Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BEACHES
Oahu has more than 130 beaches of every conceivable kind—from legendary white-sand
stretches to secluded rocky bays. Waikiki, of course, is the best known, but there are many
others—some more beautiful, all less crowded. The following sample of Oahu's finest beaches
was carefully selected to suit every need, taste, and interest, from the sunbather in repose to
the most ardent diver.
The Waikiki Coast
ALA MOANA BEACH PARK
★★★
Quite possibly America's best urban beach, gold-sand Ala Moana (“by the sea”), on sunny
Mamala Bay, stretches for more than a mile along Honolulu's coast between downtown and
Waikiki. This 76-acre midtown beach park, with spreading lawns shaded by banyans and
palms, is one of the island's most popular playgrounds. It has a man-made beach, created in
the 1930s by filling a coral reef with Waianae Coast sand, as well as its own lagoon, yacht
harbor, tennis courts, music pavilion, bathhouses, picnic tables, and enough wide-open green
spaces to accommodate four million visitors a year. The water is calm almost year-round, pro-
tected by black lava rocks set offshore. You can park in the large lot or at metered street park-
ing.
WAIKIKI BEACH
★★★
★★★
No beach anywhere is so widely known or so universally sought after as this narrow, 1½-mile-
long crescent of imported sand (from Molokai) at the foot of a string of high-rise hotels. Home
to the world's longest-running beach party, Waikiki attracts nearly five million visitors a year
from every corner of the planet. First-timers are always amazed to discover how small Waikiki
Beach actually is, but everyone finds a place for themselves under the tropical sun here.
