A trip to Oahu Wouldn’t be Complete Without Visiting Diamond Head Crater

You can’t miss it if you come to Oahu: The impressive and imposing Diamond Head Crater. However, as it has a 5,520-foot diameter, when you multiply the diameter by  (if you remember your math from high school), you can work out that the circular crater has a 1.73 km circumference. This should give you an idea that, while Diamond head doesn’t look that large when seen in photos, it’s still an imposing natural landmark and hiking to its summit that overlooks the Pacific Ocean can be quite a challenge for most people, and is especially true when you think of the two staircases that are part of the crater’s main hiking trail, with one having 99 steps and the other having 76.

Try a Diamond Head crater shuttle & self-guided hike

Diamond Head Crater self-guided tours are great. What this type of tour means that you will be dropped off at the best place to begin your ascent along a clearly marked path. Better still, you will be able go at your own pace as you will not be dependent on anyone else for how quickly or slowly you have to go, as you would with a guided tour group. This shuttle tour means you can be collected and returned to a convenient spot in Waikiki, so all you need to do is concentrate on enjoying your hike up to the crater’s rim. As for the cherry on the cake, well this is a morning tour which lasts just under three hours, so you can either set out in the early hours of the morning at 6.20 a.m., leaving you time, afterwards, for a well-earned calorie-laden morning treat in a downtown café to replenish all the energy you will have expended, or you can set out later at 7.20 a.m. or 8.20 a.m. if you get heavily attached to your bed while on vacation!

Which way to look when you get to the top of Diamond Head

Now there’s one thing climbing up to the summit of any volcano, or volcanic tuff cone to describe Diamond Head accurately, can offer you that climbing up a mountain can’t, and that’s a look inside. All volcanoes have a crater and depending on whether the volcano is dormant, extinct or active, the crater will be filled with stunning greenery, or fiery hot lava. You need not be concerned about Diamond Head as the last time it was active was many thousands of years ago, while today the tuff cone is both a U.S. National Monument as well as being a National Natural Landmark. However, once you look outwards from atop Diamond Head you may well be reaching for your camera or smartphone to start taking photos of the breathtaking views across Oahu and also out to sea. Now’s the time to make all your friends jealous of where you are and what you are doing…

You don’t need to be a mountaineer to get to the top of Diamond Head

While Diamond head reaches up to a height of 760 feet above sea level, it doesn’t quite compare with Mount Everest which stands at 29,031 feet. More to the point, the paths up to the summit don’t go upwards in a straight line and instead meander up the side of the incline, so providing you are reasonably mobile and wear sensible footwear, you shouldn’t have any problems. And, of course, the greatest part of climbing up any sort of incline, is that it’s always a lot easier coming back down!  

Here at Lea Lea Tours we are always keen to ‘cherry pick’ the very best of tours available on the beautiful Hawai’ian Islands. To find out more about the Diamond Head Crater Shuttle & Self-Guided Hike,  to book a place (always advisable in advance), or to learn more about any of our other recommended tours, please feel free to get in touch with us at any time.