Kokee Beach Park

Located in the southern part of the Oahu shoreline, Kokee Beach Park - also known as Koke’e Beach Park - is a recreational park that has a small rocky beach.  This beach is known as Koke’e Beach and it is also known as Kokee Beach.  This beach is present below steep, rocky, and forested bluffs.  The water near Kokee Beach Park has a rock shelf. 

Kokee Beach Park does not have lifeguards or any other amenities except a grassy area, so plan accordingly. 

Kokee Beach Park offers many fun activities including sunbathing, beachcombing, wildlife watching, hiking, tidepooling, swimming, bodyboarding, surfing, kitesurfing, scuba diving, windsurfing, kayaking, canoeing, paddleboarding, boating, jet-skiing, surf-skiing, and water-skiing.  Snorkelers and scuba divers often enter the water near Kokee Beach Park to explore its vibrant landscape and biodiversity - depending on the time of the year, you can see many kinds of animals in the water near this beach including sea turtles and many kinds of fish - sea turtles are protected under a law named the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and harming them can result in a fine of up to $50,000 and possible imprisonment.  The marine life in the water near Kokee Beach Park often accumulates around the rocky shelf in the water here.  However, if you are planning to enter the water near Kokee Beach Park, we recommend being careful as the water near the park is known to have unpredictable rip currents.  In addition, the rocky shoreline around the park has also been known to inflict grievous injuries to visitors.  If you are planning to fish in the water near Kokee Beach Park, we recommend ensuring compliance with the local fishing regulations which can be found on the website of the Division of Aquatic Resources (which is a part of the State of Hawai’i’s Department of Land and Natural Resources).  Kokee Beach Park also offers outstanding Instagram-worthy views of the southern Oahu shoreline and the Pacific Ocean.

Getting to Kokee Beach Park is easy - from Kalaniana’ole Highway (also known as Hawaii Route 72), you need to turn towards Nawiliwili Street.  From Nawiliwili Street, you need to turn towards Poipu Drive and then towards Hanapepe Loop.  From Hanapepe Loop, you need to turn towards Kokee Place. The entrance for Kokee Beach Park is present along Kokee Place.  From the entrance, you can easily walk to the blufftop area above the beach in Kokee Beach Park.  However, getting down to the beach from the blufftop area above can be difficult and slightly dangerous as the bluffsides around the beach are steep, slippery, and rocky.

There are many attractions near Kokee Beach Park.  The Spitting Caves are sea caves that are carved along exquisite oceanfront cliffs - these caves “spit” up the ocean water that enters them at high speeds.  The clifftop area above the caves is also a popular dangerous yet popular cliff diving and cliff jumping spot - a memorial is also present in these caves which pays tribute to cliff-divers and cliff-jumpers who died here. Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve is seven minutes away by car and is set in a bay named Hanauma Bay - this bay is an extremely popular snorkeling spot and you can view many kinds of animals in the water near this beach including sea turtles, octopuses, migrating whales, and more than 400 kinds of fish including reef triggerfish (which is also the state fish of Hawaii), eels, and yellowfin goatfish.  Hanauma Bay also has a beach named Hanauma Bay Beach that offers amazing Instagram-worthy photos of the Hawaiian shoreline and the Pacific Ocean and it also has a Marine Education Center which offers interesting exhibits on the local biodiversity and it also has a theater and a gift shop.  Koko Head District Park is a large, beautifully landscaped park that has many amenities including baseball fields, walking paths, playground, restrooms, picnic areas, benches, and tennis courts.  A hiking trail named Koko Railway Trail (also named Koko Crater Trail) is also present near the park - this steep uphill trail offers amazing views of the Oahu shoreline and the city of Honolulu.  If you are looking for another attraction near Kokee Beach Park, Lanai Lookout is a popular observation area that offers amazing Instagram-worthy views of the Pacific Ocean and the south-eastern Oahu shoreline.

If you get hungry, there are many great restaurants near Kokee Beach Park.  Hoku’s At The Kahala is an upscale restaurant that offers a variety of amazing gourmet Hawaiian-inspired dishes.  This restaurant has been awarded a four-diamond rating from the AAA and it has also been awarded Wine Spectator magazine’s Award of Excellence and Honolulu magazine’s Hale ‘AinaAward’s silver prize for the most romantic restaurant in 2019.  Roy’s Hawaii Kai is another upscale restaurant that offers excellent fusion gourmet dishes with Hawaiian culinary influences including seafood, steaks, lamb, and pastas.  Liko’s Tap & Table offers amazing dishes for brunch, lunch, and dinner including salads, sandwiches, tacos, chicken wings, steaks, pastas, seafood, loco moco, and pork chops.  Kim’s Korean BBQ offers amazing Korean dishes for lunch and dinner including kalbi, fish jun, meat jun, and mandoo kook soo.  If you are looking for another good and affordable restaurant near Kokee Beach Park, Loco Moco Drive Inn offers amazing dishes for breakfast and lunch including eggs, pancakes, loco moco, French toasts, seafood, poultry dishes, pork dishes, and beef dishes.

If you are looking for a hotel near Kokee Beach Park, there are many great nearby options within a 30-minute drive.  The 5-Star Kahala Hotel & Resort offers many amenities including complimentary surfing and paddleboarding lessons, a  complimentary local shuttle service, bike and beach towel rental facilities, five restaurants, a fitness center, a spa, and a private lagoon that has dolphins.  The 4-Star Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa is another upscale hotel that offers many amenities including five restaurants, a spa, two pools, and an exercise room.  A more affordable hotel is the Aloha Guest House which offers many amenities including complimentary breakfast and multiple common lanais (meaning verandas in Hawaiian) - the hotel’s lanais offer amazing ocean and forest views.  This bed-and-breakfast is also set within a five-acre splendid organic fruit farm.  If you are looking for another good and affordable hotel near Kokee Beach Park, the 2-Star Ewa Hotel Waikiki offers many amenities including a rooftop sundeck, a coin-operated laundry, and a complimentary shuttle to the Ala Moana shopping mall.