Malaekahana Beach Campground — Attraction in Oʻahu

Malaekahana is a very special place on the North Shore of Oahu. If you are looking to get away and camp on the beach, this is your place. If you are looking for luxurious accommodations, stay in Wikiki. We have camped here twice, once in 2009, and again this spring of 2019, a week each time. Both times we were there in April or May and found the park mostly empty. People do come in on the weekends, but everyone seems to be nice and just happy to be there. The beach is wonderful, with more open space than you will know what to do with, good small surf, and fun people.

A few quirks and tips for the park:

No driving after 7 pm. Don't plan to go out late, you will have a hard time getting back to your site.

Showers, which used to be lovely enclosed solar showers, are now just outside, open air, and cold. This change makes it feel like the park is discouraging people staying that long since it would not take but a day or two of work to build some proper showers. We also noticed that a lot of the tent sites are being built on and are now small cabins. Just a change.

Lots of wild cats and chickens like most islands, so do not leave food out.

Pack ear plugs if you want to sleep in. See above about chickens.

Plan to arrive before 4 pm. It can be hard to make flights work out that way, but it can be hard to find your site, and the staff leave at 4 pm.

Firewood used to be free as they had it, now it is $10 bucks for a few sticks, so look around in the brush for downed limbs and pack a small folding saw if a fire is needed for your cooking for just for fun.

Bring some bug spray. No mosquitoes to speak of, at least not at our time of year, but some other biting bugs, maybe sand fleas or ants? To be expected, just be prepared.

Not all that much to see in the water off the beach, but there are turtles, so it's worth a snorkel if you are comfy doing so in the surf. For really good fish spotting, head up the shore to Shark's Cove. Go early to avoid the people.

Don't bother packing much for cooking gear or food; there are too many yummy cheap eats so close by. Check our Tamara's Market for Poke and all the food trucks just up the road. Don’t miss the taco truck, Nelly's Tacos Mexicano!

Yes, there is a theft problem, but that is not Malaekahana Park or any fault of the park staff, that is just the North Shore today. Don’t do ice, kids. It's sad, but if you know it is a problem and are smart about your gear, it should be ok. If you can pack lightly and just keep things like your money, camera, phone with you at all times, you will be fine. We leave our tent, sleeping gear, and clothes at the site, but nothing else. Do not leave anything of value in your car, locked or not, anywhere on the island. Smash and grabs happen all the time, and if you leave your car unlocked with things in it, well, just don't. The less stuff you can have, the more fun you will have and the less you will worry about your stuff. If you can take everything with you in a small pack that you can't afford to be without, that's the way to go.

If camping is your thing, you don't mind rustic beach accommodations (or prefer it!), you enjoy the beach, and you want to see another side of Oahu, plan a visit to Malaekahana. Did I mention the price? I won't, because it's just crazy. Go to the webpage and...

Malaekahana campground is a lovely place to camp on the north east part of the island - far away from the hustle and bustle of Honolulu and Waikiki. For me, it was a very good experience to camp in nature and to do challenging hikes in the foothills and valleys and along the ridges and on the beaches of Oahu.

I camped in a tent here in February without a car. I took the bus to Laie (2 miles away) to get food at the supermarket or restaurants, or I walked 20 minutes to the many food trucks in Kahuku (less than a mile). Also in Laie, there is Ace hardware store where you can buy many camping supplies, such as gas, stoves, tents, and tarps.

I came to Oahu for the hiking which is awesome. I was able to access many hikes via the bus on the windward side and North Shore, such as Kahana state park, Hau’ula area and Pūpūkea-Paumalu Forest Reserve. Nearby is the Laie Falls Trail on private land, but it was closed when I was there due to problems with dogs. For more hiking info, see the All Trails app and/or the Oahu hiking guidebook by Stuart M. Ball.

When I was there, there wasn’t any wifi available at the campground for campers even though their website advertises it and the campground staff clearly have access to their own wifi. It’s not a big deal though as there is free wifi at the fast food restaurants in the nearby town Laie. There is an electrical socket outside of the campground office building which is handy to charge your devices.

If you really want, you can rent a car with Enterprise at the nearby resort of Turtle Bay (5 miles away) - although it looks like it is more expensive than in Honolulu.

I think that they could improve the campground by providing some type of lockers to store food and valuables, putting garbage bins by all of the toilets, providing free wifi, making the rental cost of their old bikes cheaper, as well as by extending the opening hours of the office/shop and stocking more types of food and camping supplies in the shop.

PROS Beautiful location on the beach Quiet campsite without too many people Great hikes nearby A variety of beautiful beaches in the area Surfboard rentals Regular bus service every 30 minutes and $5.50 daily pass Polynesian cultural centre Good food at the two nearby towns as well as at the Polynesian cultural centre Very close to North Shore, especially snorkelling at Shark’s cove Early morning wake up calls by the roosters outside of your tent!

CONS Cats and chickens jumping on to your picnic table to eat your food (although they are taking steps to deal with the stray cat problem) No wifi for campers No garbage bins close to the tent sites which is a pain with the wild cats and chickens foraging Very windy on the windward side of the island! Expensive rental for old bicycles Getting there from the airport is expensive at $120 one way (you can take 2 buses from the airport to the campground for $5.50 and an over 2 hour journey, but you can't take large-sized luggage on the bus, only carry-on size) No lockers - there is a possible risk of theft - which is the case all over the island (although I had no problems while tent camping...

Please read: I’m not one to leave bad reviews because i work in hospitality but this place needs one. I booked a camp site online with 2 other adults for one night. I arrived at the designated checkin time and presented 3 drivers licenses to the receptionist. She gave us a map with the name “Davis” which is my boyfriends name (and he is the only local so I made the reservation under him). I drove around in circles because all i could find was a hale which is a small green shed and i knew I didn’t book that. So i called the office 30 minutes before closing and it went to voicemail. I then walked to the office and it was closed early so we went back and asked another neighbor if we were in the right place and he said yes since he had been there before. We threw our stuff inside the shed and set up hammocks outside . At 9pm their groundskeeper showed up demanding that we show an Id because he taught we snuck in and another family with the Davis name were booked for our place. I showed IDs and offered to relocate but he didn’t want us to instead he demanded $40 and told us we would get it back the next day.

The next day we were eating at 8:45 am and he showed up again and asked us why we were still there since we had to check out for the other family and our money was waiting at the office. Check out is at 12 pm in their rules and regulations … So we kept our cool, threw our stuff in the car and headed out. Then they refused to give us our money back and kept saying that we booked a campground and took a Hale… the poor receptionist girl called her boss and asked the groundskeeper to come help smooth the situation. He would not let me speak, he just kept yelling “did you book a campground or not?”

There was camera footage that i walked in and gave my 3 IDs and if they had checked their call log they would have seen my phone number and that i walked back to the office but nooo he pulled the “where are you from!?” I said “why does it matter!?” And then he picked up the money and handed it to me and started to tell me how i was going to act if i came back. I don’t understand what made him think that i would come back… I am a 5 ft tall girl and he was some 40 year old man maybe 5.9 in height just looking down at me and talking to me like after all I am not bringing business to the campground. I live in Oahu and have lived here for a while now and I am sad to say this has been the first time that “Aloha” went out the window. The beach here is nice, the campground is nice, hell the receptionist is great (and they had the mix up) but this guy is really something else. I’m sure after this he will probably get...