Reservation system to visit Wai’anapanapa Black Sand Beach off Maui’s Road to Hana with updates for 2026

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 have to arrange for a paid reservation with specific time slots. You can access the reservation system at www.gowaianapanapa.com.

This system is designed to limit/manage tourists and over crowding on the road to Hana. (For more background information about why the system was implemented in February 2021, see this article from Maui News.)

Wai’anapanapa reservation fees, booking windows and important policies for tourists

With any new system, the rules, costs and schedules are subject to change, and this system has changed a number of times. 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. As of early 2026, here are the most important things to know about a Wai’anapanapa reservation.

• The cost of a reservation is $10 for parking and $5 per person for entry. Additionally there’s an order processing fee. When I last checked in early 2026, the order processing fee was $1.78.
• Reservations can be made 30 days in advance. Additionally, they state that no same-day reservations will be available.
• Reservation options include the following time slots:
  • Morning I: 7:00am to 10:00am (Per our observation, this time slot tends to be available most often. Note that with the requirement to arrive within the first 30 minutes of a reservation, this time slot is not practical for visitors staying in West or South Maui.)
  • Morning II: 10:00am to 12:30pm
  • Afternoon I: 12:30pm to 3:00pm (Per our observation, this time slot appears to be the one that sells out first.)
  • Afternoon II: 3:00pm to 6:00pm
• Per the reservation system website, visitors must arrive within 30 minutes of the reservation period.
• Per the FAQs, visitors must exit by the time the reservation time slot ends. For visits, which extend longer than the available time slot, additional reservation vouchers will need to purchased for cover the entire stay.
• Per the FAQ page, for further assistance, maui-sp@reefparking.com or call 1.808.437.8900
• Visitors are advised to download the QR code for your reservation as there is no/limited cell service at the park.

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.

How to choose a Wai’anapanapa reservation time slot

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:

• Without stops, it takes approximately 2.5 hours to drive directly to Wai’anapanapa from Ka’anapali and 2.25 hours directly from Wailea. Those drive times are without stops, but you will definitely want to make stops. There are at least three stops on the road to Hana that you will encounter before you arrive at Wai’anapanapa. (See our comprehensive road to Hana guide that lists the top stops in sequence.) I would allocate at least an hour’s worth of stoppage time before arriving at Wai’anapanapa.
• For your time at Wai’anapanapa, we would allocate 30 to 45 minutes to visit this park. That should allow ample time to walk along the coastline, snap many photos and take the steps down to stand on the black sand beach. If you tend to be efficient, a half-hour is enough time. If you tend to take more time, allocate 45 minutes or more.
• With all the above in mind, ideally, we would select the Morning II (10:00am to 12:30am) time slot or the Afternoon I (12:30pm to 3:00pm) time slot. The tricky part is the restriction that visitors must arrive within the first 30 minutes of the start of their reserved time slot. If you can, to optimize the rest of your day driving the road to Hana, we recommend trying to make the Morning II slot work for you. The Morning II time slot would allow enough time afterwards to stop in Hana, check out the sights just beyond Hana and explore the Kipahulu section of Haleakala National Park. The Morning II slot will probably require a fairly early start. If you plan your road to Hana adventure within the first three days of your Maui vacation itinerary, you’ll likely still be a bit jet lagged, so the earlier start won’t be too much of a challenge for the early start.

What if you’re unable to secure a reservation, but you still want to see Wai’anapanapa?

Book a guided tour that includes a visit to Wai’anapanapa. Authorized tour operators can pre-arrange their own reservations. A tour operators we’ve toured with is Valley Isle Excursions and our tour included a wonderful stop at Wai’anapanapa.

For years, we preferred driving the road to Hana on our own, however we now recommend taking a guided tour to help prevent encounters with hostile locals. Unfortunately, we continue to hear about visitors who are harassed and bullied by locals on the road to Hana. (Read our article: Touring the road to Hana Independently vs. Guided Tour.)

While driving the road to Hana can be a fun adventure, it can also be an exhausting one, especially for the driver. So, there’s no shame in letting someone else do the stressful driving by taking a guided tour.

More ideas if you cannot get a reservation:

• Allocate the time you would have spent at Wai’anapanapa elsewhere. For example, spend extra time in the Kipahulu region of Haleakala National Park.
• Take an abbreviated tour of the road to Hana. This winding road isn’t for everyone — especially to those who are prone to carsickness. We created an shortened guide of the road to Hana that allows you to see some great sights, but doesn’t take you too deep into the drive.

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Bear in mind that this system and is subject to change. Here are the official resources for you to check for the current fees, schedules and polices:

• www.GoWaianapanapa.com
• Hawaii’s Division of State Parks’ page for Wai’anapanapa.

Check out our article about Wai’anapanapa State Park for our advice and insights. For more advice on driving the road to Hana see our extremely thorough guide to driving the road to Hana.

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For additional insights on where you should consider reserving/planning ahead on your Maui vacation, see our article: What reservations do you need for a Maui vacation?