Diamond Head's Sunday Loop: The Road Closures From Now to the Marathon

Monsarrat Avenue heads out from Kapiʻolani Park past the Honolulu Zoo and the Waikiki Shell, then hands off to Paki Avenue. Paki curves around the park toward the crater, and Diamond Head Road takes over from there. Most people around here just call it the drive home. Between now and mid-December, every Sunday road event on the City's schedule for this corner of Honolulu starts on Monsarrat, and the two biggest races go on to follow the whole loop around the crater. Up the hill, the farmers market at Kapiʻolani Community College keeps Saturday mornings away from all of it.

Once you know which events use which part of that route, the season is easy to plan. Here's how each part of it plays out.

Every Sunday route starts on Monsarrat

The City's Department of Transportation Services keeps a 2026 schedule of major parades and events, and every Diamond Head entry on it uses Monsarrat Avenue. How far each one goes past Monsarrat depends on the event.

The first one has already happened. On Sunday, October 11, More Than Pink by Susan G. Komen Hawaii was scheduled for about 3,000 runners and walkers. Its route started near the Honolulu Marathon finish line by the Bandstand, ran out Monsarrat, turned onto Paki and came back by way of Kalākaua, with lanes closed from 6 to 10 a.m. It never went onto Diamond Head Road. Three more Sundays are still ahead. Two of them, the half marathon and the marathon, follow the full loop, and the December 6 caravan only uses Monsarrat as far as the Shell.

The Mid-Pacific Road Runner Club's Val Nolasco Half Marathon has the most detailed listing. The City expects about 600 runners. The race starts on Kalākaua on the mauka side of Queen Kapiʻolani Park and takes Monsarrat, Paki and Diamond Head Road to 18th Avenue. From there it heads through Kilauea and Waialae to Kalanianaʻole Highway, turns around near West Hind Drive, and comes back through Kealaolu Avenue, Kahala Avenue and Diamond Head Road to the Bandstand finish. The City's schedule still lists that permit as submitted rather than approved, so the date and closure hours could change.

The marathon follows almost the same route. The JAL Honolulu Marathon starts at 5 a.m. on Sunday, December 13, at Ala Moana Boulevard and Queen Street and finishes in Kapiʻolani Park. According to the organizer's course description, runners turn onto Monsarrat near mile six, pass the Zoo and the Shell, follow Paki around the park, and circle the crater on Diamond Head Road before turning onto 18th Avenue. The return comes along Kahala Avenue, which becomes Diamond Head Road at mile 24, then passes Cliffs and the Diamond Head Lighthouse before reaching the finish near the Bandstand.

That means you'll have runners on the loop twice on marathon morning. The early runners pass going out, and the slower finishers come back around the crater later in the morning. The City's Val Nolasco listing gives a reopening time of about 11 a.m. for a 600-runner field. The marathon has its own schedule, so check its official closure plan when it comes out instead of assuming the half-marathon hours apply.

Saturday mornings start up the hill at KCC

On Saturday mornings, the regular gathering spot is mauka. The KCC Farmers' Market runs 7:30 to 11 a.m. every Saturday. The Hawaii Farm Bureau's market page puts the market in Lot B and directs shoppers to park in Lots C and E. None of the Sunday routes come anywhere near the campus, so the Saturday market goes on regardless of what's planned for the loop the next morning.

The busiest Saturday comes first. On November 7, the Diamond Head Arts & Crafts Fair, run by the Hawaii Recreation and Park Society, opens at 9 a.m. in KCC Lot D. That's the lot nearest Alani Preschool, across the street from Kaimuki Middle School. The fair runs alongside the farmers market, which the organizer places in Lot C. That doesn't match the Farm Bureau's Lot B, so it's worth checking the signs when you arrive.

Here's how that first weekend lays out: a market and a craft fair sharing the KCC lots on Saturday morning, then the Val Nolasco runners on Monsarrat and Paki before sunrise on Sunday. The next morning's run doesn't touch the Saturday events.

The Farm Bureau's schedule also lists the market on November 28, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and keeps going weekly into December with December 5 and 12. December 12 falls the day before the marathon.

When the park itself is the event

Two more events in this window either take place in Kapiʻolani Park or end there.

Waikiki Artfest sets up November 14 and 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, on the lawn between the Honolulu Zoo and the Kapiʻolani Park Bandstand. This year's schedule has held an Artfest roughly once a month, so the November weekend is part of a regular rotation. It also falls between race weekends, with no road event on the City's schedule for the Diamond Head loop that weekend.

The Waikiki Holiday Parade is on Friday, November 27, at 7 p.m. It starts at Fort DeRussy, follows Kalākaua Avenue and ends at Kapiʻolani Park. It's an evening event on a Friday, the only one on this calendar that isn't on a weekend morning. Since it ends at the park, the makai edge of the neighborhood will feel it the night before the Thanksgiving-weekend market.

What stays open on a closed Sunday

Some regular weekend stops sit off the course or open after the race listing's reopening time.

Diamond Head State Monument. Per the state's current listing, Hawaiʻi residents with a state ID get in free with no reservation. Nonresidents pay $5 per person or $10 per vehicle and must reserve ahead. Hours are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with last entry at 4:30 p.m. Nonresident reservations open up to 30 days in advance through the state reservation site. The monument closes on Christmas and New Year's Day, so the holiday weeks have closures of their own.

Shave ice on Monsarrat. Diamond Head Market & Grill at 3158 Monsarrat Ave. has added a farm-to-spoon shave ice stand. Honolulu Magazine reported in September that it's open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with specialty flavors at $12 to $15 and classic sizes at $7 and $9. On November 8, the stand's 11 a.m. opening matches the approximate time the City lists for the half-marathon roads to reopen.

Twilight at the Zoo. The Honolulu Zoo's Twilight Tours are two-hour evening tours. Kamaʻāina pricing is $25 per adult and $20 per child ages 2 to 12, and children under 2 go free. They run in the evening, long after any morning closure has cleared.

Monsarrat's curb has also changed. At the August 13 meeting of the Diamond Head/Kapahulu/St. Louis Heights Neighborhood Board, the City reported that excess red curb on Monsarrat had been removed and that the pedestrian signs on Paki Avenue would stay. That's more legal curb space on the street every Sunday route on this list uses.

The season in order

1. Saturday, Nov. 7. Diamond Head Arts & Crafts Fair, KCC Lot D, from 9 a.m., alongside the 7:30 to 11 a.m. farmers market.
2. Sunday, Nov. 8. Val Nolasco Half Marathon. Monsarrat, Paki and Diamond Head Road listed as closed from 5 a.m. to about 11 a.m. Permit listed as submitted.
3. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 14–15. Waikiki Artfest, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., between the Zoo and the Bandstand.
4. Friday, Nov. 27. Waikiki Holiday Parade, 7 p.m., Fort DeRussy to Kapiʻolani Park.
5. Saturday, Nov. 28. KCC Farmers' Market on its regular Saturday schedule.
6. Sunday, Dec. 6. Toys for Tots motorcycle caravan up Monsarrat to the Waikiki Shell lots, 10:30 a.m. to about noon. Permit listed as submitted.
7. Sunday, Dec. 13. JAL Honolulu Marathon, 5 a.m. start, on the loop going out and coming back.

Before any Sunday on this list, check the City's schedule again, since that's where a submitted permit will show as approved, moved or canceled. For marathon week, the organizer's site is where official street-closure details will be posted.

If the loop is part of your daily life, it helps to know how this season affects the streets around your home, and that applies to property values too. Our ohana at Hawaii LUX Team follows Diamond Head block by block, from Monsarrat to the Kahala side of the crater, and we're glad to share what we see. When you're curious what your place is worth, start with a Free Home Valuation.