If out-of-state visitors want to visit Wai’anapanapa State Park, the beautiful black sand beach off Maui’s famous road to Hana, they’ll have to make a paid reservation. Hawaii residents will continue to be able to visit without a fee or reservation and parking spaces will be held specifically for them.
This new system is designed to limit tourists and over crowding on the road to Hana. Here’s an excerpt from the Maui News about the purpose:
“As a response to rural East Maui residents seeking reprieve from high traffic and increased crowding, the new state system will help manage traffic flow into the area, according to state Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English, who has been facilitating with state Rep. Lynn DeCoite the East Maui Reservation Project, an effort to mitigate over-crowding in East Maui after COVID-19. The year before the pandemic, visitor numbers reached a record high in Maui County.”
“This is a new way to better manage the impacts of tourism on our local communities and I look forward to working with DLNR to implement these types of systems in other areas of my district,” English said in the release.
You can access the new reservation system at www.gowaianapanapa.com
. It went live February 15, 2021, with the first available reservation set for two weeks later, March 1, 2021.With any new system, the rules, costs and schedules are subject to change, but let’s look at what they’ve set up so far. There are various options ranging from a walk-in to commercial tour vehicles. Rather than complicating the description with the all the options, we’ll focus on the experience of the average tourist who is driving a rental car:
So, it’s going to be trickier to plan your day touring the road to Hana if you want to visit Wai’anapanapa State Park. Could you still have an enjoyable day without visiting this park? Yes, but, in our opinion, it’s worth the effort to try to include it in your plans.
As always, we give our readers the very same advice we would give to our friends and family. So, what would we do if we were planning a day touring the road to Hana including a stop at Wai’anapanapa? Here’s some food for thought:
What if you’re unable to secure a reservation, but you still want to see Wai’anapanapa? In this case, here are some brainstorm ideas:
Once again, bear in mind that this is a new system and is subject to change. Here are the official resources for you to check for the current fees, schedules and polices:
For more advice on driving the road to Hana see our extremely thorough guide to driving the road to Hana.
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UPDATE: In addition to the parking fee, effective April 2021, the park system implemented an entrance fee. At the time of implementation, the entrance fee is $5 per person. See the park’s website for more details and for any updates on fees and policies.
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For additional insights on where you should consider reserving/planning ahead on your Maui vacation, see our article: What do you need reservations for a Maui vacation?
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I think this system sucks. We just arrived February 13 and just read about this today. Tourists have to have a negative COVID test to come to Hawaii, so why can’t they scan that QR code at entrance to the park. We have to wear masks all the time so why isn’t that good enough.
Teresa - this new reservation system is not COVID-related. It's a way that Maui leaders have developed to try to limit tourist in the Hana area. It's also designed to create revenue.
Good luck not worth it.Been over many times & will not be back.
If you want to destroy tourism your doing a great job.
Totally agree bye-bye HAWAII you are going to only be impacted if we visit with our dollars so I’m going to the Caribbean. Arrivederci.
If you visit this park prior to March 1, 2021, you won't be subject to this reservation system.
Sure seems like Hawaii in general, and particularly Maui and Kauai, are increasingly unfriendly to vacationers! My family and I have been vacationing in Hawaii every year for the last 15 years, but I am not feeling welcome anymore. The locals are reported to be increasingly hostile and the requirements increasingly more restrictive. Seems an odd approach for an economy largely supported by visitors! I hear Fiji is both delightful and very welcoming to vacationers. Think it's time we move on to friendlier tropical island?
What time do tickets release on the website to get into the Waiʻānapanapa State Park?
I appreciate this idea because it means when we visitors want to enjoy the beauty of the park there won't be much crowds? I hope!
It's just a bit stressful because this is the one thing I want to be guaranteed and now I won't know until 2 weeks prior. Still excited though!
Check their FAQs for their current policies https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/faq as they could be subject to change.
The park should not be crowded...even prior to this new system, we never observed this area being crowded.
Enjoy it!
It’s 30 days in advance now according to the park’s website. Too many reservations to book and plan for. You can’t just get up and go anywhere you want anymore during your vacation. Everything has to be planned to the “T”. Just booked our reservation for the Haleakala sunrise for our wedding anniversary trip. We got married in Maui 25years ago and we promised to come back only for our 25th wedding anniversary and now it’s here in July. Just craziness with all the planning and advance reservations this time around and we’re doing Maui and Kauai this Summer. Good luck to everyone planning to visit Hawaii.
We made a reservation to visit this amazing park the night before our booking. There were dozens of open slots for the next morning. Somehow the booking system didn't book us for the next day but the following... we didn't notice this until we showed our QR code to the not so nice ladies turning every car around at the gate. Not only did we have this happen but the two cars behind us in line had the exact same thing happen booking the night before, what are the chances?? We all got turned around never mind we left at 5 am to get to the park on time...never mind it was my sons birthday and his whole wish for that day. Never mind the park was empty!!! The kicker was we went online and discovered that the bus bookings for the same day were open so if we had a bus permit we could have booked a buss load.. The nice ladies at the gate told us they proudly turn around 300 cars a day. Nice work maui county nice work!! If the goal is to tick people off you accomplished it!! The whole attitude of maui has gone down hill it used to be the friendliest island and its just not any more. We still love it, but between this kind of garbage and having to take two COVID tests now.. we used to come all the time... I don't know if we will come back. I know lots of folks that feel the same way. Let the buyer be ware!
Wow, what a terribly disappointing situation!
That’s crap. We will find a new tropical destination and watch Hawaii fall apart due to lack of tourism. Live like Lord of the Flies. Enjoy being poor. U have created this with ur angry money angry systems that u put in place. Imagine if we did that to every islander that entered the rest of the states. Maybe we should.
The slots fill up as soon as they open. If you’re not stationed by your computer you won’t have a chance to see. I wonder if the event sellers on Front St have reservations for sale? Sort of like Ticketmaster. I brought my two girls here for the first time and now they won’t get to see the black sand beach. Very disappointed. If anyone has reservations I will buy. Thanks.