Diamond Head

[ghertz]

What time each day do the reservations go live?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Not sure, but they are not cutthroat like Hanauma Bay. I think it is 8 HST.

 

[kboo]

I had no problem booking a 6-8am time about 3 days in advance; the reservations were open for more days beyond that.

 

[Anal Annie]

We just hiked it last Thurs - I forget what time they went live but I booked the 10-12:00 slot right @ the 30 day opening. After going last week I wished I had booked the 8-10:00 slot tho as it got pretty hot up there before we got too far into it. Paying the $10 for the parking was worth it IMO as some of the people who parked outside and walked up were looking pretty hot & tired before they ever started. Take lots of water & if you go later bring cooling towels & hats.

 

[kboo]

I will add here: we *chose* the 6-8am slot on a day early in our trip. If you are coming from the mainland, jet lag would have you up early anyway. For our family of 4 I think it was $7 pp and $10 to park and as @Anal Annie said, well worth it! It did not start feeling warm until we were done, and it's half the traffic (you really don't run into anyone coming down when you are going up)

We went on a Saturday and there was a farmers market at the college across the street that was just getting underway - picked up food, snacks, fruit, Kona coffee, and all before the lines got too long at the market.

 

[Warblade]

We went on a Saturday and there was a farmers market at the college across the street that was just getting underway - picked up food, snacks, fruit, Kona coffee, and all before the lines got too long at the market.

The KCC Farmers Market is great. We make it a priority to go on Saturday mornings, then hike Diamond Head afterwards.

 

[mort1331]

Little trick for parking. If your reservation does not have parking like ours, not all can get it. There is about a dozen spots just before the tunnel, they have a pay stub machine there. Most people are using it to just take pictures there, but we used it for parking. If you dont have parking, drive up there and if spots its a bonus. I was driving up to drop wife and kids off closer and since there were spots, I ended up parking there.

 

[WillGan]

The KCC Farmers Market is great. We make it a priority to go on Saturday mornings, then hike Diamond Head afterwards.

Or hike first, then go the the market. The smoothies and fruit tastes so much better!

 

[Warblade]

Oh, I forgot to say that if you do park at KCC and then go to hike, well, it's a bit of a long way from the KCC Parking lot, up the hill to the main "base" of Diamond Head. On our last trip, we went to KCC just for the Farmer's Market, then later went and hiked Diamond Head on a different day, taking the Waikiki Trolley and getting dropped off in the base parking lot.