Swell Cabin › Pacific Islands › United States

Haleiwa surf guide

Gateway to Oahu's North Shore — Pipeline, Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay — the proving ground of big-wave surfing every winter.

Location
Oahu, Hawaii, United States (21.5930, -158.1030)
Best season
Nov – Mar: November, December, January, February, March
Water temperature
24–27°C (boardshorts)
Waves
Reef break
Suits
Intermediate, Advanced surfers

Live surf cams in Haleiwa

Surf clips from Haleiwa

Surf spots in Haleiwa

What's on in Haleiwa

Haleiwa is a small, laid-back surf town: the North Shore goes to bed early, and evenings mean sunset at the beach, food trucks and a few bars and restaurants in town. The weekly fixture is the Wednesday-afternoon North Shore Country Market with local food, crafts and live island music. Honolulu is about an hour away for nightlife.

Updated 2026-11-05.

Where to stay in Haleiwa

70 places to stay within 20 km: 20 holiday rental, 19 hotel, 14 guest house, 7 camp site, 4 bed and breakfast, 3 resort, 1 caravan site, 1 hostel, 1 villa. Compare them by distance to the nearest surf spot on the interactive map.

Hostels: Backpackers Hawaii Vacation Inn and Hostel.

Cafés, food and surf shops

54 cafés and bakeries, 218 restaurants and bars, 45 surf schools and 33 surf shops nearby. Surf schools: 808 Surf School, 808 Sup, North Shore Keiki SURF School, Kealohi Surf, Pipeline, North Shore Hawaii, Surf Hawaii Surf School, Haleiwa Surf Center, Fozzy Surf School.

Frequently asked questions

When is the best time to surf in Haleiwa?

The best surf season in Haleiwa is Nov – Mar (November, December, January, February, March). The sea ranges from 24°C to 27°C over the year.

Which months have the most good surf days in Haleiwa?

Measured over the last three years (2023-11-01 to 2026-10-31), the waves at Haleiwa's best spot were good or better most often in December (98% of days, 80% great), January (92% of days, 72% great) and November (87% of days, 52% great), and least often in July (28%). From each day's swell and wind (Open-Meteo), rated like Swell Cabin's forecast.

Do I need a wetsuit in Haleiwa?

Water temperature in Haleiwa is 24–27°C: boardshorts.

Is Haleiwa good for beginner surfers?

Haleiwa is better for intermediate and advanced surfers, though Laniakea can suit all levels on smaller days.

What are the surf spots in Haleiwa?

Haleiwa has 13 surf spots on Swell Cabin: Hale'iwa (Reef break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, best at all tides); Laniakea (Reef break, lefts and rights, all levels, faces NW (offshore wind from the SE), best at all tides); Waimea Bay (Point break, right-hander, advanced surfers, faces W (offshore wind from the E), best at all tides); Log Cabins (Reef break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces W (offshore wind from the E), best at mid to high tide); Rockpile/Heisler Park (Reef break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces NW (offshore wind from the SE), best at all tides); Off-The-Wall (Reef break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces NW (offshore wind from the SE), best at mid tide); Pipeline & Backdoor (Reef break, left-hander, advanced surfers, faces NW (offshore wind from the SE), best at all tides); Rocky Point (Reef break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces NW (offshore wind from the SE), best at all tides); Sunset (Reef break, right-hander, advanced surfers, faces WNW (offshore wind from the ESE), best at all tides); Backyards (Reef break, right-hander, advanced surfers, faces NNW (offshore wind from the SSE), best at low to mid tide); Velzyland (Reef break, right-hander, advanced surfers, faces NW (offshore wind from the SE), best at low to mid tide); Makaha Point (Reef break, right-hander, advanced surfers, faces SSW (offshore wind from the NNE), best at all tides); Maili Point (Reef break, right-hander, advanced surfers, faces W (offshore wind from the E), best at all tides).

Where should surfers stay in Haleiwa?

Swell Cabin lists 70 places to stay within 20 km of Haleiwa, 1 hostels, 14 guesthouses and homestays, 21 rentals and villas. Each one shows its distance to the nearest surf spot.

What is the nightlife like in Haleiwa?

Haleiwa is a small, laid-back surf town: the North Shore goes to bed early, and evenings mean sunset at the beach, food trucks and a few bars and restaurants in town. The weekly fixture is the Wednesday-afternoon North Shore Country Market with local food, crafts and live island music. Honolulu is about an hour away for nightlife. Regular nights: Wednesday: North Shore Country Market (live island music) at Liliuokalani Protestant Church.

What is the surf forecast for Haleiwa this week?

Swell Cabin shows a live 7-day surf forecast for Haleiwa and each of its 13 surf spots on https://swellcabin.com/town/haleiwa: each spot rated hour by hour (Flat, Poor, Fair, Good, Great or Epic) from the way its coast faces, the swell, its period, the wind and the tide, with the best time each day and why, the size in surfers' words (e.g. "chest to head high, clean"), tides, and how sure the forecast is (three wave models compared). It is checked live against the nearest buoy and airport wind reports where there are any, and refreshed every few hours (waves from Open-Meteo, wind from MET Norway).

When is the best tide to surf in Haleiwa?

It depends on the spot: shallow reefs usually want mid to high tide, most beach breaks work best around mid tide. Swell Cabin's forecast for Haleiwa weighs each spot's tide hour by hour and shows the best window each day with the high and low tide times, predicted from the Haleiwa tide gauge (0 km away).

How accurate is the surf forecast for Haleiwa?

Swell Cabin checks it against the Waimea Bay, HI buoy (9 km away, NOAA NDBC): over 1099 hours from 2026-09-21 to 2026-11-05 the forecast wave height was within 20% of the buoy 98% of the time. Last checked 2026-11-05.

Is the Haleiwa surf forecast checked against measurements?

Yes. The open water off Haleiwa is checked against the satellite altimeters (Copernicus Marine's near-real-time wave heights): 64 satellite passes within 100 km since 2026-09-23, typically 41 km out, put the forecast wave height within 20% of the measurement 100% of the time after correcting the wave model, which ran 5% low out there (100% before). Of the three wave models compared, ECMWF has been the closest to the satellites here. Nearer the coast, the buoy above decides the correction. Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information (https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00179). Last checked 2026-11-06.

How reliable is Swell Cabin's information about Haleiwa?

Trust in this page's data is low (48/100): the town has not been verified against sources in the last 12 months; 0 of 13 spots fully verified, 13 with a researched tide; season and water temperature checked against measured data; 2 open audit warnings. How we check: https://github.com/danielgalam/swellcabin/blob/main/docs/data-accuracy.md Last checked against sources on 2026-11-05. Every value comes from measured data (Open-Meteo, buoys), open databases (OpenStreetMap, Wikidata) or a published page we opened, never from visitor reports; a daily audit compares them and a weekly evaluation measures the error rate (https://github.com/danielgalam/swellcabin/blob/main/docs/data-quality.md).

Is there a live surf cam in Haleiwa?

Yes: Banzai Pipeline (Pipeline & Backdoor) on explore.org (YouTube) (free). Swell Cabin checks these cams regularly.

Where can I take surf lessons in Haleiwa?

Surf schools in and around Haleiwa include 808 Surf School, 808 Sup, North Shore Keiki SURF School, Kealohi Surf, Pipeline, North Shore Hawaii and Surf Hawaii Surf School.

Nearby surf towns

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