When you see the sign marking the Puu Hina Hina Lookout, you should pull of the road and park for at least a few minutes. Getting good pictures of Waimea Canyon is one of the goals of everyone who visits Kauai and embarks on the drive into Kokee State Park for a glimpse of the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. The canyon is ten miles long, a mile wide, and more than 3,500 feet deep. While smaller than the Grand Canyon in Arizona, it is truly a spectacular sight and one of the major natural attractions of the Garden Isle.

There are more than 45 miles of hiking trails that run through the canyon, the nearby Alakai Swamp, and the Kalalau Valley. You can get excellent pictures of Waimea Canyon as well as of the waterfalls in the canyon if you set off on one of these hiking trails, but the majority of the trails are quite strenuous. Visitors of any physical ability can hop in their rental cars and drive the road, stopping along the way for the vistas from Puu Hina Hina Lookout in Waimea Canyon or one of the other lookouts scattered along this road that stretches deep into Kokee State Park.

The Puu Hina Hina Lookout in Waimea Canyon is one of the best for views all the way down to the Pacific Ocean. Try to arrive as early as possible to miss the afternoon mist, and on a clear day you can see privately owned Niihau Island seventeen miles away. The Puu Hina Hina Lookout is at mile marker 13, just over three miles past the Waimea Canyon Lookout.

Kauai Map