The Grand Canyon of the Pacific

On the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi is one of the most spectacular landscapes in Hawaii and arguably in the whole of the Pacific. Waimea Canyon stretches for roughly 22 km and in places is more than 900 m deep. It’s not just a smaller version of the Grand Canyon created by a combination of enormous rainfall, erosion and the collapse/incision associated with the island’s volcanic history. Here you can see how one of the wettest places on Earth helped carve a canyon of almost desert-like colours into an ancient Hawaiian volcano.

The colours of the walls are a mixture of deep red, orange, brown and green, with waterfalls dropping down the cliffs after heavy rain. The colours come partly from the weathering of the volcanic rock. Kauaʻi is one of the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands, and millions of years of erosion have carved deeply into the volcanic shield. The name Waimea means something like “reddish water” in Hawaiian which would be a particularly appropriate name given the colour of the canyon walls.

Kauaʻi is extraordinarily wet. On the day we went, it was a lovely, warm, sunny day but the summit region of Mount Waiʻaleʻale, just to the north, is among the wettest places on Earth, receiving enormous quantities of rain. That water finds its way into the Waimea River, which has spent millions of years cutting down through the volcanic rock. But even if it IS a sunny day, the scenery can change dramatically within minutes because clouds frequently move across the mountains.

The best starting point is the Waimea Canyon Lookout, which, at around 1000m above sea level, provides an enormous panorama of the canyon.

The access to the lookout is via Waimea Canyon Road which turns into Kōkeʻe State Park road. The lookout has a car park and a short walk down to a viewing platform. And there are toilets which are helpful after an hour’s drive from Nawiliwili! But once you’ve taken your photos here, continue upwards along the Kōkeʻe State Park road along the canyon’s western rim. There are several viewpoints and hiking trails. Puu Hinahina Lookout is another excellent viewpoint, with a different perspective into the canyon.

Once you get to Kalalau Lookout, further along the road, you’re not looking into Waimea Canyon itself but across the extraordinary Nā Pali Coast, with its enormous green cliffs dropping towards the Pacific. And if you think those cliffs look familiar, it’s not surprising. The dramatic emerald cliffs served as the iconic, prehistoric backdrop for the Jurassic Park franchise.

If you want more information about the beautiful island, you can’t do better than check out the Go Hawaii site: https://www.gohawaii.com/islands/kauai/travel-info

And you can also download a PDF of a road map if you’re driving here: https://www.gohawaii.com/sites/default/files/2026-07/HVCB-43642_11x8.5_TT-ItineraryMaps-Kauai-7.pdf