Hiking the Koko Crater Botanical Garden Loop Trail on Oʻahu
Distance: 2.0 - 3.0 miles / 3.2 - 4.8 km
The distance above is variable because it depends on how many different trails you decide to branch off on.
The crater loop is advertised as 2 miles, but I’d say you’re going to do at least 2.5 miles if you want to check out some of the sections off of the main loop.
In all, the Koko Crater Botanical Garden is one of the best easy hikes near Waikīkī through a beautiful volcanic crater where you have the opportunity to see some of Hawaiʻi’s rarest and most endangered plant species.
Koko Crater Botanical Garden Parking
The Botanical Garden is open from sunrise to sunset most days of the year, and the parking lot is located at the end of Kokonani Street.
One of the best things about the Botanical Garden is the hired security guard watching the parking lot to prevent break-ins.
Google Maps Directions: Koko Crater Botanical Garden
Hiking the Koko Crater Botanical Garden
You can truly wander on a number of different trails throughout the botanical garden, but I recommend starting out on the right side of the loop first so that you can save all of the diverging trails for the end.
This is the direction that this post is written in.
The photo below is the split for the central loop around the crater where we went to the right.
After the split, the first sections in the garden are the Hibiscus Hybrids, the Pacific section where you can see Milo and Hala Trees, and lastly, the Americas section featuring dry-land desert species.
Koko Crater Native Hawaiian Plants
After the Americas section, there is a short walk before the native Hawaiian plant section (photo below). It’s not a very straightforward section to see it all as the map might indicate, but there are Wiliwili Trees scattered throughout as well as other dry forest Hawaiian species like ʻAʻaliʻi, Lonomea, and Loulu palms.
If you’d like to learn more about these and other native plants, check out my post that I wrote specifically to help others learn more about native Hawaiian plants around the islands. There’s many more species from the garden in this post than I listed above.
Read My Separate Post: Native Hawaiian Plant Guide
At this point in the loop trail, it’s very likely that you will have branched off of the main loop through one of the alternative trails in the Hawaiian or Africa section.
However, if you are going to take the outer loop, be sure to check out the Dragon Blood Tree a short distance after the Hawaiian section.
Whichever way you choose to go, heading back toward the parking lot on one of the many trails should be very straightforward as all trails eventually converge.
