Salt Pond Beach Park
The County lists Salt Pond Beach Park (park and pavilions) as closed after Hurricane Lowell, with no reopening date.
Is Glass Beach open?
No closures reported
No County, State or Health Department notice closes Glass Beach. Checked Nov 1, 2:49 pm HST. Details
Weather Service alert
Weather
–
Loading…
Air temp
–
Loading…
UV index
–
Loading…
Surf
–
Loading…
Water temp
–
Loading…
Sunrise and sunset
–
Loading…
Closures: County of Kauaʻi, DLNR and Hawaiʻi Department of Health, checked every 3 hours. Weather, surf and alerts: National Weather Service. UV: US EPA forecast. Water: NOAA sensor at Nāwiliwili Harbor. Every beach
Glass Beach in 3D
The 3D view loads when you scroll here.
Drag to spin · Blue P: parking · Heights doubled; waves are for illustration, not a surf report ·
Is Glass Beach open?
No official notice closes Glass Beach in our Nov 1, 2:49 pm HST check of County of Kauaʻi, DLNR and Hawaiʻi Department of Health notices. That isn’t an ocean safety call: surf, currents and weather can still make the water dangerous, so read the alerts and surf below.
Closures and advisories
- Loading the latest check…
County of Kauaʻi, DLNR and Hawaiʻi Department of Health notices, checked every 3 hours. Every beach
Official alerts
Loading National Weather Service alerts…
Recent official notices
None of the notices this site has read since Oct 1, 2026 name Glass Beach.
This list covers the last 90 days of County of Kauaʻi, DLNR and Hawaiʻi Department of Health notices.
Conditions
Surf
Loading the surf forecast…
Weather
Tide
Loading tide predictions…
Parking and access
Parking
There is no paved lot. A small dirt parking area at the edge of the beach holds about a dozen cars, and some people park along Aka Ula Street before the dirt starts. The last stretch is unpaved and bumpy, and Beat of Hawaii suggests parking at the top of the hill if your car isn't up to it.
Getting to the sand
From Kaumualiʻi Highway at the ʻEleʻele traffic light, take Waialo Road down toward Port Allen. Just before the harbor, turn left on Aka Ula Street, the last left before the pier road ends. It passes warehouses and fuel tanks, turns to dirt and ends at the beach, a short walk from where you park. There are no signs pointing to the beach.
From public sources, checked November 1, 2026: Turnipseed Travel, To-Hawaii.com, Parrish Kauai, Beat of Hawaii, OpenStreetMap contributors. Lot sizes and fill times change; the status at the top of this page shows current closures.
Lifeguard
No lifeguard. The County of Kauaʻi Ocean Safety Bureau doesn't list a lifeguard tower here.
Nearest lifeguard tower: the tower at Salt Pond Beach Park, about 1.5 miles away in a straight line, 8 a.m.–6 p.m. daily (State list, June 15, 2026).
About Glass Beach
Glass Beach is a small cove on Hanapēpē Bay in ʻEleʻele, next to Port Allen Harbor on Kauaʻi's West Side. It sits at the end of a short dirt road in an industrial area, below a row of fuel storage tanks and near the Port Allen power plant. The name comes from the sea glass that once covered the shore: glass dumped along this coast decades ago, worn smooth by the waves. There is no lifeguard, no restroom and no County beach park.
Most of the glass is gone now. Beat of Hawaii, writing in November 2024, judged that over 99 percent of it had vanished to collecting, erosion and shifting sand, leaving mostly dark sand and rocks, with old metal and glass still set in the lava cliffs. Guides describe a rocky shoreline and suggest closed-toe shoes. Hawaiian monk seals sometimes rest on the sand here; they are protected, so give them plenty of room. The State allows collecting beach glass, though some guides ask visitors to leave it. Up the road, overlooking the ocean, is the old McBryde Sugar Co. cemetery, with Japanese, Chinese and Christian graves from the plantation era.
Glass Beach (also called Glass Sand Beach, Port Allen Glass Beach) is a beach on Kauaʻi’s West Side, on the south-facing coast. No County lifeguard tower covers it. Its surf follows the National Weather Service forecast for South-facing shores, and its tides follow NOAA’s Port Allen station.
Questions
Is Glass Beach open?
The top of this page shows any closure or advisory that the County of Kauaʻi, the State (DLNR) or the Hawaiʻi Department of Health has posted for Glass Beach. We check every 3 hours. If our last check is more than a day old, it says “Status unknown” instead of guessing.
Where is Glass Beach, and how do you get there?
Glass Beach is on Kauaʻi’s West Side. Its public access point is at GPS 21.89820, -159.58420. Directions in Google Maps. The map on this page shows lots that OpenStreetMap marks as public.
Is there a lifeguard at Glass Beach?
No. Glass Beach has no County lifeguard tower. The nearest guarded beach is the place to ask about conditions.
Where do you park for Glass Beach?
There is no paved lot. A small dirt parking area at the edge of the beach holds about a dozen cars, and some people park along Aka Ula Street before the dirt starts. The last stretch is unpaved and bumpy, and Beat of Hawaii suggests parking at the top of the hill if your car isn't up to it.
Can you swim at Glass Beach?
That changes day to day with the surf, and this site doesn't make that call. Check the South-facing surf range above, any alerts, and a lifeguard at the nearest guarded beach. Hazard ratings for guarded beaches are at safebeachday.com.
Is there still glass at Glass Beach?
Very little. Beat of Hawaii, writing in November 2024, judged that over 99 percent of the glass was gone, taken by collectors and worn away or buried by waves and sand. What’s left is mostly dark sand and rocks, and finds change with every tide. The State allows collecting beach glass (taking sand or coral is illegal), though some guides ask visitors to leave it for others. Sources: Beat of Hawaii, DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources.
Nearby beaches
Lāwaʻi Beach
Brown Water Advisory at Lawa'i Beach Park, Kaua‘i
Kiahuna Beach
Brown Water Advisory at Koloa Landing, Kaua‘i
Report conditions
Just there? Tell us what you found. Reports never change this page by themselves.
Sources
- Closures: County of Kauaʻi, DLNR, Hawaiʻi Department of Health
- Surf, weather and alerts: National Weather Service Honolulu
- Tides: NOAA station 1611347
- Parking lots on the map: © OpenStreetMap contributors
Sources last checked October 26, 2026.