Just around the point lies Lanikai, whose name means ‘heavenly sea,’ and its beach is the one the postcards use — a soft white crescent facing the Mokulua across impossibly clear water. Above it, a short, steep climb up Kaʻiwa Ridge reaches the old Lanikai ‘pillboxes,’ concrete observation posts left from the Second World War, and a view that takes in the whole windward coast, the Mokes, and the reef. Down on the sand, kayaks and stand-up boards launch from Kailua Beach Park and Lanikai for the paddle out to the islets. Beach, bay, and islands together are what people picture when they picture Kailua.
Kailua stayed country until the middle of the twentieth century. After the war, new roads over and through the Koʻolau opened the windward side to Honolulu, and through the 1950s and 1960s Kailua filled in as a leafy bedroom community of schools, churches, and beach bungalows. Tourism mostly went the other way — to Waikīkī — which left Kailua delightfully local and let its beaches keep their easy, unhurried feel. What did draw the world was the wind: the same steady trades that cool the town make Kailua Bay one of the great windsurfing and kitesurfing waters anywhere, and the sport's early champions made their name on this very water.
Why People Visit Kailua
Kailua blends scenic windward beaches with deep Hawaiian heritage. Visitors come to swim, paddle out to the islands, and hike to a pillbox view, then slow down in a town that stayed local. It is picturesque, approachable, and meaningful to the island families who call it home — natural beauty and everyday culture side by side, with year-round appeal in its parks, paths, and shoreline.
