Oʻahu has 18 county campgrounds and four state ones, and a night at most of them costs a family less than two plate lunches.
The permit is the hard part.
Every legal campsite on this island needs one. County beach parks, state parks, private camps, all of them.
The three systems do not talk to each other. They open on different days, charge different rates, and the best sites are gone within minutes.
We have booked plenty of these weekends with our own boys. Here is how the whole thing works in 2026, what it costs, and which campgrounds we would pick.
Related: Best Beaches on Oʻahu, Best Hikes in Hawaiʻi, and Hawaiʻi on a Budget.
Quick Reference Links
County campgrounds and permits: camping.honolulu.gov
County camping rules and FAQ: Honolulu camping FAQ
State park camping: Explore Outdoor Hawaiʻi
State fees and refund policy: Division of State Parks permits and fees
Closures and storm alerts: DLNR park notices
Three Camping Systems on One Island
The City and County of Honolulu runs the beach park campgrounds. Eighteen sites were listed the week we checked, spread from Waimānalo around to Waiʻanae, plus three campgrounds inside Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden.
The State of Hawaiʻi runs four campgrounds through its Division of State Parks. Two sit on the windward coast, one in the hills above ʻAiea, one in Honolulu Harbor.
Then come the private camps on the North Shore. Those take reservations like a hotel, and they cost more.
Each one has its own website. There is no single Oʻahu camping portal.
County Camping Permits: What They Cost in 2026
County permits come in two lengths. A three-day permit runs Friday to Monday at 8 a.m. A five-day permit runs Friday to Wednesday at 8 a.m.
The three-day permit costs $35. The five-day costs $55.
Add the card processing fee and you pay $35.82 or $56.29 at checkout. Administrative fees rose on July 1, 2026 under Ordinance 25-37, from $2 to $5 per permit.
One campsite holds up to ten people, keiki included. You have to be 18 or older to apply.
Every dollar of it is nonrefundable. There are no changes or cancellations once a permit is issued.
When Sites Are Released
Campsites go live at 5 p.m. Hawaiʻi time on the Friday two weeks before your camping period, holidays included.
A camping period starting Friday, October 9 opens on Friday, September 25 at 5 p.m.
You get one permit per customer per camping week. The last day to book online is the Thursday before your start date, if anything is left.
Kualoa and Bellows clear out in the first few minutes. Set an alarm for 4:55 p.m. and be logged in already.
Walk-in permits open the following Monday at the Permits Office in the Fasi Municipal Building.
📍 Permits Office, 650 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813. Phone: (808) 768-3440, option 1.
Rules That Catch People Out
No camping on Wednesday or Thursday nights anywhere in the county system. Those are the maintenance days.
Camping without a valid permit can bring fines up to $500 and up to 30 days in jail. Rangers do check.
Your permit covers up to three vehicles. You enter make, model, year, color, and plate for each, and the parking permit has to sit on the dashboard.
Lualualei allows one vehicle per permit. Hauʻula does not require parking permits at all.
Driving a rental? Enter the agency name and your reservation number instead of a plate.
Print the permit before you leave home. A full permit can run seven pages, and the county requires a printed copy in your possession at the site.
Site Size, Fires, and Pets
Each county campsite measures 900 square feet (84 square meters). You get one canopy and up to three tents, none larger than 10 by 10 feet (3 by 3 meters).
Campfires and bonfires are illegal at county beach parks. The only exceptions are the fire rings at Hoʻomaluhia and Kualoa A.
Open burning fines reach $10,000 per violation per day. Charcoal in an above-ground grill is fine, lifted at least 12 inches (30 cm) off the grass.
Generators are banned. So are pets, apart from service animals.
Alcohol is not permitted in city parks, campgrounds included. Quiet hours run 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
State Park Permits Moved to a New Website This Year
State Parks retired its old booking site on February 1, 2026. Camping now runs through Explore Outdoor Hawaiʻi.
You need a fresh account there. Old logins do not carry over.
Rates are $20 per campsite per night for Hawaiʻi residents and $30 for non-residents. Up to ten people per site, and children two and under are free.
Oʻahu gets a much shorter booking window than the rest of the state. You can apply no more than 30 days ahead, while neighbor island parks open a year out.
State camping also runs Friday through Wednesday. No Wednesday or Thursday nights, and the maximum stay is five consecutive nights per park.
After five nights, everyone on the permit waits 30 days before returning to that park.
Refunds stop 15 days before check-in, with no exceptions, and a $5 cancellation fee comes off any refund you do get. Booking help is at (808) 587-0300.
Sleeping in a van, camper, or trailer is not allowed at any state campground on Oʻahu.
The Four State Campgrounds
Mālaekahana State Recreation Area
📍 Kamehameha Highway, Lāʻie, HI 96762
This is the state site we send people to first. Ironwood shade, a long protected beach, and Mokuʻauia sitting just offshore.
Camping happens in the Kalanai Point section. The Kahuku section to the north went through a long improvement project and is now out for proposals to a commercial campground operator.
Gates run 7 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. in summer and 7 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. in winter. Winter hours begin the day after Labor Day.
Ahupuaʻa ʻO Kahana State Park
📍 52-222 Kamehameha Highway, Kaʻaʻawa, HI 96730
Kahana is one of the few publicly owned ahupuaʻa left in the state. The valley covers about 5,300 acres (2,145 hectares), from sea level to 2,670 feet (814 m) at Puʻu Pauao.
It is also one of the wettest valleys on Oʻahu. Rain runs about 75 inches (190 cm) a year at the coast and up to 300 inches (762 cm) at the back.
Bring a proper rain fly. Then use it.
Two trails start near the bay. Kapaʻeleʻele Koʻa is a 1-mile (1.6 km) loop of about an hour.
Nakoa Trail is a 2.5-mile (4 km) loop, 5 miles (8 km) in total from the Orientation Center.
Thirty-one families live in the ahupuaʻa under the living park program. Treat the valley like somebody’s yard, because it is.
Keaīwa Heiau State Recreation Area
📍 ʻAiea Heights Drive, ʻAiea, HI 96701
The mountain option, and the closest campground to town. It sits about 12 miles (19 km) from Waikīkī across 384 acres (155 hectares) of Norfolk pine and eucalyptus.
There are ten tent sites. The ʻAiea Loop Trail starts here and runs 4.8 miles (7.7 km), roughly 2.5 to 3 hours, with views to Puʻuloa and the Waiʻanae range.
The park closed in August 2026 for power line repairs after the storms and reopened Friday, August 28. Campsites also closed for construction earlier in the year.
Check the notices page before you build a trip around it.
Sand Island State Recreation Area
📍 Sand Island Access Road, Honolulu, HI 96819
Fourteen acres (5.7 hectares) of shoreline in the harbor district, with sunset views over the water and jets on approach overhead.
Camping here is weekends only, Friday through Sunday nights. Honolulu families use it hard.
The comfort stations have been closed since January 2026 after a transformer failure, with portable toilets in place. Camping has opened and closed around construction, so verify status before planning around it.
County Campgrounds We Would Pick
Bellows Field Beach Park, Waimānalo
📍 Tinker Road and Kalanianaʻole Highway, Waimānalo, HI 96795
Fifty sites behind a long white sand beach, with ironwoods for shade. Three-day permit, $35.
The public section opens Friday at noon, so you cannot roll in early. Gates close 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., which shuts vehicles out overnight.
Bodysurfing here is superb. Watch the shorebreak with small keiki.
Kualoa Regional Park, Kahaluʻu
📍 49-479 Kamehameha Highway, Kahaluʻu, HI 96744
The view is the reason. Mokoliʻi sits just offshore and the Koʻolau wall rises straight up behind you, across 153 acres (62 hectares) of open lawn.
Kualoa A holds seven sites on a three-day permit and has a designated fire ring. Kualoa B holds 14 sites on a five-day permit at $55.
Gates close 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. This is the hardest permit on the island to land.
Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden, Kāneʻohe
📍 45-680 Luluku Road, Kāneʻohe, HI 96744
The one county campground that is not on a beach. It spreads across roughly 400 acres (162 hectares) at the base of the Koʻolau, wrapped around a 32-acre (13-hectare) lake.
Three campgrounds share the garden: Kahua Kuou, Kahua Lehua, and Kahua Nui-Makai. All three run three-day permits at $35, and fire rings are allowed.
It rains here. It also has the best mountain views of any campsite on the island, which we call a fair trade.
Our full Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden guide covers the day-use side.
Kaiaka Bay Beach Park, Haleʻiwa
📍 66-449 Haleʻiwa Road, Haleʻiwa, HI 96712
Seven sites on a 53-acre (21-hectare) point just west of town. Five-day permit, $55.
Swimming is poor at this bay, so treat it as a base camp. Haleʻiwa food and the North Shore beaches sit five minutes away.
Gates close 6:45 p.m. to 7 a.m., the earliest in the system. Plan dinner around that.
Our Haleʻiwa town guide has the food stops.
Hūnānaniho, Waimānalo
📍 41-043 Aloiloi Street, Waimānalo, HI 96795
Ten sites on a five-day permit, tucked into ironwoods behind one of the finest stretches of sand on the windward side.
The county lists this park under its Hawaiian name, Hūnānaniho. Older maps and signs still say Waimānalo Bay Beach Park.
Waimānalo Beach Park down the road is a separate campground with 19 sites, also on a five-day permit.
Swanzy Beach Park, Kaʻaʻawa
📍 51-486 Kamehameha Highway, Kaʻaʻawa, HI 96730
Nine sites on a three-day permit, right across the highway from the Koʻolau. The shoreline is rocky and the swimming is limited.
What you get instead is a quiet windward night and easy access to Kahana Bay. It is our pick when Kualoa is booked out.
Kokololio and Hauʻula, Koʻolauloa
📍 55-17 Kamehameha Highway, Lāʻie, HI 96762 (Kokololio)
📍 54-124 Kamehameha Highway, Hauʻula, HI 96717 (Hauʻula)
Kokololio has five sites and Hauʻula has eight, both on five-day permits. Small campgrounds, big trees, and a slow stretch of coast.
Hauʻula skips the parking permit requirement. Kokololio gates close 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Both put you within 15 minutes of Lāʻie, Kahuku shrimp trucks, and the top of the windward coast.
The Leeward Coast Campgrounds
Kalaeloa, Māʻili, Lualualei, Kalanianaʻole, and Keaʻau all take permits, and they are the sites most likely to have space on a Friday afternoon.
The west side runs hot, dry, and sunny, so shade matters more here than anywhere else on the island. Bring the canopy and plenty of water.
Keaʻau switches between three-day and five-day permits depending on whether public schools are on break.
Private Campgrounds When the Permits Are Gone
Camp Mokulēʻia
📍 68-729 Farrington Highway, Waialua, HI 96791. Phone: (808) 637-6241.
An Episcopal camp on the western North Shore with a wide shade field and a long reef out front. Tent sites run $20 per person per night.
Several sites carry group minimums, so a small family should look at Manini or Weke. Both take up to ten guests with no minimum.
Tentalos are canvas and wood tents on raised platforms at $100 each, sleeping four. They reopened this year after storm damage, and you bring your own cots or air mattress.
A campfire pit adds $50 a night. Book through Campspot or call the office.
Mālaekahana Beach Campground
📍 56-335 Kamehameha Highway, Kahuku, HI 96731. Phone: (808) 674-7715.
The privately run campground on the Kahuku side of Mālaekahana, open year round with tent sites, hale, and suites. No state permit needed.
Their website was offline when we checked in late August 2026. Call before you drive out to confirm rates and availability.
Storm Season Changes the Plan
Hurricane season runs June through November in Hawaiʻi, and 2026 has been a hard one.
Hurricane Lala and Tropical Storm Moke closed parks across the state in August. County campgrounds stayed shut until Friday, August 21, and state camping on Oʻahu resumed on August 18.
The county refunds camping only when campgrounds are officially closed for health and safety, with a public announcement. Rough weather on its own does not qualify.
State Parks is issuing automatic refunds for storm-closure dates, minus nonrefundable service charges. Those can take four to six weeks to appear on a card.
Check the park notices page the week of your trip. Closures move fast.
Our guide to Hawaiʻi warning signs and sirens is worth ten minutes before any coastal night.
What to Bring to an Oʻahu Campsite
Shade comes first. Bring a canopy, because the ironwoods thin out and the sun here is stronger than most mainland campers expect.
Then rain gear. Windward showers arrive sideways, and a tent without a proper fly soaks through by 3 a.m.
Bring your own drinking water. Campgrounds have unheated water at the comfort stations and outdoor showers, and campers cannot hook into county utilities.
Pack a charcoal grill that stands off the ground, plus charcoal. No campground supplies a stove.
Mosquitoes are worst at Kahana and Hoʻomaluhia. Long sleeves after sunset help more than spray.
Stake everything down. Trade winds run 10 to 25 mph (16 to 40 km/h) on most windward nights, and a loose canopy turns into a sail.
Bring a headlamp per person. Several campgrounds have no lighting at all past the comfort station.
How We Plan a Camping Weekend
We pick the coast first. Windward for beach and shade, ʻAiea or Hoʻomaluhia for cool nights and hiking.
Then we work backward from the release time. County sites open two Fridays out at 5 p.m., state sites open 30 days out.
Groceries happen on the drive, never after arrival. A stop in Kāneʻohe or Haleʻiwa saves an hour.
We get in Friday afternoon, set up before dark, and cook simple. Gates close early at several parks, so late supply runs do not work.
Saturday is for the water and a trail. Sunday we break camp slowly.
Monday at 8 a.m. the site has to be empty, so a five-day permit is worth the extra $20 when you can get one.
Is Camping on Oʻahu Worth It
For families and anyone watching a budget, yes. A five-day windward site at $55 beats five nights of any hotel on this island by a wide margin.
You trade comfort for it. Cold showers, no electricity, and weather that turns hour to hour.
What you get is a beach to yourselves at 6 a.m. and the Koʻolau going gold behind the tent.
Book the permit the minute it drops, pack the rain fly, and leave the site cleaner than you found it.
More from Wanderlustyle
Best Things to Do on Oʻahu with Kids
Comments are closed.