Getting to Hanalei is about to be far easier. See our latest tips on when to go following the Hanalei Landslide.
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel Tips » Easy Access Following Hanalei Landslide Starts September 4
Aloha Guys-
We always like to take one day for Ke’e and hiking to Hanakapi’ai. My research and personal attempts say that the only way to get the very limited parking/entry passes are to log on at 12am Hawaii time because they are gone 30 days out within minutes. Do you have any insight on this?
thanks
Hi Jon.
That is what we are hearing as well. Please let us know how that goes.
Aloha.
Hi,
I am planning a trip to Princeville June 16th. Are only the beaches on the north shore affected by this closure? Has this closure slowed down the entire island from getting back and forth? I appreciate any reply. Thank you in advance.
Hi Simone.
It just impacts the north shore starting at Princeville.
Aloha.
We have a house rented in Hanalei for two weeks beginning mid September and are watching the progress on the road regularly. I am on the mailing list for Hawaii DOT as well. Be safe everyone – be courteous – anticipate a good outcome.
Gene
Oregon
We are too! See you there. 🙂
Also, with all of the gohaena passes 30 days in advance gone by 12:06 AM Hawaii time this past Monday, 5/17/21, it appeared to me I only had one chance to choose either 1) one of the three time slots (actually the first two time slots were sold out instantly and only the sunset option remained available), or 2) a park entry day pass, which does not include parking. I believe the website only allows you to purchase one time slot at a time, so by the time you buy one time slot, the rest of the day will be sold out.
You have to go online at gohaena right at midnight Hawaii time 30 days in advance or you will not be able to get an entry pass at all, IMO, at least during the peak summer tourist season.
This is why I’ve rented a house near Tunnels Beach. The day use entry passes for Haena are easier to get than parking & entry passes 30 days in advance because there are more of them offered, so I’ll be trying to get just day use entry passes each day so I can either walk the mile from Tunnels to Ke’e or ride a bike to Ke’e. The North Shore is a lot different than it was a few years ago.
Our house is near the Y Camp, exactly two miles each way to the Ke’e life guard stand. During the past winter with no tourists, the road was quiet and was a nice walk. However, when the road is jammed up with cars, it’s not such a nice walk. There are no shoulders, several blind spots, and opportunities to get mud puddle splashed as you get close to the state park entrance. A bike would be a better idea, but you will be relying on cars being willing to share the road with you, since no shoulders.
Holy cow!!! Does that mean Hanalei is cut off?? Wowzers. I will be back in July. Hope it is cleared soon, for everyone’s sake!
– Debbie C
Is the road completely shut down after 11pm? Are you able to bike or walk the road?
“Are you able to bike or walk the road”
That would be a terrible idea even before the slide. It is a very narrow road with no room on the sides to dodge cars, and a severe 180 degree turn with little visibility.
Plus, yes, closed at 11 pm. But Hanalei is also closed well before 11. The Nui used to stay open late, but was just a “young locals” place after 9 pm or so. Tourists not welcome during late night hours. In fact, anyone over 35 best stay away, as well.
Aloha-When I go to the Ha’ena State Park access reservation page it doesnt show any availability. Is this park closed due to this construciton?
thanks
Hi Jon.
No the park is not closed. It appears that there is no availability. The site says it only books out 30 days in advance. When we checked, there was some availability but that was only parking for trail hikers. If we can find out more, we will update you.
Aloha.
Thanks! We have used this system before and there has always been some availability
Hi John,
All the park entry passes go on sale at midnight Hawaii time 30 days in advance. I went on the gohaena website a little before midnight Hawaii time on Monday, 5/17/21, a little before 5 AM Central time, and all of the passes 30 days out were gone by 12:06 AM Hawaii time, even just the park entry day passes that don’t include parking.
I was primarily trying to check on availability for Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park overnight camping permits on the DLNR site, but I also checked out the gohaena website because I’ve rented a house near Tunnels beach next August and wanted to check daily entry permits also.
On Monday 5/17/21 there were 23 overnight camping permits available at midnight Hawaii time for 6/16/21, 30 days out. All of those permits were gone in under one minute.
I’m hoping for a return hike to Kalalau this fall, actually have been trying since 2017 (flood in ’18, road washed out until late summer ’19, pandemic, now landslide), but I won’t book airfare or accommodations until there are 1) vaccine exemptions for mainland travelers, 2) Hanalei Hill landslide is repaired and road re-opened in both directions, 3) get Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park camping permits, which I hope will be easier to obtain once school resumes, and 4) before wetter weather begins on the North Shore around November.
We are excited to be visiting Princeville and Hanalei the first week of June. Our hearts go out to all of those N Shore Kauai residents and businesses who have been impacted by this tragedy. We would love to support the Hanalei economy in any we can. Any ideas beyond just spending our money on local goods and services? Are the conditions for traveling to Hanalei still the same as above? Do we need to make reservations to park and access certain beaches and parks?
Thank you!
Hi Robert.
First, yes the conditions are the same in terms of one alternating lane during very limited hours, and all day on Sunday. Certainly, there are options for donations beyond supporting the businesses, such as food banks for example. Maybe others will suggest different options,.
Aloha.
Robert, we were just there in early May. If you plan to have dinner over there make reservations. We saw quite a bit of people turned away especially at Baracuda. Excellent place to eat, Tapas style. If you are staying at HBR, they have no restaurants open when we were there. The shopping center with the grocery store seemed to be all open. Let me know if you have any questions as I would be happy to answer.
Thank you Melanie!
We will definitely support the schools – the keiki are the next generation of Hawaii so their education is equally if not more critical. Mahalo!.
Aloha Robert and others visiting Kaua’i,
Mahalo for thinking about our north shore residents and wanting to support the community. It’s been a tough few years with the April 2018 flood, the pandemic and now the latest landslide. I’m a parent at Hanalei Elementary School and it’s been a struggle just getting our kids and staff to an from school everyday! I look thought I’d share a Gofundme campaign that supports Hanalei Elementary School in case you or anyone else might be looking for some local causes to support. Though this campaign doesn’t focus on local businesses, it does support the only elementary school servicing Ha’ena, Wainiha, Hanalei and Princeville. Here is the link: gofund.me/95114bfe. Mahalo nui loa! We hope you have a wonderful stay here–thank you for supporting our local businesses!
People also need to understand that tourists need reservations for Ke’e (Haena) Beach. The last two Sundays they turned around over 700 cars who had no clue that reservations are required for off islanders. You can still make a nice drive to the end of the road but will not be admitted to the beach without a reservation. And please don’t be rude to the Aunty who is the gatekeeper there, she is only doing her job and is a very sweet lady.
I have gone to the reservations site multiple times and it shows no availbility
That’s because the island is hopping with tourists right now.
We have parking pass reservations for Haena State Park on 2 separate days this week. For both reservations, we booked 30 days in advance when the tickets went live. For both reservations, they were completely sold out later that same morning.
We’re off island right now, but our neighbors tell us it’s been a complete “Sh$t Show” on Sundays. Just a long line of cars that get turned around at the Ke’e parking kiosk. Too many people don’t “get” the double bridges crossing Wainiha river, either. It’s not 1 car at a time, or 50. 7(ish) is posted for a reason. It’s hard to see the line of cars waiting across the other side. I’m surprised there are not more “road rage” incidents.
You’d be way better off avoiding weekends, and using the early morning access on a weekday, instead. Spend the day out there, and go back during the afternoon access, or after 5.
Not to split hairs, but when do they “open” the next 30 days for new reservations? For instance, all of June and July are sold out, so it’s obviously more than 30 days that they opened a couple of weeks ago. Will July 1st open the whole month of August? And August 1 open up all of September? I’ve never had trouble in the recent past getting 2 different days to hike Kalalau during our stays, but seems like it’s even harder now and don’t want to screw this up! THANKS
Hi Joell.
It doesn’t seem to be working exactly as we had been led to believe. So at this point, we aren’t sure what they are doing.
Aloha.
I tried for two nights to get tickets 12 AM Hawaii time is 4 AM my time so I had to be up by 4 AM two mornings in a row to get tickets you have to login 30 days in advance right at 12 AM Hawaii time seriously the tickets were sold out in 30 seconds luckily on the second time I tried to login I was able to get tickets do you on your laptop because I tried on my smart phone and something kept going wrong. I think it was confusing to realize that only one days tickets go up at that time.
Hi Joell,
I’ve been working out this puzzle for about a month now. I’m a statistician planning a trip to Hanalei next month, with what appears to be too much free time, lol.
The passes go on sale one day at a time at midnight local time, thirty days in advance. So only one day at a time will become available. They’re typically gone in a matter of minutes, so timing is everything.
I checked availability every night at midnight Hawaii time for a month from which I gathered the following results:
1. Entry Only passes are more likely to be available than Parking + Entry on any given day.
2. Days of the week in order from best availability to worst availability:
1st: Wednesday
2nd: 3-way tie: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
3rd: 2-way tie: Friday, Sunday
Last: Saturday
3. For Parking + Entry, sunset has the worst availability on any given day, and morning and afternoon are about equally likely. (Entry Only passes are all day).
I hope that helps!
Wow. Super helpful!!! My 30 days ahead is coming up very soon!!!I will use this info. Big thanks!
Aloha! I wasn’t able to locate “Hanalei Hill” on the map and am trying to pinpoint the starting point of the closure. Can you advise whether the closure impacts access from Princeville to “Hanalei Valley Lookout” or “Hanalei Town Center”? Thank you!
Hi Jen.
The one alternating lane will prevent access to the Hanalei Bridge. Backups however have been reported as far back as before Princeville.
Aloha.
I also don’t understand exactly where the closure is. Could someone please explain exactly? And when is the road expected to reopen? Also, I read The Princeville resort was scheduled to reopen as Hotel 1 in Nov 2022. Is that still happening? Is that hotel before or after the road closure?
Where can I find all the details about what needs a reservation on the north shore and how to figure all this out?
Thank you so much!
Hi Addie.
The one lane starts just after the Princeville center, so it does not impact the entrance to Princeville at all. We don’t know when the hotel will reopen, but it won’t be this year. And lastly, the link you asked for: https://www.gohaena.com/
Aloha.