Poʻipu Beach Park

Poʻipu

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There are no monster waves or idyllic solitude at the South Shore's most popular beach, but it's a go-to spot with something for everyone. Patrolled by resident honu (sea turtles) in the shallows, the beach is protected by a rocky reef that attracts fish of all kinds. It spills into two separate bays connected by the reef offshore and bisected by a sandbar. Add lifeguards, picnic tables, toilets and outdoor showers, and you have one safe, family-friendly beach.

There's parking across from the beach, at the end of Hoʻowili Rd. A grassy lawn links to Brennecke’s Beach just east, and there are three surf breaks nearby.

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Nearby Poʻipu attractions

1. Brennecke's Beach

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With a sandbar bottom and a notch of sand and sea wedged between two lava rock outcrops, this little beach flanks the eastern edge of Po‘ipu Beach Park…

2. Kanei‘olouma

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The site of a pre-contact Hawaiian village just inland from Po‘ipu Beach was set aside by the county in 2010. You can’t enter the complex, which is being…

3. Poʻipu Beach

0.37 MILES

This long swath of prime sand west of Po‘ipu Beach Park is open to all, even if it does stretch right in front of the hotel and condo complexes from which…

4. Moir Paʻu a Laka

0.43 MILES

On the grounds of Outrigger’s Kiahuna Plantation complex, this diverting, if modest, cactus and exotic flower garden established in the 1930s boasts…

5. Makahuena Point

0.78 MILES

West of Shipwreck Beach, condo-covered Makahuena Point is the southernmost tip of Kauaʻi.

6. Shipwreck Beach

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Unless you’re an expert surfer, bodyboarder or bodysurfer, keep your feet dry at ‘Shipwrecks,’ the half-mile crescent of light gold sand that skirts…

7. Baby Beach

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Introduce tots to the ocean at this beach, where the water is barely thigh high. The sandy shore runs behind the beach homes on Ho‘ona Rd west of Koloa…

8. Makawehi Point

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This gigantic lithified sand dune towers east of Shipwreck Beach, overlooking Keoneloa Bay. Resist the urge to jump off the cliffs; people have died.