Diamond Head hiking trail starts inside the crater of Diamond Head. It is one of the most visited trail in Oahu. Diamond Head is very close to Waikiki and only takes about 15 minutes to get to drive from Waikiki. The parking lot is located in the middle of the crater and the entrance fee is about $5 per vehicle. Some people parked the car outside of the crater and walked into the crater. In this case, the entrance fee is $1 per person.
We got to Diamond Head crater around 8AM in the morning and we are lucky that there are still parking space available for cars. If there isn't any parking space available, you will have to wait outside until one becomes available. So it's the best to go there as early as possible.
The trail itself is not very long. From the start of the trail to the summit, the trail is only 1.6 miles long and most part of the trail is well paved. There is a portion of the trail where you can into the tunnel and it is quite dark in there. Be very careful if you are a tall person since the top of the cave is not very high.
Once you get out of the tunnel, there are 2 way to go. For people who are energetic, you can take the path to the right, which is walking up the stairs. The left path is easier and does not involve walking up stairs. We took the path on the right and walked up the stairs. Once we got up there, there is another narrow spiral stair to climb. This spiral stair is quite narrow and it is better to only have people going up to take this route.
After the spiral stair, we were inside a bunker. The bunker has the view to Waikiki. In order to get out of the bunker without going back down the spiral stair case, there is a very small opening where we had to climb through. Then we continue to walk up the trail and finally reached the top of Diamond Head and there were tons of people!
The top of Diamond Head provides 360 degree of view and we were able to see the whole crater and Waikiki. We were also able to see the light house at the coast, which is pretty cool.
Overall, Diamond Head trail is a place that you must go to when visiting Oahu. If you can, we recommend you to go there as early as 6AM to see the sunrise!
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