This place was suggested to us by a Maui Aquarium docent, when we asked for a good place to see turtles in their natural habitat. Located about 10 minutes from the airport, the perfect place to stop when you have some time before check-in. Turtles, turtles, turtles, surfers, surfers, surfers, and the most beautiful coastline. So glad we there!

People living on the island including staff at our hotel described this as "must see" if you'd like to see giant turtles, some of them 1000+ years old. They were right! The area were the turtles climb onto and rest on the beach is roped off and fortunately at least when we were there, people respected this. The turtles are incredible. LOTS of people know about this and the parking lot isn't huge, so you may have to walk 5-10 minutes. But that's ok. This is a free, 5 star attraction. We had 11 year old grandchildren who were fascinated. This is one of those rare free attractions that that is great for people of any age.

We arrived around 3:30 or so and stayed for an hour sitting on a beach blanket and watching the gorgeous waves and surfboarders. I was hoping to see 40-60 turtles. There were way more than that! Turtles covered an area of the beach. I stopped counting around 50 and I hadn't even counted 1/2 of them yet.

Was really looking forward to seeing the Giant Green turtles. It was truely wonderful. The beach was beautiful, nice bathroom, nice covered picnic area. The lifeguard was interactive with people educating them about the living reef and where they should go to enter the water without damaging. The were alot of signed due to the waves size that can be dangerous for swimmers. Great place to watch the surfers and the kite boarding.

THE.TURLES.WERE.AMAZING. When one of the ladies in our group wanted to stop to see the turtles, we were so surprised to see how many there were. This was a treat for us! It was also very nice to see the surfers in the water. Cool location.

Amazing sea turtles. There we about 50 sea turtles basking on the beach. Easy parking and short paved walk to where you can see the turtles. There are signs saying to not pass a certain area. People were not following the sign and were to close to the turtles.

We stopped here on our first night to watch the sunset and it was amazing. Parking was easy and there were lots of families with little kids wading in the water. The waves were lapping softly and the night turned beautiful golds to blues to purples. It was the perfect way to start off our vacation. Several days later we stopped here on our road to Hana and the whole beach was speckled with TURTLES! We had thought they were rocks! It was fun to watch the surfers as well. Great beach with lots of activity.

Ho’okipa Beach totally lives up to its reputation. Ho'okipa means "hospitality," but that is not the reason to check it out. As has been mentioned by prior TA reviewers this is a fantastic to observe surfers, kite-surfers, and wind-surfers. It is also a reliable place to spot green sea turtles and apparently seals as well. We never did any pinnipeds, however, on several visits to the beach. The beach is a well-known surfing destination, reportedly the “World capital of windsurfing”. I do not surf at all, but I could appreciate the skill and stamina it would take to handle those impressive waves rolling in. The prevailing winds from the east combined with the reefs offshore make for a consistent surf break. Those same conditions that made this perfect for international surfing competitions also make this a beach that is less than ideal for regular swimming or snorkeling. that is not to say that you can’t give it a try. I tried snorkeling just off the beach in the shallow waters, and the rocks just offshore. I didn’t get to share the water with the green turtles a pair of which were grazing on algae on the rocks. For a non-surfer the green sea turtles were the star of the beach. they were easily seen coming into the beach from the viewpoint atop the cliff just off the parking lot. Their main gathering spot on the beach was just below the cliffs so to get a good view of the turtles, one had to take the short walk down to beach level. There is a barrier between the visitors and the beaching area of the turtles. unfortunately, it was not uncommon for some to literally cross the line and try to get closer to the turtles. Please do not do so and enjoy the sight from behind the barrier. We saw turtles both coming out of the sea and a smaller number heading back out. If you look out to the water, you may see some turtle swimming just offshore, their heads poking out of the water surface.. We saw turtles both in the morning as well as late afternoon. It appears that most travel writers recommend visiting the beach in the afternoon to maximize the likelihood of seeing turtles.