Papakolea Green Sand Beach is one of the only 4 green sand beaches in the entire world. If you’re planning on visiting the Big Island in Hawaii, this is a must-see stop to put on your list. The olive-green sand sparkles in its valley, tucked away at the south point of the island.
The sand’s distinctive green color comes from olivine, which is a glassy, yellow-green mineral. Olivine is not at all rare, but is almost never found in sufficient enough quantities to actually look green to the human eye. Even so, the beach’s olive color is relatively faint, and has trouble showing up greenish on camera. Regardless, I thought it was enchanting! (I have edited my photos to better show the green color.)
How to Get to Papakolea Green Sand Beach
To get to this rare sight, you have two options: via a 3-mile hike in the unforgiving sun, or by catching a ride from one of the locals. The hike isn’t difficult or steep, but the lack of shade on a sunny day drains your energy ridiculously fast. We were originally going to do the hike, but about half a mile in a local truck carrying some adventurers stopped for us and let us get on for free!
By the way, you cannot make the drive down to the beach yourself. You need a 4×4 vehicle, and it’s technically illegal to drive there anyway. Vehicle tires can damage the riparian vegetation growing in the area and hurt the fragile ecology of beach growth. No judgment if you do pay a local driver—I mean, we also had a ride—but just some useful information to keep in mind!
Once you get to the beach, you need to walk down into the beautiful sandy valley. There’s nothing to do here besides enjoy the beach, so consider bringing everything you might need. We saw people playing in the water, sunning themselves on towels, climbing the rocks, or just sitting and snacking. My favorite thing was to simply scoop up the sand and look at the large, glassy olivine crystals!
Note: please remember to Leave No Trace and pack out whatever you may have brought in. Also, do not take any of the sand with you! Not only is it illegal, but also contributes to beach erosion.
Since we didn’t want to swim, we hung around for an hour or so before deciding to take the local truck back. The driver charged $20 per person for a round trip ride, which seems to be the standard for this back-and-forth truck shuttle. We said good-bye to the beautiful Papakolea beach, and continued on our Hawaiian journey.
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