Waipio Valley Lookout — Attraction in Hawaii

Nice lookout. It's an impressive valley. But it is not allowed to go down into the valley. The valley should be preserved as a "native" thing, a sacred "mystical" place for native Hawaiians. Local residents told me that this is an issue between local residents and their native home community. Residents (and certainly also tourists) have not really been wanted in the "sacred" valley for some time. Some "non-native residents" aren't really amused by this conflict because they no longer have access to the beach there and it was the only one in a major coastal area. The way down is marked with signs like falling rocks...to discourage tourists. The way down was at the day of our visitation also secured by a security guard. I heard that the youth enjoyed and grewed up, surfed and play togerher at this beach in former days. Currently they don't.

I would personally recommend "as a tourist" to take some pictures from the impressive viewpoint, respect their country below and stay away. Support the locals! I hope residents and natives they find a good solution for the beach/land in...

The view of the valley is great.... however on the way back into town having no service I was watching where I was on Google maps, again no service to start navigation having to look at blue dot on map to see where to turn...... the police in honokaa have there Sargent hiding in the bushes as you come into town then radio a officer in a 4 runner to chase you down and pull you over and write you a $350 dollar ticket......I explained to the officer that I had no service thus why I had the phone in my hands not texting just reading a map so I could get back to the main road I offered to show him that I had not texted anyone.......It makes no sense when there's no signs anywhere on the island about this law and I mean nowhere......I went as far as to Google basic laws of driving in Hawaii and there's nothing about this $350 infraction....this made the whole trip and end of our vacation kinda sour wish there was more clarity about this law and was actually posted here and there on signs......if this saves 1 persons trip from becoming a bad day the...

This lookout is stunning. You should absolutely check it out if you're in the area.

You can drive to the bottom of the valley to the black sand beache if you have a proper 4 wheel drive vehicle. There are a lot of folks online that exaggerate the difficulty of driving from the lookout to the beach, but it's not too difficult if you have the right car, take it slow, and only make the drive when the weather is decent.

I rented a Jeep Wrangler, and I had no problems getting down to the beach. I read online that some rental contracts explicitly prohibit driving down into the valley, but I didn't find any language in my rental agreement that indicated that. I suppose you could consider it "off-roading," but I can't see how driving on a paved country road would be considered off-roading.

You can also hike to the bottom of the Valley if you're not comfortable driving on the roads, but it would be a strenuous...