Pololu Valley Lookout

Beautiful spot. Do hike down to the beach though, if you can. The hike down is about 10 minutes, and 12 on the way back up — probably more like 15 – 20 for people with reduced mobility or if you’re out of shape :)

The view from the lookout is amazing! Truly gorgeous. The walk down and back up are bit unexpectedly tricky. I wouldn’t do the walk in flip flops, with young kids or if it’s rainy because it would be slippery. The beach at the bottom is gorgeous but it is not a swimming beach. Lava rocks and rough waves. There was 1 surfer and a couple of people trying to put there toes in but no swimmers. A walk over to the right gives you a breathtaking view of a green mountain valley.

Visiting the Big Island with friends that had never been here… so I had to bring them here. Great scenic view of the north coast of the Big Island. If you take the effort to drive all the way out to this point, you should take the effort to hike down to the beach… you won’t regret it! The hike down is an easy 1 ¼ miles each way.

This lookout was fabulous but you need to take the hike down to the Black beach to really experience it all. A black Beach!!! along the path there are nice views as well. You need sturdy shoes & bring a camera & water. You can even go in the water, but there are no facilities to change or a bathroom. We loved it. There was even rope swings at the bottom.

IMO I like this place more than Waipio Lookout. The 1 mile round trip hike wasnt too difficult but it is steep and some spots lack tree shade from the sun. No need for a 4×4 vehicle, off road ATV to get down since you will be using your legs to get down and up. Lovely scenery of the valley, black sand beach and has a lagoon near it which make it picturesque.
–Get here early to avoid battling with others for a parking spot/​traffic.
–Bring plenty of water for your hike and stay.
–No mobile reception here
–Waves are moderate so snorkelling wont be good here
–USE THE HEAD B4 coming here. No toilets here. I had to relieve myself at the bottom. Me being a lady, I had to squat. After 3 seconds into relieving myself, a swarm of mosquitoes ravaged my bee hind! Had 30+ bites in each cheek. Had to sit awkwardly for 4 days since my arse was raging! NOT pretty! Trust me!
–Bring a lot of sunscreen and based on previous note, BRING mosquito repellant!

So bummed. There was so much traffic, and the parking situation was out of control. Locals had a stand set up in their front yard selling stuff because of all the traffic. There is practically no parking. Could barely turn the car around to leave. Didn’t even get a chance to see that this place had to offer.

Great panoramic. The view is just breathtakingly I love photography so got some really nice shots. Take comfy shoes it’s pretty steep going down and also take plenty of water. Allocate about 45 min coming up. The parking is limited so park down the street and than walk to the lookout point. It’s located on the northern part of the island.

There seems to be two Unilocal listings for Pololu Valley-​one for just the overlook and one for the valley itself. In my previous review, I had some tips and descriptions of the hike down itself, so here is my take on just the Overlook. It’s easy to find-​literally the end of the road, about 15 minutes north of Hawi. Later in the afternoon on a weekday, it wasn’t too crowded. Beautiful photo ops of the valley and beach below with sweeping ocean views.
Great road trip, but if you’re not going to hike down, be aware that you’re not going to spend much time here. Read the reviews just for Pololu Valley on my tips down to the beach. Either way, it’s glorious and highly recommended!

One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. You will miss out if you do not hike to the bottom. It is incredible!

After reading the reviews from others on the difficulty of this trail, I was unsure if we could do it. I exercise about once a week and my 10 year old son isn’t that active either. We arrived at 10am and was parking available in the small lot. There is parking on the side of the road if the lot is full. We successfully made it down in 20 minutes. The time went fast since the views are wonderful as you hike down. It was a treat arriving at the black sand beach. The hike back up was 30 minutes for us. Hiking down can be slippery and the hike up takes some endurance. I was more out of breath coming back up. Be sure to grab a walking stick before heading down. There were several leaning against the garbage can left by others. Also, wear comfortable shoes, bring water and snacks. There are no restrooms. Highly recommend this! Enjoy!

A must see. It’s a beautiful view. Wear good shoes and light clothing. You start out cool at the top and gets very warm at the bottom. Very steep decline and incrediblly uneven, furrowed path that can be wet and slick in areas
The beach has silicon like black sand and large lava rocks in black and red. A bit of a rough surf– play in water with caution

All the way to the north of big island. I prefer waipio lookout. This place is very tight. Be careful making that u turn back to the road so your car don’t go over the cliff. Visit if you are driving this way but don’t go out of the way for this.
Cliff too steep for kids.

This was one of several lookout points that my «Big Island Revealed,» app suggested I see when exploring the Kohala Coast of the Big Island. Pololu Valley Lookout is probably another 20 – 25 minute drive past the town of Hawi (Home of the big King Kamehameha the First statue). Let me say that this place did not disappoint. The view of the untamed coastline was breathtaking! One cannot help take dozens of photos and selfies in front of this area. Parking is limited, so you may need to park a little further down the street like we did. As you make your way to the lookout point say hi to the friendly horses who are nearby. These horses for sure have the best view on the entire island! There is also a trail at the lookout point that leads to a beach below. We did not take the trail, as we had a late start that day.
Verdict: An excellent place to take postcard like photos that you can post on your favorite social media site, making all your friends back home on the mainland jealous and green with envy. hehe.

Black sand beach, you say? I’m in! The hike isn’t bad, in fact, it’s rather easy to get to. Once we got down, we just walked along the beach the entire way and it was easy peasey. The view from the top is gorgeous too so if you prefer not to hike down, it’s also an option to just view from the top. I just wanted to take it all in so I dragged my entire family with me.

Get to the end of the road and enjoy the view. Bring some water maybe a towel and work your way down the trail to the beach, was really enjoyable time exploring here.

Very nice view from the top. The trail itself is easy. You also get some nice views going down. The parking at the top was packed. The road seems to have been made wider so it’s possible to park in the sides of the road in spots. Thus is a good thing since the parking lot at the end was just packed. There were easily 20 cars parked in the area when i went down. When I came back up it was even more crowded. Some of the cars were no longer completely off the road.
The beach at the bottom has lots loose rocks and people have piled them up.

Next time I will walk down to the beach. I absolutely loved the drive through Kapaau and Hawi to get to the lookout. Pololu is one of the «book-​end» valleys (the other being Waipio) that goes from the Hamakua Coast over to the Kohala side of the Northern coasts of the Big Island.
Depending on when you go… wear bug spray! Suckas were eating me alive, but the view is breath taking.

After a frustrating time trying to find my dad’s nearby childhood home and the cemetery where my grandparents were buried, one of the locals in Kapaau suggested we continue up the road and see the Pololu Lookout. At least our visit to the area wouldn’t have been a total loss.
Thanks to this nice man, we saw a gorgeous view of the Kohala coast.
There was a trail leading all the way down to the beach, but it looked a bit too steep for me. We were scheduled to do something über-​fun the next day and I didn’t want to risk injury to my bum knee. So, regretfully, we went on our way.
Note: Parking’s limited. People were parking any ol’ way they pleased.
It made me feel sorry for the residents who live right across from the lookout.

The view from the top is beautiful! We were told that they filmed some of Jurassic Park 2 here. I thought we were just going to take a couple of pictures from the top of the lookout but I was wrong. My husband wanted to hike down the lookout. I was a bit intimated because it looked really steep and my legs were still sore from the hike the day before. I fought it for a little bit until my husband said that if I keep stalling we would have to drive back at night. I don’t like driving around the island at night so I gave in.
The hike down is steep so please wear shoes with traction. The way down is pretty easy… you just have to be careful of skidding down the side. I loved the scenery and the breeze coming from the ocean. The way back up for me was like the stair master from hell! I had to take a minute here and there to catch my breath. It was well worth it though!

Absolutely beautiful and so peaceful!
You can actually hike down below and there’s a beautiful black sand beach. We actually didn’t go down as we were on our way to HIlo with limited time on our hands.
There are a lot of visitors here and the parking spaces are limited.