I used to live on Maui, and I visit often, but it never ceases to amaze me that I can always manage to find something I’ve never done before.

On my last trip to Maui, I stayed in Kapalua and while I’ve frequented the beach at Kapalua Bay plenty, I don’t usually spend a ton of time in the area. So when I saw signs for the Kapalua Coastal Trail, I set aside a morning to check it out.

I can’t believe I’d never done this before! While part of it was familiar to me, the whole trail took me through areas of Maui I’d never seen before.

If you’re looking for a fairly easy and accessible hike, with INCREDIBLE views without having to go to the Hana side of the island, this is my number 1 recommendation.

Here’s everything you need to know to make the most of your hike along the Kapalua Coastal Hike.

Kapalua Coastal Trail Hiking Tips

The Kapalua Coast Trail stretches for about 1.75 miles along West Maui’s coastline and offers beautiful beaches, sweeping ocean views, and dramatic lava landscapes all from a fairly easy walking trail.

If you do this as an out and back hike…depending on your pace and how often you stop to take in the sights, the hike can take anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours. For casual hikers who like to take photos and enjoy the scenery, setting aside 2 hours is a pretty good estimate.

I was staying at the Ritz Carlton Kapalua (the northernmost part of the trail) when I did this hike so I came and went from the hotel grounds, but if you’re not staying in the Kapalua area and you’ll need to drive in and park, here are your options:

The Kapalua Bay Beach Parking Lot has the most free parking spaces available. But it’s still limited and fills up, but if you’re doing this hike first thing in the morning, you shouldn’t have a problem getting a spot here. This is the south end of the trail.

If you’re arriving later in the day, parking kind of spills out down the road and sometimes you can find something or you can pay to park in the lot of the Kapalua Tennis Garden (you pay via app and I’m not sure how closely they monitor this). Last time I was here I also noticed a sign that you could park in the Merriman’s parking lot until a certain time (4ish I think), but I didn’t stop to check out the details on that.

There’s also a small parking lot (less than 15 spaces) on Lower Honoapiilani Road and Kapalua Pl which has the best access for Oneloa Beach (this lot puts you more towards the north end of the trail). DT Fleming Beach has more parking and that would put you at the far north end of the trail.

***Want to save major $$$ on your trip to Hawaii? I get asked ALL the time how I’m able to travel so often to Hawaii and stay at really nice resorts. Well, my favorite travel hack is cashing in points to score free airfare and free nights at some of Hawaii’s most high end resorts. Read my full guide on the exact system I use to max out credit card rewards here. Seriously, it’s going to save you soooo much money.

The trail is easy to follow and part of it feels more like a rugged hiking trail, but some of it feels more like a pleasant stroll through a resort area.

If you’re not staying in Kapalua and you’re looking to make a day of this, I would plan to arrive at the Kapalua Beach parking lot early enough to get a spot. Take all of your beach gear with you (chairs, umbrella, towels, snorkeling gear, cooler, etc.) but leave it in the car (don’t leave valuables in the car!).

Start your hike at Kapalua Beach and hike the Kapalua Coastal Trail all the way north to the Ritz Carlton at DT Fleming Beach. It’s about 1.75 miles there. You could stop in at Cafe Kai in the resort for coffee and breakfast. It’s a cute little shop and there’s plenty of seating around the cafe and lobby with great views out over the resort and ocean.

If you’re doing this later in the day, you could do lunch at the Burger Shack on DT Fleming Beach.

When you’re done, reverse your route and end with some beach time at Kapalua or Napili Beach.

P.S. One of the reasons I’m able to travel to Hawaii so often is because I get free flights with my Southwest credit card AND I can fly someone with me for free with my Companion Pass.

I have this Southwest Premier Rapid Rewards Visa card through Chase. The current sign up offer is 50,000 points. Depending on where you live and fly from, that’s at least one completely FREE ticket to Hawaii and it could be two depending on the time of year (or more if you catch a crazy sale).

But the real pro travel hack is getting the Southwest Companion Pass.

If you acquire a certain amount of annual points with Southwest (either through flying or credit card spend), you get a companion pass where you can bring someone with you on every flight you take FOR FREE for the entire year. I can’t tell you how many thousands of dollars I save using this every year.

What makes this doable is that the sign up bonuses from Southwest credit cards goes towards the point requirement.

By far the quickest way to qualify for the companion pass is by signing up for a personal AND business card through Southwest.

**Besides being a business owner, if you’re self-employed, a freelancer or contractor, a gig economy worker, if you own rental properties, etc…you qualify for a business card.

And you’ll be most of the way towards qualifying for a Companion Pass PLUS you’ll have 110K points to book flights to Hawaii. That’s enough points to book 3-4 flights to Hawaii! AND you can take someone with you for FREE.

P.P.S. Here’s one more really important thing you need to know before your Hawaii trip…

You’ve got your airfare, hotel, rental car and your big activities booked, so you should be good to go, right? Wrong!

Travel is BOOMING in Hawaii and a lot of state and national parks have instituted reservation systems at some of the island’s most popular spots to help manage the crowds and make things a little more sustainable.

That means that there are now over half a dozen sites (beaches, trailheads, etc.) that require advance reservations. And some sell out well before you arrive on the island so you really need to have some sort of a plan.

I recently saw somebody in a Hawaii travel group post in a panic that they didn’t know they had to make reservations for things in advance…they thought they could just show up and “go with the flow.” I was tempted to say, well, “as long as the flow doesn’t take you somewhere that requires reservations, you can!” ; )

But I don’t want YOU to be that person, so I’ve pulled together a list of all the places you need to reserve entry in advance (plus all the details on booking windows, price, links, etc.) and a handful of popular tourist hotspots that book out really far in advance too.
Get that info >> HERE