Ahhhh.. The beaches at Aulani! One of the main reasons people travel to Hawaii. Ko Olina has 4 man-made lagoons that make them great for swimming and playing because the waves are gentle. Aulani is located on the first Lagoon, and shares the Lagoon with the Marriott next door and a wedding chapel. During our time there, not many people from the Marriott came down to the beach, it was mostly used by Aulani guests.
You can take a beautiful walk to all 4 lagoons along a lit pathway. The Marriott Beach club takes up quite a bit of real estate on the 2 of them and then the 4th has a public parking and is easily used by anyone. The path is around a mile long, and make for a great sunset stroll!
Before heading to Aulani, do yourself a favor and purchase one of these waterproof phone cases. It holds your phone, room keys, and cash, and keeps them from getting wet. Then you don’t have to worry about leaving your valuables unattended. We were constantly asked where we bought them, they are not sold on site, so be sure to get yours before headed to Aulani.
Aulani offers beach chairs and umbrellas for guests of the resort. We liked getting the small beach chairs and taking them closer to the water to play with the kids in the sand. They also offer Beachside Casabella’s, for 2 people, that you to rent each day.
The sand at the beach is much coarser than what we are used to here on the West Coast. Be sure to rinse off well after playing in the sand, otherwise, you may experience some chafing issues.
Getting buried in the sand!
Aulani also offers Beach Toys and Boogie boards free for guests to use. The first day we were there, we went down to the beach late morning and asked for some beach toys – they were all out! I was surprised and rather disappointed. Beach toys are cheap – they should just have lots for the guests to use. For the rest of our stay, we were sure to send one of us adults down to Makiki Joe’s first thing in the morning to get a bag of beach toys for us to use. We would often play in the pools first thing in the morning, and go down to the beach mid-morning. After we left the beach, we would return the toys 🙂 So if you want to ensure getting some beach toys, make sure to get a bag in the morning! The Lava Shack also sells beach toys (which if we had known our first day, we probably would have just bought some, so we didn’t have to worry about getting some each day.. but we didn’t see them until late in our trip). My note to Aulani would be to get some more beach toys! Seriously, they are inexpensive and they obviously did not have enough for the guests needs.
Boys playing with Aulani Beach Toys
We also got boogie boards several times during our stay. They too often go fast! But we usually had pretty good luck picking up one or two to play with. I don’t think people hoarded them as much as the beach toys (or they just had more boards than toys). The best day for boogie boarding was the day when the water was a bit rougher – we had a great time with the boards that day!
Aulani Boogie Boards
Makiki Joe’s also has many rentals available. Kayaks and standing paddle boards were the most popular. Some days we were there, they constantly had people renting them. On other days, not one seemed to be renting. One day, it was overcast and the waves were a bit rougher, so they didn’t do the rentals at all that day.
They also offer snorkeling sets to rent. I am not sure all you will see in the lagoon, but we were able to see many fish just playing in the water, no snorkel needed. We were hoping to see turtles, since we heard they often come to Ko Olina, but no luck during our stay 😛
They also offer boat and catamaran rentals. We saw the catamaran go out only twice during our stay. It looked like it would have been a really fun trip/excursion!
Aulani Catamaran
Aulani also had these floating mats that were tethered and anchored. We had quite a bit of fun on these mats. When we were there, they had one very large one, and a couple smaller ones. We would float on the mats, jump off the side of the mat, throw/launch our kids off the side 😉 They were great and quite a bit of fun!
Aulani Floating Mat
Near Makiki Joe’s, they have a ping pong table and a giant Connect Four. My kids thought the Giant Connect Four was awesome. I added it to my Amazon wish list, because they enjoyed playing with it so much!
Aulani Connect Four and ping pong table in the background
There is beachside dining and drinks available to Aulani guests and there is Little ‘Opihi’s for a quick bite, snack, or drink! I personally find it too sandy to eat at the beach, and don’t enjoy the sand in my food…
We spent many wonderful hours enjoying the beach and lagoon during our week stay at Aulani! Other than the beach toy trouble the first day, we love every minute of our time playing there! Aulani is really a great trip for the entire family!
Buring his legs in the sand, while sitting in the Ocean
Connect Four game at Aulani
Got his legs buried in the ocean!
Boogie Boarding at Aulani
Heading out on their Boogie Boards
He was excited that he rode the wave all the way in on his boogie board!
Playing on the Floating Mat
watching fish from the floating mat
Sunset at Aulani
