Na Pali Guides
Hā'ena State Park takes 900 people a day. Every non-resident needs a reservation from gohaena.com, released 30 days ahead, and it sells out.
Last updated September 2026 · Na Pali Kayak, Hanalei
Hā'ena State Park is small — a beach, a stream mouth, a few acres of restored taro terraces, and a trailhead. Your reservation covers all of it:
Kē'ē Beach. A reef-fringed lagoon at the western end of the park, calm and swimmable in summer, and the only place in the park where ocean entry is permitted. It is one of the few guarded beaches on this stretch of coast, though lifeguards are not always on duty — read the beach hazard notes for Kē'ē and look at the water before you get in.
The restored lo'i kalo. Terraced taro fields brought back into cultivation by Hui Maka'āinana o Makana, the descendants of the families of Hā'ena. This is the part of the park most visitors walk straight past, and it is the reason the access system exists.
The Kalalau trailhead, and the first two miles of the Kalalau Trail to Hanakāpī'ai Beach.
Hanakāpī'ai Falls, two miles further up the valley — an eight-mile round trip from the trailhead, and still within what a day reservation allows.
Three things people expect to be inside the park are not. Hā'ena Beach Park — the county park with the campground and Maniniholo dry cave — sits short of the state park entrance and needs no reservation at all. Tunnels (Makua), the North Shore's best-known snorkeling reef, is reached from limited roadside parking just past it, also outside the system. And Limahuli Garden, the National Tropical Botanical Garden preserve at the foot of Makana, sits between the two and books through NTBG on its own separate system.
The coast begins where the park ends
Kē'ē is the last beach. The next sixteen miles have no road, no trail and no shuttle — and seeing them from a kayak is a once-in-a-lifetime day.
| Shuttle + entry | Parking + entry | Entry only | |
|---|---|---|---|
Cost | $45 age 16+, $25 ages 4–15, free under 4 | $20 per vehicle per time slot plus $5 per person | $5 per person |
Who it is for | Almost everyone | Bulky gear, small children, an early alarm and some luck | Walking or cycling in, or riding with a Hawaii resident |
Availability | Best on the site — try this first | Very limited. Often gone by about 12:01 a.m. | Good |
Time in the park | As long as you like, up to the last pickup at 6:40 p.m. | Your booked window only | Until the park closes |
Where you start | Waipā Park & Ride in Hanalei (free parking), or Princeville Makai Golf Club | The park's own lot | On foot or by bike |
Gear limits | Small beach gear only — no surfboards, no large coolers | Whatever fits in your car | Whatever you can carry |
Prices and time slots from Go Hā'ena, the official booking platform. The shuttle fare has moved seasonally, so confirm at checkout.
Book the shuttle. It is the option with real availability, it includes park entry, it costs less than parking for a couple, and it is the only one of the three that does not put another car on the narrowest stretch of highway on Kauai. Waipā departs every 20 minutes from 6:20 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. and has free parking; Princeville Makai Golf Club runs at 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. with no parking of its own. Return rides are first come, first served, and the last pickup from the park is 6:40 p.m.
Parking slots run in three windows — morning 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., afternoon 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., and evening 4:30 p.m. to sunset. Each window is a separate $20 charge, so a full day is $40 or $60 plus $5 a head. Every passenger needs their own entry reservation; a parking booking does not cover the people in the car.
Or skip the reservation system entirely
Our Hā'ena day trip launches from the county beach park outside the gate. No midnight alarm, no time slot, no gate — just the whole coast.
Free access for residents is not a courtesy tacked onto the system — it is the point of it. Hawaii residents enter Hā'ena State Park free, with no reservation, on production of a current Hawaii driver's license, Hawaii state ID, or University of Hawaii student ID. Parking is free too. Minors under 18 are not asked for ID.
No booking, no fee, no time slot. Show your ID at the gate and stay until dusk.
Bring the physical card. A photo of it, an out-of-state license with a Hawaii address, or a utility bill is not what the gate is checking for.
Resident parking is free but finite. The lot is small and the 900-person cap still governs the park, so on a big summer weekend the early half of the day is a much safer bet than the middle of it.
Camping is the exception. Staying past dusk needs a Nā Pali Coast camping permit and an overnight parking permit, resident or not.
Lunch on a beach with no road to it
Sea caves, waterfalls falling straight into the ocean, and a long catered lunch at Miloli'i — a beach with no road to it and no trail in. Summer only.
Your day reservation is also your hiking permit, up to a point. It covers the first two miles of the Kalalau Trail to Hanakāpī'ai Beach, and the two miles up the valley to Hanakāpī'ai Falls. One step past Hanakāpī'ai Valley on the main trail and you need a camping permit, whether or not you intend to sleep out there.
| Destination | Distance from the trailhead | What you need |
|---|---|---|
Hanakāpī'ai Beach | 2 miles each way | Your park entry reservation |
Hanakāpī'ai Falls | 4 miles each way (8 miles round trip) | Your park entry reservation |
Hanakoa | 6 miles each way | Nā Pali Coast camping permit |
Kalalau Beach | 11 miles each way | Nā Pali Coast camping permit |
Distances from Hawaii DLNR's Kalalau Trail page. The full trail is rated difficult and is muddy year-round.
You cannot day-hike to Kalalau. Twenty-two miles round trip on that trail is not a day, and going past Hanakāpī'ai without a permit is an offence, not a technicality.
There is no cell service anywhere past the trailhead.
The trail is slippery year-round — wet rock and clay, with steep ascents and descents from the first quarter mile. Trail runners or boots with real tread, not sandals.
Sections beyond Hanakoa are narrow with severe exposure on the ocean side. The state closes the trail past Hanakāpī'ai after storms, sometimes for months, so confirm it is open before you build a trip around it.
The trail stops at Hanakāpī'ai. The water does not.
Hanakoa, Kalalau, Honopu's arch, the sea caves and Miloli'i all sit past the point a day reservation can take you. The kayak trip passes every one of them.
| What to expect | |
|---|---|
Park hours | 7:00 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. in summer (April 1 to Labor Day); 7:00 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. the rest of the year. The parking lot opens at 6:00 a.m. |
Shuttle hours | 6:20 a.m. to 6:40 p.m., last pickup from the park at 6:40 p.m. |
Drive from Hanalei | About 20 minutes on a good day, longer behind a rental convoy or at a one-lane bridge |
Facilities | Restrooms and drinking water at the park. No food, no shop, no gear rental, no lockers |
Best time to be there | Early. Mornings are calmer, clearer, and cooler for the Hanakāpī'ai hike |
Reef-safe sunscreen, water, and more water. There is nowhere to buy anything past Hanalei.
Shoes you can hike in, even if you only plan to swim. People change their minds at the trailhead.
Snorkel gear if you have it. Kē'ē's lagoon is genuinely good on a calm summer morning and there is nowhere to rent at the park.
Small beach gear only if you are on the shuttle — chairs, umbrellas and snorkel sets are fine; surfboards and big coolers are not, and there is no storage at the park.
Cash or card for nothing at all. Everything is prepaid; bring what you need for the day.
In summer, usually yes — the reef makes a sheltered lagoon and it is the only permitted ocean entry in the park, and it is usually guarded. From roughly October through April, north swell can make it dangerous or close it outright. Read the hazard notes for Kē'ē before you go, and if a lifeguard is on duty, do what they tell you.
Half a day for the beach and a look at the lo'i. A full day if you are hiking to Hanakāpī'ai Beach, which is a genuine two hours each way for most people. All day if you are going up to the falls — eight miles, stream crossings, and slower than the distance suggests.
Kē'ē on a calm summer day is one of the better family beaches on the North Shore. The trail is not — it is steep, muddy and exposed within the first half mile, and Hanakāpī'ai Beach is dangerous. Plenty of families do the first ten minutes for the view over Kē'ē and turn back happy.
Effectively no. Hawaii State Parks' rules prohibit pets on beaches, in swimming areas and in campgrounds, and bar them anywhere they are posted as prohibited; where they are allowed at all they must be leashed and under control. Plan on leaving the dog at home rather than working this out at the gate.
The park stays open, the trail gets much harder, and streams can rise fast enough to strand hikers on the far side. Reservations are not refunded for weather within 48 hours. If it has been raining hard, the beach is a better plan than the trail.
More adventurous group?
Seventeen miles of the Na Pali Coast under your own paddle, lunch on a beach with no road to it, and a van waiting at Polihale. It is the most physically demanding commercial trip on Kauai, and the one people talk about for years.
Our Na Pali Day Trip from Hā'ena is not affected by the Go Hā'ena system at all. You check in at our shop in Hanalei, we shuttle you to the launch at Hā'ena Beach Park — the county park outside the state park gate — and you paddle the entire 17-mile coastline to Polihale, where our van is waiting. No midnight alarm, no time slot, no gate.
You see the part nobody else sees. Hanakāpī'ai is the first valley. Past it are Hanakoa, Kalalau, Honopu and Miloli'i — eleven more miles of cliff, waterfall and sea cave that no day reservation and no shuttle can reach.
You land where almost nobody lands. Hawaii permits commercial kayak landings at Miloli'i, and DLNR lists just three kayak companies authorized to do it. Lunch is on a beach with no road, no trail and no other way in.
Closer than anything floating. Boats hold off the cliffs. A kayak goes into the caves, under the waterfalls and along the rock at a distance a catamaran physically cannot.
One booking, whole day handled. Shuttle, guides, boats, gear, lunch and the ride back to Hanalei. Roughly 12 hours door to door, about 7 of them paddling.
Better for seasickness, not worse. You are active, low to the water and facing the way you are going — close to the ideal position. The higher-risk seat is a large catamaran sitting in beam swell for hours.
Na Pali Day Trip — Hā'ena to Polihale
Seventeen miles, Hanalei to Polihale, summer only. Dates, what is included, and what the day actually asks of you.
Yes. Kē'ē Beach is inside Hā'ena State Park, so every non-resident needs a reservation booked at gohaena.com — a $45 shuttle ticket, a $20 parking slot plus $5 entry, or a $5 entry-only pass if you are walking, cycling or riding in with a Hawaii resident. Hawaii residents with valid ID enter free without a reservation.
Thirty days, at 12:00 a.m. Hawaii time. Unsold inventory is re-released at 12:15 a.m., and cancellations tend to appear between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. daily. Parking commonly sells out within minutes of release; shuttle seats last much longer.
For non-residents: $45 per person aged 16 and over for the shuttle including entry ($25 for ages 4–15), or $20 per vehicle per time slot plus $5 per person to drive in, or $5 per person for entry only. Hawaii residents with a Hawaii license, state ID or UH student ID pay nothing.
No. Residents enter free with a current Hawaii driver's license, Hawaii state ID or University of Hawaii student ID, and park free when space is available. Their non-resident guests are a separate matter — see below.
No. Anyone without accepted Hawaii ID must hold their own paid reservation even when arriving with a resident. The cheapest correct option is the $5 Entry Only pass, which exists precisely for guests arriving with a resident or on foot or by bike — book one per guest aged 4 and over, 30 days ahead.
No separate permit — your park entry reservation covers the two miles to Hanakāpī'ai Beach and the four miles to Hanakāpī'ai Falls. Going any further along the Kalalau Trail requires a Nā Pali Coast State Wilderness Park camping permit from DLNR, even for a day hike.
Only as far as Hanakāpī'ai Valley. Kalalau Beach is 11 miles each way and requires a camping permit; the state does not issue day-use permits for the trail past Hanakāpī'ai, and 22 miles round trip on that terrain is not a day hike in any case.
Check gohaena.com at 12:15 a.m. and again between 7 and 8 a.m. for released and canceled inventory. If nothing appears, you have not lost the coast: a kayak day trip launches from the county beach park outside the reservation system and covers all 17 miles, and catamarans, rafts and helicopters need no park booking at all. The beaches outside the gate — Hā'ena Beach Park, Tunnels, Hanalei Bay, 'Anini — are free and open.
No. Our Hā'ena day trip checks in at our Hanalei shop and launches from Hā'ena Beach Park, the county park outside the state park gate, so no Go Hā'ena booking is involved. Ocean access on this coast is summer-only, May 15 through September 7.
Hui Maka'āinana o Makana, the lineal descendants of Hā'ena, manage park access under an agreement with Hawaii State Parks, with the booking platform and North Shore Shuttle operated by The Hanalei Initiative. Fees fund lo'i restoration, farm management and youth programming, and the shuttle keeps roughly 200 cars a day off Kūhiō Highway.
Embark on the most popular Napali Day Trip from Hā'ena to Polihale, a 17-mile paddle that takes you along the breathtaking northwest coast of Kauai. This adventure offers a unique opportunity to explore the stunning landscapes and vibrant marine life of the Na Pali Coast. Whether you're an experienced kayaker or a first-timer, this trip promises an unforgettable experience filled with natural beauty and excitement.
Experience the beauty of the Na Pali Coast with our exclusive Napali Day Trip to from Polihale to Milolii and back. This trip is designed for groups of 6 to 12, offering a personalized adventure along one of Hawaii's most stunning coastlines. Enjoy the tranquility of Polihale Beach and the thrill of kayaking through crystal-clear waters, all while being guided by our experienced team. This is considered the mini NaPali coast trip, better suited for less experienced kayaker.
