The two months I've spent in Hawaii have allowed me to visit many many beaches. I have found that not all beaches are created equal. There are different types for different purposes. Here is my ranking of the best beaches on Oahu and Maui (so far of course). Something to note before we get into the rankings is that all beaches in Hawaii are public access. However, sometimes resorts and hotels will make the beaches more difficult to access, by making the public access path small and hidden. Always assert that you can access any beach! I rate each of the beaches on roughness and beauty between 1-10. 1 being super ugly and as calm as a lake; 10 being super beautiful and super rough. All Hawaii beaches are super beautiful, giving them a beauty score of at least 5.
1) Kailua Beach
Kailua is hands down the prettiest beach I've ever been to. The water is a very pretty crystal light blue color. There also is a small island in the middle of the water that is easy to go to and explore! The water was also pretty calm, due to the island, allowing for snorkeling, lounging, and paddleboarding. The best part about this water is that is shallow, making it safe and perfect for children. Because the water is shallow, the water was the warmest I've ever been to. Kailua is on the east side of Oahu, so the sunrises here are amazing. There is ample sand and next to the beach are picnic tables and trees. It was like a small forest that met a beach. I highly recommend this beach. On a scale of 1-10, I say this beach has a roughness of 2 and beauty of 10.
2) Waikiki Beach
Waikiki Beach is one of the most renowned beaches in the world. It's a very long stretch of beach that has is a beautiful crystal blue color. It the second lightest beach in terms of color, just behind Kailua. The beach has many different aspects to it. Some parts have a wall, creating a pool that is perfect for little kids. Some parts have more waves that are perfect for surfing. We can see people surfing in the water from the first speck of sunshine till sunset. Some parts of the beach have softer waves that are just fun to lay around and swim in all day. Waikiki beach even has a large wall that people jump off into the water too as well. I love staring out into the water watching the boats, surfers, and swimmers. I was taught to surf here and would say it's a great place to learn. I can't scale the roughness of the water here because it depends on what section you're swimming in, but the beauty here is a 9/10.
3) Papaoneone Beach
This beach is on the west side of the island of Oahu. The benefit of having a west-facing beach is that the sunsets are magnificent. I had a different subset every day in Papaoneone Beach. The beaches in Makaha aren't as crowded as the ones in Waikiki, and because of that there were many times Sajal and I felt like we were on our own private beach. The beach here was a bit deeper, but that means it's better for swimming. We did snorkel here, and while I did see fishes there are definitely better spots to snorkel on Oahu. People would bring floaties and just would float as the waves would push them back and forth. Especially near the shoreline, the waves were rougher. The surrounding area was also beautiful as we had this large mountain right next to the water. On a scale of 1-10, I say this beach has a roughness of 7 and beauty of 9, just because of the sunsets.
4) Makapu'u Beach
This was one of the most unique and most fun beaches to watch. This beach is the roughest beach I've ever been to. The waves here were ridiculous. Crashing onto the jagged rocks one after each other. When we went it was only local Hawaiians. They were just charging into the water with their boogie boards. They had those because a surfboard definitely would've been broken in the water. The locals just were getting pounded by the water having the best time. Just by standing on the edge, the waves pushed me over causing me to fall. Even if I had a boogie board, I wouldn't have gone in this water, just because the roughness of the water scared me. I think this is a must-see beach, just because of how unique the beach is. The beach is on the southeast side of Oahu. On a scale of 1-10, I say this beach has a roughness of 11 and beauty of 8.
5) Ho'okipa Beach
This was also a very fun beach to watch. This beach is in the North part of the island of Maui and was one of the first stops on the highway to Hana. There was a part where you could park your car and look down upon the water. The beach is a little rocky, but it is a favorite to surf on. Sajal had lunch and just watched the surfers. This beach is famous for having very large, 200-year-old turtles here. We saw some in the water but none on the sand, unfortunately. This beach isn't ideal for swimming or paddleboarding, but if you're a surfer I highly recommend it! There is also sand, but not too much. On a scale of 1-10, I say this beach has a roughness of 7 and beauty of 8.
6) Black Sand Beach
This beach is the best place along the road to Hana in Maui is the black sand beach. The sand is mixed with volcanic ash that turns the beach black! The beach is super beautiful and unique. However, the sand is more of small rocks than sand. I've been to a black beach in Germany and there the sand was more sand-like. That is my only complaint about this beach. The beach is right next to these large rocks. Sajal and I lay down on rocks/sand in the shade of the cliffs and even napped. It was really nice and beautiful. The waves here were nice. This beach is close to the town of Hana, placing it on the East side of Maui. I wouldn't snorkel, surf, or paddleboard on this beach. This beach is more for viewing than using. On a scale of 1-10, I say this beach has a roughness of 6 and beauty of 9.
7) North Shore
Many people love the North Shore beaches. The North Shore in Oahu can get 70-foot waves in the winter, and people host surfing competitions here. I went in the summer so I wasn't able to see this phenomenon. I saw about 10 beaches as we drove along the North Shore boast. They are all pretty similar so I grouped them all together. After all of the hype I had heard from the North Shore beaches, I was a bit disappointed. The water wasn't super light blue or a really pretty deep blue. It was just pretty regular blue. The waves were normal, not too rough nor too calm (again probably because I came in summer). Something I noticed here was that the water was really cold, as cold as Virginia water. There is a lot of sand and there fun spots to snorkel, surf, and paddleboard. On a scale of 1-10, I say this beach has a roughness of 4 and beauty of 6.
8) Kaanapali Beach
Kaanapali beach is the beach of the resorts of Kaanapali. There are two main resort locations in Maui - Kaanapali and Wailea (which I discuss next). The beach was next to the Hyatt and Marriott resorts. Kaanapali is on the west side of the island. I liked this beach a lot but I wished there was more sand. Right next to the beach was this green grass and people were grilling. There was also this sidewalk that allowed you to walk between the beach and resorts. The water was much calmer here, allowing for more paddleboarding and snorkeling. On a scale of 1-10, I say this beach has a roughness of 2 and beauty of 7. The water was lighter here compared to the rest of Maui, which is what makes me give it a slightly higher score than Wailea.
9) Wailea Beach
Wailea Beach Park is the beach of the resorts in Wailea, including Four Seasons, Marriot, and Waldorf Astoria Resort. This beach is in the southern part of Maui. It was a bit harder to get to this beach than Kaanapali beach because the public access road was hard to find. We didn't go into the water on this beach because the waves were rough. On a scale of 1-10, I say this beach has a roughness of 7 and beauty of 6. I think the waves were too rough to surf here unless you are very skilled of course. The water was a deep blue color that was really pretty. This deep blue color can be seen all around Maui as we drove around. Sajal and I didn't spend too much time here though because it was so windy the sand kept getting into our eyes.
10) Hana Bay Beach
We saw this little beach when we went to the town of Hana in Maui, which is on the east of the island. This beach is teeny tiny. It is kind of a black sand beach, and the water is pretty shallow. There isn't too much sand or places to swim. It's also a little rocky. This is a spot where a lot of the locals like to hang out. Sajal and I didn't spend too much time here because, after a little bit, we felt that it was more than enough time here. On a scale of 1-10, I say the water has a roughness of 2 and the beauty of this beach was probably around 3. The reason the beauty score is so low is that the beach was basically right next to the road, taking from its beauty.
Comments