Hawaii

Hawaii received 9,642,991 visitors in 2025, by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority's preliminary count. The islands a visitor plans around are four: Oʻahu, with Honolulu and Pearl Harbor; Maui, with Haleakalā; Hawaiʻi Island, with its volcanoes; and Kauaʻi, with the Nāpali Coast. Neither of the two national parks charges the $100 surcharge that eleven mainland parks add for visitors from abroad in 2026.

Three named storms, Lala, Lowell and Nolo, struck the islands in August and September 2026, and several state parks were still closed in late October. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, the state parks division's notices, the City and County of Honolulu's, the County of Maui's recovery site, the state airports' and Department of Taxation's pages, and NOAA's normals.

Which Hawaiian island suits which part of a trip?

Each of the four islands has an airport with overseas flights, so a trip can start on any of them. Daniel K. Inouye International in Honolulu is the largest airport in the state, and flights from it reach the airports of all the other islands.

Hawaiʻi Island is the one where distances matter, because its two airports sit on opposite coasts. The figures below are our own routing.

Is the $250 non-resident park pass worth buying for Hawaii?

The $250 non-resident annual pass is not worth buying for Hawaii alone, because neither Hawaiʻi Volcanoes nor Haleakalā is on the 2026 list of eleven national parks with a $100 non-resident surcharge. Visitors from abroad pay what Americans pay: $30 a car at each, by card only. The National Park Service lists nine of its sites in Hawaii in all.

The $55 Hawaiʻi Tri-Park annual pass covers Hawaiʻi Volcanoes, Haleakalā and Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau, but only US citizens and residents can buy it. A car from abroad pays $80 at the three parks together, far below the price of the non-resident pass. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors lists the surcharge parks.

How do you book sunrise on Haleakalā and a slot at Waiʻānapanapa?

Haleakalā requires a $1 reservation for every vehicle entering the park between 3 and 7 a.m., and the $30 entrance fee is paid on top. Reservations open on Recreation.gov 60 days ahead at 7 a.m. Hawaii time, and a share of each day's tickets opens two days ahead.

One visitor can hold one sunrise reservation in any three days, and none is refunded for bad weather. The summit, at 10,023 feet, is about 30 minutes' drive from the entrance gate. The park warns that before dawn it is regularly wet, windy and below freezing, with no food, clothing or fuel for sale. On 27 October 2026 its alert also reported long queues before sunset, when cars can be turned away, and advised arriving three hours early.

Waiʻānapanapa State Park on Maui reopened on 29 September 2026 once its water was restored. Non-residents pay $5 a person and $10 a car per time slot, and the park opens from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Slots open 30 days ahead, one day at a time, at midnight Hawaii time.

How does a visit to the USS Arizona Memorial run?

A visit to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor runs on a timed boat ticket, free but booked only on Recreation.gov, for a $1 fee. Tickets open daily at 3 p.m. Hawaii time, 8 weeks and 24 hours ahead, and the whole day's allocation can go in minutes. Every member of a party needs a ticket.

Boats leave every 15 minutes from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 3:30 p.m., and the programme lasts 45 minutes. Arrive an hour early. Only a wallet or clutch up to 1.25 × 2.25 × 5.5 inches, or a clear plastic bag, is allowed, and storage near the entrance costs a small fee.

The visitor centre opens from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and parking costs $7 a day, except on Veterans Day, 11 November 2026, when it is free.

Without a ticket, the free standby callback list can take several hours and may not run at peak times. Recreation.gov warns that the car park is a high-theft area. The battleship Missouri, the submarine museum and the aviation museum nearby are run separately.

Why can't you just turn up at Diamond Head or Hanauma Bay?

Diamond Head State Monument has required entry and parking reservations from non-residents since 12 May 2022, and anyone without one is turned away. Entry costs $5 a person and parking $10 a car, by card only, booked up to 30 days ahead. The trail climbs 560 feet in 0.8 mile to the summit; allow one to two hours.

Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, run by the City and County of Honolulu, is closed every Monday and Tuesday. On the other five days visitors enter from 6:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and everyone is out by 4 p.m. Non-residents pay $25 plus a 2.35% online fee, and parking costs $3 in cash.

Hanauma Bay's bookings open only two days ahead, at 7 a.m. Hawaii time: on Monday for Wednesday, through to Friday for Sunday. They are non-refundable unless the city closes the preserve. The city says about a quarter of entry is kept for walk-ins, handed out from 6:45 a.m. to whole parties. With daily numbers kept at roughly half of the pre-pandemic level, though, walk-in entry is not guaranteed. Every visitor must watch an educational video, on every visit.

Which Kauaʻi state parks reopened after the 2026 storms?

Hāʻena State Park, at the start of the Kalalau Trail, reopened on 15 October 2026. The state parks notice of 23 October lists only two other reopenings on Kauaʻi, both partial. The Waimea Canyon Lookout was to reopen on 24 October, with the other lookouts still closed, and part of the Wailua River area reopened. Kōkeʻe Road stays closed until further notice.

The same notice says all camping on Kauaʻi is closed and that all other Kauaʻi state parks remain closed. Read literally, that includes Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park. The Kalalau Trail beyond Hanakāpīʻai therefore stays shut, as it has been since 4 September, for Hurricane Lowell.

Hāʻena's non-resident visitors need both an entry reservation at $5 a person and a parking reservation at $10 a car, bookable 30 days ahead. A day entry covers the walk to Hanakāpīʻai beach and falls, 8 miles there and back on the 11-mile Kalalau Trail. Bookings cancelled by a storm closure get an automatic refund.

What can a visitor still reach around Lahaina's harbour?

Around Lahaina's harbour a visitor can drive the reopened streets by day and park free for three hours, but the historic town stays closed. The County of Maui's recovery page, last updated on 4 August 2026, says no town businesses or historic sites are "currently open to the public", the Lahaina Courthouse and Banyan Tree Park included. The power grid and streetlights have not been restored, and county car parks close at 6 p.m.

Streets near the harbour reopened for daytime access on 15 December 2025. Canal, Wharf and Hotel streets are drive-through only, and Market Street is closed. Lahaina Small Boat Harbor operates from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for boat operators with a state permit. Free three-hour parking is at 500 Front Street and 116 Prison Street.

The interim marketplace ʻUlu o Lele, on the former Outlets of Maui site, holds its free grand opening on Tuesday 10 November 2026, from 1 to 8 p.m. The county says its shops will open as they are ready.

How much wetter is Hilo than Kona?

Hilo, on the east side of Hawaiʻi Island, gets 120.39 inches of rain a year on 273 days. Kona's airport, on the west side, gets 9.87 inches on 50 days. That is about twelve times as much rain on the same island. Honolulu and Kahului, on Maui, get about 16 inches each.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs, lows and rainfall at each airport. Temperatures barely move through the year: Honolulu's average high rises only from about 81°F in January to 89°F in August.

The Central Pacific hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November. For 2026 the National Weather Service in Honolulu forecast a 70% chance of an above-normal season, with 5 to 13 tropical cyclones against a normal 4 to 5. Pearl Harbor closed for weather on 16 August 2026. At the parks, visits vary little by month; September and October were the quietest in 2025.

Why does Hawaii's time difference change with the mainland's clocks?

Hawaii's clocks stay on Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time, ten hours behind UTC, all year, because the state does not observe daylight saving time. The mainland changes instead: its clocks went back an hour on 1 November 2026 and go forward on 14 March 2027.

Until that March date, Honolulu is 2 hours behind Los Angeles and 5 behind New York; for the rest of the year the gap is 3 and 6 hours. Arizona, which also keeps standard time all year, is always 3 hours ahead.

The airlines at Honolulu include carriers from Canada, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Philippines. The airport's home page names non-stop cities such as Haneda, Narita, Kansai, Nagoya, Seoul, Manila, Sydney, Melbourne and Vancouver, as examples rather than a timetable.

Between the islands, Hawaiian Airlines, Mokulele and Southwest serve the state airports. Honolulu's Skyline rail line has stopped at the airport, at Lelepaua Station by Terminal 2, since 16 October 2025. It ends at Kalihi and does not reach Downtown, Ala Moana or Waikīkī; the TheBus W Line covers the last stretch to Waikīkī.

Why is a Hawaii hotel bill more than 11% higher?

Hawaii has no sales tax but a general excise tax of 4.5%, levied on the business. The business may pass it on at up to 4.712%: $104.71 on a $100 bill. All four counties add the 0.5% county share, so the rate is the same on every island, and visitors from abroad get no exemption.

A room also pays the state's transient accommodations tax, raised from 10.25% to 11% on 1 January 2026, plus a 3% county tax on Oʻahu and Kauaʻi. With the excise tax, that comes to about 18% on those islands. We could not confirm the county rate on Maui or Hawaiʻi Island.

Car rental carries a state surcharge of $7.50 a day in 2026, rising to $8 in 2027, which the rental company normally passes on. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why prices are shown before tax.