One of the better spots for a family beach day on the North Kona Coast, Kikaua Point Beach Park offers a calm, shallow lagoon with good kid-friendly swimming almost all of the time. The pleasant greenspace adjoining the seashore provides an attractive place for an afternoon by the ocean.
Kikaua Point Beach Park can be slightly tricky to access on account of parking logistics, but you should be able to overcome them one way or another. Your best bet is to come here early. Direct access to the park is via the Kukio Golf Resort and the entrance gate on Kukio Nut Drive. The attendant there dispenses park passes when there are spaces available in the smallish parking lot. Because this often fills up, an early morning arrival—the park opens at sunrise—gives you the likeliest shot at nabbing a spot.
If the parking lot is indeed full, though, you can still get to Kikaua Point Beach Park from Kukio Beach to the immediate northeast. Access to that beach also requires a parking pass from the Four Seasons Hualalai Resort. But that’s a larger parking lot, so you’ve got a good shot of getting a space there. Then it’s just a bit longer of a stroll—easy and pretty short nonetheless—to reach Kikaua Point.
From the Kukio Nut Drive parking area, a short paved path leads directly to the beach park. Here you’ll find restrooms, showers, and drinking water available. There aren’t any picnic tables or pavilions at the beach park, so bring a beach towel or chairs to set up shop along the shore. Palms and a lawn space invite lounging and R&R.
A partly artificial cove here comes protected by rock walls and ledges and edged by white sands. The lagoon here at Kikaua Point Beach Park is mostly quite shallow, with a sandy floor gradually descending to the outer fringing rock barrier. While too shallow for adults to partake of actual swimming, it’s absolutely ideal for the pint-sized crowd. Young children can swim and snorkel here away from the rough surf. Parents can wade in with their children or keep a watchful eye from the adjoining beach or lawn.
Be mindful of the deeper edge on the far side. There aren’t lifeguards here, and caution is always essential whenever using the Big Island’s nearshore waters—even shallow, walled-off waters such as the Kikaua Point Beach Park lagoon. In heavy surf, especially in winter, it’s possible that overwash and currents could make the lagoon unsafe for small children.
You can walk northeastward along the beachfront and a trail through Hualalai Volcano lava rock to reach Kukio Beach to the north. This is another popular hangout worth combining with Kikaua Point, if you have time.
With its kid-friendly cove and pleasant seashore spaces, Kikaua Point Beach Park is a very inviting destination for families in particular. The fact that it’s only a short drive from Kailua-Kona and accessible so close to a parking area amps up its appeal to beachgoers with kiddos.
Insider Tip:
You can also hike southwestward from Kikaua Point Beach Park to reach the northernmost of the three lovely beaches in Kekaha Kai State Park: Maniniowali Beach on Kua Bay.