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Hoapili Trail

A two-hundred-year-old royal road across Maui's youngest lava — raw, shadeless, silent, and fifteen minutes from the resort pools of Wailea.

Type Historic coastal trail over lava fieldsBest for Raw volcanic coastline, solitude, historyFrom the bungalows About 30 minutes by car
KAP03 / CC BY-SA 4.0
TypeHistoric coastal trail over lava fields
Best forRaw volcanic coastline, solitude, history
From the bungalowsAbout 30 minutes by car
DistanceAs far as you like — most do 2–4 miles
DifficultyModerate-hard — brutal footing, zero shade
CostFree

Drive south until the road literally ends at La Perouse Bay, and Maui changes character completely. This is the island's youngest lava — a black, cracked flow a couple of centuries old — and threading across it is the Hoapili Trail, a stretch of the old King's Highway built in the 1820s under Governor Hoapili. It is the harshest, emptiest, most atmospheric walk on the island.

What you are walking on

The lava under your boots came from Haleakala's final eruption, which flowed down this coastline only about two hundred years ago — the mountain's goodbye, for now. Nothing here has softened yet: the flow is still sharp, black and nearly bare, which is exactly what makes the walk extraordinary.

The trail itself is the extraordinary part. The King's Highway once circled the entire island, and this section was rebuilt in the 1820s under Governor Hoapili — a raised bed of crushed and fitted lava stones running dead straight across country too rough for anything else. You are hiking a two-hundred-year-old piece of civil engineering.

From the La Perouse Bay lot, the route hugs the shore past tide pools and coves before cutting inland across the open flow toward Kanaio. Most walkers go out an hour or two and turn around — the character of the place lands within the first two miles.

The trail itself: crushed and fitted lava stones, laid down when Maui still had a kingPhoto: Forest and Kim Starr / CC BY 3.0 us

Respect the heat — this trail bites midday

There is no shade. None. Black lava absorbs the morning sun and radiates it back at you from below while the sky works on you from above; by eleven on a clear day the trail is a griddle, and hikers get in genuine trouble here every year. This is strictly a first-two-hours-after-sunrise walk, or a late-golden-hour one.

Footing is the other tax: loose, sharp, ankle-testing rock nearly the whole way. Real shoes or light boots, not sandals — a'a lava treats bare skin like a cheese grater. Carry more water than seems sane for the distance, and sunscreen everything.

The payoffs are commensurate: sea arches and spitting blowholes along the shore, wild goats picking across the flows, pods of spinner dolphins resting in the bay in the early morning (federal rules say watch from shore, and the shore is the best seat anyway), and a silence so complete you can hear the ocean working under the lava shelf.

Tide pools pock the old flows along the first stretch of the walkPhoto: Harrias / CC BY-SA 3.0

Making it a South Maui morning

From the bungalows, leave at dawn and you will have the trail nearly to yourself: thirty minutes down through sleeping Wailea and Makena, past Big Beach, to the end of the pavement. The last stretch of Makena Road is narrow and slow — part of the charm.

Note that the Ahihi-Kina'u reserve just before La Perouse has its own rules and hours for its coastal section, and its interior is closed for resource recovery — our La Perouse page covers the details. The Hoapili Trail from the bay lot stays open and free.

Be done by ten, then reverse the morning in comfort: a swim at Maluaka on the way back, brunch at Kihei Caffe, and the afternoon flat on your towel. Lava in the morning, sand in the afternoon — the full South Maui range in one day.

Good to know

  • Start at dawn. By late morning the black lava turns the trail into a griddle.
  • Sturdy closed shoes only — a'a lava shreds sandals and the feet inside them.
  • Carry at least two liters of water per person, even for a short out-and-back.
  • Spinner dolphins rest in the bay early — watch from shore; it is the law and the best view.
  • Stay on the trail bed: the lava crust hides holes, and the route is an artifact — do not stack or move stones.
  • No facilities past the parking lot — plan accordingly.

Questions

Hoapili Trail FAQ

The old King's Highway continues for miles down the coast, but there is no required distance: most hikers walk one to two hours out from La Perouse Bay and turn around. The full character of the lava fields, the coves and the historic trail bed all arrive within the first two miles.

The distance is whatever you choose, but the conditions are the challenge: loose, sharp lava underfoot the entire way, zero shade, and serious radiated heat after mid-morning. With sturdy shoes, plenty of water and a dawn start, it is a moderate walk; at noon it is genuinely hazardous.

A stone footpath that once circled the whole island, portions of it rebuilt in the 1820s under Governor Hoapili — the section from La Perouse Bay crosses Maui's youngest lava flow on a raised bed of fitted stones. It is both a hiking trail and a two-century-old historic site, so walk it, do not rearrange it.

The flow at La Perouse Bay is Haleakala's most recent, generally dated to around two hundred years ago — roughly the 1790s by tradition, though geologists debate the exact decade. Either way it is the youngest ground on Maui, which is why it is still black, sharp and nearly bare.

Keep exploring

Parks

La Perouse Bay
Beaches

Big Beach (Oneloa)
Beaches

Maluaka Beach
Parks

Molokini Crater
Restaurants

Kihei Caffe
Trails

Lahaina Pali Trail

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