Beach · West Maui Scenic Drive
A shaded oceanfront picnic stop where turtles often surface.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
West Maui Scenic Drive Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for West Maui Scenic Drive. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the West Maui Scenic Drive audio tourRecorded for this place
Wahikuli: A Coast Break and Reef Fish“You’re nearing Wahikuli Wayside Park, an oceanfront stop right beside the highway. Choose it for a coast break without much walking, with covered picnic pavilions near the water.”
Plays as you drive up to Wahikuli Wayside Park in the Parkwolf West Maui Scenic Drive Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Wahikuli Wayside Park is an 8.3-acre oceanfront county park between Lahaina and Kaʻanapali, right alongside Honoapiʻilani Highway. It’s a handy place to pause for a picnic or get near the water without much walking. The tradeoff is part of the setting: the shoreline is narrow and rocky in places, and highway traffic is close.
There are 25 covered picnic pavilions, eight grills and nine uncovered tables, along with three restroom pavilions and outdoor showers. The park has 106 parking spaces across three areas. Plan on bringing your own food; no on-site food service is listed.
The shore has patches of sand among the rocks, with reef at either end. When the water is calm, swimming and snorkeling are options; green sea turtles are a recurring sight, and snorkelers may spot saddleback wrasse, yellow tang, Moorish idol and black triggerfish. Treat wildlife as a bonus, not a guarantee.
The open-water view looks toward Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe. Sunsets are a reason to linger, and winter can bring migrating whales offshore. For a photo, include the dark shoreline rocks and overhanging trees to give the water some foreground.
Wildlife
152 sightingsHumpback WhaleMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
71 sightingsHawaiian Monk SealMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
23 sightingsSpinner DolphinMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
401 sightingsGreen Sea TurtleMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
14 sightingsHawksbill Sea TurtleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
92 sightingsWedge-tailed ShearwaterMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across West Maui Scenic Drive. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyKāʻanapali Beach Walk5.3 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.4 mi awayAn easy coastal walk links two public parks by Black Rock.
ModerateLauniupoko Valley Trail3.2 mi · 2 hr · 4.6 mi awayA reservoir and old stone walls lead into a steep valley.
Beach · 0.6 mi awayHanakaʻōʻō Beach ParkA picnic beach with canoe-club life at Kāʻanapali's south end.
Restaurant · 1.2 mi awayOld Lāhainā LūʻauA sunset lūʻau with Hawaiian storytelling, hula and a full dinner.
Beach · 1.2 mi awayKāʻanapali BeachThree miles of sand, a beachwalk, and sunset over the Pacific.
Beach · 1.4 mi awayLāhainā Baby Beach (Puʻunoa Beach)A reef-framed lagoon, with coral and rocks underfoot.
Store · 1.4 mi awayWhalers VillageShops, dinner, and a walk to the beach in one easy stop.
Sight · 1.8 mi awayPioneer Mill SmokestackA 225-foot reminder of Lahaina’s sugar era, best seen roadside.
Sight · 1.8 mi awayBlack Rock (Puʻu Kekaʻa)A black lava headland with shoreline snorkeling and a story.
Sight · 2 mi awayMaria Lanakila Catholic ChurchA surviving 1870s church with a tall, unmistakable bell tower.Parkwolf’s West Maui Scenic Drive ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
