What To See

Waipi'o Valley

If you are heading to the Big Island, you are probably planning on visiting Waipi'o Valley on the Hamakua Coast. Waipi'o Valley is a very beautiful place. It is easy to see why it is and was considered sacred.

As you will read in your guidebook, the valley includes waterfalls, a long black sand beach and tropical surroundings. The road into the valley has a 25% grade, so normal cars, not even normal 4 wheel drive cars, can enter the valley.

To enter the valley you can take a van tour, horse tour, wagon tour or walk. We decided to walk. It probably would have been more interesting if we took a tour, as we would have learned more about the place but we decided with six of us, not to spend the money.

Overlook of Waipi'o Valley.

Black Sand Beach in Waipi'o Valley.

Hiilawe Falls in Waipi'o Valley

Somewhat wild horse in Waipi'o Valley.

Tips for Visiting Waipi'o Valley

Think about why you want to visit Waipi'o Valley. If you want to take pictures, plan around the weather. Although it did not rain while were were there, the sky was hazy. Go in the morning if you want the sun on the main waterfall. If the weather isn't right and you do not have a lot of time, consider taking your pictures from the vista point at the top, and then moving on.

It took us about an hour and 10 minutes to walk into the valley and about the same hiking out. The adults in the group found walking down harder. The kids handled this hike pretty well. We had lots of snacks and the valley is full of wild horses, which helped.Even so, almost everyone we saw walked down.

According to the local newspaper, tourists try to drive their rental cars into the valley and routinely get stuck. The locals are tired of it, and are looking to ban all outside traffic. We saw lots of white knuckles on the drivers heading up that hill.

The black sand beach is one of the largest we saw on the island, and very picturesque, but the ocean was very rough the day were there (and often is). Plan accordingly. There are streams running through the valley, but our guide book warned against going in them. There is a risk of Leptospirosis infection. With that in mind, you can't get very far into the valley without crossing the stream. Think about what kind of shoes to wear that allow you to cross a stream and hike a couple of miles.

It is only one mile down. It took us a little more than an hour.

We saw more than one trashed car at the bottom of the road.

You can't get very far into the valley without crossing the stream.

Remember, people live in the valley. You are walking through their home.

Laupahoehoe Point

Laupahoehoe Point is a county park below the town of Laupahoehoe. Visit this dramatic coast between Hilo and Waipio. The ocean is the star of the show here. We stopped a couple of times to watch the relentless waves crash against the jagged lava coastline. Laupahoehoe Point Park has some nice campground (for Hawaii County Parks). For more information about the campground see the camping page.