Kaʻalawai Beach
Honolulu, HI
Tucked below Diamond Head at the foot of Black Point, Kaʻalawai Beach is a narrow ribbon of sand that most tourists never find, hemmed in by some of Honolulu's priciest homes. The shallow reef out front keeps the water calm on all but the biggest south swells, and Shangri La, Doris Duke's old estate, sits right at the beach's eastern edge.
A genuinely quiet, scenic pocket beach most visitors walk right past, but there's no real facilities and barely any sand once the tide comes up.
How we score beachesCome at low tide. At high tide there's barely a strip of dry sand left between the water and the seawalls.
There's no lot, just a handful of legal street spots on Kulamanu Street near the concrete steps that lead down to the sand.
A short flight of concrete steps drops from Kulamanu Place to the beach, not stroller friendly, and the sand itself narrows to almost nothing at high tide.
Calmest in summer behind the reef, while winter south swells occasionally push enough water in to erase the beach entirely for a few hours around high tide.
More Hawaii beaches
Waikiki Beach
Honolulu, HI · Hawaii
4 access points
The beach that put Hawaii surfing on the map, with gentle, forgiving waves for beginners, Diamond Head crater as a backdrop, and a reef that keeps the water calm most of the year.
Lanikai Beach
Kailua, HI · Hawaii
A quiet, residential-neighborhood beach on Oahu's windward side, with powder-soft sand, turquoise water, and two small offshore islets (the Mokulua) as a paddling destination.
Poipu Beach
Koloa, HI · Hawaii
A sheltered, sunny south-shore beach on Kauai split into a calm swimming lagoon and a livelier surf side, with a good chance of spotting Hawaiian monk seals resting on the sand.