Papakōlea Green Sand Beach — Attraction in Hawaii

Definitely a very beautiful beach! Unique and worth the hike for me. It is not a very bright green, so if you are hoping for a vibrant mossy green it may be disappointing. It is a more brown-green, and sparkly. If you pick some sand you can see the tiny green crystals and it is super pretty. You can’t swim in the water(or at least I wouldn’t recommend it) but just standing and letting the waves hit you was nice, especially after the hike there. Although it was very pretty, I will give you readers some well needed warnings about the hike there. It is long. It is 2.5 mi there and the same amount back. I have been on plenty of hikes that length or even longer, but this seemed much longer. I am from Minnesota, so maybe it was the climate or something. If you struggle with hiking I would not recommend. I guess you could always pay the $20 for the truck shuttle, which is just locals having you stand in the bed of a pickup and driving you through the rough terrain to the beach. It gets hot. I left in the morning- maybe about 8:30, and the temperature of the hike to the beach was not unpleasant. It was sunny, but not too hot and very windy so it was perfect temperature wise, but I did get quite a bit of sand in my face 😂 luckily I had my oversized sunglasses on so my eyes were mostly safe. Unfortunately, the walk back was not so pleasant. It was about 11am, and I think the UV was was peaking. The wind died down unfortunately and it got hot. There is zero shade for the whole hike, so you are really just relying on wind to cool you down. My Minnesota blood might be thicker than the average person, but I was suffering that last 30 minutes. I would suggest going early in the day, when the weather is cooler (maybe leave at 6:30-7am?) and an added bonus of going earlier is there are much less people. The terrain is a bit rough. It’s not horrible, but it’s no paved or even normal dirt road. It seems like just a bunch tracks made by the local’s trucks. There were serious ruts, feet deep( I’m assuming from the trucks). Some parts are very sandy and my group felt like we were in the Sahara desert 😂. Other parts were rocky and I had to actively look where I was stepping so I didn’t trip. There were ups and downs, and while not at all steep they got a bit tiring after 45 min of walking. When i returned to my car after visiting I realized that I had a thin layer of fine sand on almost my whole body, probably from the sand in the wind, so I looked a little dirty. Some of the trails got confusing. Since there really is no official trail and it’s just a bunch of truck tracks, we got confused on where to go sometimes. There would be forks in the road with like five routes, and luckily we pulled up how to get to the beach from the parking on Apple Maps so we had some knowledge of where to go. Even Apple didn’t have all the tracks though so sometimes we had to guess. It’s not that bad though, all the trails lead to the beach in the end 😁 The scenery. It is very pretty when you are walking along the coast, the huge blue waves were beautiful and I took plenty of pictures, but sometimes the trail would take you more into the land and it was not as pretty. Lots of brown grass and sand and a maze of tracks that overwhelmed me sometimes. The beach is in the bottom of a bowl shaped cove. When we came upon the beach at first we were nervous about the descent. There was one ladder leaving down the steepest part, but the rest looked overwhelming. Luckily, once we started moving we realized it wasn’t so bad, and the descent wasn’t very hard, neither was the ascent back out.

Overall, it was a bit of a difficult hike for an amateur/novice hiker, but doable. Definitely go when it is cooler, like early morning or maybe an overcast day. Wear athletic gear, and you don’t need much besides a water bottle, your phone, and a towel to wipe the sand off your feet when leaving the beach. I guess this review got a little negative, but it is a nice beach, just maybe pay for the shuttle if you can’t handle a hike.

Have fun if you...

It’s worth it to go! (see below for things I wish I had known prior to going!) Best tip: Walk there, ride back*! Why—because the ‘reveal’ of the location (aka instagramability) from the walk is 1000% better than the view you get from just pulling up in the truck. (And then you've earned it too!) And it was a GREAT reveal- super unique land form that is totally different than the surrounding area. But that walk back seems way longer & less interesting than the walk there. *Note about riding in the truck- I imagined like 2-3 tourists sitting in either the cab or maybe the bed of a pickup truck—Ummmm- no! A) You stand in the back of a pick-up truck (with a chest-high “rail” to hang on to, if you’re on the edge) B) They wait until they have 10-15 people crammed in the back of the pick-up truck to go C) I just imagined my back being thrown out for the next week (because of the crazy terrain, and super jostling incurred to get there) not to mention what would happen if we tipped over.

So I walked. Things I wish I had for the walk/trek there: *Cash to pay for the ride back ($10) (even though it is risky/crazy, mid-way through my return walk I was ready to flag down a truck) *Earplugs (it is sooooo windy!) *Sunglasses (you will get a free exfoliation, just keep it out of your eyes 😊 ) (My hat wasn’t enough and you’ll want to make sure you can physically secure your hat to you, otherwise the wind will get a free hat.) *More water & another clif bar for the walk back (even after my beach snack) that walk back was looooong and there is NO shade! *“Real shoes” not hiking sandals, or anything ‘breathable’ (holes = access point for very fine sand/tiny pebbles); if you’re not used to slippas I wouldn’t wear those either, it’s a good 70 minutes (each way) of walking over lots of different terrains. My own stash of toilet paper. You’ve got to be quick! There’s not one trail, there are about 40 and people can appear suddenly from any direction! 😉 ((There are 3 porta-potties at the trail-head, but they’re the old school kind that legit try to kill you with stench when you’re in there, but that’s the only place for a #2) *Clothes for sun/wind protection; I Saw some people do the whole thing in just their swimwear and all I could think of was how burned/ chaffed they were going to be the next day. *Lowered Expectations; I think a lot of this activity is about the journey there (whether truck or trek), if you’re only expecting some amazing green sand at the end, you might be a bit let down because: a) the sand is more accurately a dull-olive-green color (with some sparkles) that is mixed with a lot of grey/black sand at the top. b) the beach is small and gets crowded quickly, there’s no shade, no services, no food at the end (only 1 picnic table at the top of the ‘ledge’ if you can’t get down to the beach) c) the beach is pretty hard to access if you’ve got any physical limitations (eg. the ladder could use an extra step at the bottom- currently it’s at least a 2.5 foot void from ladder bottom to sloped rock wall, then you sort of shimmy through a cool, chest high, little mini-canyon, then you descend some rock ledges, holding on to whatever rock you think will hold you.) I saw people of every age down there, but I was very nervous for some of them. d) The waves are super rough, people were playing in the break, but don’t risk a swim! And I didn’t see any little kids playing in the water which I thought was wise of those parents, but then, are your kids bummed cuz you trekked them to a beach where they can’t get in the water…? e) I think it was more windy down there than up above, which says something considering the wind up above.

Overall a YES, but there are caveats...

If you happen to find yourself on the south coast of Hawai'i, and have a few hours to spare, this place is worth a visit because Papakolea has one of only four green sand beaches in the world (I have no idea if that's true, but that's what everyone says, and I certainly have not seen another one). As many others have mentioned, getting to it is a bit tricky. You first have to drive off the main highway, and down South Point Road. You may want to check your rental car agreements, as I've heard that some rental companies even forbid this action - not that the road is in bad shape, but because of the liability with the "parking" situation. If you can see past that, and embrace the friendly locals who offer their "shuttle" service into the beach, it is worth it to see. No, it is not official or sanctioned, and the vehicles look like they have seen better days, but it works and this is what most visitors do. Like them, we paid the $10 one-way fare (it is $15 or $20 round-trip, depending on who you ask), and hiked back.

It is a slow, arduous, somewhat physically-challenging ride for 20 minutes standing in the back of a pickup truck as it goes over the dunes and rocks to the beach. You could walk it once you realize all of the diverging trails lead to the same place, but since cell service is spotty and we wanted to see the terrain before we attempted it, we chose to ride in. We saw a few tourists try to take their 4x4s in themselves - DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. The jagged rocks, deep tire tracks and trail of destroyed truck parts along the way should be your warning.

Once you get there, the short walk down the green sand cinder cone to the beach is a bit steep, but has some stairs and a worn trail that helps make it tolerable. Now if I'm honest, the sand appears more a mix of sparkling gold and black, rather than perhaps faintly green, but it is still an unusual sight to say the least. The water is a bit rough, but an entrancing blue, and definitely worth swimming in. You may see some of the locals jump off the cliffs, but that's probably not advisable given there are no facilities around for many, many miles. We spent about an hour at the beach, then walked back. It was a hot day, but there were some clouds, so we managed to make it back in 45 minutes at a brisk (but not overly-taxing) pace.

In short: The locals are friendly, and I recommend taking the shuttle at least one way for the experience (but not in any way suitable for the infirm, elderly or young). The walk is very manageable, provided you have good shoes, plenty of water, and are prepared to be out in very exposed conditions for 45-90 minutes. Worth the trip once to see it for its rarity, but probably wouldn't go back. Don't take the sand. The locals are protective about it, and rightfully so. It is a special area...