Tunnels Beach

Located in the northern part of the Kauai shoreline, Tunnels Beach – also called Makua Beach – is a popular half-mile-long beach with coarse golden coral sand. The travel website Big 7 Travel listed this beach as one of the best beaches in the world – in addition, Travel+Leisure magazine also listed this beach as one of the “12 Best Beaches in Kauai for Sunsets, Snorkeling, and Swimming.” This beach is very popular with families and you can see many families here, especially on weekends. 

Tunnels Beach has lifeguards, who patrol around the beach on ATVs. In addition to lifeguards, the beach has many other amenities including restrooms, showers, picnic areas, concession stands, and drinking water facilities. 

Tunnels Beach offers many fun activities, including sunbathing, beachcombing, fishing, picnicking, swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing, kitesurfing, windsurfing, bodysurfing, tide-pooling, boogie boarding, jet-skiing, water-skiing, wakeboarding, kayaking, canoeing, surf-skiing, and wildlife watching.

This beach is popular with less-experienced swimmers during summer, because the clear and partially shallow water here is known to have manageable waves. In addition, expert surfers also visit this beach because it sometimes offers great surfing waves, especially between November and April.

The beach is immensely popular with snorkelers and scuba divers who visit here to explore its vibrant marine biodiversity and landscape – there are interesting lava tubes and rock arches here that you can explore. This beach was listed as one of the best five snorkeling sites in Hawaii in an online poll conducted by the HAWAII Magazine. The western part of this beach is a particularly ideal Tunnels Beach snorkeling site – the inner reefs here are ideal for beginner snorkelers and scuba divers, while expert snorkelers and scuba divers visit the beach’s outer reefs. 

If you are planning to swim, surf, snorkel, or scuba dive here, we recommend being careful because the water here is known to have unpredictable rip currents and dangerous waves, especially during winters. The rugged reefs here can also cause serious injuries – shark attacks have also been documented here. If you are looking for a place to rest after enjoying various activities here, there are many pine trees nearby that offer shade and are great sites for resting. If you like taking pictures with excellent views, Tunnels Beach offers amazing Instagram-worthy views of the Pacific Ocean and the northern Kauai shoreline, especially at sunsets.

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

Getting to Tunnels Beach Kauai is easy – the access path for this beach is located near 5-7640 Kuhio Highway, near mile marker 8 of Hawaii Route 560, which is also called Kuhio Highway. There is a small free Tunnels Beach parking lot nearby. Once you park here, you can then easily walk to Tunnels Beach through a walking path – we recommend parking here before 9:30 am because the parking lot here can get filled up quickly. 

As an alternate access option, you can also park at the free parking lot of another nearby beach named Haena Beach Park – this parking lot is located near mile marker 9 of Kuhio Highway. Once you park here, you can easily walk to Haena Beach Park through a hiking trail. Once you reach this beach, you need to walk a quarter-mile towards the east to reach Tunnels Beach. 

In addition, a shuttle service also operates for this beach – this shuttle service starts at 5-5631 Kuhio Highway and eventually drops you off at Tunnels Beach. There is a free parking lot near the shuttle pickup site. If you are planning to use this shuttle, you can visit gohaena.com for more information regarding the shuttle service and its fees.   

The beach received its name – Tunnels – because the coral reefs here have lava tubes, which are tunnels that are formed by lava when it flows into the Pacific Ocean. The alternate name of the beach – Makua – means “guardian” in Hawaiian. In addition, this beach was also the filming site for the 2011 movie Soul Surfer and the 1958 movie South Pacific.

There are many attractions near Tunnels Beach within a 25-minute drive. Maniniholo Dry Cave is a popular cave that is about 300 yards deep and it is named after Maniniholo, the chief fisherman of the legendary Menehune people – exploring this cave is a popular activity with visitors. Haʻena State Park is a state park with 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 filled with water – one of the wet caves here was featured in the 2011 movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Limahuli Garden & Preserve is a nature preserve and botanical garden that 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. 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. Waioli Huiia Church and the Waioli Mission House were built in the 1830s and have architectural influences from the mainland United States – the beautiful Waioli Huiia Church has stained glass windows. The house and the church offer a unique insight into the vibrant history of Hawaii. If you are looking for another attraction near the beach, Hanalei Pier is a pier that was built in 1912 and it offers amazing views of the northern Kauai shoreline and the Pacific Ocean. This pier is also an amazing fishing site and you can catch many kinds of fish here – this pier was also featured in the 1957 movie South Pacific. 

If you get hungry, there are many great restaurants near Tunnels Beach. If you want food near Tunnels Beach, there are many coconut vendors adjacent to the beach. The major restaurants near the beach are within a 25-minute-drive. Opakapaka Grill and Bar offers amazing seafood, burgers, sandwiches, different kinds of pastas, steaks, flatbread, soups, and salads. Bar Acuda is an upscale restaurant which serves delicious Hawaiian-inspired tapas-style dishes – the restaurant has been praised by many publications including Honolulu magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. Ama Restaurant offers many amazing Asian and Hawaiian-style dishes including ramen, poke bowl, bao bun, and Korean pork bowl. Hanalei Poke is known for offering amazing poke bowls and it also offers Asian-style dishes and salads. If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby restaurant, Tiki Tzatziki offers a variety of excellent Greek dishes including Greek salads, spanakopitas, and gyros.

If you are looking for a hotel near Makua Tunnels Beach, there are many great nearby options within a 25-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 that offers many amenities including a restaurant, a coffee shop, a spa with yoga classes, a pool, and a hot tub. The 3-Star Hanalei Bay Resort is another moderately-priced hotel that offers many amenities including two pools, multiple tennis courts, a hot tub, water sports equipment rentals, laundry facilities, and a bar. If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby hotel, the 3-Star Club Wyndham Ka Eo Kai offers many amenities including a pool, a tennis court, a putting green, barbecue areas, movie rental facilities, and a hot tub.