Big Island Hiking

Hawai‘I

Best Big Island Trails

Kona, Big Island

Exploring Hawaii’s Wild Side

More than 300 miles of trail cross this island, through eight of the world’s thirteen climate zones. Rainforest, cloud forest, lava desert, ranchland, and alpine ground above 13,000 feet. You can hike two of those in the same morning if you plan it right.

Grass trail following the coastline above the surf in North Kohala.
↗ North Kohala Trail below Hawi at ‘Upolu Airport

Plan Around the Drive

The thing nobody tells you is how much driving Big Island hiking involves. A trailhead an hour and a half away is normal, and the weather at the other end is often nothing like the weather you left. I have turned around at more than one trailhead because I did not check.

So plan the day, not the hike. Look at conditions for where you are going. Start early, for both parking and the heat. And check access before you commit, because trails and roads here close due to erosion, eruptions, and cultural protection, sometimes for years at a stretch.

Trails Close to Kona

Rainforest trail through ohia and tree ferns on Kaloko Drive above Kailua-Kona.

Kaloko Trail

The one I actually use. Fifteen minutes from Historic Kailua Village and essentially in the backyard of Kaiminani and Holualoa, Kaloko is a set of short loops through quiet ohia and fern cloud forest halfway up Kaloko Drive. Mostly easy to moderate, with a few technical sections and slippery roots after rain. It runs busy early in the morning and again late in the afternoon, because that is when people here can get out.

The green cinder cone of Puu Waawaa rising above dry grassland north of Kailua-Kona.

Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a

A cinder cone above Puuanahulu, ten miles north of Kailua-Kona, with trails that run from easy to moderate and a summit hike of about seven miles round trip. From the top, you get long views down the Kohala Coast. The dryland ohia forest here is one of the island’s most biologically significant places, with endangered plants and plenty of native birdlife. Runners use it as much as hikers do.

Big Island hiking on the King's Trail: a stone-lined path across black lava.

King’s Trail

The Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail, built in the mid-1800s for horse travel, once ran thirty-two miles from Kona north to Puako. You can do it in sections rather than all at once, and the easiest access point is Waikoloa Beach Resort near the gas station. Look for the trailhead signs. It is fully exposed lava with no shade, so go early or late, and carry more water than the distance suggests.

Aerial of the white sand crescent and turquoise water at Makalawena on the North Kona coast.

Makalawena

A rough fifteen-minute walk over lava from the Mahaiula end of Kekaha Kai State Park, and it stays uncrowded because the walk keeps most people out. You get one of the state’s better white-sand beaches with almost nobody on it. Wear real shoes for the lava, bring everything you need, and go early because the state park gate closes in the evening and does not wait.

Big Island Hiking

Waipio Valley Lookout

Waip‘io Hiking Update **

The Waipiʻo hike has been closed since 2022. Waipiʻo Valley Road is closed to all pedestrians under a county emergency rule that has been repeatedly renewed, with no exceptions for hikers. Access to the valley floor is limited to county residents, permitted tour operators, and Native Hawaiians exercising traditional and customary rights.

The lookout at the top is open, free, and still one of Hawaiʻi’s best views. To reach the floor, a permitted shuttle tour is the only legal option. Anything you read online telling you to walk down is outdated.

Worth the Drive

Lava glowing in the summit crater at Kilauea at dusk.

Volcanoes National Park

More than 150 miles of maintained trails and the best day hike on this island. You can cross the Kilauea Iki crater floor over ground that was a lava lake in 1959, walk through native ohia forest, or follow Chain of Craters Road down to the coast. It’s roughly two and a half hours from Kona, so plan for a full day. Check the park site before you go, since volcanic activity can close trails on short notice.

Sea cliffs and the black sand shoreline at Pololu Valley in North Kohala.

Pololu Valley

The most photographed lookout in North Kohala, and the trail down is only 0.6 miles but drops 420 feet on packed dirt and rock. 15-20 minutes down, 30-45 back up, and slick enough after rain that you should think twice. The black sand beach at the bottom is beautiful. Parking is scarce. The ocean here is dangerous, and much of the land beyond the beach is private and sacred.

The olive green cliffs and cove at Papakolea Green Sand Beach in Kau.

Green Sand Beach

Papakolea, near Ka Lae at the island’s southern tip, is one of only a handful of green-sand beaches anywhere. The hike is a flat five miles round trip, which sounds easy but isn’t, because it is exposed to dust, heat, and constant wind on a sandy track. Do not pay for a ride in the back of a truck. Budget a full day for the drive from Kona, and go for the contrast as much as the sand.

Paved path through rainforest toward Akaka Falls.

Akaka Falls

A 0.4-mile paved loop through dense tropical vegetation to an overlook on a 442-foot waterfall, on the east side of the island along the Hamakua Coast. Short, easy, and genuinely memorable, it’s a rare hike that works for small children and grandparents in the same group. It is a State Park with a small entrance fee. About an hour from Waimea, so pair it with something else on that side.

Penn Henderson, R(S)

How I Learned This Island

Driving to trailheads has helped me understand the Big Island. Long stretches of Saddle Road, the Hamakua Coast, and the back way into North Kohala — most of it before I ever thought about selling real estate here. You cover a lot of ground chasing a hike, and you notice how quickly the island changes on you. Dry lava at the highway, cloud forest twenty minutes later, ranch country over the next rise.

That’s what mainland buyers underestimate. This island is enormous, and every district feels like somewhere else. When someone asks me what it is like to live in Waimea versus Holualoa versus the Kohala Coast, I am not describing neighborhoods from a map. I am describing places I have spent many weekends.

Kids hiking a rainforest trail among tree ferns in the Kona uplands.
↗ My kids on Kaloko Trail, North Kona’s cloud forest

Big Island Hiking

Before You Hit the Trail

Satellite map of the island of Hawaii showing the whole Big Island and surrounding ocean.

Na Ala Hele

The State of Hawaii Trail and Access Program was established in 1988 in response to public concern about losing access to specific trails and the threat of development to historic trails. It is the authoritative source for what is legally open, and you should check it before driving an hour to a trailhead.

Boardwalk with a timber rail crossing lava terrain toward the mountains at Kohanaiki.

Research

Many trailheads here are an hour or more from the Kona Coast, and conditions change fast with elevation. Check the weather for where you are going, not where you are. Bring more water than you think you need. Tell someone your plan, because cell service disappears quickly in areas.

Carved wooden kii in front of the thatched temple at Puuhonua o Honaunau.

Respect

Much of this island is privately owned, and much of it is sacred. Stay on marked trails, do not cross fences or gates – no matter how tempting – and take the signs at places like Pololu warning you away from burial sites seriously. Access here depends on visitors treating it well. That is not a formality.

  • Visit Na Ala Hele Website

What Hikers Often Ask Me When Buying

Most of the questions below are about access. How far to a trailhead, whether there is public land nearby, whether the road holds up in rain. Those answers vary widely by neighborhood and are not obvious from a listing.

Then there is the part that surprises mainland buyers. Adjacent land here is often private, conservation, or agricultural, and what looks like open space behind a property may or may not be walkable. I can pull zoning and adjacent parcel information on anything you are considering and tell you what you would actually have access to.

Covered lanai with a pool and outdoor seating at a Puna home.
Property Questions?

Best Areas on the Big Island to Live if You Want Nearby Hiking

North Kona

Kaiminani, Kaloko Mauka, and Holualoa. Kaloko Trail is essentially in the backyard, and you are still fifteen minutes from town when you need it.

Pu‘u Lani Ranch

Twenty-two hundred feet above the coast on large acreage, with Puʻu Waʻawaʻa and the Hualalai slopes right there. Cool nights, wide-open land, and quiet.

Waimea

Ranch country at 2,700 feet, cool and green, and the shortest drive on the island to the Hamakua Coast and the north Kohala valleys. Rolling terrain out the door.

Hawi

The north end, and closer to Pololu than anywhere else you could live. Small-town North Kohala, working farms, and the wettest, greenest side of this coast.

Ka‘u and Volcano

The trade-off is the drive from Kona, but you’re close enough to Volcanoes National Park for a weekday hike. Cool, forested, and the most land for the money.

FAQ

Common Questions About Hiking On The Big Island

Range. In a single day, you can walk across a lava field at sea level, through a rainforest at 4,000 feet, and into an alpine desert above 9,000 feet, which is not possible anywhere else in the state. The island holds more distinct climate zones than most countries, and the trails reflect that. You won’t find a developed trail network like the mainland West. Much of the best hiking here is either inside the national parks, along shoreline access routes, or on land where access depends on permission and local knowledge rather than a trailhead sign.

Kilauea Iki in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the one everyone should do, dropping through rainforest onto the floor of a crater that was a lava lake in 1959. Pololu Valley at the north end and the Waipio Valley lookout offer classic windward valley views, both with steep descents. Akaka Falls on the Hamakua Coast is short and spectacular. The Captain Cook Monument Trail in South Kona drops to Kealakekua Bay and then climbs back out. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa offer high-altitude routes for prepared hikers.

More than visitors realize. The Ala Kahakai coastal trail runs along stretches of shoreline with rugged lava walking and good access points near Kaloko-Honokohau. Upper Kalaoa and Kaloko have trails through dry forest with ocean views the whole way, and those are my regular spots. Makalawena requires a walk over lava, which is exactly why the beach at the end stays uncrowded. Kohala and Waimea open up ranch and forest routes with cooler air. You do not need to drive to Volcano to get a real hike.

Yes, in the mountains, and people underestimate it. Mauna Kea’s summit sits at 13,796 feet and Mauna Loa at 13,678, high enough that altitude sickness is a genuine risk for anyone arriving from sea level the same day. The visitor information station partway up Mauna Kea is where you acclimate, and even a short stop there matters. Hiking above the station is a serious undertaking that requires preparation, not a spontaneous afternoon trip. Going from sea level to the summit in one day is how people get into trouble here.

It depends entirely on what Kilauea is doing, which changes. When there is surface activity, the national park is the safest place to see it, and rangers post current conditions and viewing areas. When there isn’t, the park is still worth visiting for its craters, lava tubes, the Chain of Craters Road, and coastal cliffs. Since the 2018 eruption, unsanctioned lava hikes on private and county land are far less common and far less advisable. Follow the park’s guidance rather than a video you saw online.

Sometimes, and it is the thing mainland hikers most need to adjust to. Much of the land here is privately held, particularly ranch land in Kohala and Waimea and agricultural land on the slopes, so access depends on permission and etiquette rather than posted rules. Access to Waipio Valley has been restricted in recent years. Some coastal routes cross parcels where norms are understood locally rather than posted. When in doubt, ask locally before you go. Getting this wrong can damage relationships residents have maintained for decades.

Water, sun, and footing. There is no shade on lava and no water on most routes, so carry considerably more than you would at home. Stay on established trails and resist the urge to cut across a lava field, because it never goes the way it looks from the road. Aa is loose, unstable, and sharp enough to cut like broken glass, and a fall onto it will send you to the emergency room rather than to a first aid kit. Pahoehoe looks smoother and hides thin crusts and voids that give way underfoot. Wear real shoes, not sandals.

Beyond that, cell coverage is inconsistent across most of the island, weather changes fast at elevation, and flash flooding is a genuine hazard in the windward gulches. Tell someone your route, and turn around earlier than you think you need to.

Yes, and that is the appeal. West Hawaii stays dry and warm year-round, so coastal and dry-forest hiking works in any month. Windward and high-elevation routes are more weather-dependent, with the wet season making valley and rainforest trails muddier and gulch crossings riskier. Summer at sea level is hot enough that early starts matter. Between the west side, the upcountry, and the parks, somewhere on this island always has good conditions on any given day.

Kalaoa and the hillside above Kailua-Kona put dry forest trails and coastal access within minutes, and I lived there for five years, partly for that. Waimea gives you cooler air, ranch country, and the shortest drive to both the Kohala valleys and the Hamakua side. Volcano puts you at the door of the national park, though life there is very different from the west side. Holualoa and upcountry Kona offer forest and elevation right from the neighborhood. Tell me how you want to spend your weekends, and I will factor it into the search.

Talk Story

Every Big Island move starts with a conversation. Tell me what you are looking for, and we will take it from there.

Compass Real Estate in Kona, Hawaii - Penn Henderson, Big Island Real Estate
Penn Henderson of Compass

75-1029 Henry St., Suite 301
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740

Phone: (808) 345-6214
Email: penn@pennhenderson.com