We stood in the Kamaole Beach Park III parking lot this week, watching cars circle for spots that will cost visitors $10 starting early next year. These are likely the final months of free visitor parking. When we first covered Park Maui in October, the county had announced a $10 visitor fee for three South Maui beaches. Now the plan is bigger.
What changed since October.
While the core structure of Park Maui remains the same, Maui County has now confirmed several key new updates: a tiered pass system, a six-figure rollout cost, and plans to expand paid parking beyond the Kamaole parks. Here’s how those changes will affect Maui visitors.
Kamaole I, II, and III will begin paid visitor parking in early 2026, while residents continue to park free with a Hawaii driver’s license or state ID. Those lots will be reserved for residents only before 10 a.m. on weekends and county holidays.
Daily, weekly, and monthly visitor parking passes.
The county has now detailed a $10 daily fee, a $50 weekly pass, and a $150 monthly pass as part of its new standard pass structure intended for multiple beach locations.
Initial implementation cost over $500,000.
Approximately $522,000 has been allocated for the first roll-out, covering pay stations that verify Hawaii IDs, a mobile app for payments and enforcement, new signage, handheld citation devices, and trained parking ambassadors. The county still describes the launch as occurring in early 2026, meaning an exact start date has not yet been set.
Where Park Maui could expand next.
Maui County has not published a formal expansion timeline, but county materials and local reports have now identified at least three Maui beaches as likely candidates:
- Baldwin Beach Park (North Shore). This long, wide shoreline is popular with families, walkers, and boogie boarders, and often fills early on weekends.
- Launiupoko Beach Park (West Maui). A favorite for sunset watching and tide pools, this small park draws steady crowds and has limited parking that regularly overflows.
- Hookipa Beach Park (North Shore). World-famous for windsurfing and sea turtle viewing, Hookipa sees heavy visitor traffic and ongoing parking congestion.
While the weekly and monthly passes appear designed for use at any Park Maui beach parking location, the county has not clarified whether the single $10 daily fee will work the same way. That matters for visitors who like to move between beaches during the day. Until Maui County confirms how the daily rate will function across multiple locations, beach-hopping could become an unexpected and costly part of a South Maui vacation.
How the new passes change the Maui visitor math.
The new pass structure changes the economics of a Maui beach day. A weekly pass becomes cost-effective after five paid days. A monthly pass equals fifteen daily fees. For visitors spending a week in Kihei or Wailea and returning to the same beach parks most days, the weekly pass may be easier and cheaper than paying each day. For long-stay visitors and snowbirds, the monthly pass creates a predictable ceiling on beach-parking costs and could simplify the entire stay.
None of this alters the resident-only morning window. On weekends and county holidays, visitors will still need to wait until after 10 a.m. to use the Kamaole lots, and perhaps any future lots so regulated, regardless of whether they choose a daily fee or one of the longer-term passes.
What Maui County says Park Maui is designed to do.
Maui County describes Park Maui as a long-term parking-management program meant to reduce congestion, prioritize resident access, and reinvest revenue into park maintenance, safety improvements, and transportation alternatives. The county frames this as an overdue response to years of overcrowding at popular shoreline parks.
The safety concern that emerged during planning.
One unexpected issue surfaced during planning: lifeguards have reportedly been pulled from their towers at times to mediate parking conflicts and explain changing rules. That raises questions about how parking enforcement and ocean-safety staffing will work once the program expands. The county has not yet detailed how it will prevent lifeguard attention from being diverted as enforcement grows.
What this looks like on the ground right now.
During our visit to Kamaole III this week, the scene felt familiar: cars edging along the margins, drivers scanning for anyone walking toward a vehicle, and the quiet rhythm of a beach day beginning. No pay stations, no new signs, no ambassadors. But this is the last season before that changes. Soon, pay stations and signage will reshape this routine and mark the end of an era for free visitor parking.
What this means for your 2026 Maui visit.
Weekday mornings in Kihei will feel familiar. Weekend and holiday mornings will not. Visitors will face a 10 a.m. opening window, and many will time their arrival to the minute. Others may shift to nearby beaches that do not yet require payment, which could push crowds into smaller lots never meant for high-volume spillover.
Visitors will also need to decide whether to pay daily or lock in a weekly or monthly pass. Local families will continue to have predictable early access, which has been one of the county’s primary goals.
Will a $50 weekly pass change how you plan your Maui beach days in 2026?
Photo Credit: © Beat of Hawaii at Kamaole Beach in Kihei.
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Naturally a 10 pound sledgehammer solution is being used where a ball-peen hammer would work better. Hire someone to get to the parking lots early in the morning like 6am in order to verify residency and turn away those that are not residents. Give them communications access of some kind that can put them in touch with MPD immediately to deal with those that will not comply and at no time should the lifeguards ever have to get involved with parking issues. That’s just not their job and they should never have to leave their posts for anything other than an emergency.
Whoever decided to spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for this program should be fired or removed from the county council for plain stupidity!
What I’m really curious about is all the people who comment here (and have been for a long while) about how they’re fed up with Hawaii, not coming back, have found other better places to vacation, etc., and yet they’re still reading BOH and find it necessary to keep trashing Hawaii. I don’t get it. Go elsewhere and be done with it. I’m very much looking forward to our annual Hawaii trip in February – can’t wait! I’ll research ahead of time (and keep reading BOH!) to hopefully be informed about what additional costs might be, other changes, etc., and plan accordingly.
As a former lifeguard, I am very concerned about lifeguards having to watch over parking lots. Their jobs require full attention on the water.
I’d like to know how the new fees at Big Beach are affecting usage?
There, and some other state parks, it’s $10/car + $5/person ( over the age of 3).
Less tourists, mostly locals? (That’s the intent?)
And I wondered, down thread, if this will be the end game for the Kam beaches as well. Fees per car + p/p. For tourists.
Aloha,
I might add that a few weeks ago on BOH there was a woman complaining that she couldn’t take her kids to the beach on Saturdays because by 10am the parking lots were full. I live on the mainland about 30 minutes from the beach, and I often cannot find parking on a weekend. The local tax grabbers here have not yet implemented ID checks to determine parking entitlement, but perhaps I’ll put that idea forth at election time. It’s all about me, right?
Mahalo
The Hawaii shakedown continues…what is next, ocean breeze fees???
This will definitely push visitors to other beaches moving the problems. Business parking lots near pay for play beaches will be fighting off the beach visitors too. There has to be a better way that solves the problem rather than shifting the problems onto the surrounding businesses and residential streets
I am at a South Pacific island group where the locals meet you with shell leis and musicians. Why would I ever think of going to Maui?
Due to the time difference from the mainland we usually wake up and head to the beach at 8 AM to enjoy snorkeling before the wind and sun become unbearable.
The 10 AM parking limit is just another malicious way to ban tourists from beach access.
The Aloha is gone.
Locals can grab 4 friends and 4 cars. Park all the cars before 10am and leave using one vehicle. Repeat process until the parking lot is full. Repeat daily and have an empty beach with no outside tourists. Tourists parking permits are virtually no good because the parking lot is full and locals have a beach to themselves. A system enacted by locals to keep tourists out. This is where the system has failed and who pays? The tourist.
Living here on Maui I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal.. it’s never really that crowded and there’s plenty of other places to park where you can just walk to the beach. This is why I ihave no idea why they even bothered with this. I don’t think the revenue from this will be worth the cost to put all the stuff in.
Besides paying for parking is the least of the issues. The cost of eating out or drinking out is ridiculous. Yesterday I saw a single pomegranate at Safeway Maui for $6.50.
These rules and fees only and I mean only work if tourists visit the islands. Without tourists the state won’t see a dime. When is enough is enough. Virtually you are giving the state of Hawaii $50 dollars for the eligibility to park your car at the beach. Nothing guaranteed or promised. Especially if the parking lots can be filled before 10am from locals who maybe holding spaces for friends with spaces used as storage for later arriving friends.
To start, I understand what and why they’re doing this, However this is just one more expense added to an already very expensive location to vacation. It just seems like Maui is driving tourists away (and don’t kid yourselves, tourists pay the bills in Hawaii). I really envision this type thing driving people to find alternate locations to vacation, which will ultimately take money out of the hands of it’s government and more importantly, their citizens.
Aloha,
We were yearly visitors, sometimes twice yearly. Sometimes you just need to be “pushed once more” to make a change. We have decided to travel to places where you do not need to rent a car, and Hawaii isn’t on that list. The car rental, insurance, gas and now parking costs will be reallocated. My wife was possibly the world’s biggest Hawaii fan (I know, lots of competition) but you lost her too. I will add that Hookipa isn’t a destination; it’s a place people stop at for 20-30 minutes. I can see cars lining the road now to avoid the cash grab, just like Makena beach. I’d say good luck, but you need more than that…
Mahalo
I hope an enterprising reporter will take a close look at this in one year and tell us:
1) how much revenue was collected and how much was spent on its intended purpose
2) if tourism isn’t recovering, how much of it is this new set of fees responsible?
I had to cancel my vacay to Maui due to the increased costs. But my neighbor is taking the condo I reserved. He wants to know, How, doe he find out what the prices are for the West Maui beaches are, what beaches are charged and where are west Maui and anywhere else he would be riding around to check out. I tried to help but cant find it anywhere. How does one plan finances without the fee information. Thanks for any links or help.
>>For visitors spending a week in Kihei or Wailea and returning to the same beach parks most days, the weekly pass may be easier and cheaper than paying each day. <<
It's important to note that anyone staying in a condo within walking distance to the beach will not be affected by these charges. Maybe this will be a big boost for such condos once the word about the new parking rules get around.
Our condo, which is across the road from Kamaole II, is already drawing up plans for increased security to catch and evict illegal parkers in our parking lot who think they can get away with parking on our property instead of paying the fees.
The weekly pass doesn’t guarantee you spot so probably daily would be best.
It’s a Tax. Any time that the Government collects a fee, that is a Tax. But this is yet another attack on tourists in Hawaii, making them feel not welcome. While the airlines and hotels are making their money, and even charging 150%, the businesses outside of the tourist areas are going to start to feel the pinch when the tourists are no longer there to spend money at these little businesses. It may take a while before the realize the difference, but by that time, they’ll be going out of business.
One of the things that I’ve noticed on Oahu is that as regulations & fees increase, many nice repeat visitors stop coming, and less nice tourists replace them.
Many new visitors are less respectful of local culture, less patient, less relaxed, and generally harder to get along with.
Our world is a mighty big place with limitless beauty and new experiences to be had. It’s time to move on and quit lamenting the end of this dream that was Hawaii.
They don’t want visitors? I will sadly grant their wish.
I’ve been to Maui several times, other than Oahu,I enjoyed Maui,like the Big Island,called Hawaii,from Maui you could see Molokai over the Ocean,me and my twin brother would circle the island,nice News,Aloha and Mahalo,from NYC.
We used to come to Maui 4 weeks/year for about 2 decades. With all the new rules/fees-generally unfriendly or costly to US tourists-we have only come for 2 weeks the last 2 years and may not at all next year (or thereafter). Net financial loss to Maui from us alone is substantial.
The $50/week fee sounds good (excluding yet another new HI cost addition) but excluding tourists until 10 AM makes it a non-saving for us and anyone else who likes to snorkel at the best lesser wave 7-9am timeframes; this takes 2 snorkel days out of each 7 for each of our 2 week trips there (and negates the savings of that weekly pass).
the old friendly and part of the US feel is rapidly waning. I guess back to the Caribbean for us for beach time. Big financial loss for Maui taking accommodation/restaurant/art gallery and other store spends-often in excess of $20k per visit-over yet another addition of what looks like a small fee.
We won’t be paying any new parking fees… since we just returned from our final visit to Maui a couple weeks ago.
We’ve made at least 30 trips to Maui and Lanai over the last 20 years. Sadly, much of what made them magical is now gone:
Lanai (the entire island) bought and ruined by Larry
Lahaina (and all the great food & entertainment) gone.
Golf Courses:
Koele – Permanently closed
Manele (you must now stay in one of Larry’s $1,400/night rooms to play), Makena South – Bulldozed
Makena North – Turned private
Kapalua Village – Abandoned
Kahili – Permanently closed
Kapalua Plantation & Bay – Closed due to water issues
Not to mention Room and Food Prices have more than tripled from a decade ago.
There are far better vacation values elsewhere.
At least we still have our memories of how Maui & Lanai used to be…
I think it’s a waste of money and effort. Most of the beaches especially the ones like Baldwin and Hookipa are usually visited by locals and they will just create an unnecessary beurocricy. It seems to me that most tourists don’t keep driving around to the different beaches at least anecdotally is what I came to understand.
It’s sad, but after 25 years of vacationing in Maui and Kauai, we have decided to spend our money where people appreciate us. My wife and I have spent so much time on the islands that it felt like our second home. Our daughter was married on a beach on Maui. We’ve always rented a condo or two for our stays because we enjoyed a bigger place and the opportunity to cook some meals and get to know the other Pretty much every lunch and most dinners were a local places where we got to know the people who worked there or owned them. We had our favorite places to get shave ice, desserts, fruit, souvenirs, clothes etc. Spent a lot of money on renting beach gear, snorkel equipment, bikes, cars, helicopter tours, snorkeling or dinner cruises, hiking and paddleboard tours over the years. But now with all the animosity towards visitors, high prices, decreasing STR places, nickel and dimeing here and there, no more.
Since there is no parking lot at Kam II how does this affect them? Charging at the condos across the street, on the street, or the Cinnamon Place lot?
The plan is to charge for the street parking there.
The Cinnamon Place lot already has a security patrol, though I’ve never seen them approach anyone parking there for the beach. I imagine they’ll step up enforcement there.
Since the county doesn’t own that parking lot, they can’t charge for it there.
According to the ParkMaui link referenced in the article, and the small pic of a map, the Kam II paid parking will be on street.
Thanks BoH for all this info.
Here is my compromise, isn’t life full of compromises?
I will buy the weekly beach pass(es) for my 2026 two week visit. To offset the new fees, I will not rent the SUP I was planning on renting and having some fun with. I will use the free boogie board provided by the STVR owner.
I am awaiting the next tidbit of info to drop; that there will be daily beach fees per person, in addition to the parking pass for Kam 1,2,3.
What’s next:
1. A hypo-allergenic shoe requirement for on sand-beach state mandated shoe. Rent for $25/per person per day.
2. A state per person sand displacement fee for all beach tourists. $20 per person per day.
3. A vehicle parking fluid loss cleanup fee in case of left over drips contact asphalt. $25 dollar per dime sized stain. $50 quarter size and $200 for anything bigger than a quarter.
4. Manditory tire friction fee of all tourist vehicles that scrape the surface of asphalt with 1″ or more skid while coming to a stop while parking. $100 per vehicle per occurance
Don’t worry we already have your tourist identification, registration, and plate numbers so we can gladly charge your visitation accordingly.
50.00 a week to park at beaches on Maui? Another reason to visit other islands. High cost of lodging already drives visitors away.
More Fees = Less Paying Visitors.
So complicated. Do I need a parking pass and a reservation or just a parking pass? I have a reservation but parking passes are sold out. What a mess. This is just as complicated as getting a basic economy, economy plus, or economy premium refundable, non refundable, no carry on, carry on allowed or pay for your carry on option. IMO surprised people even pay extra for all this inconvenience and headache. How in the world does anyone claim this to be a vacation. Unbelievable.
When you say “Kam II parking lot”, are you talking about charging for street parking? Fred’s and Mooses will definitely be affected if they do that. Also, the 50. 00 dollar weekly pass doesn’t save you anything if you can’t use it until after 10AM two days a week, unless you like to sit on the beach when it’s windy.
This isn’t just a Hawaii thing it’s happening all over the country any popular state or county location will no longer have free parking. California just announced all the new fees coming next year for parking and non-resident use of public state parks. Some fees are as high as 100 dollars for non-residents to use a state owned park like Yosemite.
Yosemite is a national park , not owned by California.
To Richard C, the new $100 fee for Yosemite and 10 other National Parks only applies to non-U.S. residents. U.S. residents continue to pay the same fee. Also the $100 fee is good for 7 days, just like the $35 fee for U.S. residents is good for 7 days. Comparing Maui beach parking to National Park fees doesn’t make sense. Yosemite is not state-owned park but part of the federal National Parks system. More helpful is a google search like, “what states charge for parking at public beaches,” which reveals many states that do and many that don’t. Jersey Shore beaches, for example, charge $10/day for parking.
Maui is my favorite and only tropical place to come to relax, eat good food, get some sun and enjoy the beauty and aloha the island offer. However, my favorite condominium place where I chose which condo to rent is now not going to be available for non-residents to rent. I will no longer, especially on a whim, be able to stop at a park to see it’s beauty, it’s flora and fauna, nor or a beach to see a sunset, swim, snorkel, or watch a whale or turtle without having to pay for it. Half the locals don’t want me to visit Hawaii. The rest of the Islands are following Maui’s lead with all the changes. (I do understand why the changes are needed, but for some not the “how”.) Airlines have gotten rid of wide body jets flying to and from California and cramming us into the skinniest planes.
I am sad to say, unless I win the lottery, I can no longer afford to visit the Hawaiian Islands any more. And frankly, nor do I wish to because of all the requirements now and coming in the future.
I do not see how adding parking fees will reduce congestion; only going to piss people off, resident & visitors alike. Yes, nice the lots will be reserved for residents on weekends and holidays, but only before 10am, so now you don’t have freedom of free flow anytime; gotta see what time it is! 😠. Just build more parking lots on city or state owned land and shuttle people.
Parking ambassadors? Wow, there’s a euphemism.
One of the benefits of being a multi-year visitor is that we have already done the tourist stuff. Now when we come, it is to visit with friends, golf wherever we can get in, and pay respects at the Arizona Memorial. We relax a lot more without waiting in lines, paying ridiculous fees and fighting traffic. It really is a vacation for us retired folks. lol
I can foresee one major problem happening. There are commercial parking lots across from some of the Kihei beaches,that are (so far) free. It’s not hard to guess where people are going to head in order to avoid parking fees or time restrictions. This looks like it’s going to be an “all or nothing “ proposition. Either all parking lots charge for parking, or nobody does.
These parking fees are just the start. Any public road will soon fill up with unwanted rentals cars. What is next, fees to go to the public beaches for the people who walk and can’t be taxed. So sad. We are getting the message loud and clear. We are no longer wanted anywhere in Hawaii. Tourist are already paying a tax but the politicians want us to pay even more for all infrastructure (parks, roads, parking, etc) breaks my heart.
Well said!
I’ve heard it all before. I’ve seen it all before.
There’s nothing new here whatsoever, this is just an ongoing and continuing example of government inefficiency and low level corruption.
Startup costs? Really? The revenue will be utilized to assist in maintenance costs and up keep for the parking areas and the parks, so they say.
At the risk of being redundant, I’ve seen it all before.
I love Hawaii, and all of the islands that make up the 50th state. But I do not like the government and the bureaucracy that continually abuses, not only their residents, visitors and tourists alike from a fiscal point of view.