Related: Best Beaches on Oʻahu | Waikīkī Like a Local | Where to See Sea Turtles on Oʻahu
Walk far enough down Kalākaua Avenue, past the zoo and the aquarium, and Waikīkī runs out of hotels. The sidewalk gets quieter, the banyan shade gets thicker, and the beach at the end of it is Kaimana.
This is where our family goes when we want Waikīkī water without the Waikīkī crowd. The reef out front keeps the inside calm, the sand is soft, and there is a lifeguard tower. You can be back at your hotel for a shower in twenty minutes.
It is also the beach where a Hawaiian monk seal keeps choosing to have her babies, which comes with rules. We will get to those, because they matter more than where you park.
Where Kaimana Beach Is, and Why It Has Two Names
📍 Kaimana Beach, 2863 Kalākaua Ave, Honolulu, HI 96815 (Diamond Head end of Kapiʻolani Park, between the Natatorium and the Kaimana Beach Hotel)
Kaimana sits at the far Diamond Head end of Waikīkī, tucked between the old Natatorium war memorial and the Kaimana Beach Hotel. From the Duke Kahanamoku statue it is about a mile (1.6 km) down Kalākaua, a flat 15 to 20 minute walk under the trees.
Old maps and older locals call it Sans Souci Beach. The name comes from a little seaside resort that opened here in 1884, and it is French for “without a care.”
Robert Louis Stevenson stayed at the Sans Souci in 1893 and liked it enough to write the place a glowing send-off. The hotel ran his words in its ads for years.
Today most people on the island just say Kaimana, after the hotel, and the two names get used interchangeably. If a friend texts you “meet at Sans Souci,” this is the spot.
Parking at Kaimana Beach
Let’s handle the part that stresses everybody out first. There is no beach lot. Everyone is hunting the same street stalls. The early birds win.
The free parallel stalls run along Kalākaua on the park side, past the aquarium toward the hotel, and along Paki Avenue on the mauka edge of Kapiʻolani Park. On a sunny Saturday they are gone by mid-morning.
Do not panic if you have to loop the park once. That is normal here. The second lap usually pays off.
The metered stalls by the zoo and the aquarium cost about $1.50 an hour with a four-hour cap. They are a closer walk than most of the free ones, so the money buys you something.
The free lot at the Waikīkī Shell on Monsarrat Avenue is a solid fallback, a five-minute walk across the grass. Read every sign before you lock up. Special events change the rules, and Honolulu tows.
Our move is to skip the car entirely. If you are staying anywhere in Waikīkī, walking down Kalākaua is pleasant.
TheBus routes 14, 19, 20, and 22 all stop at the aquarium right next door. A Biki bike-share ride from central Waikīkī takes about five minutes, if you can find a bike; the system has been running thin in 2026.
The Kaimana Beach Hotel runs valet only, with a validated rate for restaurant guests. Nice if you are eating at Hau Tree anyway, pricey if you just want sand.
The Water: Reef, Channel, and Where to Swim
The reason this beach stays calm is the reef that wraps around it a couple hundred yards (about 180 m) offshore. Most swell breaks out there, and what reaches the sand is usually ankle-high and lazy.
Inside the reef the bottom is sand and patchy coral, waist-deep for a long way out, with a few deeper sand channels where the water turns that bottle-glass green. This is why kamaʻāina parents bring toddlers here instead of the main Waikīkī strip.
There is room to float without getting mowed down by a surf lesson.
Now the part to respect. At the Natatorium end there is a gap in the reef called the Kapua Channel, and it is the swimmers’ and paddlers’ exit to the open ocean. Like any gap in a reef, it is where the water moves.
Stay out of the channel unless you are a strong swimmer with a plan, and keep the keiki well away from it. Swim in front of the tower, where the reef has your back.
Outside the reef is Old Man’s, a long, slow surf break where you will see longboarders and the occasional outrigger canoe from the private club next door. It looks tempting from the sand.
Reaching it means swimming through the channel and sitting in open water for a while, so leave it to the regulars.
Every morning before 8:00 a.m., and we mean every morning, a stream of swimmers in caps and goggles walks straight in and heads along the reef line. This is one of the most beloved open-water swims on the island.
The famous Waikīkī Roughwater Swim starts on this exact sand each late summer, 2.4 miles (3.9 km) to the Hilton. Give the morning crew a wave and stay out of their lane.
Snorkeling and Honu at Kaimana Beach
Kaimana is a swimming beach first and a snorkeling beach second. We want to set that expectation straight so nobody drives over with a new mask and comes away grumpy.
Inside the reef, expect sand, some coral heads, and the usual lineup of small reef fish: wrasses, convict tangs, maybe a needlefish or two hovering just under the surface.
The best viewing is along the rockier Diamond Head end below the hotel, and along the Natatorium wall, early, before a hundred feet have stirred up the sand.
Honu show up here a lot, usually grazing the reef or napping in the shallows near the rocks. Hold still and let them come to you.
Keep at least 10 feet (3 m) away, never block a turtle’s path to the surface, and never touch. Turtles are protected under state and federal law, and the fine is bigger than your rental car deposit.
Watch your feet on the Diamond Head end. The rocks below the hotel hold a crop of wana, the black sea urchins, and a spine through a new slipper is a vacation memory nobody wants. Reef shoes are smart if you plan to explore that corner.
For a real snorkel day with more fish and better visibility, head to our best snorkeling spots on Oʻahu guide. Kaimana is for the lazy float.
Monk Seals at Kaimana Beach: The Rules
Here is why this little beach ends up on the news every couple of years.
Hawaiian monk seals, one of the rarest marine mammals on earth, haul out on this sand regularly, and at least two females have chosen it as a nursery.
In 2017 a seal named Rocky gave birth here, and the pup was named Kaimana after the beach. On May 3, 2026, a seal named Kaiwi gave birth on this same sand, and for about six weeks the beach ran on seal time.
A temporary fence went up around mom and pup, NOAA and the state posted volunteers, and officials asked people to swim somewhere else while the pup nursed. Most people did.
The rules are posted and they are federal law. Stay at least 50 feet (15 m) from any monk seal, and at least 150 feet (45 m) from a mother with a pup. Do not swim near a mom and pup, ever.
A nursing mother will defend her baby, and she weighs more than your car’s engine.
During the May 2026 nursing period, several people hopped the fence to get closer for a photo. Please do not be that person! Use the zoom on your phone and stay behind the cones.
If you see someone bothering a seal, call the NOAA marine wildlife hotline at 888-256-9840, or the enforcement line at 800-853-1964 if it is serious. The volunteers at the rope line will also happily answer every question your keiki can think of.
If you roll up and the beach is fenced off for a pup, treat it as a gift rather than a problem. You just got a free wildlife show that people fly across the ocean for, and the rest of Waikīkī’s sand is a ten-minute walk away.
Lifeguards, Showers, Restrooms, and Shade
There is a Honolulu Ocean Safety tower on the sand, and on our visits it has been staffed through the day. The City’s standard tower hours run from about 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., so an early-morning or sunset swim is on you.
Look for the hazard flags at the tower and ask the guards about conditions. They would rather answer a question than make a rescue.
Outdoor showers sit right off the sand, so you can rinse the salt before the walk back. The public restrooms are in the rebuilt wing of the Natatorium building next door, and they are open even though the pool behind them is fenced off.
Shade is the weak spot. The beach itself is a narrow strip with a few trees at the back, and by late morning the good spots under them are claimed.
Bring an umbrella or a pop-up tent if you have small keiki. Or set up on the grass across the sidewalk under the big trees, where it stays cool all afternoon.
Bring water, and bring a real hat. The sun bounces off the water here, and the trade winds will trick you into thinking you are fine right up until you are not.
The Natatorium: The Big Arch Next Door
You cannot miss the cream-colored arch at the Waikīkī end of the beach. That is the Waikīkī War Memorial Natatorium, a saltwater swimming pool built as Hawaiʻi’s memorial to the people who served in World War I.
It opened on August 24, 1927, and Duke Kahanamoku took the ceremonial first swim. For fifty years it was where Honolulu kids learned to swim, Olympians trained, and families spent Sunday afternoons.
It closed in 1979. Nobody has swum a lap in it since, and the fence has been up the whole time.
What happens next has been argued over for decades. The City has leaned toward restoring it, then toward demolishing it and extending the beach, then back again.
As of fall 2026 there is no funded plan either way, and the memorial will reach its 100th birthday in 2027 still behind a locked gate.
You can still walk up to the arch and read the names. You should. Then look through the gate at the pool and the bleachers. It is a strange, beautiful ruin, and standing there explains a lot about Honolulu.
Food at Kaimana Beach: Hau Tree and Sunset Provisions
📍 Hau Tree, Kaimana Beach Hotel, 2863 Kalākaua Ave, Honolulu, HI 96815
The Hau Tree sits right on the sand under the sprawling hau tree it is named for, and the setting does most of the work. You can eat with your toes in the sand and watch the swimmers come in.
Brunch runs from 8:00 a.m. on weekdays and 7:30 a.m. on weekends until early afternoon. Pau hana runs daily from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and dinner goes until 9:00 p.m.
Book on OpenTable, especially for sunset. The outdoor tables along the sand go first, and regulars recommend showing up 30 to 45 minutes before the sun hits the water if you want one.
The food is good, the prices are resort prices, and the view is free with purchase.
Sunset Provisions, just outside the hotel lobby, is the quick option: coffee, pastries, cold drinks, and a rack of beach sundries for the moment you realize you forgot sunscreen. We grab a coffee there on swim mornings.
If you want to spend less, pack a cooler. The grass across from the beach is one of our favorite picnic spots on the island.
Leonard’s Bakery is a five-minute drive up Kapahulu if you want malasadas for the beach, and the line moves faster than it looks.
Sunset at Kaimana Beach
Kaimana faces southwest, which means the sun drops into the ocean beyond the Waikīkī skyline. On a clear evening it is one of the easiest sunsets on the south shore: no hike, no parking structure, no tour van.
The crowd changes after 5:00 p.m. The morning swimmers are gone, the families are packing up, and the beach fills with couples on towels and the occasional guitar.
Grab a spot on the sand near the hotel end, or sit on the low wall by the showers. If the Hau Tree bar is full, Sunset Provisions will sell you a cold drink to carry out.
For more options when the sky is doing something special, we keep a running list in our best sunset spots on Oʻahu guide.
Kaimana Beach with Keiki
We rank this among the best family beaches in Waikīkī, and here is the short version of why. The water is shallow and reef-protected, there is a lifeguard, and showers are steps away. The aquarium and the zoo are both a few minutes’ walk when the kids are done with the water.
The Waikīkī Aquarium is next door, open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission runs $12 for adults, $5 for kids 4 to 12, and free for 3 and under, with an $8 kamaʻāina rate.
It is small enough to do in an hour, which is exactly the right size after a morning in the sun. The Honolulu Zoo is at the other end of the park.
Two keiki-specific cautions. Keep them clear of the Kapua Channel at the Natatorium end, and keep them off the urchin rocks at the hotel end. Everything in between is as gentle as Oʻahu gets.
Diamond Head is right there too, if your crew has the legs for it. Out-of-state visitors need a reservation now, so read our Diamond Head hike guide before you plan the morning around it.
Surfing Near Kaimana Beach
The gentle rollers that make Waikīkī famous for first-timers are a short walk toward the Duke statue, and the schools launch from the main beach, not from Kaimana. If you want to try it while you are here, a two-hour group surf lesson on Waikīkī Beach is the standard first step.
Most lessons finish early enough to walk back to Kaimana for a flat-water cool-down, which is our favorite way to end a surf morning.
Old Man’s, the break outside the Kaimana reef, is a mellow longboard wave for people who already know what they are doing. It is a long paddle through the channel and a long paddle back, so treat it as an intermediate spot and skip it for a first lesson.
Dates That Change the Beach
The Honolulu Marathon runs on Sunday, December 13, 2026, and Kalākaua Avenue through Waikīkī closes for most of the morning. You can still walk in, and watching the runners pass the park is a fun way to spend the morning.
Just do not plan on driving to this beach before noon that day.
Box jellyfish come into south shore beaches about 8 to 10 days after each full moon, and Kaimana gets them like everyone else. Ocean Safety posts warnings at the tower on those mornings.
If the signs are up, stay out of the water or wear a rash guard and know where the vinegar is.
After a heavy rain, give the water a day or two. Runoff from town can push brown water along the shore, and the City posts brown water advisories when it happens. It is a good day for the aquarium.
Summer brings the south swell, which can turn the inside a little bouncier and makes the channel pull harder. Winter is calmer here while the North Shore goes big, which is why we treat Kaimana as a year-round beach with a bonus calm season.
What to Bring to Kaimana Beach
Hawaiʻi bans the sale of sunscreens with oxybenzone and octinoxate, so bring reef-safe sunscreen from home or buy it here. The only shop at the beach is the hotel’s, and the markup is real.
Pack a hat, water, and a towel you do not mind getting sandy. Reef shoes are worth the space if you want to poke around the rocks.
Leave the valuables in the hotel safe. Smash-and-grab theft on parked cars is the most common crime visitors run into on Oʻahu. A car parked on Kalākaua with a backpack on the seat is an invitation, so bring only what you can carry to the water’s edge.
Finally, bring patience with the parking and a little aloha for the regulars. This is a neighborhood beach that happens to sit on the edge of a resort district. Treat it like someone’s backyard, because for a lot of Honolulu people, it is.
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