Dragons Teeth Maui: The Walk, the Parking, and the Sacred Ground Beside It

Dragons Teeth Maui is a five minute walk to the island's strangest lava, and the rare stop where etiquette outranks the photos. The spikes stand on Makaluapuna (Makāluapuna) Point in Kapalua, beside a burial ground that changed Hawaii law. Walk, parking, and respect, as of 2026.

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The Dragons Teeth Makaluapuna Point walk

One of the last lava flows from the West Maui volcano formed Makaluapuna, Honolua Volcanics rock, lighter and finer grained than the usual black lava. Wind and waves forced the cooling lava flow back until it could harden into rows of three foot teeth leaning toward the island, bleached bone white by sea spray. The Kapalua Labyrinth on the flat is modern, not ancient.

Turn onto Office Road at mile marker 30 on Hwy 30, the short hike runs half a mile round trip from the parking lot where it ends at Lower Honoapiilani Road, skirting the golf course edge.

The footing turns to sharp lava and the wind maintains a documented hat collection, wear real hiking shoes and bring water. No facilities, most people stay under thirty minutes.

The Honokahua burial site beside the trail

The hedge along the trail is not landscaping. It marks the Honokahua Preservation Site, where roughly 900 to 1,200 iwi kupuna, ancestral burials from about 600 to 1800 CE, rest in ground dug up for a hotel in 1987 and 1988. Statewide protests and Governor John Waihee stopped the digging, the state paid $6 million, and the Ritz-Carlton was redesigned and built inland.

The remains were ceremonially reburied in 1990, and the fight produced Hawaii's burial protection law and helped drive the federal law that followed.

Never cross the hedge. The posted sign names Makaluapuna a wahi pana, a sacred place, entry discouraged beyond Hawaiian protocol.

The longtime cultural advisor calls the dragon branding a misconception, the point is a leina, where spirits leap onward. Visit like a guest at a family grave, because you are one.

Parking, timing, and the ocean rule

Kapalua parking went paid in 2025, ParkLinq charges non residents $29 a day across the Kapalua area lots, though late 2025 reports had the trailhead stalls still free, read the signs. Or use the Honolua Store lot on Office Road, seven minutes on foot, buy something.

The low sun at sunrise and late afternoon gives the formation its best light and Oneloa Bay views, and DT Fleming Beach Park next door adds lifeguards, sand, and sea turtles. Waves sweep the point without warning, a visitor drowned here in 2021, in rough weather or surf stay well back.

Dragons Teeth Maui pairs with a West Maui morning, the Kahekili Highway for the brave and things to do in Maui for the rest, ten minutes from Kaanapali.

FAQ: Dragons Teeth Maui

How long is the hike to Dragons Teeth?

Ten to fifteen minutes each way from the lot at the end of Office Road, most visits fit inside half an hour.

Is Dragons Teeth free to visit?

Access is free, the parking usually is not. ParkLinq charges non residents $29 a day in Kapalua's parking lots, the trailhead stalls have stayed free lately, signs settle it.

What does Makaluapuna mean?

Roughly, spring hole for planting taro, per Place Names of Hawaii. The point is a wahi pana, a sacred storied place, and the dragon nickname is a guidebook invention.

Is Dragons Teeth kid friendly?

Yes, with a grip on them. The walk is flat and short, the rocks are sharp, the wind is real, keep kids well away from the surf edge.

We run beach picnics on Oahu, not Maui. Makaluapuna rewards whoever arrives curious and leaves quietly.

Read this next: Nakalele Blowhole, next up this coast.

Cover photo, Christopher Michel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.