Makalawena Beach is a remote beach located in the Kekaha Kai State Park.

It's a 2.6 mile out and back hike from the parking lot.

It's recommended to have a 4-wheel drive vehicle to get in as the road is not completely paved and is pretty bumpy on the unpaved portion.

The water is crystal clear and has great snorkeling too.

Makalawena Beach is located on the northwest side of the Big Island of Hawaii.

We turned off from the highway into Kekaha Kai State Park.

We followed the road to the parking lot.

From the parking lot it's a 2.6 mile out and back hike. You walk past a beach and through a lava field to get there.

This is the view from the highway. You can see that the first part of the road is paved.

You'll see the sign for Kekaha Kai State Park and the park hours are from 8am to 6:30pm. They lock the gate at 7pm.

Once you get into the park, the road alternates between paved to unpaved back to paved back to unpaved. It's recommended to have a 4-wheel drive vehicle. We drove a Jeep and did just fine. We did see some smaller cars make it and some parked halfway and walked the rest of the way.

We finally made it to the parking lot, which is paved. There is a sign that shows an arrow to the right for Mahai'ula Bay. This is the direction you are going to go to get to Makalawena Beach.

We got there early so there was plenty of parking. You'll see a red and white gate. That's where the trail starts heading north. We took this trail to the first turnoff.

You can see on the map that you can go left and walk along the beach or you can go straight which takes your around the beach to the lava field.

We went left and walked this beautiful beach. 

Either way, you'll end up at the lava field, which you'll cross to get to Makalawena Beach.

This beach that we walked to get to the lava field is called Mahai'ula Beach. This beach was beautiful. We followed this until we got to a big red house. 

From the red house we followed the trail along the coast to a large stand of palm trees. This is where the path at the lava field begins.

We crossed the lava field, which in flip flops was slow going but doable. 

Once we got out of the lava field, we followed the sandy trail to a fork in the trail.

You can go to the left and walk the entire beach or you can go to the right and go to the middle of the beach.

We went to the left as we wanted to take in the entire Makalawena Beach.

This is where we turned off to explore Makalawena Beach.

After exploring this amazing beach, we got into the water to do some snorkeling. The water was really clear and we saws all sorts of fish.

Overall, this beach was amazing. It's a crazy drive and long hike, but it was definitely worth it.

(Click on the map above to go to a Google Maps larger view.)

Makalawena Beach has free parking. It is a 2.6 mile round trip hike to get there, but it doesn't cost anything.

Total Cost: $0

These are the checklist items I recommend:

• Drive a 4-wheel drive vehicle if you can for the unpaved section of the road.
• Bring your own snorkel gear.
• Bring some drinks and snacks.
• Bring reef safe sunscreen.