Waipi`o Valley, also known as Valley of the Kings, is located along the Hamakua Coast on the northeast shore of the Big Island of Hawaii. The Waipi`o Valley is the largest and most southern of the seven valleys on the windward side of the Kohala Mountains.

The Hamakua coast is a scenic drive through former sugar cane plantation land now planted with trees and dotted with small farms of ginger, papayas and many other flowers and foods. The sugar cane companies have long restricted access to this pristine area. Recently purchased by the Bishop Estate, the full impacts of these views are just now being discovered.

Enveloped on three sides by 2,500 foot high cliffs and ribboned with spectacular waterfalls (including Hawaii's most celebrated waterfalls Hiilawe Falls, which drops more than 1,000 feet), the picturesque valley faces a heavy Pacific surf along the Hamakua coast where it is fringed by an impassable reef. These overlooks are only accessible on horseback, on foot, by 4-wheel drive, or by mountain bike. Even helicopters are not allowed to get that close to the rim above the valley floor.

The valley has both historical and cultural importance to the Hawaiian people. According to oral histories, as few as 4,000 or as many as 10,000 people lived in Waipi`o during the times before the arrival of Captain Cook in 1778. Waipi`o was the most fertile and productive valley on the Big Island of Hawaii.

It was at Waipi`o in 1780 that Kamehameha the Great received his war god Kukailimoku who proclaimed him the future ruler of the islands.

It was off the coast of Waimanu, near Waipi`o, that Kamehameha engaged Kahekili, the Lord of the leeward islands, and his half-brother, Kaeokulani of Kauai, in the first naval battle in Hawaiian history - Kepuwahaulaula, known as the Battle of the Red-Mouthed Guns. Kamehameha thus began his conquest of the islands.

Aside from its historical importance, the Waipi`o Valley is a sacred place for Hawaiians. It was the site of many important heiaus (temples).

The most sacred, Pakaalana, was also the site of one of the island's two major pu`uhonua or places of refuge, the other being Pu`uhonua O Honaunau.

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