Queen’s Beach(Queen Kapiolani Beach, Queen's Surf Beach Park)

 Queen’s Beach offers many amenities including lifeguards, showers, restrooms, concession stands, picnic tables, a nearby pavilion, and nearby watersporting equipment and beach chair rental facilities.  Dogs are not allowed at Queen’s Beach.  Getting to Queen’s Beach is easy - the beach is located near the intersection between Kalakaua Avenue and Kapahulu Avenue and it is easily accessible from Interstate H-1.  There are many metered and free street parking spaces near Queen’s Beach – in addition, there are also free and metered street parking spaces near the nearby Kapiolani Regional Park and you can easily walk to Queen’s Beach after parking at the street parking spaces here.  We recommend visiting the beach early during weekends because the parking spaces near the beach can fill up quickly during this time.

Queen’s Beach offers many fun activities including sunbathing, beachcombing, wildlife watching, picnicking, swimming, surfing, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, snorkeling, skimboarding, kayaking, canoeing, kitesurfing, windsurfing, surf-skiing, water-skiing, jet-skiing, boating, and paddleboarding.  The water near Queen’s Beach offers fun yet manageable surfing waves - this makes the beach extremely popular among surfers.  Surfing competitions are also frequently organized near Queen’s Beach.  If you like bodyboarding and bodysurfing, the water around the Kapahulu Groin is popular with bodyboarders and bodysurfers – this bodyboarding and bodysurfing area is named “Waikiki Walls” and it is ideal for beginner and expert bodysurfers.  Beginner bodyboarders and bodysurfers bodysurf/bodyboard on the left side of the Waikiki Walls while expert bodysurfers and bodyboarders bodysurf/bodyboard on the right side of this bodysurfing and bodyboarding area.     

During calmer water conditions, snorkelers and scuba divers also visit Queen’s Beach to explore its vibrant marine biodiversity – there is an aquatic area that is adjacent to a nearby aquarium named the Waikiki Aquarium.  This area has a reef and this makes it ideal for snorkelers and scuba divers.  Depending on the time of the year, you can see many kinds of animals in the water near Queen’s Beach including sea turtles, migrating whales, Hawaiian monk seals, and many kinds of fish including parrotfish, needlefish, and tangs.

If you are planning to swim, bodysurf, or scuba dive near Queen’s Beach, we recommend being careful as the water here is known to have unpredictable rip currents.  It is also important to note that no surfboards are allowed within 150 yards of the Kapahulu Groin.  In addition, we also recommend being careful while surfing here as Queen’s Beach is known to have localist surfers.  It is important to note that fishing is prohibited in the water near Queen’s Beach because the water here is part of the Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District.  The southern end of Queen’s Beach is popular with the members of the LGBTQ community.  If you like taking pictures with beautiful views, you can walk along the Kapahulu Groin and enjoy amazing Instagram-worthy views of the Oahu shoreline and the Pacific Ocean.

The beach hosts amazing movie screenings sessions on weekend evenings named Sunset on the Beach- this event also sees live music performances being performed in Queen’s Beach, along with plenty of food options.  The movie screening starts around 7 pm, while the musical performances start a couple of hours earlier at 4 pm.

Kapiolani Regional Park is a popular waterfront regional park that is located near the beach and has many amenities including tennis courts, an archery range, soccer fields, a three-mile jogging course, and picnic areas.  The beautifully landscaped 200-acre park also has the Honolulu Zoo (which is a popular 42-acre zoo that is home to over 1230 animals) and a bandshell named the Waikiki Shell - the Royal Hawaiian Band offers free live music performances in this bandshell on Sunday afternoons

The beach received its main name (Queen’s Beach and Queen’s Surf Beach) due to the fact that the area near the beach was once the site of Queen Lili’uokalani’s home - Queen Lili’uokalani was the last monarch of the kingdom of Hawaii.  The beach received its alternative names (Queen Kapiolani Beach, Kapiolani Park Beach, and Queen Kapiʻolani Beach) due to the nearby Kapiolani Regional Park – this park in turn received its name due to another Hawaiian queen named Kapiʻolani.  There is a concrete seawall at Queen’s Beach that is known as the Kapahulu Groin – this seawall is also known as "Waikiki Wall."  A bronze sculpture is located near the northern end of Queen’s Beach - this statue is known as “Surfer on a Wave '' and it is a monument to surfing in Waikiki.

There are many attractions near Queen’s Beach. Paki Community Park is a recreational park which has many amenities including restrooms, basketball courts, volleyball courts, benches, and grassy areas. If you like golfing, Ala Wai Golf Course is an 18-hole golf course that offers a fun and challenging session of golf.  U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii is set inside a coastal artillery battery named Fort Randolph and it has many interesting military-related memorabilia and artifacts including armor pieces from World War Two and a AH-1 Cobra helicopter.  This museum also offers interesting exhibits that offer a unique insight into the military history of Hawaii and The United States.   Queen Kapiolani Garden is a garden that has many species of plants from both Hawaii and from various regions of the world - this garden is known for its hibiscus flowers and Lokelani roses – this garden is a part of the Kapiolani Regional Park.  If you are looking for another attraction near Queen’s Beach, Amelia Earhart Marker is a historical marker which was installed to commemorate aviatrix Amelia Earhart ’s feat as the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the mainland United States.  The area near this marker is a prominent observation area (which is also known as Amelia Earhart Lookout) that offers amazing views of the Oahu shoreline and the Pacific Ocean.

If you get hungry, there are many attractions near Queen’s Beach.  Arancino di Mare is an Italian restaurant which offers amazing Neapolitan dishes including pastas, pizza, risotto, and carpaccio.  LuLu’s Waikiki is a waterfront restaurant with a relaxed ambiance.  This restaurant also serves amazing dishes for lunch and breakfast including pupu platters, eggs, burritos, tacos, burgers, quesadillas, sandwiches, and salads.  Uncle Bo’s Pupu Bar & Grill offers amazing seafood, steaks, salads, pupu platters, soups, pastas, and pizzas.  Barefoot Beach Cafe is a waterfront restaurant that offers amazing dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner including steaks, seafood, quesadillas, Hawaiian-style dishes, hot dog,  fries,  sandwiches, poultry dishes, burgers, and French toasts.  In additio, the restaurant also hosts live music performances.  If you are looking for another good and affordable restaurant near Queen’s Beach, Mami’s Empanadas serves delicious Latin American dishes including choripan and empanadas.   

If you are looking for a hotel near Queen’s Beach, there are many great nearby options.  The 5-Star The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikiki Beach offers many amenities including a spa, three eateries, a 24-hour fitness center, and an 8th floor infinity pool, a complimentary beverage at check in, and private cabanas.  Another 5-Star hotel is ‘Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach that offers many amenities including multiple restaurants, an aquarium,  a pool, a spa, watersporting equipment rental facilities, car rental facilities, a fitness center, tennis courts, batting cages, and laundry services.  Another upscale option is the 4-Star Queen Kapiʻolani Hotel Waikīkī Beach that offers many amenities including a spa, a cafe, a fitness center, a poolside cocktail bar, a pool,  a restaurant, and a terrace.  The hotel also offers many other amenities for a resort fee including access to surfing demonstrations at a nearby surf school, beach chairs/towels loaner facilities,  access to weekly live music performances, and access to a variety of other fun activities including lessons in yoga, lei making, and hula dancing.  A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach that offers many amenities including a 24-hour cafe, a fitness center, a pool, a laundry service, a sun terrace, complimentary breakfast, a gift shop, and beach equipment and water sporting equipment rental facility.  In addition, the hotel also offers a few amenities for a destination fee including beach towel loaner facilities, access to lei making classes, and watersporting equipment and volleyball equipment loaner facilities.  If you are looking for another good and affordable hotel near Queen’s Beach, the 2-Star Waikiki Grand Hotel offers many amenities including a restaurant, a nightclub, grocery delivery service (available for a fee), a pool, and a sundeck.