Waialea Beach is located on the northwest side of the Big Island of Hawaii just south of Hapuna Beach.

This beach has great snorkeling, lots of shade from the big trees, public bathrooms, and costs $20 for parking. 

This map shows where Waialea Beach is located.

As you drive up, you'll make a left hand turn into the area with the parking lot and beach. There is a sign that says Hapuna Beach SRA Waialea Bay Section. Follow this road to the parking lot.

The parking lot has both paved and unpaved parking spaces.

There is a meter as you head to the beach to pay for your parking. It cost us $20 to park. It prints out a ticket and you put it on the dash of your car.

Once we paid for parking, we headed towards the beach. On the way there are public bathrooms and a sidewalk. 

The sidewalk ends and turns to sand where you head to the beach. We decided to go to the right first to explore the north part of the beach. We followed the sandy trail through the trees to the beach.

The water was crystal clear and the sand was really soft. This side of the beach is smaller than the other side, but we loved it.

After hanging out here, we headed to the other side of the beach, the south side, to explore and go snorkeling.

The south side of the beach was wider and longer. There's a large outcropping of rocks in the ocean that has great snorkeling. There is a vibrant reef that runs all along this beach. We loved snorkeling here.

Overall, we had a great time at Waialea Beach. The snorkeling was great and we loved the beach too.

(Click on the map above to go to a Google Maps larger view.)

Waialea Beach costs $20 for parking for non-Hawaii residents. 

Total Cost: $20

These are the checklist items I recommend:

• Bring a credit card to pay for parking.
• Bring your own snorkel gear.
• Bring some drinks and snacks.
• Bring reef safe sunscreen.