­meris­ing and breath-tak­ing expe­ri­ence – and one that we’d real­ly rec­om­mend to tru­ly expe­ri­ence the best of this Nation­al Park. 

 

Sunset Viewing: 

Feel­ing the glow – there’s no doubt that one of the most spe­cial moments and expe­ri­ences of the Vol­cano Nation­al Park comes at sun­set and dusk at the Hale­mau­mau Crater where the Kīlauea vol­cano burns bright­ly against the dark clear Hawai­ian sky for what is both an incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty and mes­meris­ing and spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence as you feel the pow­er of the burn­ing crater.   

Best viewed at the view­ing point out­side at the Thomas Jag­gar Muse­um, at one of the view­ing spots along the crater rim dri­ve or at the Kilauea over­look point,  we’d advise get­ting to either spot a lit­tle ear­ly (well before sun­set) to make sure you get the best pos­si­ble view­ing spot as you watch the crater before burn into a kalei­do­scop­ic deep red colour, giv­ing you a beau­ti­ful reminder of the earths pow­er as the vent before you comes to life – for what is an incred­i­ble night time finale for your vis­it to the true won­der of the Hawai­ian Vol­cano Nation­al Park.  

Waipi’o Valley  

The “Val­ley of the Kings” – tru­ly liv­ing up to its rep­u­ta­tion, the Waip­iʻo val­ley is a beau­ti­ful, lush dense for­est com­plete with sparkling cas­cad­ing water­falls, glo­ri­ous black sand beach­es and breath-tak­ing panoram­ic vis­tas – mak­ing it one of the most scenic and spe­cial spots across the whole of the big island.  

Found along the North West Coast – you have two options to take in the incred­i­ble val­ley, the first being by dri­ving along High­way 240, where glo­ri­ous ocean views accom­pa­ny you, up to a view­ing point where you can take in and pho­to­graph this incred­i­ble val­ley from the Waip­iʻo val­ley view­point, where on a clear day you can see all thew ay along the pacif­ic coast to the out­skirts of Maui – or tru­ly immerse your­self in this stun­ning val­ley by tak­ing on the Waip­iʻo, val­ley of the kings trek, which leads you to stun­ning view­points, past glo­ri­ous water­falls and to the val­ley floor.   

For those who do take on the trek, you can find the trail­head just past the Waip­iʻo val­ley look­out, and from here it’s a steep drop down a grav­el road along a dan­ger­ous cliff edge (you’ll see remains of cars that have tak­en on this road and fell to the cliff floor on below you), before the road opens up onto the daz­zling Waip­iʻo black sand beach on the val­ley floor  – where incred­i­ble panoram­ic views of this great val­ley await you.  

Hav­ing tak­en a moment on the beach, you can trek across it and con­tin­ue along the coast­line, with the path along the beach tak­ing you past the tow­er­ing Kulu­ahine falls and to yet anoth­er immense look­out that gives you sparkling views over the whole of the Waip­iʻo val­ley for an absolute­ly breath-tak­ing view – before you head slow­ly back up the grav­el road to con­tin­ue you jour­ney along the scenic High­way 240.  

Pololu Val­ley Hike 

Found at the north of the Big Island, the Pololu Val­ley hike and its view­point are one of the best across the whole of the Island – with incred­i­ble views over the Polou Val­ley await­ing you at the con­clu­sion of this great hike – which is one of our top picks to enjoy a beau­ti­ful Hawai­ian sun­rise over a stun­ning val­ley when on the big island.  

A lit­tle tough to reach – you have to dri­ve past Mau­na Kea or through Kona to find the trail­head – and a lit­tle tough at the start of the trail­head, where a steep ascent awaits you, but once con­quered you can enjoy a flat path along some beau­ti­ful shrub­bery before you reach the Pololu Val­ley view­point and a sparkling black sand beach — where a gor­geous val­ley and gor­geous sun­rise await you – for one of the best views across the whole of the Big Island.  

Pepe’ekeo Road 

Dis­tance: 4 Miles 

Esti­mat­ed Time: 45 Min­utes 

Our pick for the roads to ride on the Big Island – and unques­tion­ably the most scenic. The Pepe’ekeo road lies on the incred­i­ble Mamala­hoa high­way and takes you to some stun­ning views over the Onomea bay, the start point of the Onomea trail before fin­ish­ing at the incred­i­ble Hawai­ian Botan­i­cal Gar­dens.  

Found on a turn off halfway between mile mark­ers 7 and 8 on high­way 19 on the Big Island, this stun­ning road stretch­es for only four miles, but will pro­vide you with incred­i­ble scenic views over the Onomea Bay that a tru­ly breath-tak­ing and rep­re­sent the absolute best of Hawaii’s nat­ur­al beau­ty, before deliv­er­ing you at one of the best hikes in Hawaii, the Onomea Bay Trail.  

 

Onomea Bay Trail 

Con­tin­u­ing on the road along Pepe’ekeo, the Onomea Bay Trail is one of the best short hikes in the world – and you have two incred­i­ble trails in which to explore this bay, both of which lead you through incred­i­ble forestry to an immense view­point over the sweep­ing bay.  

Being sure to arrive at the trail­heads ear­ly – as there’s min­i­mal park­ing – you’ll be faced with the option of the first trail­head – the well named “Don­key Trail” which was once used to help with the unload­ing of mer­chan­dise from the bay below. With the Don­key Trail begin­ning with a short but tough ascent up a hill, before you pass over the Onomea stream on your way to the finale of this trail which is a majes­tic 25 foot water­fall and an incred­i­ble scenic look­out over Onomea bay – where breath-tak­ing views await you.  

The oth­er option is the offi­cial Onomea Trail – which begins by fol­low­ing an old gov­ern­ment road (used for mov­ing prod­uct) and takes you on a direct route to the Hawai­ian Botan­i­cal Gar­dens tak­ing you up an onto cliff edges and giv­ing you ariel views of the bay below where you can cap­ture the full panoram­ic beau­ty of this incred­i­ble bay. The Onomea trail also gives explor­ers the chance to take a small de-tour down to the bay itself, where you can enjoy the turquoise waters and gold­en sand – before return­ing to the trail and head­ing down to and onwards to the Botan­i­cal Gar­dens.  

Hawaii Trop­i­cal Botan­i­cal Gar­den 

Reached by either fol­low­ing the Onomea trail down or by con­tin­u­ing along the Pepe’ekeo Road, the Hawai­ian Trop­i­cal Botan­i­cal Gar­dens, is one of the most stun­ning and gor­geous botan­i­cal gar­dens on the plan­et – which is home to thou­sands of dif­fer­ent flo­ra, the tow­er­ing 120 foot Onomea water­falls, a serene orchid gar­den and incred­i­ble sweep­ing views out over the beau­ty of the Pacif­ic Ocean – for what is tru­ly one of Hawaii’s most stun­ning spots.  

Requir­ing a $25 USD fee to enter and open between 9 ‑5, the gar­dens are best explored at a gen­tle and relaxed pace by tak­ing on the many well-defined walk­ways that lead you through lush for­est into the orchid gar­dens, as well as to one of our per­son­al high­lights the mighty jack­fruit tree – which if you catch in sea­son can see fruit stretch­ing as long as 2 foot hang­ing from its branch­es.  

Be sure also to make time to take on the board­walk, which takes you past the bird hous­es, and through a val­ley along­side streams, giant bam­boo and to the great Onomea Falls, where sweep­ing views of the pacif­ic ocean and Onomea Bay await for you, for what is one of the most incred­i­ble view­point and incred­i­ble pho­to spot across the whole of the mag­nif­i­cent Big Island.  

 

Oahu 

“The Gath­er­ing Place”, the Island of Oahu is not only home to the cap­i­tal and largest city of Hawaii in Hon­olu­lu but is also home to a series of stun­ning beach­es – includ­ing the world famous and stun­ning gold­en shores of Waiki­ki and the surfer’s par­adise and turquoise waters of the North Shore, as well as such nat­ur­al jew­els as the sum­mit able vol­canic cone of Dia­mond Head (Lēʻahi) and the snorkel­ers par­adise of Hanau­ma Bay and the aplty named Shark Cove.  

Con­sid­ered the heart of Hawaii, Oahu is also a fas­ci­nat­ing and intrigu­ing place to learn about Poly­ne­sian cul­ture, with the night­ly and touris­tic Lūʻau’s com­bin­ing with the great Poly­ne­sian cul­tur­al cen­tre offer­ing a rich and diverse blend of cul­tures against the hus­tle and bus­tle of Hon­olu­lu.  

An island rich in mod­ern com­forts, resorts and Spa’s, Oahu and its cap­i­tal  is also the gov­ern­men­tal and polit­i­cal cen­tre of Hawaii, as well as the spot of one of the most infa­mous moments in Amer­i­can His­to­ry with the USS Ari­zona Nation­al Memo­r­i­al and muse­um at Pearl Har­bour – the sight of the attack which spurred America’s entry into the sec­ond World War – also pro­vid­ing a his­toric place for reflec­tion and edu­ca­tion.  

A true fusion of native and mod­ern ways of life, the his­toric and edu­ca­tion­al mon­u­ments of the cul­ture cen­tre and USS Ari­zona come togeth­er with the pris­tine and par­adise beach­es, nat­ur­al won­ders and turquoise blue waters of the pacif­ic ocean to make the island of Oahu a true jew­el of Hawaii and one of the most roman­tic and beau­ti­ful islands on the plan­et.  

Honolulu (Downtown) 

The cul­tur­al heart and cen­tre of Hawaii – as well as its main port, cap­i­tal and like­ly your first place of call as you explore Hawaii – the mag­i­cal city of Hon­olu­lu on Oahu’s south shore has it all, from the sparkling nat­ur­al won­ders and cul­ture and mon­u­ments of the icons of Hawaii detailed below who fall with­in its bound­aries – to the down­town com­forts of high-end moder­ni­ty to laid back beach resorts, as well as some of the great­est trails, nightlife, shop­ping and food across the whole of the Unit­ed States.  

The main focal point for explor­ers vis­it­ing Oahu, you’ll also find a range of accom­mo­da­tion options with­in down­town Hon­olu­lu – as well as a series of laid back afford­able beach shacks as you head out towards the gold­en shores of Waiki­ki – with the range of food on offer, which includes what is arguably one of America’s great­est Chi­na­towns in the Kali­hi-Pala­ma region mak­ing sure that explor­ers with­in Hon­olu­lu are spoilt for choice when it comes to food.  

Along­side the range of cul­tur­al and mul­ti-reli­gious tem­ples – includ­ing the drag­on shrine of Kuan Yin – Down­town Hon­olu­lu also makes for a great place to do a spot of shop­ping, with the Mau­nakea Mar­ket­place next to the mighty red clock tow­er being our pick to ensure you take home a piece of Oahu and get to enjoy and immerse your­self in the local Oahu way of life.  

Bristling with cul­ture, enter­tain­ment and life, Down­town Hon­olu­lu makes you for a great intro­duc­tion to Hawaii and a per­fect place to base your­self as you enjoy and explore the won­ders of the island of Oahu.  

Waikiki  Beach 

The icon of Oahu, and one of the most famous beach­es in the world, the gold­en kissed sands and turquoise waters of Waiki­ki Beach are the clos­et thing the plan­et has to true par­adise.  

Set along two miles of glo­ri­ous warm sand, the beach is backed by a series of high-rise lux­u­ry hotels, which while cast­ing a shad­ow over the nat­ur­al beau­ty of the Waiki­ki itself, add to the glam­our, lux­u­ry, and pomp of this incred­i­ble beach – that was once con­sid­ered a spot only fit for roy­al­ty as the Kings and Queens of Hawaii spent their days upon its gold­en sand.  

Accom­pa­nied also by restau­rants and bars, the breaks on Waiki­ki are also leg­endry, hav­ing once been fre­quent­ed by the leg­endary Duke Kahanamoku – whose memo­r­i­al you’ll find greet­ing you as you arrive on the beach – the warm waters offer a per­fect land­ing spot for the many surfers who ride the swell and surf on this majes­tic beach.  

Offer­ing explor­ers their first glimpse also of the mighty Dia­mond Head that lies at the far end of the beach, Waiki­ki is famed also for its incred­i­ble sun­sets – that see the Hawai­ian sky light up in an arrange­ment of deep red, orange and gold, Waiki­ki beach is a true par­adise and tru­ly one of the most spe­cial and beau­ti­ful spots across the whole of both Oahu and Hawaii. 

 

Diamond Head Crater 

Named after it’s sparkling sum­mit – the Hike to and into dia­mond crater is one of the most unique, enthralling and must do expe­ri­ences in Oahu, with the steep hike up this crater reward­ing explor­ers with twin­kling panoram­ic views and the chance to descend into a vol­canic crater.  

An icon across the Oahu sky­line, we’d advise pack­ing some sol­id train­ers and begin­ning the hike to Dia­mond Head Crater from Waiki­ki beach – giv­ing you a chance to enjoy the cool sea breeze as you wind your way across the board­walk and up onto the Dia­mond Head Crater path. Once on the path you’re in for a steep climb up along a well main­tained trail– so be sure to come pre­pared with plen­ty of water and take it nice and easy, as you slow­ly ascend up to the top of this 450 metre long craters head. 

Formed some 200,000 years ago as a result of a vol­canic erup­tion on the Koʻo­lau Moun­tain Range, the views from top are sim­ply breath-tak­ing – with the views stretch­ing along the beau­ty of lush green rain­for­est and moun­tain ranges along­side the full scale and panoram­ic  views of the gold­en sun soaked shores of Waiki­ki below you and the hus­tle and bus­tle of down­town Hon­olu­lu in the dis­tance.  

For those who want to go one step fur­ther, you can also take on the hike along the edge of dia­monds head, which dips down into the crater itself – although be warned this path will take you through a series of nar­row tun­nels and test your climb­ing abil­i­ty – before cir­cling back to the trail­head that can take you (thank­ful­ly !) down­hill and back to the gold­en sand of Waiki­ki to con­tin­ue your adven­ture.  

Lanikai Beach 

The sis­ter of Waiki­ki, Lanikai Beach offers the same beau­ti­ful gold­en sands and turquoise waters as its sis­ter – but with­out the crowds and high-rise build­ings of its sis­ter.  

A tru­ly serene and calm beach, you can find Lanikai at the tip of the Kilua Bay, on the oppo­site side of Hon­olu­lu – rough­ly half an hour away from down­town – with its calm blue waters mak­ing it a pop­u­lar place to go snorkelling, although be sure to be on your guard as jel­ly­fish are known to fre­quent the area.  

With views that stretch to the islands of Moku­lua on a clear day and with more than a mile of sands that greet you, the gor­geous sun kissed beach of Lanikai, rep­re­sents the absolute post­card image of Hawaii and its famous beach­es and makes the beau­ty of Lanikai Beach a great place to lose your­self in the peace and tran­quil­li­ty of Oahu.  

Pearl Harbour — The USS Arizona & Battleship Missouri 

A place for reflec­tion, con­tem­pla­tion and of His­to­ry, the soft pearl har­bour bay is for­ev­er enshrined with the mem­o­ry of the attacks and destruc­tion of the 7th Decem­ber 1941, with Japan’s actions in bomb­ing and attack­ing the Amer­i­can naval fleet lead­ing to not only the loss of thou­sands of Amer­i­can Lives, but the Amer­i­can entry into World War II and set the world on a path that would for­ev­er change the fate of mankind.  

The most vis­it­ed memo­r­i­al across the islands, Pearl Har­bour – and the muse­um and wreck­age of one of the main ves­sels attacked that day the USS Ari­zona now stands as a per­ma­nent memo­r­i­al and muse­um, with a trip to the still sunk wreck­age of the USS Ari­zona offer­ing both a fas­ci­nat­ing glimpse of the real­i­ties of the attacks and a reminder of the unnec­es­sary hor­rors of war.  

Acces­si­ble only by boat and requir­ing pre-paid tick­ets, you’ll find a trip to the USS Ari­zona both touch­ing and poignant, with the muse­um split into three sep­a­rate parts, first­ly allow­ing you a view over the USS Ari­zona, then detail­ing the events of the day and the events and his­to­ry that fol­lowed, before end­ing with a deep memo­r­i­al that gives explor­ers a chance to pay respects to both the fall­en and sur­vivors of this tragedy.  

Along­side the USS Ari­zona, you’ll also find fur­ther exhibits and his­tor­i­cal arti­facts from the sec­ond world war at the same site, with the USS Bowfin offer­ing explor­ers the chance to expe­ri­ence life on a WWII sub­ma­rine, and the pacif­ic sub­ma­rine muse­um allow­ing peo­ple to under­stand the full hor­rors and depth of life aboard these war­ships.  

Docked in the har­bour you’ll also find the USS Mis­souri, a sym­bol of hope amongst such mov­ing his­to­ry – with this war­ship being the site of the offi­cial sign­ing of sur­ren­der of Japan on the 2nd of Sep­tem­ber 1945. Offi­cial­ly the last Amer­i­can Bat­tle­ship, the USS Mis­souri allows explores to nav­i­gate parts of its 900 foot long deck – and vis­it the site where a frag­ile and moment of peace in our time was offi­cial­ly declared. 

 

Koko Crater  

Away from the bus­tle of Hon­olu­lu and the crowds of Waiki­ki lies a crater to rival that of Dia­mond Head – the impos­ing 1,208-foot-tall cone of the Koko Crater, which was again born of vol­canic erup­tion and mag­ma cham­ber activ­i­ty.  

A ful­ly explorable crater – that fea­tures sta­bles and its own botan­ic gar­den inside – the sum­mit of Koko Crater also makes for an excep­tion­al hik­ing des­ti­na­tion, with the trail which fea­tures more than a thou­sand steep and chal­leng­ing steps up a series of rail­road track steps, before lead­ing onto an old unsup­port­ed rope bridge held togeth­er by the rail steps, which explor­ers must cross to reach the sum­mit, being one of the most test­ing and enthralling expe­ri­ences across the whole of Hawaii.  

Still the view and expe­ri­ence from the top of the Koko Crater makes the chal­lenge of reach­ing it tru­ly worth­while, as you descend into the vol­canic crater and are greet­ed by not only hors­es, but the warm sweet sight and smell of Hawai­ian flo­ra in the form of the botan­i­cal gar­dens and vast breath-tak­ing sweep­ing panoram­ic views – that make for an excel­lent back­drop as you begin to slow­ly head back down the vol­cano.  

Makapu’u Point Lighthouse Trail:

Our pick to enjoy the best views of sun­rise on the Oahu, the glo­ri­ous trail that leads to the pic­ture per­fect Maka­pu’u light­house, takes you along fan­tas­tic well paved road for two miles of stun­ning views above and along­side sparkling gold­en beach­es, sweep­ing views of the deep blue pacif­ic ocean, and over serene wildlife and nature view­ing spots – for what is one of the most beau­ti­ful short trails on the plan­et.  

Lead­ing to the famed and charm­ing red-roof light­house of Maka­pu’u, you’ll need a car (or to hop in an ear­ly morn­ing uber) to get the start of the trail­head, and we’d advise get­ting here very ear­ly as the car park and the crowds are known to gath­er after dawn. But for those who are able to beat the sun in get­ting to the trail – a tru­ly glo­ri­ous spec­ta­cle awaits you as the ris­ing sun lights up the Pacif­ic Ocean for an awe-inspir­ing and breath-tak­ing sight.  

A great place as well to spot wildlife, includ­ing migrat­ing hump­back whales who can be spot­ted off the shores of the trail between Novem­ber – March, do be warned that the Maka­pu’u light­house trail is very much exposed – with fre­quent winds and chills hit­ting explor­ers dur­ing the win­ter months and before sun­rise, so be come pre­pared with an extra lay­er of cloth­ing as you set off on one of the most stun­ning and beau­ti­ful trail across the whole of Hawaii.  

Manoa Falls:

Undoubt­ed­ly the best water­fall across the whole of Oahu, Manoa falls and val­ley is a lush green val­ley of par­adise found just a short dri­ve away from the glo­ri­ous sand and crowds of Waiki­ki beach.  

Tak­ing you deep into the Manoa val­ley – and its Juras­sic Park­like shrub­bery and green­ery, the trek to the Falls them­selves takes around half an hour, and it’s a gen­tle but enthralling stroll through some of the incred­i­ble Hawai­ian forestry, which helps you to tru­ly con­nect to the Islands diver­si­ty and ori­gins.  

The gen­tle stroll even­tu­al­ly gives way to the roar­ing sounds of the mighty Manoa Falls, that wel­comes (and splash­es !) you, from a series of beau­ti­ful over­looks where you can cap­ture this incred­i­ble water­fall as it cas­cades down over a hang­ing cliff into a small – but strict­ly off lim­it pool below.  

A gen­tle and enjoy­able hike, the path to Manoa Falls is a pic­turesque and beau­ti­ful walk and one of our favourite spots on the island as you com­bine the adven­ture of hik­ing through the jun­gle with one of Hawaii’s stun­ning water­falls for a tru­ly reward­ing expe­ri­ence.  

 

Iolani Palace:

The site where Amer­i­can flags raised the stars and stripes to sig­nal Hawaii’s move as part of the union, the Iolani palace is a charm­ing Euro­pean archi­tec­tur­al inspired palace found in the heart of down­town Hon­olu­lu which was once the home of the Kalakaua dynasty, the last king and queen of Hawaii and which now sits as a reminder of Hawaii’s cul­tur­al and ances­tral past.  

Incred­i­bly well restored and main­tained, the four-sto­ry house is now open to the pub­lic and fea­tures a fas­ci­nat­ing range of exhibits includ­ing a range of col­lec­tions from the glo­ry days of the Kalakaua dynasty and allow explor­ers to tour what was once a roy­al palace, explor­ing the liv­ing areas, din­ing rooms and recep­tion areas in a true throw­back to the monarch years of Hawaii.  

Sat near the shores of Waiki­ki, the palace makes a great spot to immerse your­self in Hawai­ian his­to­ry and cul­ture, and if you’re lucky you may even be treat­ed to a per­for­mance by the Roy­al Hawai­ian Band, who come to pro­vide a beau­ti­ful sound­track as you make your way around the stun­ning and his­tor­i­cal mon­u­ment of Iolani palace. 

Hanauma Bay:

The pre­mier snorkelling spot in Oahu – the sparkling and pro­tect­ed Hanau­ma Bay, which sits in the shad­ow of the mighty Koʻo­lau Moun­tain Range, is a tru­ly glo­ri­ous bay where gold­en sun kissed sands meet immense turquoise see-through waters that are home to some of the best coral, fish and marine life on the plan­et.  

Once con­sid­ered a spot so beau­ti­ful, that only Hawai­ian Roy­als were allowed access, the daz­zling sands lie just a short walk away from Down­town Hon­olu­lu, which makes it both incred­i­bly acces­si­ble but also pop­u­lar as crowds of peo­ple flock to the gold­en shores with snorkel in hand to seek out the green tur­tles and Nemo fish that call the Hanau­ma Bay home.  

Along­side the waters, you’ll also find a marine edu­ca­tion cen­tre which is per­fect for kids to learn more about the rich marine life that calls the bay home, and a glo­ri­ous beach as well, with the coconut and palm trees that line sands offer­ing wel­come shade and a great place to take in the beau­ty of Hanau­ma Bay that lies before you.  

Halona Blowhole 

After a refresh­ing dip at Hanau­ma Bay, we’d real­ly encour­age you to head north and take on not only the koko Trail above, but also make time to stop at one of Oahu’s most star­tling and excit­ing nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­na – the Halona Blow­hole.  

Set against a back­drop of tow­er­ing cliffs and of course a line of Oahu shore­line, the Halona blow­hole is undoubt­ed­ly the best of Oahu’s many blow­holes, with the water that comes in from the shore­line seen fill­ing the lava tube below it and then shoot­ing the water more than 35 feet back in the air — mak­ing for a quite spec­tac­u­lar per­for­mance and a great pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

Best viewed from the Halona panoram­ic view­ing point — “Halona” trans­late to “view­ing place” in Hawai­ian — the Halona Blow­hole is a great and beau­ti­ful reminder of the pow­er of Hawaii’s nat­ur­al land­marks, as you enjoy the thrilling sight of the water sud­den­ly reach­ing into the sky against the back­drop of the cliffs, blue waters and gold­en beach­es that accom­pa­ny the Halona Blow­hole.  

Sharks Cove 

For those who head to Hawaii for adven­ture and want to get their heart pump­ing even more after the treks to the Volcano’s at Koko and the swim­ming in the ocean – then the Famous Shark Cove that lies off Oahu’s North Shore is the place for you, where groups of sharks – includ­ing back tip, ham­mer­heads and sand sharks offer explor­ers a unique chance to observe and came face to face with these giants of the pacif­ic.  

Only explorable on a tour, the trip to the well named Sharks Cove see explor­ers gath­er their snorkelling gear and jump on a boat head­ing out over the rocky coast area and into the Kulalua bay where an assort­ment of below sur­face rock for­ma­tions, which the sharks call home, await you.  

Once there, if you head out on a bumpy day you’ll con­tend with the chop­py waves and watch as a steel shark view­ing cage which comes com­plete with thick bars on each side and with a view­ing gap in the mid­dle is dropped into the water, along­side a lit­tle bit of chum to entice the sharks to appear before you.  

On spot­ting the first fin, you’ll then jump into the water with both your under­wa­ter cam­era and snorkelling gear and let your­self slow­ly descend to your lim­it as you watch as shoals of great sharks from black tips to ham­mer­head cir­cle the catch and occa­sion­al­ly attempt to take a nib­ble of the tasty humans in the cage.  

An expe­ri­ence that lasts for about 45 min­utes, the shark cage div­ing in Oahu is tru­ly one of the best in the world, as on a clear day not only do you have the joy of calm waters, but you’ll also find the water incred­i­bly warm and com­fort­able and the vis­i­bil­i­ty, which lets you spot sharks across the seabed, spec­tac­u­lar – for what is tru­ly a once in a life­time and enthralling expe­ri­ence.  

 

Whale and Dolphin Watching / Swimming at Waianae 

South from the preda­tors found at Sharks Cove and just below the Maka­ha Val­ley lies anoth­er great spot for explor­ing and view­ing some of Oahu’s best marine life as pods of dol­phins and hump­back whales breach the waters off the coast of Waianae.  

Known as the whale watch­ing cap­i­tal of Oahu, for explor­ers that head to this small town and onto a boat between the months of Novem­ber and March you’ll find the gen­tle giants of the sea con­stant­ly breach­ing in the warm waters as they gath­er off the coast of Oahu to mate, breed and feast on the many krill that occu­py the waters of Waianae.  

A tru­ly majes­tic sight to see the Whales breach­ing, the waters of Waianae are also home to pods of Dol­phins that cruise through he waters all year round and explor­ers have the chance to both observe these majes­tic ani­mals from the boat, or for the more adven­tur­ous and up close and per­son­al expe­ri­ence you can also be dropped into the water amongst known Dol­phin habi­tats for a chance to snorkel with these majes­tic mam­mals.  

A true buck­et list expe­ri­ence, the dol­phin snorkelling expe­ri­ences at Waianae is best enjoyed in the ear­ly morn­ing when the dol­phins are more active and on a pro­fes­sion­al tour, and we’d real­ly encour­age you to bring along or hire a go-pro as you enjoy the expe­ri­ence of a life­time by being dropped into the warm waters off the coast of Waianae to swim amongst these Hawai­ian Dol­phins in a tru­ly unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence.  

Turtle Canyon snorkelling 

For those who vis­it the great beach­es of Waiki­ki, Lanikai and the daz­zling bay of Hanau­ma and still haven’t had their fill of snorkelling among the great marine life that call this area home, then as always Hawaii can offer some­thing more – with the area of Tur­tle Canyon – named after its rich abun­dance of sea tur­tles which call the area home, offer­ing one of the best places in the world to snorkel and relax along­side groups of sea tur­tles.  

Acces­si­ble by boat and half day tours from down­town Hon­olu­lu and par­tic­u­lar­ly off the pier of Waiki­ki beach, Tur­tle sight­ings at the canyon are almost guar­an­teed – but be warned it’s incred­i­bly impor­tant not to antag­o­nise the tur­tles – as they do bite! 

A tru­ly mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence that is one of the must do and icon­ic expe­ri­ence across Hawaii – a tur­tle swim will leave you both breath­less and in awe of these incred­i­ble gen­tle relaxed crea­tures and help build your appetite up for a Luau in the evening !  

The Polynesian Culture Centre and Luau 

Giv­ing explor­ers a true chance to explore, under­stand and immerse them­selves in the Poly­ne­sian way of life, the Poly­ne­sian cul­tur­al cen­tre is one of the high­lights of Oahu, with a range of exhibits, muse­ums dis­plays and arti­facts tru­ly bring­ing the Poly­ne­sian cul­ture to life.  

Walk­ing explor­ers through the evo­lu­tion of the Poly­ne­sian cul­ture, the cen­tre is also one of the best places across Hawaii to learn and wit­ness the famed Poly­ne­sian Dance and Māori war dance, with teach­ers on hand to guide explor­ers and fam­i­lies through mas­ter­ing the art of sync­ing to the rhythm and beat and mas­ter­ing the famed Poly­ne­sian moves.  

Sit­u­at­ed next to the Huk­i­lau Mar­ket­place – which makes for a great place to pick up a local sou­venir – entrance to the cen­tre comes in at $60 Usd, which while on the expen­sive side also includes access to six self-guid­ed island vil­lages where you can test you hand at palm tree climb­ing, spend time canoe­ing across a mag­nif­i­cent lagoon and enjoy the “Ha Breath of Life” show – a tru­ly awe­some show that not only keeps the Poly­ne­sian leg­ends alive but fea­tures a tru­ly incred­i­ble danc­ing per­for­mance that is sure to mes­merise you.  

Best of all though, the Luau (a tra­di­tion­al Hawai­ian feast and a must do in Hawaii) at the Poly­ne­sian Cul­ture Cen­tre is one of the best across the whole of Hawaii – with the food being one of the tasti­est on the plan­et and com­ing in ample por­tions, as you enjoy the rich taste of local­ly long cooked meats and fresh Hawai­ian fruit for an expe­ri­ence that is sure to leave you com­plete­ly full and what is undoubt­ed­ly the true taste of Hawaii.  

 

Maui 

The val­ley Isle, the island of Maui is not only the biggest of Maui County’s four islands, but with its incred­i­ble gold­en sun-soaked beach­es, stun­ning Pacif­ic Ocean turquoise waters, rolling hills, lush rain­forests and the more than tow­er­ing 3,000-metre-tall vol­canic moun­tain crater of Haleakala, Maui is one of the most scenic, roman­tic, and beau­ti­ful places on the plan­et.  

Maui island is also an adven­tures par­adise, with the turquoise waters being home to some of the best snorkelling and scu­ba div­ing spots in exis­tence, and also being a favourite des­ti­na­tion and incred­i­ble view­ing spot for pods of whales on their annu­al migra­tion. Com­bined also with the stun­ning sun­rise at Haleakala crater, and a series of dia­mond golf cours­es, oppor­tu­ni­ties to water­s­ki, surf and handglide, night­ly Lūʻau’s, world class spa’s and of course the chal­leng­ing and test­ing Hana High­way – one of the world’s great­est dri­ves that takes you past so many of the islands high­lights – there is tru­ly some­thing for every­one on Maui.  

Offi­cial­ly split into five regions, offer­ing explor­ers a chance to base them­selves in the bus­tle of a city near Kahu­lui, the cul­tur­al and spir­i­tu­al cen­tre of Wailuku – the offi­cial cap­i­tal or on one of the many beach resorts includ­ing the gold­en shores of Kaana­pali or Wailea, Maui rep­re­sents the absolute best of Hawaii and gives explor­ers the chance to immerse them­selves in not only stun­ning scenery and a range of adven­ture activ­i­ties, but the cul­ture and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty of the stun­ning won­der of one of Hawaii’s best islands.  

With so many of the islands high­light com­ing along the Hana High­way, we’d real­ly advise to struc­ture your jour­ney around Maui on a dri­ve through this high­way, and we’ve pro­vid­ed a full guide to dri­ving this high­way as well as some of our favourite spots on Maui to help you get the absolute best out of this mag­nif­i­cent island.  

Haleakalā Volcano Sunrise & Exploration.  

One of the most beau­ti­ful, roman­tic and sim­ply stun­ning sun­ris­es on the plan­et – the sun­rise at Haleakalā vol­cano is tru­ly breath-tak­ing and one of the most spec­tac­u­lar dis­plays of the earth’s nat­ur­al beau­ty.  

A true priv­i­lege to wit­ness, the sun­rise spec­ta­cle takes place at the Haleakalā vol­cano on Maui, — which accord­ing to leg­end is said to be the place where the Hawai­ian God Maui tamed the sun – and you’ll want to be up at 2am and have booked at the park in advance if head­ing there your­self or be ready at 3am if head­ing to the sun­rise spot on a guid­ed tour.  

Along­side the ear­ly start, you’ll want to make sure you come pre­pared with plen­ty of lay­ers, and a spot of warm break­fast, as the Haleakalā sun­rise view­ing spot lies some 10,000 feet above sea lev­el, where it can get a lit­tle cold, and thanks to the pop­u­lar­i­ty and leg­end of the sun­rise spots at the view­ing plat­form fill up a few hours before the sun­rise – so you may be in for an hour or so of stand­ing in the cold.  

Still despite the ear­ly start, cold and crowds, the sun­rise over the Haleakalā vol­cano does not dis­ap­point – as the gold­en sun slow­ly ris­es over the Vol­cano and above the clouds, turn­ing the sky into a mul­ti­tude of kalei­do­scop­ic bright yel­low and orange colours which makes for one of the most stun­ning­ly beau­ti­ful sights on the plan­et – and a hell of a pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty. 

After what is undoubt­ed­ly one of the great­est sun­ris­es, we’d also advise stick­ing around at the Haleakalā Vol­cano and tak­ing some time to enjoy the sights of Haleakalā Nation­al Park, which you’ll find qui­eter as the sun­rise tour crowds slow­ly dis­ap­pear, giv­ing you almost a free run at this stun­ning park, where you can enjoy some great treks – includ­ing hik­ing to the vol­cano sum­mit, across the cin­der desert and rain­bow bridge, and on the Kīpahu­lu dis­trict – which you’ll find on the Hana High­way, for a full day of incred­i­ble hik­ing.  

For those who still have ener­gy left in the tank after wit­ness­ing the sun­rise and hav­ing explored the full beau­ty of this park, we’d also rec­om­mend stick­ing around for sun­set and a spot of star gaz­ing, with the sun­rise which descends over the vol­cano again see­ing the park light up in a kalei­do­scope of deep red rouge which then gives way to one of the most majes­tic and mag­nif­i­cent places in the world to star gaze – which rounds off an incred­i­ble day spent at the Haleakalā vol­cano and Nation­al Park.  

Molokini Crater 

The moon of Maui – the Moloki­ni island, also known as the cres­cent island, stands as the sink­ing remains of a vol­cano crater, and is now undoubt­ed­ly one of the most unique and beau­ti­ful spots on Maui’s west coast – with the moon like island and its incred­i­ble turquoise waters being an absolute haven for rich marine life and attract­ing snorkellers and divers who come to enjoy the warm waters and admire the marine life with­in them.  

Moloki­ni Island is also the focus of one of the more dra­mat­ic of Hawai­ian leg­ends, with the islands moon shape a result of the Hawai­ian god Pele cut­ting her love rival into two and con­demn­ing her to stand as a bro­ken island for eter­ni­ty – which accord­ing to leg­end is the rea­son why the island remains unvis­itable and unin­hab­it­ed to this day.  

Still even though you can’t step foot on the island itself, which was once a for­mer bomb test­ing site,  the scenic lush green of the island itself, com­bined with the absolute par­adise of shoals of under­wa­ter life that life off the island, make Moloki­ni not only an absolute dream for under­wa­ter explor­ers, but one of the most beau­ti­ful spots in Maui. 

 

Iao Valley & Needle hike 

A true off the beat­en track expe­ri­ence and one that lets you expe­ri­ence por­tions of Maui which are untouched and untamed, the nee­dle hike with­in the gor­geous Iao Val­ley leads you deep into a green val­ley sur­round­ed by cliffs as you take in the incred­i­ble nee­dle peak which stretch­es more than 1,200 feet into the cool Hawai­ian Sky on one of the best hikes with­in Maui.  

An expe­ri­ence that lets you get in touch with true Hawai­ian nature, the beau­ty of the trek has grown in pop­u­lar­i­ty recent­ly and giv­en that its pos­si­ble to spend a full day here explor­ing this stun­ning val­ley, we’d advise arriv­ing at the trail­head ear­ly – and com­ing pre­pared with some water­proofs as the trail takes you up into the moun­tains into one of the wettest and raini­est part of Maui – where rain­storms and light­ing are known to break at any moment.  

Yet this sud­den rain adds to not only the Ioa Val­leys mys­tique, but also its beau­ty as you begin the trail walk­ing along free flow­ing streams in the shad­ow of the green val­ley, before wind­ing you way up past raw jun­gle and towards the green cliffs that sur­round the mon­u­ment of nee­dle peak in what is one of the most test­ing, but reward­ing and mes­meris­ing hikes into the true nat­ur­al beau­ty of Maui.  

Riding the waves of Maui 

The home of Hawai­ian Surf­ing, the dif­fer­ing com­bi­na­tion of swells, com­bined of course with the gold­en sands, warm waters and great weath­er across the many beach­es of Maui, make it a true surfers par­adise and a great spot to either ride your first wave or for the more expe­ri­enced surfers tru­ly chal­lenge your­self.  

Blessed with a range of choic­es, the beach park of Cove is the stand­out for begin­ners – where you’ll find a true surf laid­back atmos­phere – and many keen instruc­tors on hand to guide you through your first wave, with the beach­es on the north shore includ­ing the bay of Hon­olua and the swell at Ho’okipa Beach pro­vid­ing the most reli­able, trust­ed and chal­leng­ing con­di­tions for surfers who want to take on the best surf­ing con­di­tions that Maui has to offer.  

A thrilling expe­ri­ence – and one that we’d rec­om­mend every­one vis­it­ing Maui tries at least once, the feel­ing of rid­ing your first wave is one that stays with explor­ers for­ev­er and there’s no bet­ter place to get your kicks that one the par­adise island of Maui.  

Maui’s Beaches: 

Along­side enjoy­ing the swell and surf off Maui’s Coast, the island of Maui is no excep­tion to its sis­ter island in being home to some of the great­est and most stun­ning beach­es on the plan­et – with the gold­en sands, turquoise waters offer­ing not just a great place to kick back after a long day explor­ing the won­ders of Maui but also some tru­ly breath-tak­ing and post­card per­fect scenery.  

Kamaole Beach­es 

Among these beach­es, the gold­en sands of the three beach­es of Kamaole stand out as some of the most spec­tac­u­lar, with the first two beach­es – named Kamaole I and II – being per­fect places to take a dip in the calm waters and then relax amongst palm trees and gold­en sands, and the third beach – Kamaole III – con­sid­ered the adven­ture beach, with the swell being a pop­u­lar spot for surf­ing, wake­board­ing, and horse rid­ing.  

Kaana­pali Beach  

You’ll also find stun­ning scenery, turquoise waters and more than three miles of stun­ning gold­en sand at the resort cen­tred beach of Kaana­pali. Once hold­ing the cov­et­ed title of America’s best beach, the nat­ur­al beau­ty of Kaanapali’s sur­round­ing has been hit by the over devel­op­ment of resorts, gold cours­es and hotels which lie on its edge.  

Yet despite this nat­ur­al beau­ty of Kaana­pali is still capa­ble of leav­ing explor­ers breath­less, with the waters in par­tic­u­lar­ly being home to shoals of marine life mak­ing for a great snorkelling spot – and the night­ly sun­set div­ing spec­ta­cle – which sees dare­dev­ils plum­met from the rocks above the beach into the cool waters below in trib­ute to the last inde­pen­dent king of Maui a unique and fun way to ring in the sun­set, before enjoy­ing a night­cap at one of the many resorts that lie on the edge of Kaana­pali as the sun goes down on anoth­er stun­ning day on Maui.  

 

Malu­a­ka Beach 

Along­side the glis­ten­ing warm sands and turquoise waters, Maui’s beach­es are also fre­quent­ly vis­it­ed by one of the most charm­ing ani­mals on the plan­et – the mighty tur­tle, with colonies of log­ger­head and green tur­tles known to reg­u­lar­ly fre­quent the shores of Maui’s beach­es to mate, birth and just relax.  

A true icon of Hawaii, the tur­tles can be dis­cov­ered both with­in the turquoise waters and on its shores, and there’s no place bet­ter to find them than at the “tur­tle town” beach of Malu­a­ka where green tur­tles can be found both under­wa­ter and nest­ing on the sides of the gold­en shores of this stun­ning beach.  

Found along the Mak­e­na Alanui high­way on the south-west side of Maui, the beach of Malu­a­ka, lies close to the Moloki­ni crater and makes for a great stop off after vis­it­ing the cres­cent moon island, with its close prox­im­i­ty to the pop­u­lar Moloki­ni Crater also mean­ing that the shores of Malu­a­ka often go over­looked by trav­ellers, mean­ing that you can work the beach­es gold­en shores and swim and relax with the tur­tles in a rare moment of peace­ful soli­tude on Maui.  

Pa’iloa (Hon­okalani) Beach 

Found along the glo­ri­ous Hana High­way just above the city of Hana, deep with­in the incred­i­ble Waiana­pana­pa State Park, the black sands of Pa’iloa Beach – which also goes under the name of Hon­okalani as mes­meris­ing as they are beau­ti­ful, with the black sands a result of mil­lions of years of ash and lava set­tling on the beach line and giv­ing birth to what is one of the most dis­tinct and stun­ning black sand beach­es on the plan­et.  

It’s also the home of both a leg­end – with the beach­es water filled caves believed to be the site where ancient Chief Ka’akea mur­dered his wife Popo’alaea after wit­ness­ing her reflec­tion in the waters of Wai’ana­pana­pa after she fled to the caves for sanc­tu­ary – and colonies of log­ger­head tur­tles, who come to the black sand to rest, breed and birth, with the com­bi­na­tion of the daz­zling black sands and the chance to wit­ness the tur­tles in their undis­trib­uted habi­tat mak­ing the Pa’iloa beach one of the most pris­tine and beau­ti­ful across Maui.  

 Mak­e­na Beach & Cove 

Found on the south side of Maui, the beach­es that lie on the Mak­e­na Beach State Park which stretch­es for a full mile of coast­line are tru­ly exquis­ite, with so much of this beau­ty down to the fact that the edges of the beach remains, thanks to a series of con­ser­va­tion and preser­va­tion efforts free of resort devel­op­ment – giv­ing the beach­es that lie with­in this park a tru­ly authen­tic and nat­ur­al feel.  

Billed as the “largest and unde­vel­oped” beach area across the whole of Maui, the main two beach­es are affect­ing­ly known as big beach and lit­tle beach – and you’ll find that both beach­es are blessed with not only gold­en sand and turquoise waters, but with lines of palm and coconut trees – cre­at­ing what is tru­ly one of Maui’s most scenic and pic­ture-per­fect beach­es.  

Con­nect­ed by a small beach path, that lets you sam­ple both beach­es, the lit­tle beach has, in recent times, earned a rep­u­ta­tion as a par­ty beach after hours, with row­dy gath­er­ings known to take place here on New Year’s Eve espe­cial­ly – so for those seek­ing soli­tude and a relax­ing expe­ri­ence its best to steer clear of this beach after sun­set. We’d also advise steer­ing clear of the waters on the big beach dur­ing swells and storms, with the waters on the big beach known to be unpre­dictable and poten­tial­ly life threat­en­ing at times.  

Still these two beach­es, caught at the right moment can offer a tru­ly authen­tic beach expe­ri­ence and give you one of the best spots across the whole of Maui to catch some rays and tru­ly relax in a serene and stun­ning envi­ron­ment.  

Mak­e­na Cove 

A tru­ly hid­den gem of Maui, you’ll also find anoth­er stun­ning spot – where the Vol­cano meets the Sea – just off the beach­es of Mak­e­na, with the Mak­e­na Cove being a small palm treed beach cove that is one of the most pic­turesque and roman­tic spots across the whole of Hawaii.  

A favourite for wed­ding pho­tos thanks to its nat­ur­al beau­ty, the Mak­e­na Cove some­times eludes the maps of google, but you can find it tucked between a few luck hous­es and down a small path where the beau­ty of this secret cove will open to you. Tru­ly breath-tak­ing, if you’re lucky you may get the cove to your­self, and we’d rec­om­mend tim­ing your vis­it for sun­set, where the slow lap­ping of the waves glow under a kalei­do­scop­ic and bright sun­set that sees the whole cove light up for you – in what is a true moment of mag­ic and one of the most mem­o­rable expe­ri­ences on Maui.  

 

Humpback whale watching: 

For those luck enough to be in Maui between Octo­ber and March – you’ll find the waters of Maui alive with thou­sands of Hump­back Whales who come to feast on krill and enjoy the warm waters of Hawaii before mak­ing their migra­tion north towards Alas­ka.  

A true priv­i­lege to wit­ness these majes­tic mam­mals breach­ing in the waters, the calm waters around Maui – espe­cial­ly around Lahaina Har­bour – make for an ide­al place to take on a whale watch­ing trip, with the chances spot­ting a hump­back so high on a day trip that Maui has earned a rep­u­ta­tion as being one of the best places in the world to go whale watch­ing.  

For those who want to go a lit­tle fur­ther in their whale watch­ing jour­ney, then we’d encour­age you to take part in the Maui Whale Fes­ti­val which takes place in Feb­ru­ary each year, which com­bines whale watch­ing with a series of edu­ca­tion­al and inter­ac­tive activ­i­ties includ­ing talks from the world’s great­est marine biol­o­gist and a series of whale themed fairs and events.  

For an extra spe­cial expe­ri­ence, be sure to book your whale watch­ing trip our of Lahaina har­bour at sun­set – where not only can you enjoy some of the great­est whale watch­ing view­ing expe­ri­ences on the plan­et, but you can do so against the back­drop of one of the great­est sun­sets on the plan­et — for a tru­ly mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence.  

Lahaina Harbour & Luau 

Home to an icon­ic sun­set, the beau­ti­ful Lahaina Har­bour sits per­fect­ly between the sea and the moun­tains of west Maui – and along­side being the gate­way to the won­ders of Kapalua and Ka’anapali down the road and your port of call for dol­phin swim­ming, surf­ing and whale watch­ing adven­ture trips, is one of the most serene, relaxed and his­toric spots on the island – and home to one of the tasti­est Luau’s in Hawaii! 

Found in down­town Lahaina, the har­bour fea­tures a row of clas­sic Hawai­ian shops, known as front street and it’s here where you can find not only tra­di­tion­al shops, but some of the best food in Hawaii as fresh fish are bought in from the Pacif­ic Ocean straight to the grill for a mouth-water­ing expe­ri­ence.  

Along­side the famous surf break wall in the har­bour – a great spot for those who want to take on their first wave in Hawaii and mas­ter the art of surf­ing, the har­bour is also a port of call for his­to­ry, with the famous six­ty foot tall Banyan Tree – plant­ed as part of a protes­tant mis­sion and the Bald­win muse­um which has the hon­our of being the old­est house in Lahaina – and offers a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into ear­ly life at Lahaina both sit­ting a short walk away from the down­town har­bour.  

But the real beau­ty and gem of the har­bour is undoubt­ed­ly the sun­set – where the har­bour lights up in a tru­ly majes­tic dis­play of deep orange and pur­ple – illu­mi­nat­ing the boats sail­ing out of har­bour and mak­ing the turquoise waters and soft sand on the har­bours edge come alive — in what is an absolute­ly glo­ri­ous dis­play and one of the best and tru­ly breath-tak­ing sun­sets on the plan­et.  

Fol­low­ing the amaz­ing sun­set – that will leave you in absolute awe of the beau­ty of Lahaina Har­bour and Maui – there’s no bet­ter way to top off your evening by enjoy­ing one of the best Luau’s on the island – at the Old Lahaina Luau. A tru­ly authen­tic taste and expe­ri­ence of Maui – you’ll need to book in advance to secure your seat at the table – such is the pop­u­lar­i­ty of this Luau, but for those who are lucky enough to get a seat you can expect a feast of the sens­es, with fresh fish, grilled steak and bar­beque pig all backed by tra­di­tion­al dance and music and topped off by the glis­ten­ing views of the panoram­ic Lahaina har­bour below you – for what is a tru­ly spe­cial and mem­o­rable expe­ri­ence and that rep­re­sents the absolute best of Maui.  

 

The Road to Hana (The Hana Highway) 

Overview: 

The road to Hana is paved with glo­ri­ous beach­es, tow­er­ing water­falls, stun­ning val­leys, quaint beau­ti­ful towns, incred­i­ble food and some of the most stun­ning scenery on the plan­et – as you wind round the 64.4 miles of the absolute best of Maui on one of the world’s great­est dri­ves.  

Begin­ning with a first stop at the beau­ty spot of Paia, the Hana High­way takes you across 59 bridges and more than 600 nerve-wrack­ing turns past and to some of the jew­els of Maui as you jour­ney along the Hawai­ian routes 36 through to 360 on a nar­row – but gor­geous and scenic road – from the Maui’s main cen­tre Kahu­lui to the beau­ti­ful town of Hana on the east of Island through a series of rain­for­est, water­falls and val­leys.  

A road that will test not only your dri­ving abil­i­ty – but also your nerves, patience and rela­tion­ship – with the Hana high­way hav­ing earned the nick­name “the divorce high­way” giv­en the num­ber of argu­ments the nav­i­ga­tion of this high­way has caused between cou­ples – and some­times even hon­ey­moon­ers – a trip along the Hana high­way, if under­tak­en with care and cau­tion is undoubt­ed­ly one of the most stun­ning and scenic roads in the worlds and offers the absolute best sights of the stun­ning island of Maui.  

 

So to make things as easy as pos­si­ble, to ensure you hit the best sights on this high­way – and even to keep the poten­tial argu­ments at bay, the below is our guide and a series of top tips to rid­ing the road to Hana:  

Driving the Hana highway: 

Mak­ing sure to have got up ear­ly, and pre­pared with a series of road snacks, a good sat-nav and plen­ty of petrol in the fuel (as there’s no spots to fill up on the road) you can begin the dri­ve along the Hana high­way and along this stun­ning road that will take you all the way from the  

Tak­ing you from the cen­tre of Maui near the islands cap­i­tal of Kahu­lui cen­tre and air­port (for those who want to take on the Hana High­way straight upon land­ing) – the Road to Hana is an elec­tri­fy­ing series of twists and turns that takes you not only to some of the less vis­it­ed, but equal­ly stun­ning parts of Maui – includ­ing immense tow­er­ing water­falls, gold­en greens scenery, incred­i­ble hik­ing trails and glis­ten­ing beach­es – as well as stops to some of the absolute best of Hawai­ian and island food and drink stalls – with many of them oper­at­ing on the hon­our sys­tem.  

So, with a reli­able car and a decent sat nav or map it’s time to put your dri­ving skills (and even rela­tion­ship) to the test – as you head out on 40 miles of the incred­i­ble Hana High­way.  

The beginning and Paia. 

Begin­ning from Kahu­lui cen­tre or Kahu­lui air­port the road to Hana is eas­i­ly found and labelled with state high­way 36 dou­bling up as Hana High­way – and as soon as you join the high­way you’ll be treat­ed to incred­i­ble views of Maui’s coast­line, pass­ing the gor­geous beach of Spreck­alsville and Bald­win beach park – on your way to the first offi­cial stop of the Hana High­way – the small hip­py town of Paia.  

A world away from the bus­tle of Kahu­lui – Paia is found off a short de-tour down Bald­win Avenue – and although only con­sists of one small main road, is a great place to grab a quick cof­fee to pre­pare you for the road ahead – with the Paia bak­ery in par­tic­u­lar­ly hav­ing gained a rep­u­ta­tion for serv­ing some of the best cof­fee on the island.  

Tak­ing your time to stroll round this relaxed town, and get a feel for a Hawai­ian town off the beat­en track ‑it’s time to hit the Hana High­way again – and you will find your­self pass­ing more incred­i­ble beach­es – includ­ing the North Paia Beach Kaula­hao beach before arriv­ing at the first offi­cial look­out of the Hana High­way – the Ho’okipa Look­out.  

Offer­ing incred­i­ble views over not the gor­geous gold­en sand of the Ho’okipa beach below but also the warm blue North Pacif­ic Ocean, for those who arrive at the look­out ear­ly you’ll get a fan­tas­tic view of ear­ly morn­ing surfers tak­ing on the brakes on this stun­ning beach – and if you’re lucky there may also be colonies of Green and Leatherback tur­tles kip­ping on the beach below – which makes for a tru­ly awe­some sight and an incred­i­ble intro­duc­tion to the Hana High­way – before you trav­el on to your first water­fall of the high­way.  

Mile marker 2: Twin Falls.

Leav­ing the Ho’okipa Beach and look­out (and the Tur­tles) behind you, the Road to Hana cuts inland – and you’ll pass what is the offi­cial Hana High­way mark­er 0 (this is the offi­cial start, but real­is­ti­cal­ly you have to dri­ve from Kahu­lui to get here) and fol­low a series of test­ing switch­backs and bends as High­way 36 merges into High­way 360 – as you enter the gor­geous green val­ley of Ho’o­lawa before arriv­ing at the tow­er­ing and gor­geous water­fall of Twin Falls.  

The first water­fall on the high­way – and one with incred­i­bly easy access, twin falls is well named – hav­ing two incred­i­ble water­falls – with the first being eas­i­ly accessed by a trek that lets you get right up and close to the water­falls – where you can feel not only their pow­er and the incred­i­ble sounds of these thun­der­ous falls – but have an incred­i­ble spot to mar­vel at their beau­ty at the over­looks.  

The sec­ond (cave­man falls) can also be accessed as well, and despite the road to it being a lit­tle tricky – it’s well worth it as cave­man falls has become well estab­lished as a post­card spot on the high­way – and for good rea­son as this incred­i­ble water­fall offers a tru­ly spe­cial site, with the incred­i­ble falls tow­er­ing down against a back­drop of lush green­ery – which makes for an awe­some sight.  

Back on the road and leav­ing the incred­i­ble falls behind, you’ll pass a series of farm stands sell­ing some of the best coconuts and fruit on the plan­et – which is well worth indulging in, before you (slow­ly) take on a series of twists and turns – that will tru­ly test your dri­ving skills – as you past through the famous Heue­lo look­out smooth­ie stand – anoth­er incred­i­ble spot on your way to the next high­lights of the high­way – the Bam­boo For­est and Rain­bow trees.  

Mile Marker 7 —  Bamoo forest hike, Haipua’ena Falls  and Rainbow Trees. 

 Hav­ing sur­vived the twists and turns of the Hana High­way through the first eight of the road – it’s time for anoth­er incred­i­ble stop – and this time to explore some of the best forestry and trees across Hawaii, as you hit three stun­ning won­ders – the Bam­boo for­est hike, the Rain­bow Trees and the Haipua’e­na Falls in quick suc­ces­sion.  

Found between mile mark­ers 6 – 7, the first of these stun­ning sights is the Bam­boo For­est and Hike. A short walk, the Bam­boo for­est will see you jour­ney through some of the best and most beau­ti­ful of Hawaii’s plan­ta­tion – as you stroll through thick bam­boo for­est with a cool breeze in your face along a well-defined trail that leads to a clear open­ing and anoth­er mes­meris­ing water­fall.  

Tak­ing time to enjoy the expe­ri­ence of walk­ing amongst incred­i­ble bam­boo, do be sure not to fol­low the exam­ple of oth­er tourists who have carved their names into the trees – and instead sim­ply enjoy the unique expe­ri­ence of these incred­i­ble and beau­ti­ful tow­er­ing trees as you wan­der along this path.  

Hav­ing con­quered the trail – and enjoyed the expe­ri­ence of wan­der­ing back through the for­est, it’s back on the high­way to one of the most spe­cial spots of the high­way the mighty Haipua’e­na Falls and the gor­geous rain­bow trees.  

Fol­low­ing the Hana high­way round, and you’ll soon enter a patch of forestry with tow­er­ing mul­ti-coloured euca­lyp­tus trees – known as the rain­bow trees. These tru­ly spe­cial trees (which are main­ly found on the left) have nat­ur­al bright coloured trunks of Orange, Green and Blue – cre­at­ing a kalei­do­scope of colours and a dreamy oth­er­world­ly expe­ri­ence as you pass through them.  

For those who want to stop and admire this incred­i­ble phe­nom­e­non fur­ther, you have the option of pulling over into a car park at Haipua’e­na Falls, and not only wan­der­ing among these trees – but tak­ing on the tri­al to Haipua’e­na Falls, which is small­er but gor­geous small water­fall.  

A true high­light of the Hana High­way, for those who do take on the Haipua’e­na Falls trek you can expect not only incred­i­ble views of the Rain­bow trees below you, but also see the hike take you to an over­look point beyond the water­fall – where an incred­i­ble panoram­ic view of the mid­dle of Maui – and the blue Pacif­ic Ocean awaits you – for a majes­tic pho­to spot on this stun­ning road.  

Return­ing to the car and back on the Hana high­way, the 2 miles of the road ahead will be a lit­tle bit tricky as you nav­i­gate some of the tough­est switch­backs and turns in the road, so be sure to take it easy and slow­ly – before you arrive at the next incred­i­ble sight on the Hana high­way – the Waikamoi ridge trail.  

 

Mile marker 9.5 – The Waikamoi Ridge Trail 

Nes­tled at the halfway point between mile 9 and 10 is one of the most under­rat­ed attrac­tions of the Hana hihg­way – the  Waikamoi Ridge Trail.  

As you fol­low the bendy road round from the mile 9 mark­er you’ll notice an open­ing on the right hand side of the road (fac­ing inland) that slow­ly turns into a hard shoul­der, which acts as the park­ing lot for this trail, with their being two main loops – a short­er 15 minute and a longer half an hour route, which both give explor­ers the chance to wan­der with­in this incred­i­ble ridge.  

Regard­less of which trail you take, the Waikamoi Trail is a tru­ly spe­cial hike. With a well-defined path, which ben­e­fits from a cool and lux­u­ri­ous ocean breeze, tak­ing you on a jour­ney through some incred­i­ble green plan­ta­tion and up to a clear­ing where stun­ning views out over the island of Maui – which stretch to the edge of the island, across the deep blue Hawai­ian waters and into the hori­zon – await you, for what is tru­ly one of the most roman­tic and spe­cial spots on the Hana High­way.  

Mile marker 10: Garden Of Eden Arboretum 

Hav­ing con­quered the Waikamoi Trail – and enjoyed the incred­i­ble views from the clear­ing, it’s back on the Hana high­way, and hav­ing nav­i­gat­ed a few more twists and turns in the road, you’ll come to true par­adise on earth – with the apt­ly named Gar­den of Eden Arbore­tum.  

A tru­ly beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al gar­den, that lets you explore the best of Maui nature, the Gar­den of Eden Arbore­tum is a rich par­adise of incred­i­ble unique colour­ful flow­ers, plants and trees (includ­ing the famous 100 year old Man­go tree) all set with­in the stun­ning cli­mate and island of Maui – mak­ing it one of the must stop places on the Hana High­way.  

Offi­cial­ly a “beau­ti­fi­ca­tion project” you can expect to pay a $20 entry fee – which is a lit­tle pricey, but def­i­nite­ly worth it – as the gar­den opens up to you to reveal not only it’s beau­ty – which can be explored over 25 acres of incred­i­ble trails – but also a series of ocean and island views – which make for some of the best pho­to sptos across the whole of both Maui and Hawaii.  

Chief among these view­ing spots is the Keopu­ka Rock Over­look – which shot to fame as being the film­ing point for the open­ing scene of the fist Juras­sic Park film – as well as both the Antho­ri­um Gar­den and the enchant­ed For­est and a unique view­ing spot for the tow­er­ing and majes­tic Puo­hokamoa Falls – all of which make for incred­i­ble pho­to spots.  

A spe­cial place, the Gar­den of Eden tru­ly lives up to its name, and makes for an incred­i­ble place to have a spot of brunch or an ear­ly lunch – tak­ing advan­tage of one of the food trucks that line the entrance – and is undoubt­ed­ly a spot not to be missed on this High­way – as you get to enjoy the expe­ri­ence of walk­ing in and expe­ri­enc­ing the true par­adise of the Gar­den of Eden.  

Mile marker 12 & 13: Kaumahina State Wayside Park & Ke’anae Peninsula Viewpoints  

Leav­ing the stun­ning Gar­den of Eden – and its incred­i­ble views and nature – it’s back onto the Hana High­way and for one of the tough­est stretch­es of the road – as the high­way dips down and then ascends over an incred­i­ble tricky switch­back over the course of 2 miles – before you arrive at the first of two great view­points – the Kaumahi­na State Way­side Park view­point.  

A great spot for a rest and pic­nic (and one of the few stops on the high­way with a restroom) – the Kaumahi­na State Way­side Park view­point also comes with a hik­ing trail for those who want to explore the park fur­ther, but our rec­om­men­da­tion is to make this a quick stop to take in the incred­i­ble forestry and ocean views from the view­point – before hop­ping back in the Car and tak­ing on one of the eas­i­est and straight­est stretch­es of the high­way to mile mark­er 13 – where the Ke’anae Penin­su­la View­point awaits you. 

Anoth­er great stop – the Ke’anae Penin­su­la View­point offers wide rang­ing and sweep­ing views look­ing both back along the coats and inland into the green hills and forestry of Maui – for a tru­ly excep­tion pho­to. Best of all though from here you can also glimpse the road ahead and onto the next high­light the Hon­o­manu Bay – where one of the most peace­ful and relax­ing beach­es with­in Maui awaits you.  

Mile marker 14: Honomanu Bay 

Twist­ing and turn­ing down from mile mark­er 13 and the Ke’anae Penin­su­la View­point you’ll slow­ly see an incred­i­ble sweep­ing bay open up on your left – com­plete with a love­ly black sand beach which a series of tur­tles call home.  

Although view­able from the High­way – we’d real­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing time to turn off and head down to the Beach itself, as thanks to its rocky appear­ance and loca­tion on the High­way you’ll find that this is one of the few beach­es across the whole of Hawaii that is almost always desert­ed.  

A beau­ti­ful spot – helped in no part to the lack of crowds, the bay is tru­ly beau­ti­ful and you can enjoy not only the iso­la­tion, but some stun­ning pho­to spots where the for­est meets the sea. For those who are brave enough you can also try your hand at hav­ing a dip – with the waters on the bay being home to some amaz­ing coral and a pletho­ra of colour­ful fish – which adds to the charm and beau­ty of this incred­i­ble and some­times over­looked bay.  

 

Mile Marker 16.5 — Ke’anae Arboretum & Aunty Sandy’s Banana Bread 

Leav­ing the stun­ning Hon­o­manu Bay behind you, and you can jour­ney on along the high­way fol­low­ing the zig zag turn­ings and up and down along a penin­su­la sec­tion of the road that guides along the Nua‘ailua Stream before arriv­ing in the area of Ke’anae around mile mark­er 16.5.  

Fol­low­ing the road short­ly round and you’ll come to the Ke’anae Arbore­tum – the sec­ond of the Arboretum’s after the Gar­den of Eden – where again a sea of stun­ning plan­ta­tion greets you. Free to explore in con­trast to the Gar­den of Eden, the tri­al through the Ke’anae Arbore­tum is known to be mud­dy (so watch your shoes if you’re rent­ing a car) but the trail through the Arbore­tum again leads explor­ers to a great view­point over the Ke’anae Penin­su­la for a gor­geous pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

Best of all though with­in the Ke’anae Arbore­tum you’ll find more of the Rain­bow trees from mile mark­er 7 – with the trees inside the Arbore­tum being equal­ly spe­cial and allow­ing you to get up close and per­son­al to them – for a great chance to take some fun pho­tos with these nat­ur­al won­ders.  

Back on the Hana High­way and you’ll come to an inter­sec­tion where you can either fol­low the Hana high­way round or take a left turn that would lead you to the Keanae Penin­su­la view­point – for a series of stun­ning views and some of the best Ban­nana bread on the plan­et ! 

Fol­low­ing the road round to the left and just after you pass Waialo­he Park the Keanae Penin­su­la view­point will appear before you and can slow­ly pull into the car park for a bet­ter view at this stun­ning Penin­su­la – where you’ll see a series of titan­ic waves crash against the vol­cano rocks and turquoise coast­line for what is both a beau­ti­ful and pow­er­ful reminder of the incred­i­ble nature on Maui island.  

Tak­ing as many pho­tos as you can han­dle of this stun­ning beau­ty spot – it’s time for a well earned and deserved treat – a taste of the famous Aun­ty Sandy’s Banana Bread which is found in a small stall on the one way road back Keanae Penin­su­la view­point. A true treat this banana bread lives up to its rep­u­ta­tion as being one of the world’s best – with the $6 bread being a true treat and a great snack to set you up for the road ahead.  

Mile Marker 17: Halfway to Hana Snack Stand and Wailu 

Return­ing to the Hana High­way and you’ll pass by anoth­er scenic spot – the beau­ti­ful swim­ming spot of Ching’s pond – which makes for one of the best places on the high­way to not only take a quick dip and work off the Aun­ty Sandy’s Banana Bread, but for those who want a fur­ther unique ‘buck­et list’ expe­ri­ence on the Hana High­way – you have the chance to swim right out to the edge of the pond and through a Hawai­ian Water­fall – for a mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence. 

Hav­ing dried your­self off and back on the Hana high­way you can fol­low the road through the twists and turns and reach the offi­cial “Halfway to Hana” mark­er which makes for a nice pho­to spot – and gives you anoth­er oppor­tu­ni­ty to pick up some Banana Bread – with a small fam­i­ly run stand which has been present on the road since the ear­ly 1990’s offer­ing more of this tasty Hana sta­ple treat.   

Mile Marker 19: Upper Waikani Falls 

Cruis­ing past the Halfway to Hana stand and with plen­ty of Banana Bread in stock, you can jour­ney on down the high­way for the next two miles along rel­a­tive­ly straight road as you approach one of the true Jew­els of the Hana high­way – the mighty Upper Waikani Falls. 

Found just past Mile Mark­er 19, the Upper Waikani Falls – more affec­tion­ate­ly known be locals as the three bear falls based on their dif­fer­ing heights – are three mighty tow­er­ing water­falls (although based on rain con­di­tions they may merge into one giant cas­cad­ing fall) that are tru­ly stun­ning with the falls – which reach a height of more than 70 feet – sur­round­ed by lush green veg­e­ta­tion and mak­ing for one of the most scenic and stun­ning pho­to spots on the whole of the high­way.  

View­able from the high­way as a “dri­ve-by” water­fall, we’d real­ly rec­om­mend head­ing about 500 foot past the falls to the park­ing area and then tak­ing a short walk back to the falls to both feel their pow­er and take advan­tage of the Wailua Over­look which offers immense views of the three bears – and on a good day affords you stun­ning views over some of the best of the Maui land­scape as far as the stun­ning Haleakala Crater.  

For those who want to get even clos­er to the Upper Waikani Falls – there’s also a short 1‑mile trek that takes you past a series of stun­ning view­points – and even to the base of the falls where the Wailua Nui Stream, which makes for a great place to take one of the most refresh­ing dips on the plan­et, awaits you.  

Hav­ing cooled off in the waters of Wailua Nui and admired the stun­ning beau­ty of the three bears falls, it’s back on the high­way for one of the tough­est and bendy sec­tions of the high­way as you make to the falls of Pua’a Ka’a.  

Mile marker 24: Hanawi Falls 

Leav­ing the three bears falls behind you, the road will imme­di­ate­ly see you tak­ing on a series of chal­leng­ing switch­backs and some sharp and sud­den turns that will test both your patience and dri­ving abil­i­ties.  

Tak­ing the road slow­ly and fol­low­ing the bends you’ll even­tu­al­ly come to a clear­ing – known as the  Pua’a Ka’a State Way­side pool – which is a small swim­ming hole sur­round­ed by lush green veg­e­ta­tion – which makes for a nice place to stop for a breather hav­ing con­quered one of the most chal­leng­ing and test­ing sec­tions of the Hana High­way.  

Back on the high­way and for­tu­nate­ly the next two miles are rel­a­tive­ly flat and straight – and will lead you to anoth­er incred­i­ble and awe-inspir­ing water­fall on this stun­ning high­way, the Hanawi Falls.  

Tow­er­ing 200 feet above the High­way, the mighty Hanawi Falls is con­sid­ered the jew­el of the water­falls on the Hana High­way, with the falls here known to be always flow­ing on the right hand side of the high­way, and after a par­tic­u­lar­ly rainy sea­son known to glis­ten and daz­zle against the back­drop of rain­bows on the left hand side.  

As you approach we’d rec­om­mend pulling into the Hanawi Falls carpark and get­ting out on foot to explore these falls, with a well-trod­den and defined path tak­ing you not only to a stun­ning view­ing point for the Hanawi Falls – where you can cap­ture both the Upper and Low­er Falls in full flow, but also tak­ing you beyond the falls them­selves giv­ing you a great chance to explore the sur­round­ing deep green Hawai­ian Rain­for­est that these falls give life to – for a tru­ly spe­cial expe­ri­ence and unique chance to immerse your­self in some of the best of Hawai­ian nature.  

Fur­ther the beau­ty of Hanawi Falls can be fur­ther explored, with the falls offer­ing a fan­tas­tic place to have a swim, where you have the chance to not only swim in the base of the falls which tra­vers­es all the way to the Hanawi Stream – but for those who dare it swim up to and through the low­er falls of Hanawi – for a tru­ly mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence.  

 

Mile Marker 25: Makapipi Falls – Mile Marker 29:  Lunch at Nahiku Marketplace  

Hav­ing snapped the Hanawi Falls in all their glo­ry, and dried your­self off after hav­ing a swim in the falls – it’s back on the Hana High­way and onwards to some great places to stop for lunch.  

As you leave mile mark­er 24 behind over a rel­a­tive­ly easy stretch of high­way, we’d advise slow­ing down as you approach mile mark­er 25 and pulling over at the bridge that marks this sec­tion, to observe falls of Makapipi which can be seen benath the bridge tow­er­ing and feed­ing into the Hanawi Stream, with the van­tage point from the top of the bridge look­ing down over the falls mak­ing for a unique and spe­cial pho­to spot as you cap­ture the falls below.  

Back on the high­way and you can fol­low the road round  — again on rel­a­tive­ly easy road – and pass through some great spots for lunch, includ­ing the Hana Har­vest restau­rant, which offers some great wood fried piz­za around Mile Mark­er 27, Coconut Glens at Mile Mark­er 28, which offers some of the best Ice Cream in the whole of Hawaii or our pick the  Nahiku Mar­ket­place at Mile Mark­er 29, which is a series of tra­di­tion­al food stands serv­ing both the best of Hawai­ian food and a series of dish­es from around the world – giv­ing you a range of options for which to enjoy a well earned lunch.  

For those who do stop at the Nahiku Mar­ket­place it’s also a great place to spend a lit­tle bit of time shop­ping – with there being a range of sou­venir and mar­ket shops which can make for a great place to pick up a memen­to of your trip and stay in Hawaii.  

With a good lunch behind you it’s back on the high­way for anoth­er two miles as you approach one of the high­lights of the Hana High­way – the Hana Lava Tube.  

Mile Marker 31: The Hana Lava Tube  

Found on a small turn off the Hana High­way on Ulaino road, the Hana Lave Tube is one of the most inter­est­ing and edu­ca­tion­al spots on the High­way and one that allows you to explore the Vol­canic heart of the island of Maui.  

Formed almost a thou­sand years ago, the Lava Tube was formed fol­low­ing an erup­tion from the Maui Vol­ca­noes, where hot pip­ping Lava flowed under­ground and reached the sur­face, form­ing the caves that serve not only as a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into the geo­log­i­cal struc­ture of the earth – but which have also act­ed as Nuclear fall­out shel­ters in parts of America’s dark­er past and which are now hike able as a fas­ci­nat­ing stop on the Hana High­way.  

 Allow­ing for an hour to go through the whole cave on a self-guid­ed route, you can expect to pay $13Usd for entry and you’ll need to hire a flash­light to find your way – as the route begins by tak­ing you down some steep steps and into the deep lava tube which makes for a fas­ci­nat­ing explo­ration into the geo­log­i­cal his­to­ry of Hawaii and one of the most unique and stun­ing spots on the Hana High­way.  

Mile Marker 32: Wai‘anapanapa State Park and Black Sand Beach 

Hav­ing con­quered the Lava tube and immersed your­self in the unique expe­ri­ence of tra­vers­ing through a Lava Tube, it’s time to head south on the Ulaino road and back onto the Hana high­way.  

Pass­ing by Mile Mark­er 31 you’ll pass by a great lit­tle snack stand known as the Hana Farms Snack Stand – where not only more Banana Bread is on offer but also a range of fruit, cook­ies, and baked goods – many of which oper­ate on the hon­our sys­tem, with this lit­tle stand being a great place to pick up some snacks as you head onwards to the nat­ur­al beau­ties of the Wai‘anapanapa State Park and Black Sand Beach – which you’ll need to have made an advanced book­ing to vis­it.  

Con­tin­u­ing straight along the High­way from the Hana Farms Snack Stand and past Mile Mark­er 31, you’ll come to a turn off on your left-hand side for the road of Hon­okalani which you’ll want to take and which will lead you straight to the beau­ty spot of Wai‘anapanapa State Park.  

Hav­ing made an advanced book­ing you can park up at the Wai’ana­pana­pa car park – and we’d advise imme­di­ate­ly head­ing for one of the most scenic and beau­ti­ful beach­es on the plan­et – the black sand beach of Pa’iloa Beach, which is a tru­ly stun­ning and majes­tic beach and which is eas­i­ly reached by fol­low­ing a short coastal path. 

Upon the Pa’iloa Beach, we’d advise tak­ing a bit of time to reflect on this stun­ning par­adise – and tuck­ing into the snacks from the Farms Snack Stand on it’s black shores – as you admire the glis­ten­ing turquoise water before you and the unique beau­ty of the lava peb­ble beach, whilst also keep­ing an eye out for the log­ger­head tur­tles which are known to call this beach home. 

Hav­ing immersed your­self in this beach and tak­en in the beau­ty of the daz­zling water before you  — which gives the name of for Wai’ana­pana­pa which lit­er­al­ly trans­lates to “shin­ing water” – you can explore some more of the stun­ning sights of the Pa’iloa Beach with a path­way at the far end of the beach lead­ing you to two unique fresh­wa­ter caves, which are shroud­ed in local lega­cy.  

Believed to have been cre­at­ed by the gods, and also being the site where the ancient Chief Ka’akea is said to have mur­dered his wife Popo’alaea after wit­ness­ing her reflec­tion in the waters of Wai’ana­pana­pa after she fled to the caves for sanc­tu­ary – the two caves at the far end of the Pa’iloa Beach are filled with float­ing fresh­wa­ter above the salt below and makes for a stun­ning pho­to spot, with the glis­ten­ing water reflect­ing against the sides of the cave for yet anoth­er mag­i­cal spot in this incred­i­ble park.  

Exit­ing the caves, and mak­ing your way back along the black sand of Pa’iloa Beach, you can then enter into the Wai‘anapanapa State Park and tak­ing one last glance at the beach and the stun­ning rolling hills and moun­tains in this park it’s time to head back along the Hon­okalani road and onto the Hana High­way – as you make your way to the town of Hana.  

 

Mile Marker 34 — Hana Town  

Onto the final stretch of the high­way and final­ly approach­ing the last piece of road to Hana, the two miles down from the Wai‘anapanapa State Park are thank­ful­ly flat and straight and will guide you past a series of hon­our based fruit stands and into the town of Hana.  

A qui­et and charm­ing town, you’ll find a cou­ple of restau­rants as well as the food stands which make for a great place to refu­el, and for those who fan­cy it the near­by dra­mat­ic red sand beach of Kai­halu­lu makes for a great place to snap for dra­mat­ic colours of the red sand against the south Pacif­ic Ocean – espe­cial­ly at sun­set.  

But to tru­ly immerse your­self in Hana – which has remained almost unchanged by the chang­ing sands of time – and retained its unique iden­ti­fy from years gone by, we’d real­ly rec­om­mend tak­ing a quick stroll through the town, which will allow you to soak in the his­to­ry and atmos­phere of Hana, before hop­ping back in the Car and con­tin­u­ing down the high­way for some of the final beau­ty spots of the stun­ning Hana High­way.  

Mile Marker 40: Koki and Hamoa Beaches 

Con­tin­u­ing on the High­way and leav­ing beau­ti­ful Hana behind, you can enjoy the beau­ti­ful high­way with the blue Pacif­ic Ocean on your left as you trav­el down the ‘Ōpūo­hi­na penin­su­la on rel­a­tive­ly straight road for a cou­ple of miles towards the two beau­ti­ful and relaxed beach­es of Koki and Hamoa.  

Found just before mile mark­er 40, the first beach you’ll hit is the surf beach of Koki. Found down the short turn off of Haneo Road, Koki fea­tures icon­ic strik­ing and deep red cliffs and warm gold­en sand, which makes for a great place to kick back and watch the locals surf or just admire the beau­ty of yet anoth­er one of Maui’s stun­ning beach­es.  

After a good spot of relax­ing, you can fol­low Haneo Road down to the south after leav­ing Koki Beach and it will bring you straight to the pull in for the deep sands and turquoise waters of Hamoa Beach. A great swim­ming spot, the high­light of Hamoa Beach is undoubt­ed­ly its clear waters – which are known to be home to a vari­ety of wildlife – and with Hamoa Beach being so far off the beat­en trail in Maui, this makes for a great place to enjoy some world class snorkelling and beach time, with min­i­mal crowds, for an almost per­fect finale to the Hana High­way.  

 

Mile Marker 42 Ohe’o Gulch and Bamboo Forest 

Back on the Hana High­way and you can again enjoy stun­ning views of the pacif­ic ocean on your left, with the pop­u­lar beau­ty spot Waio­ka Pond, which is found at mile mark­er 41 mak­ing for a great spot to cap­ture the beau­ty of the pacif­ic ocean in all its glo­ry against the back­drop of some stun­ning cliffs.  

Con­tin­u­ing on from Waio­ka Pond and a half mile south you’ll come to the tow­er­ing water­fall of Wailua Falls – which are found along almost slap bang on the high­way after pass­ing a small bridge. Whilst you can’t swim or access them like the falls of Waikani, these 173 foot falls are equal­ly as stun­ning and make for yet anoth­er post­card per­fect pho­to spot on this gor­geous high­way.  

It’s also here where you’ll find locals sell­ing home­made sou­venirs, which can make for a great and best of all (in our opin­ion) a series of fur­ther hon­our-based fruit stands and banana bread, which can pro­vide a hearty snack for the road and trail ahead.  

One mile fur­ther south and you’ll come to the stun­ning finale of the Hana High­way the Ohe’o Gulch area of the Haleakala Nation­al Park, with its stun­ning sev­en sacred pools and leg­endary Pipi­wai Trail that leads into one of the most serene bam­boo forests on the plan­ets.  

Pulling in at the Kīpahu­lu Vis­i­tor Cen­tre, the sev­en sacred pools can be found on a short trek from the vis­i­tor cen­tre where you walk along a beau­ti­ful wood­en board­walk up to the edge of the pools – which are sev­er­al stun­ning small water­falls which cas­cade down into a pris­tine pool below, where if the water lev­els allow it, you can take a dip in some of the refresh­ing and relax­ing water on the plan­et.  

Fol­low­ing the path round from the sev­en sacred pools and back to the Kīpahu­lu Vis­i­tor Cen­tre, you can take a turn­ing at a well-placed sign to join the Pipi­wai Trail and jour­ney deep into the forests of Maui. Clock­ing in at two miles each way (four for the round trip) the trail begins be tak­ing you imme­di­ate­ly into some stun­ning lush green forestry.  

Tak­ing the trail onwards and you expect the occa­sion­al hill to climb – as well as the odd mud­dy patch if it’s been rain­ing, before the path opens up into a stun­ning sec­tion of Bam­boo For­est – which can rival that of the Arashiya­ma Bam­boo Grove – for what is both a spir­i­tu­al and beau­ti­ful sec­tion of this incred­i­ble trail.  

As you jour­ney towards the end of the bam­boo grove, you’ll hear the famil­iar sound of rush­ing water, as the incred­i­ble 400 ft water­fall of Waimoku awaits you. This ower­ing and stun­ning water­fall is the biggest that you’ll cross on the Hana High­way and you can take a moment to drink in its incred­i­ble beau­ty and pow­er as you watch and wit­ness the immense pow­er of the cas­cad­ing water plum­met into the stream below – for what is a tru­ly immense finale to the Hana High­way and the com­ple­tion of one of the worlds great­est dri­ves.  

The Journey Home.  

Hav­ing been priv­i­leged enough to observe the sheer pow­er of the Waimoku falls, and wit­nessed a series of stun­ning water­falls, tow­er­ing and rolling forestry and incred­i­ble beach­es, as well as feast­ed on loaves of Banana Bread.  along the 42 miles of immense road that is the Hana High­way, you can head back to the car park at the Kīpahu­lu Vis­i­tor Cen­tre and back onto the Hana high­way to begin to make the jour­ney back to the cen­tre of Maui and Kahu­lui – with the knowl­edge that the test­ing switch­backs, sharp turns and beau­ti­ful land­scapes that make up the Hana High­way await you once again as you jour­ney home.  

Top Tips for the Hana Highway: 

One of the World’s great­est Dri­ves, there’s no doubt that the Hana High­way can be tricky, chal­leng­ing and require an immense plan­ning, with the many turns and switch­backs right­ly earn­ing the Hana High­way its rep­u­ta­tion as a true “rela­tion­ship tester.” 

So to help in mak­ing the dri­ve and all parts of the Hana High­way as easy as pos­si­ble we’ve put togeth­er our quick top tips to help you con­quer this stun­ning road, with your car, san­i­ty and (hope­ful­ly !) rela­tion­ship in tact: 

- First­ly while there are tours avail­able for the high­way, we’d real­ly rec­om­mend doing the Hana High­way dri­ve as a self-guid­ed tour after rent­ing a car fol­low­ing your arrival at Kahu­lui. With the eas­i­est place to rent a car being at the Kahu­lui Air­port and we’d rec­om­mend going for a com­fort­able mid­size car (you don’t need a jeep) which you pick up on arrival ‑ready to con­quer the high­way the next day. 

 - On the road itself, be sure to take it nice and slow – it is a dan­ger­ous road with many switch­backs and sharp turns and blind cor­ners. It’s also essen­tial that you don’t stop ran­dom­ly at the road but make stops only at car parks and be sure to take on the high­way with a full tank of fuel – as petrol sta­tions along the high­way are few and far between.  

 - Be sure also to allow locals to over­take and pass you when they approach, the Hana high­way is also the main road across the island and you’ll find locals use it fre­quent­ly, with the tell-tale sign for a local being that they’ll flash their lights at you on two occa­sions – so if you see this be sure to let the car behind over­take when it’s safe to do so – as the last thing you want to be respon­si­ble for is a traf­fic jam on the Hana high­way.  

 - Be sure to plan your stops based on the above in advance, and espe­cial­ly if head­ing to the Wai‘anapanapa State Park make sure you’ve booked well in advance to guar­an­tee your spot on the incred­i­ble black sand beach, or risk find­ing the road ahead blocked to you. 

 - Final­ly we’d real­ly advise tak­ing on the Hana High­way in one full day, as beau­ti­ful as it is and with so many stops, the High­way does only stretch for 42 Miles one way so is eas­i­ly con­quer­able in a day – and for this rea­son our final and best top tip is to make sure you’re on the high­way at sun­rise, as not only will you get the true thrill of the majes­tic Hawai­ian sun­rise ris­ing over the High­way but it will also leave with you enough time to con­quer one of the best roads in the world in the Hana High­way.  

 

Kauai 

Affec­tion­ate­ly nick­named The Gar­den Isle, the island of Kauai is a land of dra­mat­ic and inspir­ing land­scapes, with the icon­ic lush green tow­er­ing cliffs and water­falls of the Na Pali Coast (of Juras­sic Park fame) com­bined with the mighty falls of Waipoo– which cas­cade down into the great canyon of Waimea –the tow­er­ing moun­tain of Waialeale and the soft gold­en beach­es of Hanalei bay, Tun­nels beach and the longest beach in Hawaii the beau­ti­ful Poli­hale – make Kauai one of the most unique and scenic islands on the plan­et.  

The old­est of Hawaiian’s mod­ern islands – Kauai is rich in both cul­ture and his­to­ry, mak­ing for a great place to immerse your­self in and under­stand true Hawai­ian cul­ture, as well as being one of the most diverse spots in Hawaii when it comes to the cli­mate, with the moun­tain of Waialeale earn­ing the unique title of being one of the raini­est spots on the plan­et.  

Full of dra­mat­ic land­scapes, charm­ing beach­es, mes­meris­ing sun­ris­es and incred­i­ble lush green for­est, Kauai is also a great place to get your kicks, with the island being home to one of the world’s great­est treks – the Kalalau trail, which takes explor­ers along the absolute best of the Na Pali Coast­line as well as being arguably the world’s most scenic and great­est spots for a heli­copter ride, as you tow­er over the lush green for­est, incred­i­ble coast­lines and immense water­falls for a true birds eye view in what is undoubt­ed­ly an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence on this par­adise island.  

Nā Pali Coast 

True par­adise, the famous cliffs of Nā Pali are tru­ly breath-tak­ing, with the almost 16 miles of breath-tak­ing green cliffs, water­falls and sandy beach­es being the undoubt­ed high­light of Kauai, rep­re­sent­ing the absolute best of Hawaii’s nat­ur­al land­scapes and being one of the most beau­ti­ful spots on the plan­et.  

Found on the north­west cor­ner of the island, the stun­ning Nā Pali coast­line hit the main­stream due to its appear­ance in the Juras­sic Park fran­chise amongst oth­ers, and it can be explored on foot on the great trek of the Kalalau Trail, by boat in the cool turquoise waters of the coast – where if you’re lucky you’ll have tur­tles and even hump­back whales for com­pa­ny – and by air in what is one of the most scenic and thrill-seek­ing expe­ri­ences across the whole of Hawaii and a true buck­et list expe­ri­ence.  

Whichev­er way you choose to explore the Nā Pali coast, you’re guar­an­teed to be awe-struck by its sheer beau­ty, with the tow­er­ing 4,000 feet cliffs pro­vid­ing a stun­ning drop-off to the warm green val­leys that lie with­in it which are cut only by deep flow­ing rivers that carve down into the blue Pacif­ic Ocean – for one of the most gor­geous and serene sights you’ll ever encounter.  

The Nā Pali coast is also believed to be where the first Hawaiian’s set­tled, with explor­ers able to immerse them­selves in the deep island spir­i­tu­al­i­ty and cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance of the coast­line evi­dent through both its radi­ant beau­ty, but also through explor­ing and view­ing a series of stone wall com­mu­ni­ties – which was one home to native Hawai­ians – at the foot of the giant cliffs.  

A tru­ly spe­cial place, we’d advise set­ting aside at least one day if not more to ful­ly immerse your­self in the miles of daz­zling coast­line and true nat­ur­al won­der and par­adise of the Nā Pali coast.  

 

Sail the Nā Pali Coast 

A great way to expe­ri­ence the full length of the Nā Pali coast and appre­ci­ate the full scale and beau­ty of the tow­er­ing lush green cliffs of the Nā Pali val­ley – a chance to sail along­side the high­light of the Gar­den Isle, as well as whale watch and snorkel with tur­tles in the cool turquoise waters of Nā Pali is a true high­light of Kauai.  

Leav­ing from across the island – includ­ing Lihue – you can expect a sail­ing adven­ture along to take you gen­tly along the whole stretch of the coast with stops at view­points to observe the rolling val­leys and thun­der­ous water­falls that lie inland, before you feast on an assort­ment of var­i­ous fresh fruits and local meats in the stun­ning set­ting of Nā Pali.  

For those who fan­cy it, sail­ing trips can also see you tak­en to some of the sparkling beach­es that lie on the Nā Pali coast, for a fan­tas­tic chance to enjoy and relax on some seclud­ed yet daz­zling beach­es – and you can also expect a chance to snorkel in the waters of Nā Pali, where tur­tles, coral and shoals of bright­ly coloured fish await you.  

If you’re lucky enough to vis­it dur­ing the months of Novem­ber – March you can expect small­er crowds, mild days and best of all the chance to com­bine your sail­ing trip along the Nā Pali coast with a spot of whale watch­ing, as gra­cious hump­backs breach and patrol the shores dur­ing these months to feast, breed and birth before they head along the cold­er cli­mates of the pacif­ic towards Alas­ka.  

A tru­ly spe­cial expe­ri­ence, you’ll find sail­ing expe­ri­ences leave along the coast at var­i­ous times through­out the day, giv­ing you a chance to catch sun­rise on the coast, or enjoy snorkelling in the cool waters in the late after­noon. But for a tru­ly spe­cial and roman­tic expe­ri­ence, we’d advise tak­ing on a sail­ing cruise at sun­set where you can enjoy deli­cious food and cham­pagne while toast­ing a gor­geous Hawai­ian sun­set and watch­ing the Nā Pali coast light up for what is a tru­ly a touch­ing expe­ri­ence in one of the most beau­ti­ful places in the world.  

Nā Pali Coast from Above 

To tru­ly appre­ci­ate the full mag­ni­tude and beau­ty of the Nā Pali coast there’s only one real option – to take a heli­copter tour over this incred­i­ble par­adise.  

Allow­ing you to fly over the val­leys, cliffs and even spot whales below you, a heli­copter tour over the Nā Pali coast is a true buck­et list expe­ri­ence, and you have a range of options before you as to how to take on this adven­ture, with heli­copter tours leav­ing from pri­vate airstrips around Nā Pali and even from the main air­port in Lihue and the chop­pers them­selves rang­ing from pri­vate tours with doors off to large fam­i­ly expe­ri­ences.  

A chance to stretch beyond the clas­sic view of Nā Pali, heli­copter tours do come in a lit­tle expen­sive – with the reli­able one’s start­ing from $350 Usd for an hours flight, but for a as you hov­er over the great cliffs and take in the sweep­ing val­leys and par­adise of the coast­line below you its an expe­ri­ence that is tru­ly worth it and will stay with you for­ev­er– and yes you can expect the Juras­sic park theme tune to accom­pa­ny you as you soar over the beau­ti­ful won­der of the Nā Pali coast.  

 

Nā Pali Coast (Kalalau) Trail 

Dis­tance: 11 miles (one way – with option of addi­tion­al four-mile add-on) 22 miles.   

Rec­om­mend­ed Dura­tion: 1 – 5 days 

Overview: 

One of the most beau­ti­ful and dan­ger­ous hikes on the plan­et – the 11 mile one way / 22 mile round hike of the Kalalau trail is the pre­mier trek on Kauai – with this stun­ning and gor­geous trail tak­ing you through the absolute best of the gor­geous and mes­meris­ing par­adise of the Nā Pali Coast – as you jour­ney through and past incred­i­ble water­falls, sparkling beach­es, enchant­i­ng caves, glis­ten­ing Poly­ne­sian waters and into the won­der­land of the Kalalau Val­ley and beach. 

A trek that requires reser­va­tions for those tak­ing on more than the short 2 mile hike at its begin­ning, the Kalalau trail – while stun­ning and mes­meris­ing is no short under­tak­ing, with the trail fre­quent­ly see­ing loss of life as a result of treach­er­ous con­di­tions and adverse weath­er con­di­tions.  

Yet with prop­er plan­ning and under­stand­ing of the risks, there’s no doubt that this trail – which offers the absolute best of Hawai­ian and the world’s nat­ur­al beau­ty – as well as some of the most scenic pho­to spots on the plan­et – can be one of the most enjoy­able, scenic and breath-tak­ing hikes you will ever under­take.  

The below is our short guide to help you con­quer and enjoy the mirac­u­lous Kalalau trail. 

Getting there: 

Although perched on the edges of the stun­ning coast­line and cliffs of the Nā Pali Coast deep with­in the Kauai jun­gle, you’ll find the Kalalau trail­head and the start of the trail – which begins at Keʻe Beach – eas­i­ly acces­si­ble, with you hav­ing three main options to reach the start of the trail; Taxi / Uber, shut­tle or by self-dri­ve. 

Taxi / Uber: For those who fan­cy tak­ing the stress out of your trip to the trail­head at Keʻe beach and arriv­ing by Taxi / Uber – you’ll need to get to an entry vouch­er from the Hā’ena State Park web­site and then it’s a sim­ple mat­ter of book­ing a taxi or uber in advance or an the day of your trav­el to arrive to take on the trail­head.  

For return­ing using this method you have the option of sched­ul­ing a taxi / uber for when you return or using the shut­tle to return to down­town Kauai after com­plet­ing the trail – but do be sure to book in advance as there’s lim­it­ed cell ser­vice in the Keʻe beach area. For our view and for those who don’t fan­cy dri­ving / leav­ing their car in the Keʻe beach car park­ing lot – using a taxi / uber offers the best way to get to the trail­head at your con­ve­nience – and per­haps more impor­tant­ly ahead of the pos­si­ble crowds who arrive on the shut­tle.  

Self dri­ve: For those who fan­cy a self dri­ving to the start of the Kalalau trail and Keʻe beach park­ing lot – you’ll want to be sure to set off ear­ly – and be sure to book well in advance as the car park is lim­it­ed to only 70 park­ing spots for each day with reser­va­tions again pos­si­ble at the Hā’ena State Park web­site.  

While the car park is gen­er­al­ly safe and secure – there have been inci­dents of cars being tar­get­ed so we’d advise mak­ing sure you take all your belong­ings with you when self-park­ing. An easy option for those who fan­cy dri­ving, self-dri­ving to the trail head is also the best option for those who plan tak­ing on the 22-mile round trek in one day as it removes the time restric­tions imposed by using a shut­tle or Taxi / Uber – but just be sure to be back before your time slot expires as cars out­stay­ing their wel­come will be towed ! 

Shut­tle: An extra option for those who don’t fan­cy dri­ving or tak­ing an uber, the Kauai shut­tle com­pa­ny runs a dai­ly shut­tle that drops hik­ers off at the start of the trail – and then fer­ries hik­ers back to the cen­tre of Kauai.  

Cost­ing $11 all in for a return you can expect pick­ups to run in the ear­ly morn­ing every half an hour between 6am and 11:30 from the Waipa Park and Ride – and drop you off at the start of the trail ready to begin a day’s hik­ing – with the depar­ture leav­ing from the trail­head every half hour from the trail­head drop off point between 7am and 12 noon and 2pm – 5:30pm – on a first come first served basis – with book­ing avail­able at: https://gohaena.com/shuttle-schedule-stops/.  

For those who do use the shut­tle expect to begin the hike in the com­pa­ny of oth­er hik­ers and plan to stretch your hike over at least 2 days to allow for you to expe­ri­ence the full beau­ty of this trail while accom­mo­dat­ing for the pick-up and drop-off time of the shut­tle.  

Regard­less of what trans­porta­tion meth­ods you use – we’d again advise to be sure to book and plan well ahead – as the trail only allow for 900 vis­i­tors per day, mean­ing that both vis­i­tor pass­es, park­ing per­mits and spots on the taxi’s and shut­tle will fill up ear­ly and you risk los­ing your spot on the trail if you’ve not ful­ly pre­pared in advance.  

 

Hike: 

This mag­nif­i­cent, thrilling and sim­ply stun­ning Kalalau will take you not only along­side one of the most beau­ti­ful won­ders of the world in the Na Pali Coast but on a true jour­ney through wild jun­gle, breath-tak­ing and rugged coast­lines, along sparkling beach­es and deep into gor­geous val­leys – for an incred­i­bly hike.  

Hike able as either one long jour­ney – from the start­ing point of the Keʻe beach 11 miles to the Kalalau Val­ley and beach – and back again (as there’s no way to re-join a road of a city at the end of the trail you’ll have to retrace your steps) or as a mul­ti-day hike – or even just hik­ing the first or sec­ond sec­tions out­lined below – there’s no doubt that stun­ning trail tru­ly lives up to it’s rep­u­ta­tion.  

So hav­ing got your­self to the Keʻe beach trail­head – and being sure to have made an online reser­va­tion with the goheana state author­i­ties (https://gohaena.com/) to make sure you’re one of the lucky 900 who can access the trail if going fur­ther than the first sec­tion – it’s time to ram­ble along the first sec­tion of the mag­nif­i­cent Kalalau trail: 

Section 1: Ke’e Beach To Hanakāpīʻai Beach 

Hav­ing arrived at the trail­head at Keʻe Beach, the first sec­tion stretch­es for two incred­i­ble miles to the white sand beach­es of Hanakāpīʻai – and the trail begins as it goes on – with stun­ning and post­card per­fect views over the Na Pali Coast and in par­tic­u­lar­ly the gor­geous beach of Keʻe – which fea­tures not only gold­en sand but turquoise waters – with the beach being known as a pop­u­lar snorkelling spot.  

Tak­ing a moment to enjoy the sea air and the gor­geous coast­line before you, you’ll fol­low the well-marked path and signs along the coastal path – trekking above the beach and enjoy­ing stun­ning views of the gor­geous Na Pali Coast.  

As you ram­ble on, you’ll find the occa­sion­al chal­leng­ing bit of climb­ing – that will no doubt test your car­dio – but this is eas­i­ly off­set by the stun­ning water­falls that you pass and of course the views. Con­tin­u­ing fur­ther and as you head towards the end of the 2‑mile trek you’ll be greet­ed by an open­ing that affords incred­i­ble views of the coast.  

A tru­ly spe­cial spot – you’ll have a unique chance to grab panoram­ic pho­tos of the full beau­ty of the Na Pali Coast­line – with the rugged cliffs and famous lush green pro­trud­ing val­leys on full dis­play – backed of course by a sea of gor­geous beach­es and turquoise waters – for a unique view of this par­adise that is a true pho­tog­ra­phers dream.  

Back on the trail and you’ll find the path slow­ly takes you down towards the end of this sec­tion and you can pass both the stream of Hanakāpīʻai and enter the warm beach of Hanakāpīʻai that marks the end of this sec­tion.  

Tak­ing a moment to sit on the beach and admire the incred­i­ble warm Poly­ne­sian waters – do be sure to take and fol­low the advice of the many beach signs that warn against enter­ing the waters for a dip – as the surf and cur­rent here are known to be incred­i­bly unpre­dictable. 

For those who are only tak­ing on a day trip on the mirac­u­lous Kalalau trail – the beach of Hanakāpīʻai marks the end spot of your jour­ney – and it will be time to turn around and back to Keʻe beach – how­ev­er for those jour­ney­ing on for either the full trail or a mul­ti-day trip – it will be to jour­ney on to anoth­er incred­i­ble sec­tion of this amaz­ing trail.  

Hanakāpīʻai to Hanakoa – 4miles 

Mak­ing sure you have your per­mit to hand – as you’ll need it as soon as you jour­ney past the Hanakāpīʻai beach into the rest of the trail, with this part of the trail tak­ing you into the steep­est and tough­est sec­tion Kalalau trail – with yet more stun­ning views await­ing you.  

Con­tin­u­ing on from the Hanakāpīʻai beach and you’ll jour­ney through more of the stun­ning Hanakāpīʻai val­ley – with wild ter­rain and jun­gle accom­pa­ny­ing you on the left hand side and the cool breeze and coastal views on your right. Fol­low­ing the trail round and you’ll enter a tough sec­tion of hik­ing as the Hanakāpīʻai val­ley draws to a close – with a step ascent of 800 metres over often mud­dy and rocky ter­rain and through a series of switch­backs leads you to the end of the val­ley and into a clear­ing where incred­i­ble views of the Na Pali Coast greet you once more.  

Con­tin­u­ing along the trail – which has thank­ful­ly flat­tened out – you can enjoy the lux­u­ri­ous sea breeze and the stun­ning Hanakāpīʻai beach views – before con­tin­u­ing past the beach and arriv­ing at an inter­sec­tion on the trail. For those tak­ing on the trail in one day or who are short on time be sure to take on the right trail which will see you con­tin­ue along the Kalalau trail – but for those with a bit more time on your hand you can take the left road and the 4 mile round trip to the stun­ning Hanakāpīʻai Falls.  

Hanakāpīʻai Falls (optional round trip – 4 miles).  

For those tak­ing on the gor­geous trek to Hanakāpīʻai falls – which is some­thing we’d real­ly rec­om­mend if time allows – you can fol­low a well sign­post­ed trail up from the edge of Hanakāpīʻai Beach and into a sec­tion of the Hanakāpīʻai val­ley along a chal­leng­ing and test­ing trail.  

Noto­ri­ous for land­slides, flood­ing and fall­en trees – we’d strong­ly advis­ing only tak­ing this de-tour to Hanakāpīʻai falls in the sum­mer months and def­i­nite­ly not as a solo trav­eller – but hav­ing con­quered the first mile – you can expect some seri­ous­ly chal­leng­ing scram­bling over rocks and bro­ken trees – as the sounds of the 320 falls echoes across the val­ley.  

Mov­ing and nav­i­gat­ing your way through the trail towards the falls – you’ll even­tu­al­ly come to a well-defined clear­ing – where the won­der of this majes­tic falls awaits you. Tak­ing a moment to appre­ci­ate this phe­nom­e­nal nat­ur­al won­der – and soak in both the incred­i­ble sounds and auro­ra of this stun­ning water­fall – you can grab as many pho­tos as you desire – before retrac­ing your steps and re-com­plet­ing the scram­ble over fall­en trees back to the inter­sec­tion – where you can take the right trail to car­ry on along the Kalalau trail.  

Back on the trail – and thank­ful­ly on even ter­rain with min­i­mal mud and no scram­bling required, you can jour­ney on and fol­low the road towards the right – enjoy­ing fur­ther stun­ning views of the coast­line below you as you slow­ly enter the incred­i­ble val­ley of the Na Pali Nat­ur­al Area Reserve.  

A true jun­gle and wild par­adise, this area fea­ture a range of fas­ci­nat­ing flo­ra and tow­er­ing plants – and gives you a real feel of wilder­ness as you jour­ney through this unique val­ley. Fol­low­ing the trail along for anoth­er mile or so and you’ll slow­ly hear the sound of fran­tic rush­ing water grow­ing loud­er and loud­er – which marks your entry into the Hanakoa val­ley – and the sounds of the c stream.  

For those who are break­ing the trail into a 2 or 3 day hike – this stream marks the spot – so long as you have a per­mit – to set up camp and rest for the night with their being a sol­id camp ground and shel­ter. But for those car­ry­ing on – or tak­ing back on the trail in the morn­ing after a good nights rest in a stun­ning sur­round­ing you can fol­low the Hanakoa stream down through the val­ley and into the next stage of the trail which takes you to the beau­ty of Kalalau.  

 

Hanakoa To Kalalau (2 miles) 

Onto the last stage of the trail – and being sure to savour all the incred­i­ble views of the Na Pali Coast and Kauai coast­line before you – you can leave the Hanakoa val­ley behind you and enter into an incred­i­ble clear­ing with stun­ning views of the Kalalau val­ley before you – with the road ahead offer­ing you a direct route into this stun­ning val­ley.  

Keep­ing an eye on the time – to ensure you’re back to either the camp­ground or the Keʻe Beach in time – you can move for­ward along the trail which is now both even and more ele­vat­ed that the pre­vi­ous sec­tion.  

But more dan­ger­ous­ly you’ll also find that the path not only hugs the coast­line – but becomes incred­i­bly nar­row – with only room for one hik­er at time to tread upon it – and it is at this point that you must use extra cau­tion when upon the trail, with there being no bar­ri­ers or pro­tec­tion to pre­vent tum­bles down the cliff edge to the sea floor below.  

Tread­ing care­ful­ly and under­stand­ing why the Kalalau trail earns its rep­u­ta­tion as one of the most dan­ger­ous trails in the world at this point, you can steer away from the cliff edge and fol­low the path along as it slow­ly begins to descend into the Kalalau val­ley down the red hill.  

Descend­ing into the val­ley – you’ll find your­selves tramp­ing along­side glo­ri­ous flo­ra and tow­er­ing plan­ta­tion – and you won­der across this glo­ri­ous val­ley for a fur­ther half a mile – until the stun­ning serene sparkling beach of Kalalau awaits you.  

Arriv­ing on the beach – which is vis­i­ble from the air along the Na Pali coast – you can take a moment to sit back and relax and soak in the incred­i­ble views of the moun­tains, green­ery and turquois waters before you – and reflect on both the stun­ning sights before you and the incred­i­ble trail you’ve just hiked and con­quered – with the best bit being that you can either spend the night camp­ing here or after a short break on the Kalalau beach you can get to do it all again as you head back to Keʻe Beach and re-join the liveli­hood of Kauai.  

Top Tips & Need to Know: 

A tru­ly glo­ri­ous trail – and undoubt­ed­ly one of the most scenic and beau­ti­ful hikes on the plan­et, to tru­ly enjoy and stay safe on the Kalalau trail – which earns its rep­u­ta­tion as being dan­ger­ous – there’s a series of top tips and advice that we’d rec­om­mend both before tak­ing it on and when upon the trail: 

- First­ly be sure to plan your trip well in advance – as the trail is lim­it­ed to only 900 peo­ple a day and spots tend to fill up a few months in advance, so for those plan­ning on ram­bling beyond the beach of Hanakāpīʻai it’s essen­tial that you have your per­mit (which you can get from https://gohaena.com/ ) well in advance of your trek. 

- The same applies for the process of get­ting to the trail­head at Keʻe Beach – while we’d encour­age the book­ing of the shut­tle or a taxi / uber well in advance – it’s absolute­ly essen­tial that for those who plan on self-dri­ving to the trail­head that you get your park­ing spot reserved in advance – as spaces are lim­it­ed to a 100, with 30 of these reserved for locals – so pri­or book­ing is impor­tant, espe­cial­ly if you plan on self-dri­ving and tak­ing on the trail in one long day.  

- In addi­tion, for those who plan on tak­ing on the whole trail as a mul­ti-day trek, you’ll need to apply for a per­mit to camp in advance – with the dai­ly lim­its again in place. For those who do plan on cam­paign be sure to bring the rel­e­vant gear – includ­ing a tent, sleep­ing bag and plen­ty of food – and be warned that camp­ing is only per­mit­ted at either the Hanakāpīʻai camp site found by the Hanakāpīʻai stream or on the beach at Kalalau – with heavy fines in place for those who camp any­where else along the trail.  

- As part of the hike do be warned when plan­ning that hav­ing trekked the 11-miles (or 15 if you vis­it the Hanakāpīʻai falls) – the trek con­cludes at the incred­i­ble Kalalau beach – with stun­ning views of the Na Pali Coast before you. From here though the only way back to civil­i­sa­tion and Kauai is by hik­ing the 11 miles back to the start of the trail at Keʻe Beach – with there being no road or boat option to return to Kauai from the Kalalau beach. There­fore, as a top tip it’s essen­tial that you plan ahead to either reach the Kalalau beach by ear­ly after­noon if doing a day trip so you have enough time to hike the trail back – or plan ahead for camp­ing if doing the trail over two days – know­ing that the Kalalau trail is very much a one way trail.  

- As a fur­ther top tip, be sure to come pre­pared for the trail when it comes to gear, pack­ing light but essen­tial gear only. For this we’d rec­om­mend com­ing pre­pared with stur­dy walk­ing shoes that can han­dle large swathes of mud, a walk­ing stick if required and a first aid kit – as well as enough food and water to last the hike. With those who are cam­paign com­ing pre­pared with a light tent, light sleep­ing bag and any­thing else required for a good night’s sleep.  

- On top of this we’d empha­sise again the care need­ed when hik­ing the Kalalau trail, as the trail has a well-earned rep­u­ta­tion – par­tic­u­lar­ly at the Hanakāpīʻai falls and at the final sec­tion of being Hanakoa To Kalalau as being dan­ger­ous – with the paths being steep, nar­row and unsup­port­ed and exposed to cliff edges that have seen trav­ellers fall to their death. It’s also essen­tial to con­sid­er that the Kalalau trail is found deep with­in the jun­gle – mean­ing that cell phone recep­tion is lim­it­ed – so we’d advise extra cau­tion for those trav­el­ling solo on this path as help can often be far away.  

-As a final top tip – we’d advise to enjoy this trail as much as pos­si­ble ! – despite the has­sle of per­mits, the risks it car­ries and the unpre­dictable weath­er on the trail at times, it tru­ly is one of the most breath-tak­ing and scenic hikes on the plan­et, and there’s no doubt that the incred­i­ble views this majes­tic hike affords of the crys­tal clear turquoise waters, the sparkling beach­es, the tow­er­ing Hanakāpīʻai falls and the stun­ning Na Pali Coast­line are mem­o­ries that will stay with you for­ev­er – as you trek and com­plete the incred­i­ble Kalalau trail 

 

 Waimea Canyon 

The Grand Canyon of the Pacif­ic – the rolling canyons of Waimea Canyon which lead to the thun­der­ous Waipo’o Falls are one of the true gems of Kauai, with the deep brown ridges and canyon edges, that stretch more than three and a half thou­sand deep into the val­ley below across 14 miles of stun­ning geo-log­i­cal for­ma­tions, stand­ing as a unique land­scape against the rest of the green of Kauai and anoth­er stun­ning nat­ur­al won­der on the island.  

Lying close to the Kalalau trail, the Waimea Canyon can only real­ly be explored by car – with the dri­ve there from the Na Pali Coast requir­ing you to have to cir­cle back round the island – to where you’ll find the Waimea Canyon Road, which very hand­i­ly runs through the whole of the park, mean­ing after you pay your $5 entrance fee you can sim­ply dri­ve to the high­lights and view­ing points across the park.  

Among these high­lights, we’d real­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing time first­ly for the main canyon over­look (also known as Waimea Canyon Look­out) – which gives you sweep­ing panoram­ic views over the best of the canyon with views stretch­ing to the Waipo’o Falls them­selves, as well as dri­ving round the canyons rim to the Pu’u Hinahi­na Look­out for more incred­i­ble views and for those who want to tru­ly explore the canyon tak­ing on one of the trail­heads acces­si­ble along the road, with the cliff trail offer­ing a short intro­duc­tion down into the canyon and the longer canyon trail lead­ing you all the way to the foot of the Wai­pio Falls – for an adren­a­line rush­ing — and wet — expe­ri­ence.  

Hav­ing dri­ven the canyon and tak­en in this stun­ning val­ley and its deep orange ridges, we’d advise rather than head­ing back towards Lihue or the shores of your beach resort, con­tin­u­ing onwards to the green val­leys of the Kokeʻe State Park for yet more stun­ning views of the Na Pali Coast and some incred­i­ble hikes in Kauai val­leys.  

Kokeʻe State Park 

Found just beyond the Waimea Canyon along high­way 550, Kokeʻe State Park sits per­fect­ly on the edge of the Na Pali Coast, with the perched posi­tion offer­ing incred­i­ble views and hikes down into the canyon and val­leys for stun­ning scenery and allow­ing you to immerse your­self in the best of Kauai’s nature.  

Also fea­tur­ing a muse­um explain­ing the parks veg­e­ta­tion and evo­lu­tion, as well as the cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance of the area to indige­nous Hawai­ians, we’d rec­om­mend head­ing to the Pu’u O Kila Look­out as your first point of call – with this look­out giv­ing you sim­ply breath-tak­ing panoram­ic views over the Na Pali coast, the val­leys below and to the hori­zon over the pacif­ic ocean – for what is con­sid­ered one of the best views across the whole of the islands of Hawaii.  

Giv­en the stun­ning views, you can expect crowds to form at the look­out after 10am, espe­cial­ly with this being a pop­u­lar spot for tours, so we’d advise get­ting here both before then and if pos­si­ble at dusk – where you can enjoy a beau­ti­ful sun­set view over the val­ley.  

For deep­er and equal­ly stun­ning views with less crowds, you’ll find a num­ber of hik­ing trails with­in the Kokeʻe State Park that can you take to mes­meris­ing view­points – with the pick of the bunch being both the Pihea Trail which lets you walk along the rim of the val­ley tak­ing in the Na Pali Coast below from dif­fer­ent angles and the Awa’awapuhi Trail – which starts with a 1500 foot drop down to a panoram­ic view­point and then leads you gen­tly through the val­ley with plen­ty of shade in a cir­cu­lar route as you cov­er both the high­lights of the Na Pali Coast below and the rolling green val­leys of  the Kokeʻe State Park on a tru­ly spe­cial hike.  

Queen’s Bath & Hideaway Beach 

Up on the North Side of Kauai you’ll find 9 miles of glo­ri­ous coast­lines and charm­ing beach­es that stretch­es from the pho­to spot of the Kilauea Light­house – a 1913 light­house since dis­used but which makes for a great spot to admire the coast­line, to the beach­es of Ani­ni and sealodge, which make for nice places to relax to two great spots on the north coast the Queen’s Bath & the Hide­away Beach.  

The Queen’s bath itself, is in our view par­tic­u­lar spe­cial – with it being a small lava stone pool that makes for a tru­ly fas­ci­nat­ing place to take a dip and sit back and admire the coast­line around you, with the Queen’s bath tru­ly com­ing to life at dusk – as when caught at the right moment against the back­drop of the illu­mi­nat­ed Hawai­ian Sky you’ll find this unique pool turn­ing a soft shade of green mak­ing for a mag­i­cal pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

Fur­ther onwards down the coast and you come to one of the most under­rat­ed and glis­ten­ing beach­es across the whole of Hawaii – the well named Hide­away beach whose bright turquoise see through waters are tru­ly spe­cial and which makes for a great seclud­ed spot to enjoy some snorkelling amongst shoals of fish who are known to come right the way to the shore­line.  

You’ll also find glis­ten­ing sand here, although be sure to time your vis­it with the tides – because as the name sug­gests at high tide much of the sand area can dis­ap­pear, which helps this beach tru­ly live up to its name as it hides away !  

 

Kauai’s Beaches – the home of Turtles and Seals 

Kauai is blessed with numer­ous daz­zling gold­en beach­es which come com­plete with turquoise waters, per­fect swell, tow­er­ing cliffs and best of all some incred­i­ble wildlife that call these beach­es home and make for some fan­tas­tic view­ing spots in a tru­ly serene set­ting.  

While there isn’t a dis­ap­point­ing beach among the  63 miles of coast­line along Kauai, in addi­tion to those beach­es that lie on the Kalalau trail and with­in the Na Pali Park and the hide­away beach, we’d real­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing time to vis­it at the least the three stun­ning beach­es of Poipu, Tun­nels and the beach found on the bay of Hanalei so you can sam­ple the absolute best of Kauai islands beach­es.  

At Poipu beach, which sits on the south of the island, you’ll find daz­zling sun kissed sands set against a back­drop of palm trees, with the clear turquoise waters being a great spot for snorkelling and when the waves are right snorkelling. But what makes this beach tru­ly spe­cial for us is the west­ern side – which earns the name baby beach – where you’ll find a small patch of sand and rocks which is known to be home to fam­i­lies of green tur­tles and some loud and some­times dis­agree­able monk seals.  

An endan­gered species you may well smell the seals before you see them, but to see them out in their nat­ur­al habi­tat is a true priv­i­lege and its worth tak­ing a lit­tle time to observe them from a safe dis­tance before head­ing back to enjoy more time on the gold­en sands of Poipu beach and then with snorkel in hand head into the clear waters to chance your luck at spot­ting more tur­tles in the ocean.  

You’ll also find tur­tles galore at the icon­ic Tun­nels Beach, whose gold­en sands sits against a back­drop of ris­ing green val­leys and palm trees and which is known to be one of the best snorkelling and dive sites on the whole of Kauai – with the cool turquoise calm waters home to a deep coral reef that attracts tur­tles, neon coloured fish and if you’re lucky the occa­sion­al dol­phin.  

A glo­ri­ous beach in itself and a great place to relax, we’d rec­om­mend head­ing towards the beach at low tide as while you may be a lit­tle short for space on sand you’ll find the tur­tles clos­er to the shore and the chance to swim, snorkel and dive with these fas­ci­nat­ing and beau­ti­ful crea­tures is a tru­ly spe­cial moment on anyone’s trip to Hawaii – and there’s no bet­ter place to do it than in the sparkling set­ting of Tun­nels Beach.  

Back on the North Coast and you’ll find the idyl­lic beach of Hanalei which sits on the Hanalei Bay and which is backed up tru­ly incred­i­ble scenery with the three miles of gold­en shores set against ris­ing green moun­tains and lush green val­leys for a sim­ply stun­ning beach.  

Anoth­er spot in Kauai to have made it big in Hol­ly­wood – this time in the film the Descen­dants – the beach and the bay are a great place to Kayak, with rent­ing com­pa­nies and tours dot­ting the edge of the beach, and you’ll also find the deep blue waters a refresh­ing place to take a dip and enjoy a spot of snorkelling, with tur­tles and coral known to reside in the cool waters just off­shore.  

But the real high­light of Hanalei for us is the sun­set, which sees the gold­en sun light up the beach in a shade of deep orange – and if you’re lucky even turn pur­ple – which against the back­drop of the wood­en Hanalei pier makes for a stun­ning pho­to and a tru­ly incred­i­ble way to cap off your day explor­ing the won­ders of Kauai and Hawaii.  

 

How long to stay: 

While it’s pos­si­ble to get tru­ly lost in the beau­ty of Hawaii and spend months explor­ing all these incred­i­ble islands – due to costs and, in all like­li­hood, prac­ti­cal­i­ties we’d rec­om­mend bud­get­ing at least 14 days to get across the islands and cov­er the incred­i­ble won­ders on the main four islands – as well as allow­ing for 2 days to both get to and from main­land Unit­ed States to the par­adise islands of Hawaii.  

By bud­get­ing two weeks of time, this will allow you to ful­ly cov­er the incred­i­ble high­lights across the islands in an action packed two weeks – giv­ing you enough time to explore the high­lights includ­ing the Na Pali Coast and Kalalau trail, the mighty vol­cano nation­al Park, and dri­ve the Hana High­way – as well as enjoy some relax­ing time on some of the stun­ning Hawai­ian Beach­es across all four of the big islands – and we’d real­ly advise plan­ning your trip in a clock­wise direc­tion from Oahu to Maui to the big islands to Kauai and back to the big islands to ensure your jour­ney across the islands is as time effi­cient as pos­si­ble.  

Top Tip 

Although Hawaii is a tru­ly beau­ti­ful par­adise, with some of the great­est won­ders and expe­ri­ences on the plan­et, there are a cou­ple of things that all trav­ellers need to know before head­ing into the islands deep blue spark­ing waters. So, in no par­tic­u­lar order, these are our top tips to ensure you have a safe and enjoy­able time on the islands, and tru­ly get the best out of this stun­ning won­der of the world: 

- First­ly, we’d advise every­one, as obvi­ous as it seems, to make sure your trip extends beyond the clas­sic tourist sights of Down­town Hon­olu­lu and Waiki­ki Beach. While both of these sights are tru­ly spe­cial and make for great places to vis­it – the islands of Hawaii are full of nat­ur­al beau­ties and won­ders – and so its essen­tial that any trip there goes beyond the resort and sun lounger to tru­ly explore these incred­i­ble islands.  

- To make the most of the islands, we’d advise head­ing to the big four islands – Oahu, Maui, the Big Islands and Kauai – and cov­er­ing them in that order in a clock­wise direc­tion to both safe on cost and for prac­ti­cal­i­ty rea­sons. In order to ful­ly help your­self explore the best of the islands – we’d also rec­om­mend hir­ing a car to help you get around. This will save not only on costs as you avoid some of the over­priced tours, but also allow you to go at your own sched­ule and cov­er some fo the islands gems found off the beat­en track – while we’d advise hir­ing a car on all four islands, where the roads are well main­tained, as an absolute min­i­mum we’d advise hir­ing one on Maui to allow you to take on one of the won­ders of the world in the Hana High­way.   

- We’d also advise mak­ing sure you have a rough sched­ule for your trip – not just to allow you to make the most of your time on the islands – but also because so many of the attrac­tions – includ­ing the state parks and trails – require you to book and pay in advance in order to man­age crowd num­bers. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly true of Pearl har­bour, Luau’s and those who take on the Kalalau trail at Na Pali Coast – all of which tend to fill up weeks in advance – so be sure to book in advance! 

- It’s also impor­tant to be aware of your sur­round­ings when vis­it­ing Hawaii – par­tic­u­lar­ly in both down­town Hon­olu­lu and for those who take on treks where you leave belong­ings in a parked car, as despite the beau­ty of the islands, Hawaii still strug­gles with inci­dents of theft and crime. So we’d advise pro­tect­ing your valu­ables and for solo female trav­ellers avoid­ing unlit areas at night – and to take extra care if camp­ing.  

- On top of this, there’s no doubt that one of the high­lights of any Hawaii trip is the fun and beau­ty found at the many incred­i­ble beach­es – and while we’d real­ly encour­age you to enjoy them as often as you can, it’s impor­tant to come pre­pared with plen­ty of sun­screen – and in par­tic­u­lar­ly reef safe sun­screen. Using this sun­screen will not ensure you don’t cook under the Hawai­ian sun, and have to spend a few days deal­ing with sun­burn – but also that when you enter the water, the reefs, coral, fish and tur­tles are all pro­tect­ed from any sun­screen chem­i­cals, help­ing to main­tain and pre­serve this incred­i­ble marine life.  

- You also need to ensure that you respect and observe native Hawai­ian Cul­ture, par­tic­u­lar­ly when vis­it­ing nation­al parks and cul­tur­al sites. As a min­i­mum be sure not to go with­out a top in pub­lic, and wear appro­pri­ate and respect­ful cloth­ing – includ­ing long sleeve shoul­der cov­er­ing tops in tem­ples and be sure to remove your shoes when enter­ing the home of any res­i­dent. It’s also incred­i­bly impor­tant that nat­ur­al sites on the islands are treat­ed with respect – includ­ing no lit­ter­ing, des­e­cra­tion and for those lucky enough to vis­it the Vol­cano nation­al park, be sure to leave only foot­prints and not take any vol­canic rock with you – as the park is con­sid­ered incred­i­bly sacred to native Hawai­ians.  

Final­ly, along­side ensur­ing you’re not trav­el­ling dur­ing a nat­ur­al dis­as­ter or a vol­canic erup­tion, we’d real­ly advise you to ensure you make the most of your trip to Hawaii – the islands are full of incred­i­ble won­ders, but are also one of the more expen­sive won­ders of the world – so it’s impor­tant you make the absolute best use of your time by fol­low­ing the top tips above and mak­ing sure you enjoy and soak in every sec­ond of your explo­ration across the true won­der of the world that is the incred­i­ble Hawai­ian Islands.  

 

Cost:  

There’s no two ways about it – a trip to Hawaii and the islands is cost­ly – but the mon­ey spent is well worth it to explore these incred­i­ble islands.  

For bud­get­ing, we’d advise set­ting aside at least $650 Usd for flights to and from main­land Amer­i­ca to Oahu and Hon­olu­lu, as well as an extra $500 Usd for flights between the islands if you choose to cov­er all four – and you’ll find prices and the route much kinder if you fol­low the islands in a clock­wise direc­tion from Oahu.  

We’d also advise set­ting aside a fur­ther $600 Usd for heli­copter flights across the Na Pali Coast and the Vol­cano nation­al park – while both are a lit­tle pricey, the chance to fly over these incred­i­ble won­ders is a true buck­et list expe­ri­ence and one that is real­ly worth the mon­ey to ful­ly cap­ture and explore these incred­i­ble won­ders.  

We’d also advise bud­get­ing entry to some of Hawaii’s top attrac­tions, includ­ing a Luau ($100), the Pearl Har­bour USS Ari­zona Memo­r­i­al ($83) and the Poly­ne­sian Cul­tur­al Cen­tre ($60 Usd), as well as bud­get­ing for a cou­ple of day trips – includ­ing whale watch­ing ($35), shark div­ing ($120) and a trip to the Moloki­ni Crater ($150) and the sun­rise at Haleakalā Vol­cano ($150).  

Fac­tor­ing in as well Car rental for at least the Hana High­way ($60), if not on the oth­er islands as well ( bud­get around $500 Usd for 10 days) and the cost of the expen­sive hotels, meals and addi­tion­al expens­es ($300 Usd a day) and a trip to Hawaii does begin to add up, even with the off­set of the beach­es being free to access and enjoy.  

All in – we’d rec­om­mend bud­get­ing, for the rec­om­mend 16 days across Hawaii’s main four islands a min­i­mum of $7000 Usd per per­son – which is steep, but this is tru­ly an adven­ture and won­der of a life­time.  

Best Photo Spot: 

Par­adise on earth, thanks to the dra­mat­ic, con­trast­ing, rich and dif­fer­ing nat­ur­al land­scapes, beach­es, turquoise waters, and team­ing bio­di­ver­si­ty and marine life – the islands of Hawaii are a true pho­tog­ra­phers dream and will leave you absolute­ly spoiled for choice when it comes to snap­ping mem­o­rable and breath-tak­ing pho­tographs.  

So from the breath-tak­ing Na Pali Coast, to the Lava Spew­ing Vol­ca­noes and into the under­wa­ter marine life at the daz­zling sand beach­es and through the untamed raw jun­gle, the below are our top picks for must snap pho­tos when you vis­it the won­der of the world of the Hawai­ian Islands:

Haleakalā Volcano Sunrise.  

Start­ing with what is arguably the most beau­ti­ful sun­rise on the plan­et – wit­ness­ing the sun­rise at the great Haleakalā Vol­cano on Maui is a true priv­i­lege and is guar­an­teed to leave you both awe-struck and in awe of the nat­ur­al beau­ty of Hawaii as you wit­ness this incred­i­ble nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­na and snap pho­tos till your heart is con­tent.  

Arriv­ing at the view­ing spots ear­ly (5am) to ensure you get a good spot, we’d advise to come pre­pared with a warm break­fast and plen­ty of lay­ers as it does get chilly at the more than 10,000 foot high view­ing plat­form – but the cold and ear­ly start are tru­ly worth it as you watch the beau­ti­ful Hawai­ian sky light up in shades of bright yel­low and deep orange as it slow­ly ris­es from behind Haleakalā in one of the most beau­ti­ful, roman­tic and sim­ply stun­ning sun­ris­es on the plan­et. 

Volcano National Park: 

Allow­ing you to cap­ture lava spew­ing vol­ca­noes, tow­er­ing steam bents, deep vol­canic craters and thou­sands of acres of incred­i­ble geo­log­i­cal desert, rain­for­est and sea – as well as wit­ness the for­ma­tion of land – the big islands Vol­cano Nation­al Park is a land­scape pho­tog­ra­phers dream as the incred­i­ble nat­ur­al park offers some of the best shoot­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and unique van­tage points to cap­ture vol­canic activ­i­ty.  

While any angle across the Vol­cano Nation­al Park is guar­an­teed to leave you with an incred­i­ble shot – for an extra spe­cial pho­to we’d advise tim­ing your trip to coin­cide with any vol­canic activ­i­ty from Kilauea and then shoot­ing the erup­tion from above on a heli­copter trip. For some­thing a lit­tle less dan­ger­ous and guar­an­teed, we’d advise mak­ing sure you make time to head to the Thomas Jag­gar Muse­um or to one of the view­ing spots along the crater rim dri­ve at dusk – where you can wit­ness the night­ly glow of Kilauea from the Hale­mau­mau Crater and snap one of the worlds most pow­er­ful and beau­ti­ful phe­nom­e­na.   

Na Pali coast 

 Heav­en on Earth, the gor­geous Na Pali Coast­line fea­tures the absolute best of Hawai­ian Land­scape, with the almost 16 miles of coast­line fea­tur­ing 4,000-foot tow­er­ing icon­ic green cliffs against the back­drop of the deep blue waters of the pacif­ic and with­in them lying deep green val­leys, sparkling beach­es and untamed jun­gle – for what is one of the most scenic pho­to spots in the world.  

For those lucky enough to explore the Na Pali Coast on Kauai, you have the choice of explor­ing the stun­ning coast­line by sea, air and on foot – and for the best pho­to shots we’d real­ly rec­om­mend book­ing your­self onto a heli­copter flight where you can cap­ture the full beau­ty of the Na Pali coast and grab those famed Juras­sic Park Shots – as well as set­ting aside a day or two to con­quer the Kalalau Trail, an incred­i­ble 11 mile one way trek which is one of the most scenic on the plan­et and which takes you not only deep into the Na Pali Coast but to a series of breath-tak­ing pho­to van­tage points to allow you to cap­ture the absolute best of this nat­ur­al won­der.  

The Hana Highway

The great­est dri­ve on the plan­et – the chal­leng­ing twists and turns will tru­ly test your dri­ving abil­i­ty and patience – but the dri­ve is sim­ply stun­ning and will take you to some of the most stun­ning scenery and pho­to spots across the whole of both Maui and Hawaii.  

Wind­ing across 600 turns and from any­where 40 to 65 miles depend­ing on how far you go, you can expect an array of stun­ning beach­es, tow­er­ing water­falls and lush rain­for­est – and for tru­ly spe­cial pho­tos we’d rec­om­mend mak­ing time to stop at the Gar­den of Eden – a bliss­ful gar­den that tru­ly lives up to its name with stun­ning views, the rain­bow trees – where a daz­zling dis­play of mul­ti-colour trees await you, the great tow­er­ing falls of Waikani (70 foot), Hanawi Falls (200 foot) and Makapipi falls (270 foot), the great black sand beach and tur­tles of Wai‘anapanapa State Park and of course the finale of the bam­boo for­est on the Pipi­wai Trail – as well as the many beach­es and deep jun­gle you pass through.  

Being sure to dri­ve slow­ly and pull in only at des­ig­nat­ed spots to snap these won­ders, a dri­ve down the Hana High­way is not only a thrilling expe­ri­ence but can take you to some of the most scenic won­ders of Hawaii – so be sure to buck­le up and come with your cam­era ready as you nav­i­gate the twists and turn of the Hana High­way. 

 

Whale Watching  

Hawaii is a true par­adise for marine life and espe­cial­ly for whale watch­ers, with thou­sands of pods of Hump­back Whales known to fre­quent the warm waters of Hawaii and par­tic­u­lar­ly the blue waters of Oahu in the small town of Waianae and in the great har­bour of Lahaina on Maui – giv­ing pho­tog­ra­phers a fan­tas­tic chance to snap these incred­i­ble mam­mals in full flow as they breach, nav­i­gate and blow through the cool Hawai­ian waters.  

Best seen between the months of Novem­ber and March – when the whales fre­quent Hawaii as part of their migra­tion towards the cold­er waters of Alas­ka – we’d real­ly rec­om­mend tak­ing on a cruise from Waianae or Lahaina Har­bour to give you the best chance to enjoy the true priv­i­lege of both wit­ness­ing and pho­tograph­ing these amaz­ing ani­mals in what will be one of the true pho­to­graph­ic high­lights of your jour­ney around Hawaii.  

Dolphins and Manta Ray Swimming 

Along­side pho­tograph­ing the incred­i­ble breach­ing Whales – the islands of Hawaii also offer unique chances to get close to and pho­to­graph more unique marine life, with the Big Island and the turquoise waters off Kailua-Kona being the known rest­ing place of pods of dol­phins, with a range of tours not only giv­ing you the oppor­tu­ni­ty to snap dol­phins in full flow but actu­al­ly get up close and per­son­al to them on a swim­ming and snorkelling tour – giv­ing you a tru­ly unique chance to pho­to­graph these mag­nif­i­cent ani­mals up close.  

Along­side grab­bing great pho­tos of Dol­phins – a tru­ly spe­cial pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty and expe­ri­ence awaits you at dusk, where for divers and snorkellers you have the unique chance to dive below the cool waters of the big island on the Kailua ‑Kona penin­su­la –and came face to face and pho­to­graph the largest rays on the plan­et – the mighty Man­ta Rays — who come night­ly to feast on the plank­ton in the peace­ful and warm Hawai­ian waters.  

One of the best places on the plan­et to pho­to­graph Man­ta Rays – you’ll find the coral and seabed lit up by under­wa­ter light­ing care­ful­ly set-up by local com­pa­nies, and it’s the com­bi­na­tion of this light­ing, the warm waters and the night­ly pres­ence of the Rays and Dol­phins that make the Kailua ‑Kona penin­su­la such a priv­i­lege to pho­to­graph and one of the best marine div­ing spots in the world.   

Shark Photography 

Head to the North Shore of Oahu and you’ll again find anoth­er great spot for some marine pho­tog­ra­phy and explo­ration – this time in the heart pump­ing and adren­a­line thrill seek­ing activ­i­ty of pho­tograph­ing species of sharks – includ­ing ham­mer­head and black tip sharks – as you act as bait and head into the water in a shark cage for an eye to eye and up close expe­ri­ence with these giants of the sea.  

A unique chance to pho­to­graph these preda­tors – whose rep­u­ta­tion pre­cedes them – Shark Cage Div­ing is only pos­si­ble on a tour – and we’d advise hir­ing out a stur­dy cam­era before­hand to make the most of what are some of the warm waters and incred­i­ble vis­i­bil­i­ty in one of the best places to pho­to­graph sharks in the world.   

 

Hanauma Bay, Oahu 

Found just out­side of Hon­olu­lu – the sparkling and daz­zling bay of Hanau­ma is a twin won­der for pho­tog­ra­phers – as the incred­i­ble bay offers a stun­ning chance to cap­ture not only the curved cres­cent gold­en shores of the beach which sits beneath the stun­ning Koʻo­lau Moun­tain Range mak­ing for a dra­mat­ic shot of the land meet­ing the shore – but also as Oahu’s most acces­si­ble and marine diverse rich snorkelling spot it’s a great spot to grab your snorkel and head into the cool turquoise waters and cap­ture incred­i­ble pho­tos of Hawaii’s marine life and snap a close up shot of colonies of tur­tles.  

A tru­ly beau­ti­ful bay – the beach and waters do tend to fill up dur­ing the day so if you want to cap­ture a per­fect shot we’d advise head­ing to the bay at sun­rise, or for an ever bet­ter shot stick­ing around till sun­set – where the descend­ing sun sees the blue Hawai­ian skies and the bay glow in a shade of deep yel­low and orange for a tru­ly spe­cial shot as you cap­ture the great bay, the turquoise waters and the Moun­tain Range against an incred­i­ble sun­set.  

Molokini Crater 

The moon of Maui – the Moloki­ni Crater is anoth­er stun­ning nat­ur­al won­der that pho­tog­ra­phers can’t leave Hawaii with­out snap­ping. This island – which is the sunken remains of a vol­canic crater has evolved in such a way as to resem­ble a beau­ti­ful great green island moon pro­trud­ing out of the deep blue pacif­ic makes for an incred­i­ble par­adise-esque shot, with this unique nat­ur­al won­der being one of the icon­ic shots across Hawaii to cap­ture the island beau­ty at its best.  

Best cap­tured at sun­rise or sun­set to get the icon­ic image of the crater – we’d also advise mak­ing sure you stick around and for those with under­wa­ter cam­eras be sure to take on a spot of div­ing or snorkelling around the island as you’ll find the incred­i­ble turquoise waters being an absolute haven for rich marine life, again giv­ing you a chance to cap­ture the best of the rich under­wa­ter life that lives beneath the vol­canic land of Hawaii.  

Waimea Canyon 

Amongst the beach­es, vol­canos, coast lines and turquoise waters – the Waimea Canyon on Kauai is often over­looked when it comes to Hawai­ian High­lights, but for those who man­age to take on the Waimea Canyon Road – you’ll be treat­ed to a true gem with the Waimea Canyon right­ly earn­ing its nick­name as “the Grand Canyon of Hawaii” and the deep canyon and its rolling val­ley red and brown ridges which lead to the thun­der­ous Waipo’o Falls mak­ing for one of the great nat­ur­al wan­ders and a tru­ly spe­cial pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty of this great canyon.  

Best pho­tographed towards sun­set – when the descend­ing sun see’s the val­ley walls come alight the best van­tage points for cap­tur­ing the full beau­ty of the Waimea Canyon are found by the vis­i­tors cen­tre where the Waimea Canyon Look­out – with views stretch­ing to the Waipo’o Falls – and at the Pu’u Hinahi­na Look­out for sweep­ing panoram­ic views – and we’d encour­age you to take on the Waimea Canyon road dri­ve along the rim of the canyon to admire and snap this incred­i­ble Canyon from mul­ti­ple stun­ning view­points for some tru­ly spe­cial pho­tos.  

Diamond Head Crater 

The Dia­mond of Oahu and eas­i­ly acces­si­ble from Waiki­ki Beach and down­town Hon­olu­lu the path along the shore­line and then the sum­mit up old rail­way tracks to the top of the Vol­canic Crater of Dia­mond Head can be breath-tak­ing – but the rewards are equal­ly stun­ning as you gaze out over panoram­ic views that include sweep­ing moun­tain ranges, the gold­en shores of Waiki­ki below you, the hus­tle and bus­tle of down­town Hon­olu­lu and of course the deep blue pacif­ic waters that stretch into the hori­zon.  

A great van­tage point to cap­ture the best of Oahu and par­tic­u­lar­ly the icons of Hon­olu­lu, we’d advise head­ing to the sum­mit for either sun­rise or sun­set – where the views over the beach are par­tic­u­lar­ly stun­ning and you’ll find the crowds at a min­i­mal – allow­ing you to take in and pho­to­graph the beau­ty of Oahu below you in one of the great­est spots across Hawaii.   

 

Beaches 

Famed for its pic­ture per­fect Beach­es the islands of Hawaii offer pho­tog­ra­phers some tru­ly spe­cial beach­es to cap­ture gold­en sun kissed sands set against turquoise waters and rolling val­leys and even vol­canic activ­i­ty.  

From the famed gold­en shores of Waiki­ki in down­town Hon­olu­lu to the black sand beach of Wai‘anapanapa State Park on the Hana High­way, these are our top Six beach­es that we’d encour­age pho­tog­ra­phers to vis­it the cap­ture not just the full beau­ty but also the diverse range of stun­ning Hawai­ian Beach­es.  

Waiki­ki Beach 

Start­ing with one of the most icon­ic beach­es in Hawaii and arguably the plan­et – the gold­en shores of Oahu’s Waiki­ki Beach which lies just a stone’s throw from down­town Hon­olu­lu and with its deep turquoise waters, charm­ing sand and array of palm trees and restau­rants and water­ing holes that lie on the beach­es edge – Waiki­ki is a true par­adise and a beach pho­tog­ra­phers dream.  

Set against the back­drop of anoth­er pho­to­genic won­der of Oahu – the mighty Dia­mond Head that adds to beau­ti­ful scenery sur­round­ing Waiki­ki, the beach is often beach lovers first call at Hawaii – and for an extra spe­cial shot we’d encour­age you to head to the beach at dusk, where you can cap­ture the charm­ing waves that will be alive with surfers, gold­en sand and the beau­ty of Dia­mond Head daz­zling under a great Hawai­ian Sun­set.  

Papakōlea Beach 

Believed to be one of only four Green Sand Beach­es on the plan­et – the green sands of Papakōlea not only stands to high­light the stun­ning diver­si­ty of the big Islands and Hawaii’s beach­es – but with its oth­er­world shores set against a back­drop of moun­tains cliffs and deep blue waters, it’s one of the most fas­ci­nat­ing and unique beach­es to pho­to­graph across the whole of Hawaii.  

Tough to access – the Papakōlea beach will test your desire to pho­to­graph this stun­ning land­scape, with the beach only acces­si­ble through a dif­fi­cult and some­what bumpy trek along the cliffs of the South Point Road – but for those who con­quer this dif­fi­cult ter­rain the chance to step upon and cap­ture the unique green sands will leave you not only stunned at the sheer beau­ty of this beach but with a tru­ly oth­er­world­ly and beau­ti­ful snap of a unique Hawai­ian beach.  

Pa’iloa Beach 

One of the jew­els of the great dri­ve of the Hana High­way, the Wai‘anapanapa State Park Black Sand Beach (Pa’iloa Beach) is not only shroud­ed in Hawai­ian leg­end, but thanks to the glis­ten­ing turquoise water, the lava ash black sand and an array of log­ger­head tur­tles that call this beach home – it’s one of the most pho­to­genic beach­es on Hawaii.  

Requir­ing and advance book­ing and an entrance fee, the Pa’iloa Beach was, accord­ing to Hawai­ian leg­end, cre­at­ed by the Gods – and its easy to under­stand this belief, with the black sands and sparkling waters stretch­ing into two fresh­wa­ter caves that make for a great place to snap the reflec­tion of the still waters against the reflec­tion of the cave and also give a great spot to take panoram­ic and land­scape pho­tos of the black sand and still waters of the daz­zling Pa’iloa Beach.   

 

Punalu’u beach 

Con­tain­ing to anoth­er gor­geous black sandy beach – this time on the Big Island – the shores of Punalu’u were formed from Vol­canic Ash  and today you can walk along and pho­to­graph this strong sands which sit against a back­drop of dense trop­i­cal rain­for­est and the deep blue pacif­ic ocean in what is one of the most pho­to­genic and beau­ti­ful beach­es across Hawaii.  

 Helped by its black sand, Punalu’u beach is also a great spot to come to for those with a keen inter­est in view­ing and pho­tograph­ing some of Hawaii’s most charm­ing if grumpy res­i­dents – with colonies of green and log­ger­head tur­tles known to come to its shores to rest and relax pro­vid­ing a great chance to snap them on an amaz­ing beach. For those head­ing to Punalu’u – be sure to arrive either ear­ly in the morn­ing or at dusk as you’ll find the beach crowd­ed dur­ing the day as bus­loads of tourists arrive to enjoy the black sands, which can take the shine and glam­our off your pho­to.  

Malu­a­ka Beach 

Tur­tle Town – the beach of Malu­a­ka see’s not only miles of spec­tac­u­lar sun kissed gold­en sand, turquoise waters and sway­ing mighty palm trees, but thanks to its close prox­im­i­ty to Moloki­ni Crater, you’ll find the shores of Malu­a­ka awash with colonies of tur­tles, mak­ing it a great spot to both cap­ture a calm and beau­ti­ful beach and one of the icons of Hawaii’s blue waters.   

Thanks in part to its close prox­im­i­ty to Moloki­ni Crater, the sands of Malu­a­ka are not only blessed with Marine Life, but they are also often over­looked by trav­ellers who tend to head to the more pop­u­lar and estab­lished Crater to get their tur­tle and beach fix – mean­ing that if you head to Malu­a­ka on the right day there’s a chance you’ll be able to enjoy true soli­tude on this beach and you can snap both its stun­ning sand and its natives in peace – for one of the most spe­cial and clear pho­tos of Hawaii’s beach­es.  

Kaana­pali Beach  

Return­ing to more tra­di­tion­al gold­en sand beach­es which have earned Hawaii’s rep­u­ta­tion as a par­adise island, and along­side the famous gold­en sands of Waiki­ki and the daz­zling gold­en sands on the Na Pali Coast, the beach at Kaana­pali in Maui to be of the most pic­ture per­fect beach­es – with the beach hav­ing an incred­i­ble blend of three miles of gold­en sand, turquoise waters and lush green palm trees that makes it a post­card per­fect beach and which once earned it the title of “America’s Great­est Beach.” 

Although now threat­ened by the overde­vel­op­ment of resorts on its edge, the sands of Kaana­pali still remain their charm and if you can cap­ture this beach at sun­rise when the shores are qui­eter or from one of the panoram­ic bal­conies that lie on its edge at sun­set – when you can enjoy the night­ly sun­set div­ing spec­ta­cle – the beach of Kaana­pali is still one of the most stun­ning on Hawaii and makes for a great beach to snap a post­card per­fect pho­to of Hawaii.  

 

Sunsets: 

Along­side its great beach­es and nat­ur­al won­ders, Hawaii’s sun­sets are the true stuff of leg­end, with the great sun­sets – that see the sky light up in deep yel­low, rouge, orange and some­times even pur­ple being one of the most icon­ic and pho­tographed images in the world.  

 While there’s no bad place to enjoy a Hawai­ian sun­set – and you can find great pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties on any of the stun­ning beach­es and at any of the pho­to hotspots list­ed above, we’ve picked out four spe­cial spots, that some­times go over­looked, where you can enjoy and pho­to­graph the absolute best of Hawaii’s stun­ning sun­sets: 

 Hanalei Bay 

Along­side the glis­ten­ing Hanalei beach on Kauaui – where three miles of gold­en shores against green val­leys and turquoise waters await you, is the bay of Hanalei an incred­i­bly beau­ti­ful bay that stretch­es out onto the beach and with it’s idyl­lic wood­en pier it cre­ates a tru­ly pic­turesque land­scape to enjoy one of the most spec­tac­u­lar sun­sets on the plan­et  — as the whole bay and beach lights up night­ly in a kalei­do­scop­ic dis­play of bright yel­low and orange – for what is a tru­ly spe­cial sun­set pho­to­graph.   

Lahaina Har­bour 

The famed har­bour of Lahaina on Maui is not just a great place to take on whale watch­ing tours and enjoy the surf and sands of the water­front beach­es, but for those lucky enough to be here at night – you’re in for a true treat as the whole har­bour, accom­pa­nied by boats sail­ing out in the deep blue waters, lights up under the descend­ing sun to cre­ate a true spec­ta­cle as the har­bour glows in what is an absolute­ly glo­ri­ous dis­play of bright orange, pink and pur­ple – for one of the best and tru­ly breath-tak­ing sun­sets on the plan­et and an absolute­ly incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

For an extra spe­cial expe­ri­ence, we’d advise tak­ing in the awe of this incred­i­ble sun­set not only with a tip­ple on one of the bars at the har­bour – where you can enjoy panoram­ic views of the sun­set – but also at the Old Lahaina Luau where a tasty Luau feast with direct views over the Har­bour awaits you, allow­ing you to enjoy both a feast of the sens­es and the incred­i­ble sun­set – in what is one of the most deli­cious sun­set pho­tos in Hawaii.  

Mak­e­na Cove 

A true hid­den gem of Maui – the Mak­e­na Cove is found just off the beach of Mak­e­na and you’ll have to nav­i­gate through a few back­streets to find it – but once you you’ll find a small per­fect beach cove – with gold­en sun kissed shores, turquoise waters, an array palm trees and even a spot where vol­ca­noes meet the sea await you – for what is one of the most beau­ti­ful and roman­tic spots across the islands.  

A favourite for wed­ding pic­tures – the Cove is stun­ning dur­ing the day, but at dusk its pic­ture per­fect, as the glow­ing sun­set cre­ates a per­fect back­drop to this cove light­ing up both the gold­en sands and waters and cre­at­ing a moment of true mag­ic that offers you one of the most gor­geous sun­set pho­tographs on the plan­et.  

 Na Pali Coast 

A stun­ning nat­ur­al land­scape and one of the must see high­lights of Kauai, the 17 miles of the Na Pali Coast – and their rolling val­leys, tow­er­ing cliffs, turquoise waters and daz­zling beach­es make for an incred­i­ble pho­to spot dur­ing the day – but at sun­set this mag­nif­i­cent coast­line turn into some­thing extra spe­cial, as the descend­ing sun lights up the coast­line in shades of yel­low and orange mak­ing the 4,000 foot cliffs tru­ly come alive and cre­at­ing one of the most spe­cial and roman­tic spots on the plan­et.  

While you’ll find most tours of the Na Pali Coast return before dark, and you’ll have to stay local to take on a sun­set sail­ing cruise – which we’d real­ly rec­om­mend for get­ting breath-tak­ing shots – for an extra spe­cial pho­to of this incred­i­ble mul­ti-coloured sun­set we’d advise tak­ing on the Kalalau trail, where for those who man­age to make the 11 mile jour­ney and camp up on the beach, from the shores of Kalalau you can wit­ness one of the worlds most incred­i­ble sun­sets that rep­re­sents the absolute best of Hawaii and tru­ly under­lines why these stun­ning islands are a mag­nif­i­cent and beau­ti­ful won­der of the world.