Hanakapiai Beach

Located at the base of oceanfront mountains, Hanakapiai Beach – also called Hanakapi’ai Beach – is a popular and beautiful beach with light brown sand, a large amount of large black rocks, pebbles, and many nearby trees and caves in northwestern Kauai.  This beach is approximately 2 miles long and a part of a state park named Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park.  The Hanakapi’ai Stream flows through this beach – once it passes this beach, it flows into the Pacific Ocean.  The beach loses a lot of sand and becomes very rocky and pebbly during winters because the turbulent Pacific Ocean washes away the sand here.  Yahoo.com listed this beach as one of the world’s most athletic beaches.  

Hanakapiai Beach does not have lifeguards or any other amenities except some restrooms, so please plan accordingly.

Hanakapiai Beach offers many fun activities including sunbathing, beachcombing, fishing, hiking, picnicking, and wildlife watching.  The water here is extremely unsafe for water activities because it has dangerous rip currents and extremely powerful waves and shore breaks, particularly during winters.  While the water may look calm during summers, it has a strong undertow which makes it equally dangerous.  The beach is infamous for its turbulent water conditions and high surf – a sign near the beach displays a tally count of the people who have reportedly drowned here.  Many publications have listed this beach as one of the most dangerous beaches in the world including Reader’s Digest, Travel Noire, and the Sydney Morning Herald.  

If you like taking pictures with amazing views, Hanakapiai Beach and the area near it also offers amazing Instagram-worthy views of the Pacific Ocean and the North Shore Napali Coast region.  You can also explore the interesting and beautiful Hanakapiai Beach cave system nearby – there are multiple interesting caves here that can be explored by visitors.  

If you like hiking, there is a two-mile long trail near the beach named the Hanakapiai Falls Trail – this trail leads to a scenic 100-foot-tall waterfall named Hanakapiai Falls.  The Hanakapiai Falls has a pool at its bottom and you can gently enter this and enjoy a refreshing dip.

Hanakapiai Beach does not offer wheelchair access to visitors with disabilities.

Getting to Hanakapiai Beach can be difficult, because to reach here you need to hike along a two mile-portion of an 11 mile-long hiking trail named Kalalau Trail – the starting point of Kalalau Trail is at the northwest end of Hawaii Route 560, which is also called Kuhio Highway.  Please note that the trailhead for Kalalau Trail is located within a separate state park named Haʻena State Park – you can park at the state park’s parking lot that is near the trailhead for Kalalau Trail.  We recommend removing any valuables from your parked car at the parking lot here because burglaries have been known to occur here.  

It is important to note that you need to purchase a paid reservation to be able to access Haʻena State Park and park here – you can visit the state park’s webpage at the website of the Division of State Parks for more information regarding the online reservation booking rules and fees.  In addition, you can also get a shuttle service to Haʻena State Park from the nearby community of Waipa – if you are planning to use this shuttle, you can visit gohaena.com for more information.  

Once you have safely parked at Ha’ena State Park, you can start your Hanakapiai Beach hike – you can walk from Kalalau Trail to Hanakapiai Beach after a dangerous hour-and-half long trek.  This trail passes through steep coastal cliffs and it also has narrow, rugged, and uneven parts – you also need to cross a stream named Hanakapiai Stream before you reach Hanakapiai Beach.  During your hike, the trail can gain an elevation of 500 meters.  This hike can be extremely dangerous and multiple publications have listed Kalalau Trail as one of the most dangerous hiking trails in the United States including Huffington Post, Outside Magazine, and Backpacker Magazine.  Please attempt this hike only if you are an experienced hiker.  

We recommend being careful when you cross the stream to reach this beach because the turbulent water here can cause flash flooding, especially after rains.   

Please also note that the Kalalau Trail often gets crowded between June and August.  While the trail is less crowded in winters between December and February, the weather gets quite rainy during this time, making hiking difficult.   We recommend visiting Hanakapiai Beach during summers because in winters it may be completely submerged. 

Sometimes you can also see small cairns at this beach – while these cairns have been made by visitors to mark their visit, we don’t encourage forming cairns here because it is against local beliefs.  We recommend visiting this beach at low tide because it can get significantly rockier at high tide.

The beach’s name – Hanakapiʻai – means “bay sprinkling food” in Hawaiian.  In addition, the beach and the area around it were earlier used by Native Hawaiians for farming and fishing.

There are many attractions near Hanakapiai Beach Kauai Hawaii within a 30-minute-drive.  Haʻena State Park  is a state park that has a beach named Keʻe Beach and it offers many fun activities including hiking, beachcombing, snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, and wildlife watching.  This state park offers many fun things to explore including forests, historic sites, and two wet caves that are filled with water – one of the wet caves here was featured in the 2011 movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  Maniniholo Dry Cave is a cave that is about 300 yards deep and it is named after Maniniholo, the chief fisherman of the legendary Hawaiian Menehune people – some local stories believe that this cave was created by Maniniholo as a part of his plan to catch an evil spirit.  While the cave’s passageway is partially narrow, exploring it is still fun.  

Limahuli Garden & Preserve is a nature preserve and botanical garden which has a wide variety of Polynesian-introduced and Native Hawaiian plant species – in addition, you can also see endangered birds in this garden and preserve.  In addition, the park also has restored taro terraces that date back to pre-European contact-era Hawaii, a historic Hawaiian house, and it also has a trail named the Whale Trail.  Hanalei Valley Lookout is another great nearby attraction – it is an observation area that offers amazing Instagram-worthy photos of the picturesque Hanalei Valley.  If you are looking for another attraction near the beach, Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge is a 917-acre refuge which  was established for protecting endangered local bird species including the Hawaiian duck, the Hawaiian coot, and the Hawaiian goose.  You can explore the park’s vibrant coastal biodiversity through a hiking trail named the Okolehao Trail – this wildlife refuge also has a historic rice mill that offers an insight into the local history.

If you get hungry, there are many restaurants near Hanakapiai Beach within a 30-minute drive.  Opakapaka Grill and Bar offers amazing seafood, burgers, sandwiches, different kinds of pastas, steaks, flatbread, soups, and salads.  The Dolphin Restaurant – also called the Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant – offers many amazing dishes including steaks, seafood, Hawaiian-style chicken dishes, and sushi.  Postcards Restaurant – also called Postcards Cafe – offers amazing gourmet dishes infused with local Hawaiian and international culinary influences.  The Hanalei Gourmet is set in a historic building and offers amazing dishes for lunch and dinner including pupu platters, burgers, sandwiches, and salads.  If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby restaurant, Napali Art Gallery and Coffee House offers hot and cold drinks including coffee, tea, and latte – it also offers light snacks including bagels, sandwiches, and muffins.

If you are looking for a hotel near Hanakapiai Beach, there are many great nearby options within a 30-minute drive.  The 5-Star 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay offers many amenities including a spa, multiple restaurants and bars, multiple pools (including an infinity pool), a hot tub, a fitness center, a salon, and a retail shop.  The 4-Star The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas offers many amenities including a bar, a grocery store, a restaurant, four pools, three hot tubs, exercise classes, and a spa.  A more affordable hotel is the 3.5-Star Hanalei Colony Resort which offers many amenities including a restaurant, a coffee shop, a spa with yoga classes, a pool, and a hot tub.  A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star Club Wyndham Bali Hai Villas that offers many amenities including a fitness center, a basketball court, multiple pools, multiple hot tubs, a firepit, movie rental facilities, and a guest-use computer.  If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby hotel, The Cliffs at Princeville offers many amenities including barbecue areas, a gym, a pool, a putting green, a playground, shuffleboard courts, a basketball court, a terrace, a wedding machine, and a garden.