Waimanalo Beach
Waimanalo Bay Beach Park is located in the center of Waimanalo Beach, one of the longest white sand beaches on Oahu. The entire beach is over three miles long, but the portion of it fronting the park is approximately three-quarters of a mile long. The beach is wide, and the ocean bottom slopes gently to overhead depths across a series of shallow sandbars. Small, one-to two-foot high trade wind-generated surf breaks on the sandbars all year round. Facilities in the seventy-five acre park include restrooms, showers, picnic tables, camping sites, and parking. Permits are required for camping. Lifeguards are on duty daily. Read more
Makapuu Beach
Makapuu Beach is located on the leeward side of Makapuu Point, the easternmost point on Oahu, Hawaii. A curved pocket of white sand approximately 1,000 feet long and 200 feet wide, the beach sits at the base of a sea cliff, bounded by lava points. During the summer months, when the ocean is usually calm, the beach is wide with a gently slope, but during the winter months, it experiences a dramatic change in appearance. Seasonal high surf erodes the beach to half its width, exposing a large lava ledge at the waters edge. Read more
Sandy Beach
Sandy Beach is a wide white sand beach, approximately 1,200 feet long and 200 feet wide that lies at the base of Koko Crater, which, at 1,208 feet, is the highest crater on the shoreline of Oahu, Hawaii. Bordered on its west end by the famous Halona Blowhole, Sandy Beach has a moderately steep, sloping foreshore and an ocean bottom that drops quickly to overhead depths. The quick change in depth creates steep, hard-breaking waves that form a pounding shorebreak. At the east end of the beach, waves also break on a rocky point and further offshore on an outer reef. Park facilities include restrooms, showers, picnic areas, a kite-flying area, and parking. Read more
Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve
Hanauma Bay is a small, horseshoe-shaped bay located in Koko Head, a prominent headland at the southeastern end of Oahu. Measuring approximately one-half mile form shore to its outer points and one-third mile from point to point, it contains a shallow fringing reef and a white sand beach approximately 2,000 feet long and 100 feet wide. Park facilities include restrooms, showers, picnic areas, snack bar, snorkel rental, tram service, park office, lost and found, and parking. The University of Hawaii has an educational counter where staff members answer questions, hand out brochures, and conduct hourly walking tours at no charge. A fee is charged for parking and for entry to the beach. Read more
Waikiki Beach
Although Waikiki Beach is approximately two miles long, the “heart” of the beach fronts four hotels – the Sheraton Waikiki, the Royal Hawaiian, the Outrigger Waikiki, and the Sheraton Moana Surfrider Hotels – and Kuhio Beach Park. This is where the highest concentration of sunbathers and swimmers is found, along with most of Waikiki’s beach concessions, and this is where Waikiki’s famous surfing waves are located. The concessionaires rent surfboards and bodyboards and offer surfing lessons and outrigger canoe and catamaran rides. Waikiki Beach includes many individually named beach sections that primarily recognize the adjacent hotels or parks. From west to east these sections are Kahanamoku Beach fronting the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel, Kahanamoku Beach Park at the end of Paoa Place, Fort DeRussy Beach, the Outrigger Reef Hotel, Gray’s Beach fronting the Halekulani Hotel, the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel, the Sheraton Moana Surfrider Hotel, Kuhio Beach Park, The Wall, Queen’s Surf Beach, the War Memorial Natatorium, Sans Souci Beach, the Outrigger Canoe Club, and the Elks Club. Read more
Ala Moana Beach Park
Ala Moana Beach Park is the largest urban beach park in Honolulu and includes over 100 acres of picnic areas, softball fields, comfort stations, showers, food concessions, tennis courts, and parking. Fronting the park is a narrow white sand beach over one-half mile long with a deep swimming channel. The eastern portion of the park is a peninsula, extending seaward to a lagoon and a white sand beach, bordered by the Ala Wai Boat Harbor, the only boat harbor in Waikiki. Read more