Kaunaʻoa Beach is public, like every beach in Hawaiʻi, but the parking is not: the lot belongs to the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, which holds back a small number of stalls for people who aren’t staying there. Those fill early. The beach itself is a half-mile crescent of white sand with palms along the back edge, and the bottom slopes gently enough for small kids.
Pack your own snorkel gear and boards. The beach club’s free sets are for hotel guests only. Summer is the calm season here, and in winter the surf builds and the shore break can be dangerous.
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About Mauna Kea Beach
The palms shade the back of the beach, and the hotel’s facilities sit right behind them. Dr. Beach, the annual US beach ranking run by coastal scientist Stephen Leatherman, put Kaunaʻoa eighth in the country in 2026, and it makes our own list of the best beaches in Hawaiʻi too.
Kaunaʻoa Beach, with the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel at one end and the golf course running down to the sand. Credit: Island of Hawaii Visitors Bureau (IHVB) / Tyler Schmitt
In the calm summer months the bay is usually flat enough to snorkel. In winter the surf builds, and a pounding shore break with strong rip currents can make getting in and out of the water dangerous.
Snorkeling
Reef sits at both ends of the crescent. On a calm day with good visibility, the rocky southern end has the better snorkeling.
Food and gear rental
Hau Tree, the hotel’s restaurant, sits a few steps off the sand and serves lunch from 11am to 5pm and dinner from 5pm to 8pm, at resort prices.
Don’t count on renting gear here. The Mauna Kea Beach Club hands out snorkel sets, body boards, paddleboards and kayaks at no charge, but only to hotel guests, club members and authorized residential guests. Day visitors bring their own. The nearest paid rental counter is at the Westin resort above Hāpuna Beach, open daily from 7am to 6pm.
Manta rays after dark at Kaunaʻoa
After dark the hotel shines lights onto the water. Krill gather in the beam and manta rays come in to feed on them. A stone path leads down to a lookout called Manta Ray Point, but the resort limits it to people staying there or dining that evening at Manta, its upstairs restaurant. If the rays are the reason you’re coming, book a table.
For swimming with the rays instead of watching from the lookout, see our Manta Ray Night Dive page.
Directions to Mauna Kea Beach
Take Highway 19 north from Kona and turn left at Mile Marker 68, where the resort name is on a lava rock wall. Stop at the gatehouse just inside the entrance and ask for a public beach parking pass. The staff there check day visitors in and tell you where to park. Don’t drive on toward the hotel first.
Sunrise at Mauna Kea Beach. Photo credits: Mike Neenan.
Parking at Mauna Kea Beach, and what to do when the lot is full
The hotel sets aside 40 stalls for day visitors, and they fill up fast. Come in the morning if you want one.
The pass comes from the gatehouse on the way in, not from the beach lot. If a stall is free, they hand you a ticket that opens the barrier at the lot.
If the stalls are gone and you don’t want to wait around, you have four options:
- Give up on Kaunaʻoa and drive to one of the neighboring beaches instead. Four of them sit within two miles.
- Come back around lunchtime, when the morning crowd starts to clear out and stalls open up.
- Use the hotel valet, a $40 fee with a $20 credit back if you buy something at the resort.
- Park at Hāpuna Beach, a mile south, and walk back up the Ala Kahakai coastal trail, 15 to 20 minutes on foot, with a few small swimming ponds along the way on a calm day. Hāpuna is a state park, so non-residents pay $10 per vehicle plus $5 per person, credit card only. The gate closes at 8pm.
Kaunaʻoa or Mauna Kea Beach, Hawaii | Photograph by Steve Dunleavy on Flickr under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license
Beaches close to Kaunaʻoa / Mauna Kea Beach
Four beaches sit within two miles of Kaunaʻoa, two in each direction, and the Ala Kahakai coastal trail links them. The two to the south are the big, busy ones. The two to the north have no lifeguard and no facilities.
- Hāpuna Beach State Park, a mile south. The biggest white sand beach on this coast and the best of them for swimming. Dr. Beach named it the best beach in America in 2021. It has lifeguards, and a state lot that charges non-residents.
- Waialea Bay Beach, also called Beach 69, about 1.5 miles south along the coast and 2 by road. Quieter, with houses behind part of the shoreline and public access between them. Good swimming on a calm day and decent snorkeling on the north side. It fills up on weekends.
- Waiʻulaʻula Beach, two thirds of a mile north, and Mauʻumae Beach a little beyond it. Waiʻulaʻula is a small pocket of sand at the head of a narrow gulch; Mauʻumae is a bigger one with low dunes behind it. You reach both on foot along the Ala Kahakai, and Don’t walk past Waiʻulaʻula Gulch when rain is possible: the gulch floods.