We spent one week in the Waikoloa area on the Big Island this November! It was our 4-year late honeymoon adventure. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to share about this trip so I thought some advice about our favorite big island beaches might be a good start! We went to Hawaii with no plans other than enjoying laying on gorgeous beaches and enjoying each others company. We stayed at the Hilton resort and spent most of our time within an hour drive of there. You need a rental car if you go and want to explore beaches!
Mauna Kea
Mauna Kea Beach was by far our favorite of the big island beaches. It’s a private beach, but no beaches are truly allowed to be private in Hawaii. They have to offer some sort of public access parking. You have to drive in through a manned gate though, and they can turn you away if the parking is full. We were turned away twice for full parking. The best time we found to go was early in the morning after sunrise and closer to sunset, with better chances bright and early.
Usually we did one beach thing in the AM, went back to the hotel for lunch and a break, then hit a second beach for the afternoon. Mauna Kea never feels too crowded because the public beach parking is pretty limited. It has a lot of gorgeous white sand bank and the water is super clear when the waves are chill. Also has public restrooms and a rinse off area before you leave. Cannot recommend it enough!
Hapuna Beach State Park
If you can’t get into Mauna Kea because the parking is full, drive about 2 minutes back down the road to Hapuna Beach State Park. Hapuna is a state park beach so it costs $5 to park/enter. There are also public restrooms/rinse off areas and rental equipment. It is much more crowded than Mauna Kea but the same gorgeous views, sand, and clear water when its calm. If it’s windy bring your boogie board (to any of the beaches). If you’re looking for somewhere to get family photos done on vacation Hapuna is a popular spot. Just be prepared to have some people in the background unless your photographer offers retouching.
‘Anaeho’omalu and the Lava Lava Beach Club
We didn’t find out about ‘Anaeho’omalu beach until a day or so before we left. It’s on the Hilton/Marriott property just before you get to the main road. It’s much smaller and doesn’t have quite as fine sand as Mauna Kea or Hapuna, but it DOES have the Lava Lava Beach Club. Just to the left of the beach entrance is the Lava Lava beach club, where you can get AMAZING PuPus (appetizers) that are cheap at happy hour. They also have a yard area set up with free games to play like cornhole and ping pong. You can grab a drink at the bar and walk over to play whether you are waiting on a table or not! It was one of our favorite spots.
We did our family photos at the actual beach here. I searched “#bigislandphotographer” on Instagram until I found a photographer whose work I liked! She did an awesome job and the beach was empty enough that it wasn’t awkward. We would hire Bailey again! Find her work here as well as three photos she took of us just below!
Two Step and Kahualu’u Beach Park for Snorkeling
We made one day a full snorkeling day and drove down to two different areas! If you are military you can park at the national park next door to two step for free, check it out, then walk over. We went off to the right side to get in where there are literally two rock steps to climb in/out. It’s not a beach, just a rock area.
The wind was really strong so I was a little worried about climbing in and out without getting thrashed, but it was fine. I’d also never snorkeled before. There is nowhere to stand so if you are freaked about that I wouldn’t recommend going out too far. We went out far enough until the bottom started to look really dark and turned around. Later we were sitting next to a German couple that said they went so far out it was black under them. They ended up seeing dolphins right next to them!
After Two step we went to Kahualu’u Beach Park which was free to park and had a food truck with bathrooms. This was all shallow water snorkeling so you could stand anytime. It would be a great place for a first-time snorkeler who is nervous or if you have kids to monitor.
Waikola Beach
Waikola beach was one we read about on a few top 5 lists. I am just writing about it to tell you it wasn’t that great when we went. The tide was high so there was hardly any beach. There are loads of trees and stumps and the waves were pretty rough that day, so swimming seemed dangerous. Might be better on a low tide and calmer wind day! We had high winds every day until the end of our trip. The beach was pretty private because not very many people were there since the sand area was limited, but we didn’t go back after visiting once. We stopped there after being turned away from Mauna Kea one afternoon, then checked Mauna Kea again after about 30 mins at Waikola and got in.
Next time
We did not go to the Hilo side of the island or see any of the valleys. With a limited time there, we knew we just wanted to beach it and relax! I recommend you decide ahead of going what your game plan is, whether you’re down to just relax on the beach or if you want to spend a lot of time driving to check all of the boxes for things to do on the big island.
Another beach we wished we had been able to go to was Makalawena beach. We started on our way there but had to turn around because the road is definitely only accessible with four-wheel drive. We had a tiny rental that we did not want to destroy. Next time we go we would like to rent a four-wheel drive vehicle to do more exploring!
Images © Megan Leigh Acosta and Bailey Makaimoku as noted 2018