Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden: Hours, Fishing and Camping

The hours come from the City’s garden page, and two of them catch people out. The first is Thursday. After a public poll in which 76 percent of 3,472 votes picked it, the City made Thursday the garden’s weekly day of rest, starting January 8, 2026 (Parks and Recreation). The garden uses the day for maintenance and for garbage pickup on Luluku Road. Several guides that rank for the garden still say it is open every day.

The second is the 3:30 p.m. cutoff. The gate takes its last car at 3:30 and everyone has to be out by 4:00, so an afternoon visit that starts at 3:00 is a drive-through. Arrive by 1:30 if you want the walk to the lake.

The garden had a hard year. The main road, all 2.4 miles of it, was repaved and the garden reopened on January 5 after a December closure (DPR). It closed for a day of high winds in February and again for the March Kona low, and the lake shoreline reopened in part on June 6 on a new reinforced path (DPR). No City page lists a closure for the garden today; before you drive over, check the banners on the City’s Honolulu Botanical Gardens page.

By our measurement the garden is about 15 miles from central Waikīkī: H-1 west, the Likelike Highway over the mountains, Kamehameha Highway north, then mauka on Luluku Road. With no traffic that is a little over half an hour. Plan on 40 minutes or more on a weekday. Our Oahu Drive Map has the Windward roads.

The entrance road runs through the garden to the Paul R. Weissich Education Center, named for the director who ran the City’s gardens from 1957 to 1989 (DPR). Parking is limited, and the City asks visitors to carpool.

TheBus does not go in. Routes 60, 65 and 69 stop on Kamehameha Highway at Luluku Road (TheBus schedule data), and route 60 also stops at Anoi Road and Hinamoe Loop. From that stop it is about 1.2 miles of uphill road to the Education Center by our count, and about 1.6 miles from the highway.

Driving back to Honolulu on the H-3? On September 3, HDOT said the Kamehameha Highway on-ramp to the westbound H-3 was still closed for culvert repairs, with a signed detour and work expected to finish in November. Follow the detour signs, or take the Likelike back the way you came.

• Rental tip: if you are on the Windward side for the day anyway, our guide to renting a car on Oahu covers where to pick one up.

The picture everyone comes for is the entrance road: a straight line of asphalt running toward the green, fluted wall of the Koʻolau. It is also the part of the garden where the rules are strictest. The garden page tells drivers to stay seated while the car is moving, keep to 15 miles per hour, never pass, and “not park or stop along the side of the road.” The City’s permit guidelines go further for photo shoots: no photography on roadways or on the front entrance road, for safety.

So the shot within the rules comes from the passenger seat, at 15 miles per hour, through an open window. Do not stop in the lane and do not stand on the road for it; cars keep coming the whole time. Drones are out too: the garden sits within five miles of Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kāneʻohe, and flying one for photos needs clearance from the City, the FAA, Hawaiian Electric and the base.

The garden opened on March 4, 1982 as the fifth and largest of the City’s botanical gardens (DPR). It exists because of a dam: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the Kāneʻohe-Kailua Dam and the Loko Waimaluhia reservoir to protect Kāneʻohe from floods, and the land around them became the garden. Hoʻomaluhia means to make a place of peace and tranquility. It drew 723,495 visits in the year to June 2025, more than any other City garden.

Plants are grouped by the part of the tropics they come from: the Philippines, Malaysia, Tropical America, India and Sri Lanka, Melanesia, Hawaiʻi, Polynesia and Africa.

From the Education Center the lake is about a 20-minute walk down a garden path. Near the pavilion in the Kahua Nui section, artist Kaili Chun’s I ka Uhiwai o ke Koʻolau stands as four Corten steel columns, each with a cut opening that frames a specific peak of the Koʻolau. The City posts a general map and a detailed map of the whole garden.

Two hours covers the drive through the collections and the walk to the lake. The garden opens at 9:00, so it fits after one stop nearby and before lunch on the coast.

Byodo-In Temple in the Valley of the Temples opens at 8:30 a.m., about five miles away by our count. Admission is $10 for ages 13 to 64, paid by card, with paid parking. Go there first, then the garden. After that, Heʻeia State Park looks out over Kāneʻohe Bay and Heʻeia Fishpond (8 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Mondays, per State Parks), and Kailua Beach Park is about 20 minutes away by our count, for lunch and a swim. Any day but Thursday works.

Heading north instead, Kualoa Ranch is the next big Windward stop, and our east side drive covers the coastal road back to Waikīkī past Makapuʻu. The things to do on Oahu guide has the rest of the Windward side, and the Oahu Itinerary Builder will sequence the stops around the rest of your trip.

The garden runs a free catch-and-release program on the shore of the 32-acre lake on Wednesdays and Saturdays, in two sessions: 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Reservations open online on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. HST, two weeks before the date (book here). One reservation covers up to five people. Bring a printed or on-screen copy to check in. The City keeps some of its 100 spots per session open for walk-ins, first come, first served.

The garden lends bamboo poles and has you sign a waiver, or you can bring your own. The fishing guidelines set the rules: one barbless hook, no live bait (white bread is the suggestion), no casting, handheld poles only, four feet between anglers, and adults supervising children. No wading or swimming, no feeding the ducks, no climbing trees or the dam hillside, and no tents or picnics in the fishing area. Fishing came back on July 1 after the storm repairs.

Camping is weekends only, Friday to Monday, at three campgrounds with 28 sites in all: Kahua Kuou (8), Kahua Lehua (5) and Kahua Nui Makai (15). A permit costs $32 per site and covers up to 10 people, three ground tents and three cars. Sleeping in or on a vehicle is not allowed. Permits go on sale on the City camping site on Fridays at 5 p.m. HST, two weeks before the date; the City’s camping page has the account setup and fees.

Inside the garden there is no alcohol, and nothing gets picked or taken home. Fires go only in the fire rings and grills, and pets stay home.

Every wedding ceremony and commercial shoot needs a City permit. Hoʻomaluhia allows up to 50 guests, with no receptions, alcohol, confetti or rice. Call the garden at (808) 768-8942 for the application, which goes to the Parks permits office at least three weeks ahead with proof of insurance. For other ceremony sites, see our Oahu wedding venues.