Waipi'o Black Sand Beach

The access road is closed to non locals both to vehicles and pedestrians. So you can only view the beach from the top. A nice view but dont go if you want to visit the beach itself. Very friendly park ranger at the tip.

Worth the hike down as a tourist if you can't hitch a ride. It is very steep. And slippery in spots. Would want hike/drive down in the rain. The beach is amazing. Especially if you cross the river to the main beach. Black sand. Careful for the tide. Knee deep crossing can turn into a treacherous swim in a few short hours of beach relaxing.

Plan on a 1/2 day for this experience. Due to steep grade you need to either hike down or have a proper vehicle with 4 wheel drive, like a Jeep. Wear good shoes and bring water. Hike down is on a narrow paved road with a 25 percent grade. It will do numbers on your calves...at the bottom you can go 2 directions. Road to the left has a nice waterfall, you cannot get super close but it's a nice walk, just stay on the road and don't go on locals property. If you go to the right at the bottom of the descent, that path will take you to the beach. Water was ok temp but it's very wavy, saw a surfer or two. Nice area to have a picnic lunch. We did about 4 1/4 miles that day, we did both paths left and right. Mileage was=1 mile down, 1 1/4 mile path to the left to the waterfall, 3/4 mile path t

We drove our jeep down to this beach from the lookout. The road down is steep and narrow. You need to watch for uphill traffic and stop in the pullouts to wait for it to come up. Coming back up you need to use 4wd low. When you get to the bottom of the road, turn right to go to the beach. The beach on the road side of the rivers is big cobbles. To get to the black sand beach you have to cross the river. I saw people wading across the river to get to the beach.

You need 4 wheel drive with a low gear to drive down to the beach. The grade is so steep you need to gear down to save your brakes. You can also hitch a ride or walk. Absolutely heaven on earth. This is the most majestic beach that extends maybe a milenor so. There is also wild horses at the bottom. If you cross the river the beach is all to to yourself.