One of Oahu’s more popular family beaches, locals and tourists alike, which was voted America’s Best Beach by Dr. Beach in 1998. Soft white sand with beautiful turquoise and calm water is how Kailua Beach Park can be summed up, on most days.

Popular among windsurfers, kite surfers, kayakers, entry level surfers and bodyboarders (there are normally a few smaller waves around). Great beach for swimming too, without a strong current on most days. The ocean drops deep – quickly – so be wary.

The water is normally not clear, so not an ideal snorkeling spot. Scenes from the TV programs Lost, Magnum PI and Hawaii Five-O were filmed here. Lots of large ironwood trees, so plenty of shade options. Also good to know: Lifeguard on duty. There are restrooms, showers and picnic areas.

Kailua Beach Park ranks as the second most beautiful out of all the Oahu Beaches. Okay…it’s a little unfair to rank Kailua Beach as second best, because it is next door neighbor to the most beautiful spot on the island, Lanikai Beach. Kailua Beach Park is located on the easterly shoreline, where the ocean waters are as turquoise blue as they get, and equally matched with an amazing soft, white powder sand.

Many beach goers on the island, rate Kailua Beach Park number one over Lanikai Beach, simple because it is larger -- two and half miles long to be exact!

Kailua Beach Park has actually grown a little larger over the past couple of decades, thanks to many Lanikai real estate beach homes that built sea walls to protect their properties from land erosion. The irony of these efforts was losing their beautiful beachfront sand in the process, which naturally shifted over to Kailua Beach Park.

This Oahu Beach, unlike Lanikai Beach, has bathroom facilities, beach showers, and picnic tables located on the park grounds. It’s something worth considering when bringing the whole family out for the day. You will find a natural sea rock wall that stretches a good hundred yards into the ocean, which help forms some of the rolling waves back towards the shoreline. You will usually find a group of local kids playing around in these waves with their boogie boards. You might want to bring along a boogie board too…if you’re up to riding the waves yourself.

Picture a beach idyllic enough to garner the praise of lifeguards, coastal researchers, visitors and locals, one that stretches golden along the shore, where ocean conditions are generally safe and gentle, and where the tradewinds pump steam into windsurfers’ sails.

This is Kailua Beach, recognized as one of the nation’s top beaches by a coastal research expert who makes it his business to survey beaches. The bay that floats Crayola Blue from this long stretch of fine sand beach is made for kayaking, snorkeling, windsurfing, kitesurfing, swimming, boogie boarding, surfing and sailing.

Kailua Beach offers a number of nearby retail services including kayaking and windsurfing rentals and lessons. Kailua Bay’s protective reef allows for safe kayaking and the opportunity to paddle to Mokulua Islands, a bird sanctuary located on a pair of tiny islands with a small beach. You’ll paddle through calm waters with coral reefs and large sea turtles for company.