The dramatic black sand beach at Waianapanapa State Park on Maui is STUNNING and it’s easily the #1 don’t miss stop along the Road to Hana.

I’ve driven the Road to Hana as a day trip more than a dozen times (read about my go to itinerary here) and it takes a good plan to hit all of the best spots in just one day. But I usually arrange it so that Waianapanapa State Park is my first big stop of the day.

Yes, it’s a beach. But you can easily spend 1.5-2 hours here doing all of the hiking trails, swimming, checking out the sea cave, blowhole, etc.

In my opinion, it’s one of the best spots on Maui.

Waianapanapa State Park (Maui’s Black Sand Beach)

But first things first…

Due to its popularity and efforts to mitigate the effects of tourism on this undeveloped side of Maui, you HAVE to have a reservation to visit the beach. If you don’t make reservations, you WILL be turned away at the gate.

You can make reservations 30 in advance (and no later than the day before) here. Parking is $10/vehicle and there’s a $5/person entry fee that all has to be registered and paid for when you make your reservation.

You’ll make your reservation for one of four time slots (they vary slightly throughout the year): 7AM-10AM, 10AM-12:30PM, 12:30PM-3PM, and 3PM-6PM. They are strict with the entry times.

Since most people are driving from the resort areas in South Maui and West Maui, the two time slots in the middle of the day are the ones that sell out first.

I usually opt for the second timeslot and aim to be arriving right at the beginning. It’s about a two hour drive from Paia to Waianapanapa State Park with no stops. I don’t do very many stops on the front part of the road besides stopping for banana bread and at some scenic lookouts so if I leave Paia by 7AM-7:30AM the timing usually works out pretty well.

Once you get to Waianapanapa, I usually dress (and pack) more for hiking than the beach.

If you’re going to get in the water, just be sure to pay attention to how the waves are breaking (they come in sets so you’ll want to time your entry in between them). If it’s especially rough or nobody is in the water, that may be a sign that you shouldn’t get in.

There is small grain sand at this beach, but a lot of it is small, smooth pebbles so I like to wear water shoes or hiking sandals.

There are plenty of viewing spots out over the beach and bay along the parking lot, but the hiking trail picks up on the far left side of the beach (facing the ocean). You have to make your way up a fairly steep slope, but once you clear that it’s pretty flat.

From the trail you’ll get a great view of another smaller black sand beach, a sea arch across the bay, and also a blowhole.

Once you pass the small black sand beach, it’s not very much farther to get the viewing point for the blowhole. You’ll see it looking back towards the beach.

The trail keeps going, but I usually turn back once I reach the blowhole.

Back on the main beach, be sure to duck into the little sea cave for a quick peek.

You’ll see the small entrance on the far right side of the beach (facing the ocean) near the stairs.

If you picked the second time slot and spend an hour or two here, it’s probably getting close to time for lunch when you leave.

I would recommend backtracking a few miles to Hana Farms. They have a great bakery and shop with local goods made on Maui (a lot right in Hana) plus a cafe with a pizza oven.

P.S. One of the reasons I’m able to travel to Hawaii so often is because I get free flights with my Southwest credit card AND I can fly someone with me for free with my Companion Pass.

I have this Southwest Premier Rapid Rewards Visa card through Chase. The current sign up offer is 50,000 points. Depending on where you live and fly from, that’s at least one completely FREE ticket to Hawaii and it could be two depending on the time of year (or more if you catch a crazy sale).

But the real pro travel hack is getting the Southwest Companion Pass.

If you acquire a certain amount of annual points with Southwest (either through flying or credit card spend), you get a companion pass where you can bring someone with you on every flight you take FOR FREE for the entire year. I can’t tell you how many thousands of dollars I save using this every year.

What makes this doable is that the sign up bonuses from Southwest credit cards goes towards the point requirement.

By far the quickest way to qualify for the companion pass is by signing up for a personal AND business card through Southwest.

**Besides being a business owner, if you’re self-employed, a freelancer or contractor, a gig economy worker, if you own rental properties, etc…you qualify for a business card.

And you’ll be most of the way towards qualifying for a Companion Pass PLUS you’ll have 110K points to book flights to Hawaii. That’s enough points to book 3-4 flights to Hawaii! AND you can take someone with you for FREE.

P.P.S. Here’s one more really important thing you need to know before your Hawaii trip…

You’ve got your airfare, hotel, rental car and your big activities booked, so you should be good to go, right? Wrong!

Travel is BOOMING in Hawaii and a lot of state and national parks have instituted reservation systems at some of the island’s most popular spots to help manage the crowds and make things a little more sustainable.

That means that there are now over half a dozen sites (beaches, trailheads, etc.) that require advance reservations. And some sell out well before you arrive on the island so you really need to have some sort of a plan.

I recently saw somebody in a Hawaii travel group post in a panic that they didn’t know they had to make reservations for things in advance…they thought they could just show up and “go with the flow.” I was tempted to say, well, “as long as the flow doesn’t take you somewhere that requires reservations, you can!” ; )

But I don’t want YOU to be that person, so I’ve pulled together a list of all the places you need to reserve entry in advance (plus all the details on booking windows, price, links, etc.) and a handful of popular tourist hotspots that book out really far in advance too.
Get that info >> HERE