How to get to Lanikai pillbox hike from Waikiki

ALOHA!

It can be worth it to do the Lanikai pillbox hike as a half-day trip from Waikiki to see the iconic Mokulua islands and expansive ocean views with amazing water color!

It’s starts off going up up up, but soon you will be hiking with ocean views! You’ll then hike to one pillbox, and then if you want to go further, you can hike to another.

If you’re doing the Lanikai pillbox hike without a car, then you can go even further and do the whole Kaiwa Ridge Trail and make it a one-way hike!

If you’re going by car, of course you can still do the Kaiwa Ridge Trail, you will just make it round trip.

This is a gravel dirt trail, and it’s best to be wearing proper shoes. Since you will be hiking a rather steep incline to start, be prepared to work a little. But overall it’s a relatively short hike.

The Lanikai Pillbox hike is said to be around a little less than 2 miles round trip if you hike to both pillboxes. You’ll want to give yourself around 1 to 2 hours, more or less depending on your pace and how long you stop to take in the views at the pillbox!

Many people like to do this as a sunrise hike, but personally I prefer the amazing daytime water color.

 

The Lanikai Pillbox hike is a common hike to do from Waikiki, and it is something you can do on your own. You’ll be going to the town of Kailua on the east side of Oahu to do the Lanikai pillbox hike.

The cheapest way to get to the Lanikai pillbox hike without a car is by bus, although as it goes with the bus, it does take time. People will also even take an uber to get to the trailhead. Since you’ve made the effort to go this far, you’ll also want to go to Lanikai Beach and maybe to Kailua Beach.

If you’re renting a car, parking can be difficult in the Lanikai neighborhood, and that’s even if there’s not a “no-parking” enforcement which happens. The “easier” place to park for this hike is by going to Kailua Beach, although that means walking a little extra and parking there can be full.

 

The hike itself is FREE! No reservations are needed for the Lanikai pillbox hike.

Since you’ll be on an actual hiking trail, it’s a good idea to wear good walking shoes. This can be running shoes, hiking shoes, or even hiking sandals. It can be the same type of shoes to hike Diamond Head.

There isn’t much shade on the trail, so sunscreen, hat, and water is a good idea to bring along too. (And snacks!)

 

👆 Hiking up to the pillboxes! There’s one of the Mokulua islands!

 

 

Waikiki to the Lanikai pillbox trailhead is about 20 miles. By car, it takes about 35 minutes. It might be longer if there’s traffic.

Now, I’ll show you below the different ways you can get to the Lanikai pillbox from Waikiki!

 

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How to get to Lanikai pillbox hike

Now, here is a little more about getting to the Lanikai pillbox hike from Waikiki, by car or by bus.

 

Driving (trailhead parking)

If you already know that you want to rent a car, then you can drive to the Lanikai pillbox hike.

It’s important to know that trailhead parking is known to be difficult.

There are days that there is no street parking allowed anywhere in the Lanikai neighborhood (where the hike starts).

And soon, even on days there is parking allowed, there will be even less parking available, since some streets in the neighborhood will have street parking banned altogether.

Your alternative to parking in the Lanikai neighborhood can be at the nearby Kailua Beach parking lot. Naturally, it does require extra walking (possibly 15 to 20 minutes), but part of the walking path is where you’ll find some of the best views in Kailua! It’s basically a Kailua Bay overlook. (map)

Sometimes the parking lot does fill up so it might be difficult to find parking there too.

First you can drive to the Lanikai pillbox trailhead, and then assess the situation from there.

 

The best case scenario is that it’s a 40 minute drive from Waikiki to get there. But in reality, it may take a bit longer with traffic. Look for Lanikai Pillbox Trail as your destination (map).

And it will take longer also if you make stops!

Take the coastal route (map) and stop by Halona Blowhole (reviews) and Waimanalo Beach (reviews).

Or go through the mountains and take the route of the Pali Highway (map) so that you can stop at the popular Pali lookout (reviews).

After you do the hike, you may want to walk over to Lanikai Beach (no beach facilities) and/or to Kailua Beach (proper beach facilities).

Then for mountain views, you can drive to Byodo-in Temple (and Puu Maelieli Trail) or to Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden.

 

 

Bus

I’ve taken the bus to get to the Lanikai pillbox hike.

Both times I did it as a one-way hike. I started at the regular Lanikai pillbox trailhead, and then instead of turning around after making it to the pillboxes, I kept going to the other side. You can see the whole trail on google maps, with the other end called the “back way” (map).

Aside from the normal bus things, like how it requires extra time, patience, and walking, you’ll want to make sure you’re standing in the right spot at the transit point!

Once I got to Kailua, I guess I didn’t look close enough at the map. I thought the next bus was from the same bus stop I got off at. But actually, the next bus was at another bus stop like 15 seconds up the road. This caused me to miss one bus, maybe more. This means that I was waiting around longer than I had to. So pay attention to the map closely at the transit stops!

There is a bus stop directly in the Lanikai neighborhood, and if you get off at the nearest bus stop, then it might be a 5 minute walk to the trailhead.

But if you are making it a one-way hike, you might want to get off near Kailua Beach. First, that’s basically the last time you’ll have a bathroom. (I did check the bathroom in the Lanikai neighborhood park, and it was locked.)

But better than that, since you’ve made the effort to make it all the way over here, you don’t want to miss the unofficial Kailua Bay overlook! This is the walking path from Kailua Beach to the Lanikai Monument (map). And then you might want to stop by Lanikai Beach as well.

 

👆 There’s a bus that will get you quite close to the Lanikai pillbox trailhead!

 

Overall, expect the time in transit from Waikiki to the Lanikai pillbox trailhead to take just under 2 hours one way. Longer if you want to make a detour to Kailua Beach and Lanikai Beach!

A bus transfer will be necessary no matter what, and possibly 2 transfers. Google maps makes it easy to navigate by bus to the Lanikai pillbox hike! Just look for the public transit icon, pick a route you like, and do what it says!

When you’re in planning phase, you may want to adjust your start time to see the morning and/or day time bus routes.

Just to get you started, for example, you can type in your hotel in Waikiki as your starting point, and Lanikai Pillbox Trail as your destination. See the map.

For reference, see the “Lanikai Pillbox Trail” marker on the map. There is also a “Lanikai Pillbox” (map + reviews) that puts it on the trail itself at an actual pillbox. Which is fine in general if you know that’s where you’ve set it for, but then your total time will include walking to the end of the trail… and it might also lead you to start at the back-way trailhead. So it’s better to just set it to the trailhead you want to go to.

When you’re actually in Waikiki, you’ll just use your current location as the starting point. It will tell you where your nearest bus stop is. You can play around with the routes. Doing this on the google maps app on your phone gives you more details. You can click on “scheduled” to see more upcoming departures, and you can click on “stops” when you’re actually on the bus to see exactly how many stops you have left (and follow along on the map with GPS once you’re on the bus). It will tell you where your nearest bus stop is.

Once you’re in Kailua, you shouldn’t have a problem with data. But if you want to plan ahead, you can do a google maps bus route search for the way back to Waikiki. You can take screenshots of future bus timings for the way back.

 

👆 Google maps is the easy way to figure out how to get from Waikiki to Lanikai pillbox by bus!

 

👆 You’ll see different options, so you can expand each route to see which one is best.

 

👆 You can expand out any bus route for details.

 

👆 It will also tell you about future bus timings! You can expand the “scheduled” section to see the different bus timings of any particular route.

 

It will be worth getting a HOLO card for the bus to the Lanikai pillbox hike. You can get the card with a “day pass” at any ABC Store in Waikiki. This acts as a public transportation cash card, and you can load it up online if you want to take the bus on another day too. You can also order your card online if you still have time.

Otherwise, you’ll need cash in exact change for every bus ride you take. See current bus fare.

Since you have to transfer at least once to go from Waikiki to the Lanikai pillbox trail, if you don’t have a HOLO card, it means you will be paying individually for each bus ride at least 4 times. (Counting up the bus rides to get there and back.) There is no such thing as a transfer ticket if you pay in cash. With a HOLO card, you will be capped at the cost of a “day pass” and never pay more than that in one day for bus fares.

 

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