Hāʻena State Park reopens Thursday, October 15, 2026, thirty-nine days after Hurricane Lowell shut the gate at the very end of the road on Kauaʻi’s north shore. The shuttle rolls again the same morning. Kēʻē Beach is back, and so are the first two miles (3.2 km) of the Kalalau Trail.
Related: Nāpali Coast Guide, Best Beaches on Kauaʻi, and our Kauaʻi Travel Guide.
We have been waiting on this one. Hāʻena is the park most Kauaʻi visitors picture when they close their eyes. The green wall of Makana rising out of the reef, the taro patches, the spot where the island simply runs out of pavement.
Lowell closed it on September 6, and for a while nobody could say when it would come back. Now we have a date, a set of rules, and a few things that are different from the last time you looked.
Everything below is current as of October 14, 2026, the day before the gate opens. Where a detail still needs a phone call, we say so.
What Is Open and What Is Still Closed
Open starting October 15: the park, Kēʻē Beach, the parking lot, the Go Hāʻena shuttle, and day-use hiking to Hanakāpīʻai Beach and Hanakāpīʻai Falls. Hours are 7:00 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. daily, holidays included, unless the state calls an emergency closure.
Still closed until further notice: overnight camping, and any hiking on the Kalalau Trail past the two-mile (3.2 km) point. The state parks division says crews spent the closure clearing downed trees and checking the park for hazards.
Keep the bigger picture in mind, too. Kōkeʻe and Waimea Canyon State Parks took heavy damage and remain closed, and every other state park on Kauaʻi is closed to visitors and campers for now.
Hāʻena is the first one back, so expect company.
The place to check the morning you go is the DLNR park notices page. The Go Hāʻena conditions page posts shuttle or trail interruptions, and no new notice means the shuttles are running.
Where Hāʻena State Park Is and How to Get There
Hāʻena sits at the northwestern tip of Kūhiō Highway (Route 560), about 38 miles (61 km) from the Līhuʻe airport. Figure an hour and fifteen minutes with no traffic.
Your map app will probably spell it Haena, and the beach Kee Beach, with no marks at all, which is fine. The mountain does not care how you spell it, and neither does the parking attendant.
📍 Hāʻena State Park: end of Kūhiō Highway, Hāʻena, HI 96714
Past Hanalei town the road narrows to a string of one-lane bridges, and north shore etiquette is simple. Let five to seven cars cross, then take your turn. Give the local in the lifted Tacoma a little wave when he lets you go first.
Take it slow out here. This is a neighborhood that just spent a month cleaning up.
Road access is back. The state rebuilt the washed-out south abutment on Wainiha Bridge No. 3 and lifted its weight limit in mid-September. The highway near the Hanalei Bridge flooded briefly on October 1 and reopened the same evening.
Heavy rain can still close that stretch for a few hours. If the sky looks angry over Hanalei, call the county road line at 808-241-1725 before you commit.
One more thing about the drive: this is the last pavement on this side of the island. There is no road around to Waimea or Polihale, and the Nāpali Coast in between is exactly why you came.
Reservations: How Go Hāʻena Works
Every out-of-state visitor needs a reservation, and the only place to get one is gohaena.com. There is no walk-up window and no “we drove all this way” exception.
There is also no parking along the highway outside the gate. Tickets start at $200 and towing is on the table, so do not try it!
Reservations open 30 days ahead at 12:00 a.m. Hawaiʻi time, so if you want October 31, you are logging on the night of October 1 with the lights off and the laptop glowing.
Set an alarm on your phone. Morning parking can be gone within minutes in a normal month, and with every other Kauaʻi state park still closed, this is not a normal month.
Missed the drop? Do not panic.
Unreserved spaces are re-released around 12:15 a.m. HST, and cancellations tend to pop up between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. HST. Check the site over your morning coffee for a few days running.
You will pick one of three passes: Parking + Entry (you drive in), Shuttle + Entry (you ride in), or Entry Only (residents, walkers, and bikers). Adults are 16 and up, keiki are 4 to 15, and children 3 and under enter free.
Bring the ID that matches the name on the pass, because they check.
Two small warnings from people who have fumbled this booking at midnight. Do not hit your browser’s back button during checkout, because the site restarts the whole reservation from scratch. And there is no edit button for a date change; you cancel and rebook, which brings us to the money.
What It Costs
Let’s talk dollars first, because nobody likes a surprise at the gate. Non-resident entry is $5 per person, with keiki 3 and under free.
Driving in? Parking is $10 per vehicle per time slot on top of the entry fee. A family of four with a rental car pays $30 for a morning.
The shuttle costs more up front but includes your entry: $40 round trip for ages 16 and up, and $25 for keiki 4 to 15. Babies 3 and under ride free on a lap.
That same family of four pays $130 for the shuttle, which stings. Then you price the alternative, which is circling Hanalei with no reservation at all.
Life happens and plans change. Maybe the surf comes up, maybe the keiki are wiped out from yesterday’s boat trip, and that is okay. Just cancel at least 48 hours before your slot and you get a refund minus a 10 percent fee.
Inside 48 hours there is no refund. The same goes for rain, a closed trail, or a beach the lifeguards shut for surf. The one exception: if the shuttle itself stops running, shuttle fares come back in full.
Go Hāʻena does not take national park passes, state park passes, or anyone’s discount card. Everybody pays the same, which keeps the line moving.
Parking Time Slots and Which One to Pick
Parking is sold in three windows: morning from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., afternoon from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and evening from 4:30 p.m. to sunset. You must be out of the lot when your window ends.
No, they will not extend it because you are “almost back from the falls.” Shuttles will not wait for you either.
Planning to hike to Hanakāpīʻai Falls? That is a six to eight hour day, so one slot will not cover it. Book two back-to-back slots or, better, take the shuttle and skip the clock entirely.
Our pick is the morning slot. You get the lot at 6:30 a.m., calm water at Kēʻē before the trades fill in, and the trail before the sun hits the switchbacks.
The evening slot is the sleeper: sunset over Makana with half the crowd. Just be okay with a dark walk back to the car.
Thirty stalls in the lot are reserved for Hawaiʻi residents. Please leave them alone even if they look empty at 6:45 a.m.; the people they belong to have waited five weeks to get their beach back.
The Shuttle From Waipā Park and Ride
We think most visitors should take the shuttle, and we say that as a family that likes having our own car. Parking inside Hāʻena is a tiny lot at the end of a long one-lane road, and the shuttle removes every stressful part of that.
Check in at Waipā Park and Ride, just past Hanalei town on the ocean side of Kūhiō Highway. Parking there is free from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with no overnight parking and no parking at the other stops.
Shuttles run roughly every 20 minutes starting at 6:20 a.m. The last pickup at the park leaves at 6:40 p.m.
📍 Waipā Park and Ride: Kūhiō Highway at Waipā, makai side, Hanalei, HI 96714
Staying in Princeville? There is a second pickup at the Princeville Makai Golf Club with departures at 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., and the return drops you at your resort. No parking at that stop; it is for walkers.
Build in some patience on the way home. The 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. return window is when everyone finishes the beach hike at once, so expect to wait for a second bus. Pack a snack, find shade at the trailhead, and compare blisters with the family next to you.
Two more shuttle notes. Groups of five or more can ride standby from 11:00 a.m. onward. Anybody holding a shuttle pass can also hop a standby bus at a different time if there is room.
Small beach gear rides fine: folding chairs, snorkel bags, an umbrella. Surfboards and big coolers stay in the car.
Kēʻē Beach: Snorkeling, Lifeguards, and Winter Surf
From the lot or the shuttle drop, Kēʻē Beach is a flat 0.33-mile (0.5 km) walk, about seven minutes in slippers. The beach is a half-moon of gold sand tucked behind a fringing reef, with Makana filling the whole sky to your left.
In summer the lagoon inside the reef is glassy, with turtles and schools of yellow tang nosing around the coral heads.
This is the north shore in winter, though, and that changes the math. From October through April the swell comes up and the calm patch inside the reef shrinks. The channel on the west end of the beach turns into a rip current that pulls straight out to sea.
The park’s own guidance: enter the ocean only at Kēʻē, and only when the lifeguards say it is okay.
Kēʻē has a county lifeguard tower staffed 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily. Walk over and ask where to swim before you wade in, the same way you would at Hanauma Bay or Hāpuna.
If the tower has the beach flagged closed, it is closed. Take the photo from the sand and come back on a flatter day.
Reef-safe sunscreen, please, and a rash guard for the keiki. Shade is limited to a few ironwood and hau trees near the back of the beach. A real hat beats the free visor from the rental counter every time.
Hiking to Hanakāpīʻai Beach and Falls
The Kalalau Trailhead starts right at Kēʻē, and your park reservation covers the day hike to Hanakāpīʻai. To the beach and back is 4 miles (6.4 km) round trip. The trail climbs about 400 feet (120 m) in the first mile before dropping back to sea level, so give yourself three to four hours.
Hanakāpīʻai Falls adds another 2 miles (3.2 km) up the valley each way, for 8 miles (12.9 km) total and six to eight hours, with multiple stream crossings. The falls drop about 300 feet (91 m) into a cold pool, and yes, people swim in it.
The state calls the falls leg “experienced hikers only,” and we agree.
Now the warning, and we want you to hear it as a warning. The streams in this valley flash flood fast, fed by rain that fell miles uphill under a sky that looks fine where you are standing.
If the water is rushing or has gone brown, do not cross! Sit down, wait it out, and let the level drop. There is no cell service past the trailhead, so nobody can call a rescue during high water even if they wanted to.
Hanakāpīʻai Beach itself is for looking, not swimming. The current there has taken dozens of lives over the decades, there is no lifeguard, and a hand-marked sign at the sand keeps the count.
Eat your musubi on the rocks, enjoy the view, and keep the keiki well back from the water.
What to bring: at least 2 liters of water per person, real shoes with grip, a rain shell, and your snack. The red dirt turns to grease when it is wet, and it is wet a lot.
The first half mile (0.8 km) is where most people decide whether they are trail people. It is steep, rooty, and slick, so go slow and look up often. The Nāpali view opens at the quarter-mile (0.4 km) mark and keeps getting better.
The Kalalau Trail Past Mile Two Is Closed, So See Nāpali From the Water
Anything beyond Hanakāpīʻai, including Hanakoa and Kalalau Beach, is closed for hiking and camping until further notice. Even in normal times that stretch requires a Nāpali Coast camping permit, day hike or not. Watch the DLNR notices page for the reopening date.
Here is the upside. The rest of the Nāpali Coast was always best seen from a boat anyway, and a boat day pairs beautifully with a Hāʻena morning.
We like this half-day Nāpali catamaran trip run by a native Hawaiian, family-owned crew. It sails under the cliffs you would have hiked and carries a 4.9 rating across more than 2,000 reviews.
That boat, like most Nāpali boats, leaves from Port Allen on the west side, about 90 minutes from Hāʻena. Do the boat on a separate day.
Our full Nāpali Coast guide walks through boat versus helicopter versus trail. The full list of Nāpali Coast boat and raft tours lets you compare the sunset dinner sails against the small raft snorkel trips.
Hours, Rules, and the Small Stuff
Winter hours run 7:00 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. from the day after Labor Day until March 31. Summer hours stretch to 7:45 p.m. starting April 1, and the parking lot gate opens at 6:30 a.m. for the morning slot.
Nobody is waiting to let you in early. Sitting in the dark on the highway shoulder earns you nothing but a ticket.
No commercial activity is allowed inside the park, which is why no tour company can drive you in. The reservation system is the only door, and a pass cannot be shared, resold, or handed to your cousin who flew in late.
Hāʻena is a wahi pana, a storied place. The restored loʻi kalo (taro terraces) you pass on the way to the beach are tended by Hui Makaʻāinana o Makana. That is the community group that cares for the park alongside the state.
Stay on the path, keep your drone in the bag, and give the folks working the fields the same wave you gave the Tacoma.
Restrooms and outdoor showers sit near the parking area. Fill your water at home, because there is no store, no food truck, and no vending machine out here, and the nearest real grocery is back in Hanalei.
Hawaiʻi Residents and Kamaʻāina
Kamaʻāina, this part is for you. Entry and parking are free with a Hawaiʻi driver’s license or state ID, and you do not need a reservation for a day pass. Thirty stalls are held for residents, first come, first served.
Everyone in the car has to show Hawaiʻi ID, so the visiting cousins from Vegas do not ride free on your plates.
A military ID, a kamaʻāina rate card, or a Hawaiʻi mailing address on a mainland license do not count. It has to be the state-issued card.
Residents who had camping or lodging reservations wiped out by the storm closures are being credited automatically. DLNR says to allow two to three weeks for the money to land.
Nearby: Hāʻena Beach Park, Hanalei, and the Island After Lowell
A mile (1.6 km) back toward Hanalei, Hāʻena Beach Park is the county beach with the big lawn and the dry cave across the road. Its lifeguard tower also runs 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Tunnels Beach, called Mākua on the signs, shares the same stretch of reef just east of it. Neither needs a state reservation, but parking at Tunnels was tight before the storm, and we would not count on it now.
Limahuli Garden, the National Tropical Botanical Garden property in the valley just before the park, runs guided tours by reservation on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Tickets are $60 for adults and $40 kamaʻāina, ages 13 and up.
The garden had not posted a storm update when we checked, so call 808-826-1053 before you build your morning around it.
Hanalei itself is reopening piece by piece. Debris pickup is still running on the north shore, and the neighborhood center is doubling as a hurricane resource hub. Some of your favorite lunch spots may be on reduced hours.
Be gracious with the staff and tip like you mean it. Our where to eat on Kauaʻi guide has options farther down the island if a kitchen is dark.
Across the island, Wailua River is open to kayakers with limits: no individual kayaks at Fern Grotto, no hiking past the trailhead, and Uluwehi Falls is closed. The west side’s Waimea Canyon is off the table for now.
If you had a canyon day in your Kauaʻi itinerary, swap it for a beach day on the south shore and check the park notices again before you fly.
Kauaʻi wants visitors back. Arrivals were down sharply through September, and about 50 local jobs ride on this one park alone. Showing up with a reservation, a reef-safe bottle, and a little patience is a good way to help.
Quick Reference Links
Go Hāʻena reservations (parking, shuttle, and entry passes; opens 30 days out at midnight HST)
Go Hāʻena park conditions (shuttle and trail alerts)
DLNR Hāʻena State Park page (official hours and fees)
DLNR important park notices (statewide closures)
Hawaiʻi Ocean Safety lifeguarded beaches (Kēʻē and Hāʻena Beach Park towers, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.)
Phone numbers worth saving: Go Hāʻena system manager voicemail, 808-635-8370. County of Kauaʻi road conditions, 808-241-1725. Kauaʻi Ocean Safety Bureau, 808-241-4984.
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