Situated at Turble Bay Resort, the beach itself is open to the public and a busy spot on a nice day. It's not at all the best snorkelling on the North Shore. However, in winter, it's one of the few locations that are protected by the swell. We've seen turtles many times over the years, but naturally, you need a bit of luck, especially if you are there when it is busy. You'll often find seals sunning themselves on the beach on hot days also. You also have Roy's Beach Club Restaurant at the beach too inc some take-away options.

Turtle Bay is known for its large number of sea turtles, although we have also seen them on other beaches on Oahu. We stopped there on our trip along the North Shore and were able to park for free in the large parking lot at the Turtle Bay Resort hotel. This also makes it easy to get through the hotel to the beach. A small, quiet bay with showers and toilets as well as a restaurant are located directly at the hotel. There are also snorkeling opportunities and the access is public. Turtle Beach is a few minutes walk away, but it is very rocky in some places. Luckily we were able to see some turtles there because there were very few people on the beach at this time.

Regardless of whether you’re staying at Turtle Bay Resort, a beach day at the famous Turtle Bay is a must while on the North Shore. The beach is on a semi-protected bay with great views of the vast ocean in the background and seems to have a very calm surf (at least in the spring and summer). Beach access parking is available for those driving in but arrive on the early side if coming on the weekend. A couple bonus features are an awesome Roy Yamaguchi affiliated restaurant right on the beach and a network of hiking trails near the beach to offer a scenic workout before taking a dip. With shallow lying reef, this is also a surprisingly good place to snorkel and hosts a wide variety of fish and coral. However, there is probably a higher concentration of sea urchins here embedded into the reefs when compared to a lot of other snorkel spots so swim cautiously. To be fair, no one should be touching or stepping on the reefs anyway, so if you keep your distance as you should, you’ll be totally fine. Lastly, Turtle Bay and the North Shore in general can get very windy at times so bringing an extra dry shirt, light blanket or towel to cover up is a reasonable preparatory move. Enjoy this beautiful place!

One of the best and calmest beaches on the north shore. It's set by the same name hotel, huge free parking lot in front. You can stay on the hotels part of the beach, no one will ask you anything or go further right. Sea is calm and warm secluded in a small bay.

We had stayed at an AirBnb on the property so we arrive each evening around 4pm after a day of site seeing. Public parking available to the right of the lobby check in. There is a rental booth if you'd like to rent boogey boards and a bar for food and drinks. It wasn't over crowded each time we went and the kids my daughters befriended were always very nice. People on the beach were friendly. It was also awesome to sit on watch the sun go down while we were in the water. We didn't get to see any turtles this time around but we still had a great time.