A Luau experience by Germaine's Luau. Back to all Oahu tours.
Tour Summary: The only Oʻahu luau where you eat at picnic tables on the sand, facing a west-shore sunset, and one of the lowest-priced on the island. The buffet comes on paper plates and the crowds are large, so come for the setting and the low price.
Tables sit on packed sand under the palms, so heels are the wrong shoe for this one. 
Germaine's has run this show on its own stretch of west-shore sand since 1976. The audience hula happens on the same stage as the show, a few steps from the picnic tables. The grounds sit on a private beach at Kalaeloa, on the west shore past Kapolei. Tahitian numbers sit alongside the hula, one of several island styles in the same show.
6 Tour Highlights:
- Dinner at picnic tables set directly on a private beach in Kapolei
- West-facing shore, so the sunset happens over open water during the meal
- Fire-knife dancers and a Polynesian revue that even critical guests rate highly
- Running since 1976, backyard scale rather than resort production
- Entry-tier pricing at the bottom of the Oʻahu luau market
- On-site parking about $5, roughly 27 miles from Waikīkī
Important: Seating is fixed picnic benches on soft sand, which is hard going for anyone with limited mobility and impossible with a walker or wheelchair.
Tour Information:
| Price: | Adult | Youth |
|---|---|---|
| (excluding taxes & fees) | $128 | $116 |
Price note: The Plumeria package includes the round-trip motor coach from Waikīkī and parking; on the Makai and Original packages transport runs about $35 per person, or you drive and pay about $5 to park. The youth price covers ages 13 to 20; children 4 to 12 pay $102.
Tour Provider: Germaine's Luau
Activity: Luau
Tour start time: 5:30 PM
Duration: 3 hours
Location: West Oʻahu
Pick-up available? The round-trip motor coach from Waikīkī takes 45 to 75 minutes each way and runs about $35 per person on the Makai and Original packages, and it is included in the Plumeria package along with parking.
Included: Buffet dinner on the beach. Polynesian show with fire knife. Round-trip Waikīkī coach on Plumeria. On-site parking on Plumeria. Drinks by package tier
Cancellations: Call the operator at least 24 hours before the day of the luau to cancel. There is no online cancellation route, so put the call in early rather than the morning of.
Read more: about luau in our Oahu luau guide.
Read more about Germaine's Luau
You eat dinner with your feet in the sand here, at a picnic table on a private beach in Kapolei. No other luau we cover on Oʻahu seats you on a beach. Dinner starts at 5:30 PM and the tables face west, so the sun drops over open water in front of you rather than behind the stage.
Backyard luau on the west shore, running since 1976
Germaine’s has run since 1976, and it still feels like a family operation that grew too big. The show is the strongest part of the evening: even reviewers who fault the food rate the fire-knife dancers highly, and the staff are friendly and unscripted.
Guests describe the crowd noise dropping for the fire knife and picking straight back up afterward, because the emcee is loud and pulls the audience into the show often. If that style grates on you, ask for a table further back when you check in.
Downsides: buffet food, insects and beach seating
The food is a buffet for a few hundred guests, served on paper plates with plastic utensils. The kālua (underground-oven roasted) pig and the sides are weak for the ticket price. It’s the most common complaint in the reviews, and we agree with it. If you’re at the back of the buffet line, the wait can run well over an hour.
Bring repellent. Expect mosquitoes, ants and flies around the tables on any night. The benches are fixed picnic seating sunk into soft sand, and there’s no way to bring a wheelchair or a walker to the table.
Makai, Original and Plumeria: prices and transport
Makai runs $128 adult, Original $167 and Plumeria $242, and the tiers differ in seating and drinks. Reviewers call Plumeria poor value more often than the other tiers. Ask what drinks each tier includes before you pay for an upgrade.
Makai and Original don’t include transport: about $35 per person on the operator’s coach, or drive the 27 miles from Waikīkī and pay around $5 to park. Plumeria includes the round-trip coach and parking, so with the $35 coach added, Makai comes to $163 per person against Plumeria’s $242. The approach road runs through the Kalaeloa industrial area, and on some evenings the wind carries a smell from the landfill nearby.
The beach and the sunset are worth the drive, and no other luau we cover on Oʻahu seats you on a beach at sunset for $128. Its buffet is also the weakest of the Oʻahu luaus we cover, so if the food matters most to you, book a different luau. Germaine’s runs Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Skip it entirely if anyone in your group uses a walker or a wheelchair.
About Germaine's Luau
Germaine’s has run since 1976, when it moved from Sea Life Park to this beachfront lot on the west side, the former seaside estate of the Stephenson family, who hosted Hawaiian luau there as a family tradition. The founders planted a coconut tree for each family member, and those trees still stand on the grounds. More than three million guests have come through since, and it is one of the longest-running luaus on the island.
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