# Waikiki surf guide Where Hawaiians revived surfing and Duke Kahanamoku spread it to the world: long, gentle reef waves like Queens and Canoes are perfect for longboards. - **Location:** Oahu, Hawaii, United States (21.2770, -157.8290) - **Best season:** Apr – Sep (April, May, June, July, August, September) - **Water:** 24–27°C (boardshorts) - **Waves:** Reef break, Beach break - **Suits:** Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced surfers - **Interactive map, stays and what's on:** https://swellcabin.com/town/waikiki - **Feed (new YouTube surf videos and Instagram posts from Waikiki):** https://swellcabin.com/town/waikiki?feed ## Live surf cams - [Waikīkī South Shore](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIUg8wzhq1g): Waikiki Aquarium (YouTube), free ## Surf spots - **Queens/Canoes (Waikiki)**: Reef break, lefts and rights, beginner surfers, faces SW (offshore wind from the NE), best at all tides. Coral reef. (21.2730, -157.8279) - **Ala Moana**: Reef break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, best at all tides. Coral reef. (21.2790, -157.8441) - **Diamond Head**: Reef break, lefts and rights, intermediate surfers, faces S (offshore wind from the N), best at low to mid tide. Coral reef. (21.2545, -157.8083) - **Sandy Beach**: Beach break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces SSE (offshore wind from the NNW), best at all tides. Powerful shorebreak, mostly for bodyboarding and bodysurfing. (21.2850, -157.6730) - **Kailua**: Reef break, lefts and rights, all levels, faces ENE (offshore wind from the WSW). Coral reef. (21.4100, -157.7399) ## What's on Waikiki has Honolulu's busiest evenings: beachfront hotel bars with live Hawaiian music at sunset, Kalākaua Avenue's restaurants and bars, and free hula shows at the Kūhiō Beach hula mound on some evenings. No current 2026 schedule for the free shows could be confirmed, so check locally. _Updated 2026-11-06._ ## Where to stay 366 places to stay within 10 km. Surf camps: Holiday Surf, Waikiki Resort Hotel, Aloha Surf Hotel, Marine Surf Hotel, Surf Camp, Surf Camp Niu Valley. Hostels: Seaside Hawaiian Hostel, Hostelling International Waikiki, Waikiki Beachside Hostel, Pacific Ohana Hostel, Polynesian Hostel Beach Club, THE BEACH waikiki Boutique hostel. ## FAQ ### When is the best time to surf in Waikiki? The best surf season in Waikiki is Apr – Sep (April, May, June, July, August, September). The sea ranges from 24°C to 27°C over the year. ### Which months have the most good surf days in Waikiki? Measured over the last three years (2023-11-01 to 2026-10-31), the waves at Waikiki's best spot were good or better most often in August (96% of days, 41% great), October (80% of days, 49% great) and May (83% of days, 44% great), and least often in February (62%). From each day's swell and wind (Open-Meteo), rated like Swell Cabin's forecast. ### Do I need a wetsuit in Waikiki? Water temperature in Waikiki is 24–27°C: boardshorts. ### Is Waikiki good for beginner surfers? Yes. Waikiki suits beginner, intermediate and advanced surfers; spots that work for beginners or all levels include Queens/Canoes (Waikiki) and Kailua. ### What are the surf spots in Waikiki? Waikiki has 5 surf spots on Swell Cabin: Queens/Canoes (Waikiki) (Reef break, lefts and rights, beginner surfers, faces SW (offshore wind from the NE), best at all tides); Ala Moana (Reef break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, best at all tides); Diamond Head (Reef break, lefts and rights, intermediate surfers, faces S (offshore wind from the N), best at low to mid tide); Sandy Beach (Beach break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces SSE (offshore wind from the NNW), best at all tides); Kailua (Reef break, lefts and rights, all levels, faces ENE (offshore wind from the WSW)). ### Where should surfers stay in Waikiki? Swell Cabin lists 366 places to stay within 10 km of Waikiki, including 6 surf camps such as Holiday Surf, Waikiki Resort Hotel, Aloha Surf Hotel and Marine Surf Hotel, 9 hostels, 99 guesthouses and homestays, 43 rentals and villas. Each one shows its distance to the nearest surf spot. ### What is the nightlife like in Waikiki? Waikiki has Honolulu's busiest evenings: beachfront hotel bars with live Hawaiian music at sunset, Kalākaua Avenue's restaurants and bars, and free hula shows at the Kūhiō Beach hula mound on some evenings. No current 2026 schedule for the free shows could be confirmed, so check locally. ### What is the surf forecast for Waikiki this week? Swell Cabin shows a live 7-day surf forecast for Waikiki and each of its 5 surf spots on https://swellcabin.com/town/waikiki: 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 Waikiki? 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 Waikiki 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 Alawai tide gauge (2 km away). ### How accurate is the surf forecast for Waikiki? Swell Cabin checks it against the Pearl Harbor Entrance, HI buoy (14 km away, NOAA NDBC): over 1097 hours from 2026-09-21 to 2026-11-05 the forecast wave height was within 20% of the buoy 85% of the time after correcting the wave model, which ran 35% high there (5% before); the correction applies to the spots that face the same sea as the buoy. Last checked 2026-11-05. ### Is the Waikiki surf forecast checked against measurements? Yes. The open water off Waikiki is checked against the satellite altimeters (Copernicus Marine's near-real-time wave heights): 56 satellite passes within 100 km since 2026-09-23, typically 53 km out, put the forecast wave height within 20% of the measurement 84% of the time. Of the three wave models compared, Météo-France 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 Waikiki? Trust in this page's data is high (98/100): the town was verified against sources in the last 12 months; 5 of 5 spots fully verified, 4 with a researched tide; season and water temperature checked against measured data; no open audit warnings. How we check: https://github.com/danielgalam/swellcabin/blob/main/docs/data-accuracy.md Last checked against sources on 2026-11-07. 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 Waikiki? Yes: Waikīkī South Shore on Waikiki Aquarium (YouTube) (free). Swell Cabin checks these cams regularly. ### Where can I take surf lessons in Waikiki? Surf schools in and around Waikiki include The Surf Bus, Faith Surf School Hawaii, North Shore Of Oahu, Ty Gurney Surf School, Oahu Surf and Skim School and Sea Surfing Hawaii.