Know before you go
Two miles of shoreline inside a national park.
Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park holds a walkable stretch of the Ala Kahakai between Honokōhau Harbor and Kaloko fishpond, past the ʻAiʻōpio fishtrap, ʻAimakapā fishpond and the petroglyph boardwalk. Honu haul out on the beach at ʻAiʻōpio most afternoons. There is no water anywhere in the park.
Access
- Hale Hoʻokipa visitor center, Highway 19 at Kaloko: parking, restrooms; hours posted by NPS. The Māmalahoa and Ala Hele Ike trails lead about a mile makai to the coast.
- Honokōhau Harbor (south end): park at the harbor and walk north into the park; the quickest way to ʻAiʻōpio beach.
- Kaloko Road gate (north): access to Kaloko fishpond; gate hours posted by NPS.
Distance & terrain
About two miles of shoreline trail between the harbor and Kaloko fishpond; about four miles round trip if you come down from the visitor center. Easy grades, hot ground.
Water
None in the park. Bring all of it.
Hazards
- No water in the park; the coast is hot and exposed for most of the year.
- Lava, sand and fishpond walls underfoot.
- The compost toilet on the trail between the boardwalk and ʻAiʻōpio was removed in August 2026 (NPS).
Respect
Honu: ten feet, never between a turtle and the water; they bask, they are not stranded. The fishpond walls are archaeological structures under active repair; walk only where the trail crosses them. Do not feed the birds at ʻAimakapā.
Official: NPS · trails at Kaloko-Honokōhau · NPS · park alerts · The full planning guide →
Mauka · the watershed
The fresh water that makes a fishpond possible.
Behind Kaloko-Honokōhau, the slopes of Hualālai catch the trade-wind rain. The water travels underground — Hawaiian basalt is honeycombed with channels — and seeps to the shore mixed with seawater. That brackish wedge is what an engineered fishpond captures and farms.
Mid · the village
A working settlement, intact.
Within today's national park boundaries are heiau, house platforms, kiʻi petroglyphs, and the freshwater channels that fed the ponds. Unlike Puʻukoholā or Hōnaunau, Kaloko-Honokōhau preserves the everyday infrastructure — not a temple complex but a town.
Open this section in the map →Coast · the ponds
ʻAimakapā and Kaloko fishponds.
Loko iʻa — Hawaiian fishponds — are engineered estuaries. Walls of dry-stacked lava enclose a brackish lagoon; sluice gates let small fish in to grow, then close to keep grown fish from leaving. ʻAimakapā and Kaloko are still functional, their walls maintained by NPS and partner stewards.
Stand here · 360°
Fishponds, the harbor and Kailua town.
Kua Bay, both fishponds, ʻAiʻōpio, the harbor, and the seafront where the trail becomes Aliʻi Drive. Tap a viewpoint to load it and look around.
Conditions at the shore · live
Reef · anchialine
Anchialine pools and ʻōpaeʻula.
Where fresh and salt water meet underground, anchialine pools form — small, brackish, full of endemic life. The bright-red ʻōpaeʻula (tiny shrimp) is the signature inhabitant. Habitat loss in the rest of Kona makes Kaloko-Honokōhau's pools regionally important.
Ocean · honu
Honu basking on the sand.
Green sea turtles (honu) bask routinely on the beaches at Kaloko-Honokōhau. Stay back: federal law requires a 10-foot buffer.