Mākena State Park Directions, Parking and Fees

One road, six turnoffs

Everything on this coast hangs off one road running south from Wailea. That's convenient right up until you realise your map pin says Mākena and the beach you wanted is two miles from where you've stopped.

Going south from Wailea you pass Maluaka, then Mākena Landing, then Keawalaʻi Church, then Mākena Cove, then the state park entrances for Big Beach, with Oneʻuli on the near side of Puʻu Olaʻi. Little Beach has no turnoff at all, because you walk to it from Big Beach.

Confirm the beach name before you drive, not after. The state health department's coordinates are the most reliable way to check you're aiming at the right shoreline, since several of these places share names with beaches elsewhere on Maui.

Paying, and the queue

Non-residents pay $10 per vehicle plus $5.00 per person. You can pay at a kiosk when you arrive or prepay online, and prepaying is worth it on a weekend when the entrance backs up. Residents show a Hawaiʻi license or state ID and pay nothing.

DLNR counted 238 parking stalls in 2026, including roughly 100 unstriped shoulder spaces, with an approved expansion to 276. Even so, this is a beach two-thirds of a mile long served by two lots, so a full lot on a Saturday afternoon is normal rather than unlucky.

• Park only in marked areas, and keep gates and emergency routes clear.
• Note which entrance you used. The lots look similar from the sand.
• Have a second beach in mind before you set off.

Getting out before the gate

The closing times are gate times, not suggestions. Big Beach and Oneʻuli close at 7:00pm, or 7:45pm in May, June and July, and Little Beach closes at 4:00pm on Saturday and Sunday. If your car is inside a lot at closing, that is your problem to have anticipated.

Work back from the number rather than from the sunset. Sunset in South Maui runs later than the 7:00pm gate for much of the year, which is exactly the trap: the light says stay, the gate says go. On a weekend afternoon at Little Beach the margin is far tighter, because you also have the walk back over the point.

Which entrance, and why it matters

DLNR describes paved lots at the signed park entrances, and there is more than one. They serve different stretches of the same long beach, which has two consequences worth planning around.

The first is that the beach is longer than it looks from any single lot, so the entrance you pick determines a walk you may not have budgeted. The second is that the lots resemble each other from the sand. Note which one you used before you walk off, because working it out on the way back, at the end of a hot day, is a miserable way to spend twenty minutes.

If Little Beach is the plan, you want the northern end of Big Beach, because the crossing over the lava point starts there.

Before you drive back

There's no drinking water in the park and no showers, so the drive home is the first chance to deal with either. Mobile coverage along this stretch is inconsistent enough that saving the park page offline is worth doing before you leave your accommodation.