Kaikoura Beach

If you get hungry, there are many great restaurants near Kaikoura Beach.  King Tide Eatery serves incredible seafood, meat, and poultry dishes.  The Craypot Kitchen & Bar Kaikoura serves delicious salads, pizzas, falafels, burritos, meat, seafood, and poultry dishes.  Groper Garage Bar & Restaurant serves incredible salads, burgers, pizzas, seafood, poultry, and meat dishes.  The Whaler Bar and Restaurant serves amazing vegetarian dishes.  If you are looking for another good and affordable restaurant, Green Dolphin Restaurant and Bar serves delicious seafood.

If you are looking for accommodation near Kaikoura Beach, there are many great options nearby.  If you are looking for an upscale hotel, the 5-Star Fyffe Country Lodge offers a few amenities, including a restaurant and comfortable rooms.  A more affordable hotel is the 4-Star Sudima Kaikoura, which offers a few amenities, including an outdoor pool, hot tub, comfortable rooms, and a restaurant.  Another moderately priced option is the 4-Star Kaikoura Gateway Motor Lodge, which has several amenities, including an outdoor pool, a sauna, and a barbecue grill area.  A more reasonably priced option is the 3-Star Lemon Tree Lodge, which has a few amenities, including a barbecue grill facility, comfortable rooms, and an outdoor seating area.  If you are looking for another affordable hotel, The Hamptons has comfortable rooms and a dining area.

Kaikoura Beach does have lifeguards but offers many other amenities, including restrooms, showers, shaded areas, picnic areas with picnic tables, a barbecue grill facility, walking trails, cycling paths, a Kaikoura boat ramp, wildlife viewing platforms, nearby cafes, seafood restaurants, takeaway shops, and hotels.

Kaikoura Beach offers many fun activities, including swimming, sunbathing, beachcombing, fishing, watching wildlife, surfing, paddleboarding, snorkeling, sport fishing, and photography.  If you plan to go into the water, swimming is allowed, but we recommend being careful, as water is known to have unpredictable rip currents.  If you enjoy surfing, it is a great place to go surfing due to frequent windy weather.  Snorkelers and divers can explore the deep Kaikoura Canyon, which lies just offshore, where they may spot the diverse marine life that thrives in its clear waters.  Hikers can explore the nearby Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway, which offers unique insights into the local biodiversity.  Kaikoura Beach is a popular spot for wildlife watching, particularly for sperm whales, New Zealand fur seals (kekeno), dusky dolphins, and seabirds including albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters, which can often be seen near the beach.  Dogs are allowed if they are on a leash, and the beach is open from sunrise until sunset.

Kaikoura Beach offers an access path for people with disabilities.

Getting to Kaikoura Beach is easy - the beach has several parking spots near 96 West End, Kaikoura 7300, New Zealand, which provide easy access to the beach.

The name "Kaikoura" comes from the Maori language, meaning “meal of crayfish." The beach and surrounding waters are considered significant in Māori culture and mythology.

Interestingly, the beach was dramatically reshaped by the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, which uplifted sections of the coastline, and the seabed rose by up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) in some places due to the earthquake. The uplift created new rock pools and exposed seabed areas, attracting many scientists and visitors to this beach.

There are many attractions near Kaikoura Beach.  Kaikoura Museum is a modern and interactive award-winning museum housed in an architecturally unique building that showcases the region's rich history, marine biology, and Maori heritage through our impressive collections, exhibitions, events, and programs.  EcoZip Adventures Kaikoura offers a thrilling 3.5-hour ecotourism experience that provides an exhilarating zipline journey over native bush and rolling farmland, where visitors can enjoy panoramic views of the Kaikoura plains and the seaward mountain ranges.  The Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway is a moderately challenging trail that meanders through dramatic cliffs of the Kaikoura Peninsula, with panoramic views of the Kaikoura coastline, rugged cliffs, snow-capped mountains, and the Pacific Ocean.  Visitors may spot a colony of New Zealand fur seals sunbathing on the rocks at Point Kean and many native seabirds, including red-billed gulls, black-backed gulls, terns, and shags nesting along the cliffs.

Fyffe House is the oldest building in the Kaikoura region that offers a fascinating glimpse into the town’s whaling history and early European settlement.  It was originally part of a whaling station established by Robert Fyffe, where today you will find antique furniture, tools, and whaling equipment used by early settlers.  If you are looking for another nearby attraction, the Hikurangi Marine Reserve is a protected marine area off the coast of Kaikoura, known for its rich biodiversity, deep-sea canyon, and abundant marine life.  It is home to sperm whales, dusky dolphins, orcas, humpback whales, seals, and unique invertebrates, making it a prime location for whale watching, snorkeling, marine research, and incredible ocean experiences in New Zealand.