Year 2015, voted as the number 1 beach in the US by coastal science professor Dr. Beach (see this article from CNN). This Oahu beach has the most perfect pristine soft white sandy beach with amazing turquoise colored ocean and hundreds of towering ironwood trees, great for those who want shade.

Popular among bodyboarders, since waves normally aren’t too high and break close to shore. Overall, Waimanalo Beach Park has a relatively calm ocean, though waves can on occasions get quite big and currents do get strong, so be very careful with swimming here.

Few people tend to visit on weekdays, though weekends are normally fairly busy with family picnics and all day BBQ’s. Very few tourists come here. Waimanalo Beach is the entire beach running from Kaiona Beach Park through Bellows Field Beach Park – an approximate 3 mile beach stretch, making it the longest uninterrupted beach stretch on Oahu.

Officially, the stretch is from Makapuu to Wailea Point, making it more than 5 miles, but this stretch doesn’t have sand all along the way. There are camping options, which requires a permit.

Also good to know: Lifeguard on duty (but beach is long, so certain beach areas may be out of sight to lifeguards). There are showers, restrooms and picnic tables.

Waimanalo beach on a sunny day is jaw-dropping dead gorgeous, with turquoise blue waters and miles of some of the softest white sand your will toes will ever touch!

Waimanalo is a small, rural community sandwiched between the Koolau mountain range and Waimanalo Bay on the eastern side of Oahu. Visitors to Oahu’s lush Windward side often bypass Waimanalo for its larger and more northerly neighbor, Kailua town, or drive through on their way to Sea Life Park on the island’s southern tip, Makapuu Point. But that’s a mistake.

The communities of Waimanalo and Waimanalo Beach, collectively called Waimanalo, have gorgeous white sand beaches, snorkeling with near-guaranteed honu (Hawaiian green sea turtle) sightings, several hole-in-the-wall but worth a stop eateries, roaming bands of wild chickens, and a handful of family-owned farms that grow leafy and trendy “‘Nalo greens” destined for farmers markets and dinner plates.

This tiny, brightly colored eatery in Waimanalo Beach’s main commercial strip serves Hawaiian-style greasy spoon fare to a steady stream of locals and in-the-know visitors. Ono Steaks and Shrimp Shack is a no-frills, first-come first-served, order at the counter kind of place. No matter what you choose—papaya-mango smothered ono (wahoo) over brown rice (pictured), garlic ahi, fish tacos, sliced steak with poi and macaroni salad —expect generous portion sizes served in to-go containers and plastic cutlery.

Waimanalo Bay Beach Park has gentle surf with a sandy beach floor, warm glassy green waters and a wide strip of white, powdery and often unoccupied sand. It’s not uncommon for your only neighbors here to be a handful of sun-worshiping residents and several visiting Japanese couples, photographers in tow, posing for scenic wedding shots. Sharing more than a mile-long stretch of sand with the more northerly access point at Bellows Field Beach Park, this may be one of Oahu’s largest sleepy beaches.