Hāna Town · no highway marker
Red Sand Beach: the page where we tell you the truth.
It’s real, it’s striking — and the path to it is a different story. Here’s the version other guides skip.
- Location
- Hāna town · Kaʻuiki Head
- Trail
- UNOFFICIAL · eroding
- Land
- Private-land signage posted
- Facilities
- None · no lifeguards
- Status
- Use-at-your-own-risk / restricted
Listen to this guide
The honest version
Kaihalulu is a crimson pocket beach carved into the cinder cone of Kaʻuiki Head, and the photos are every bit real. So is this: the way in is an unofficial, narrow, actively eroding scramble that has been closed, reopened, and half-closed for years; it passes on and alongside private land; and rescues happen often enough that local groups have publicly asked visitors to reconsider going at all.
That’s why we don’t publish a route guide for it. Not because we couldn’t — because the people who live at the trailhead asked, and this site’s first rule is that we drive their road like guests.
If you were set on it anyway
Posted signs govern — “Private Property,” “Kapu,” “Closed” mean turn around, that day, no debate. There are no lifeguards, no facilities, and the cove’s currents are stronger than its size suggests. Locals will tell you current, ground-level truth better than any website; Hasegawa General Store hears about trail conditions before the internet does.
The legal ways to see red
Koki Beach, minutes away on the Haneoʻo Road loop at MM 50, sits under the same iron-rich cinder cliffs — red rock, wild surf, zero trespass. Pair it with Hamoa Beach next door and the black sand at Waiʻanapanapa, and your day already holds more color than most islands offer in a lifetime.
Keep planning
- All 16 stops in order →
- The timed 1-day plan →
- Waiʻanapanapa Black Sand Beach →
- ʻOheʻo Gulch (Seven Sacred Pools) →
- Guide: Beaches →
Written and shot on the route by Shane Perry, Maui resident.
Straight answers
Take this stop with you.
The Glovebox Copy has every stop, marker, and fee — printable, signal-proof, free.