Mākena State Park Hours and Fees

Two charges, not one

The most common budgeting mistake here is treating the fee as a single parking charge. It isn't. Non-residents pay an entrance fee per person and a parking fee per vehicle, and both apply.

For a family of four arriving in one car, that's $20 in entrance fees plus $10 for the vehicle. Children 3 and under don't count toward the entrance fee. A Hawaiʻi driver's license or state ID covers both charges for residents.

Commercial vehicles are billed by capacity instead: $25 for one to seven passengers, $50 for eight to twenty-five, and $90 above that. Those rates apply to PUC-permitted commercial vehicles, which is the tour-operator category rather than a rented minivan.

Pay before you get there

Mākena moved to paid parking, and you have two ways to handle it. There are kiosks at the lots, and there's an online prepay option through DLNR's park page. Prepaying is the better plan on a weekend, when the entrance can queue.

The Little Beach exception

DLNR posts Puʻu Olaʻi, which is Little Beach, on its own line in the hours table: 5:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday and Sunday, 5:00am to 7:00pm on weekdays. Everywhere else in the park runs to 7:00pm, or 7:45pm in the summer months.

Because Little Beach is reached on foot over a lava point from Big Beach, that earlier weekend gate needs planning backwards from. It's a real walk, and it's not one to rush in the last twenty minutes.

Rules that come with the fee

The state park rules in Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules chapter 13-146 apply across the whole park system, and four of them come up constantly at Mākena.

• Nudity. Prohibited in every Hawaiʻi state park. The rule covers bathing, swimming, walking, sunbathing and remaining on the premises in the nude, with exceptions only for enclosed changing facilities and for breastfeeding. (Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules section 13-146-38.)
• Alcohol and drugs. No alcohol without written permission from the board. No narcotics or non-prescribed drugs, and nobody may remain in the park manifestly under the influence. (Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules section 13-146-25.)
• Dogs and other animals. Animals are not allowed on beaches or in designated swimming areas at all. Elsewhere in the park they must be crated, caged, or on a leash no longer than six feet. (Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules section 13-146-10.)
• Fires. Only in designated picnic or camping grounds where the fire is confined to a fireplace or grill, in areas the board designates, or under a written permit. Mākena State Park has none of those facilities. (Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules section 13-146-20.)