Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site
Hawaii
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
8.4 h fully dark
Crowds
low
Open today
Open
Entrance
Free entry
Phone Service Unavailable
Phone service at Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site is currently unavailable. If you need to contact the park, please email us at puhe_info@nps.gov and a staff member will respond as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience while service is being restored.
New Park Hours
As of November 13, 2025, the new hours of operation at Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site are 8:30am –4:30pm. The parking lot gate will close at 4:00pm.
How many places in America can you walk in the footsteps of a king? Where else has a stranded sailor risen up to become a great chief over an entire island? Where else can you experience the culminating event of a people, foretold from centuries past? Where else can you stand on a beach and watch as sharks pass over a submerged temple? Experience all this and much more – only at Pu'ukoholā Heiau!
Activities
Topics
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
Covered, open air lanai at visitor center open 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM daily. Parking Lot Entrance (Top) Gate will be closed by 4:00 PM Daily, however the Parking Lot Exit (Bottom) Gate will close at 4:30 PM Daily. All vehicles parked in the visitor center parking lot after closing hours will be locked in or towed at owner's expense. In case of Emergency call 911
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
Conditions
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ⛅ Partly cloudy, 79°F
☁️ 86°/78°
⛅ 88°/76°
☁️ 89°/78°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
82%
Feb
100%
Mar
97%
Apr
66%
May
63%
Jun
58%
Jul
57%
Aug
64%
Sep
48%
Oct
57%
Nov
53%
Dec
51%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Things to do
Become a B.A.R.K. Ranger at Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site · The program walk and talk could take a minimum of 20 minutes to a miximum of 35 minutes. It all depends on the group and questions asked if wanting a more detailed story of the park and or program.
Sharks, Whales and Dolphin Viewing · Before you begin vieiwng marine life it is important to note that there are seasons and weather conditions when seeing sharks, dolphins and whales is more likely.
Visitor centers
Pu'ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site
Accessibility
7 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Parking
Visitor Center Parking Lot · 20 accessible spacesaccessible
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
People & stories
Figures tied to Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site — each spans a cross-park journey.
Kamehameha the Great
Passport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Pu'ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site
Places to see
Ala Kahakai at Puʻukoholā
audio
Hale o Kapuni Heiau
audio
John Young Homestead
audio
Mailekini Heiau
audio
Pelekane
audio
Puʻukoholā Heiau
audio
Puʻukoholā Visitor Center
audioAudio & media
🎧 Kohala - Hawaiian Pronunciation ↗ · 0 mintranscript
🎧 Puʻu Koholā Heiau - Hawaiian Pronunciation ↗ · 0 mintranscript
🎧 Pelekane - Hawaiian Pronunciation ↗ · 0 mintranscript
🎧 Hale o Kapuni Heiau - Hawaiian Pronunciation ↗ · 0 mintranscript
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Learn more
In 2020 Harpers Ferry Center (HFC) won eight awards at WorldFest Houston. Many of these can be viewed over the summer through our upcoming film festival in celebration of HFC’s 50th Anniversary. (Note: The Special Jury REMI Award is given for a ranking of A+ and recognizes the top films in each category.)
The Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago [MYA] through today) is the "Age of Mammals." North America’s characteristic landscapes began to develop during the Cenozoic. Birds and mammals rose in prominence after the extinction of giant reptiles. Common Cenozoic fossils include cat-like carnivores and early horses, as well as ice age woolly mammoths.
Read the abstract and get the link to a published paper on how dragonfly mercury studies uncover unexpected atmospheric delivery pathways: Janssen, S.E., C.J. Kotalik, J.J. Willacker, M.T. Tate, C. Flanagan Pritz, S.J. Nelson, D.P. Krabbenhoft, D. Walters, and C. Eagles-Smith. 2024. Geographic Drivers of Mercury Entry into Aquatic Foods Webs Revealed by Mercury Stable Isotopes in Dragonfly Larvae. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c02436
Dylan's passion for ecosystem restoration and indigenous land management made him a valuable asset to the Puʻukoholā Heiau pili grasslands project. Learn more from our interview with him.
Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site (PUHE) is demonstrating a powerful model of resourcefulness and community collaboration in its mission to restore native pili (Heteropogon contortus) grasslands.
Ka‘ōana‘eha was born into the royal family that consolidated power over a unified Kingdom of Hawai‘i at the end of the eighteenth century, but her role in opposing Christian missionization following the collapse of the kapu (meaning both sacred and restricted) system meant that she died out of favor with her powerful family.
Kilinoe Muraki-Burns brought a deep connection to her Hawaiian heritage to her internship at Puʻukoholā Heiau, contributing significantly to the pili grasslands restoration. Hear more about her experience in this interview.
Young lava flows also have structures and textures that reveal information about their eruptions. Basaltic lava flows come in two major forms: Pāhoehoe and ‘A‘ā.
How Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
Park
Activity
Topic
State
VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
ParkingLot
Trail
ThingToDo
Alert
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