Beach- 5/5 Snorkeling: N/A Amenities: Restrooms

The entrance is Mauna Kea Beach Drive. There's a gate where you let them know you want to go to the public beach, and they'll indicate if there are spots open. I read once that there was a charge; they gave us a voucher. Getting to the parking lot is a twisting adventure, complete with a lot of golfers not paying attention. At the parking lot, there's a ticket machine. We inserted our voucher and were good to go. There's limited parking (30ish? spots), and a decent walk on along a road down to the beach.

The beach itself is great. Awesome white sand with some trees if you want shade, but the beach is narrow so you're never far from the water. On the day we went there was a moderate number of people. I'd infer that it's never overrun with the limited spots.

Surf was high the day we went. I didn't see any surfers, but there was plenty of boogie boarders. We didn't snorkel, but I also didn't see any areas either.

Overall, if you can get in, it's well worth it.