Glass Beach

Beautiful beach. Sea glass is everywhere. Even the sand is made of tiny pieces of sea glass. There is also a bunch of washed up coral. Right above the beach is an old cemetery. If you take a short trail you will pass beautiful cliffs and blowholes, eventually reaching a massive cave.

The beauty of this beach is found in the tiny pieces of sea glass scattered throughout the shoreline. There isn’t much sea glass left… probably because people keep taking it… When we got there, there was a bunch of tourists with gallon size ziploc bags, picking through the sand and taking pieces of sea glass. That made me sad. Please stop taking the sea glass… Leave it behind so others can enjoy it too. Although it wasn’t everything I had in mind, it was still pretty to see. I can imagine how beautiful it would be if no one took home the very thing that gives the beach it’s name. Make the drive up to Port Allen, stop at Kauai Kookie and get some manju, enjoy the scenery on your way, it will be worth the drive if you are a true beach/​nature lover.

More like shit beach:) The drive through the power plant to get there is gross, then muddy clay, then a tiny beach with tiny bits of trash — i mean glass.

Enh. Go if you’re in the area for 5 minutes. I wouldn’t recommend driving out of your way just for this. The «glass» are small 2−3mm sized pebbles and rocks.

Not a pretty beach located next to the Chevron refinery. There were a lot of small clear and brown sea glass which was kind of neat. I wouldn’t sit or lay on the glass/​sand as my wife got stung by what looked like a scorpion while she was sitting on the sand sorting out sea glass. We looked up the scorpion later and discovered it to be a lesser brown scorpion, which is not deadly poisonous, but overall not a great experience. The beach and glass maybe worth a 5-​min look if you are at Port Allen, but I wouldn’t plan on spending much time there. And don’t layout on the sand…

Very interesting beach! When Kauai did not have a landfill, people would back their trucks up to the edge of the cliff and dump their trash here. Now, after the ocean has had time to work on and erode the area, all that’s left are small reminders of the trash. The glass bottles (a lot of soda bottle glass and beer bottle glass) have turned into smooth itty bitty little pieces also called sea glass. Not at all what I expected! There’s a cave on the right (it’s pretty smelly!!) To the left, there is a cool Chinese cemetery from around the early 1900s.

Feb.2016, this glass beach is very small, and no so much glass either, so does not worth a trip to Ele’ele town. hard to find the place, behind some factory place, not muck parking either,
I will not be back nor anyone else. RJ

An interesting beach to visit, but don’t come here expecting it to be expansive and relaxing — or even like there are shimmering jewels as far as the eye can see. The beach is in is fairly industrial looking area, and the glass beach itself is fairly small. I had read reviews on Unilocal before going, so I had a decent sense of what I would find. I’m happy that I did.
As others have noted, use Google Maps to find the place. Yes, it will be a bit off-​putting and you may think that you’re going in the wrong direction… but keep going. There’s a bit of parking that overlooks the small beach area. There were only a couple cars there when my friend and I arrived, and we were all there to look at the glass — not staying for a long period of time or anything.
There are clusters of more glass-​y spots on the beach, but it’s generally a mixture of regular sand and the glass itself. My friend and I spent most our time looking for interesting glass colors — various shades of blue, green, pinks, or reds (and I even found some opalescent-​like pieces). Shifting sand aside with your arm/​hand and getting a bit under the surface seemed to lead to a bit more variety in color.
TL;DR Fine place to go if you’re interested in something a bit unique and some macro photos. Can be a bit underwhelming though, so adjust expectations accordingly.

The popular glass sand beach in Kauai is not what it may seem. Luckily, I was warned that it was underwhelming, but we had some extra time… and I honestly, I wanted to go just to take some specific photos lol.
The beach is nestled in an industrial area, so it seems like you’re going to the wrong place, but trust Google Maps. While all the photos show ton of green and blue speckled glass, it is actually a mixture of regular sand as well as the glass. In addition, the glass is mostly white and brown. Either tourists have taken most of the green and blue glass, or all the pictures are staged… like mine. I totally searched for green and blue glass to add to my picture.
But still, it’s fun and novel, so worth going if you are nearby or have time. However, I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way, or don’t feel too bad if you miss it!
TLDR: A little underwhelming in person, but good for a nice macro pic or two.

This is a neat beach for sure!
I agree with some of the other reviews that say at first sight, this beach isn’t loaded with glass — you definitely need to comb the beach a bit. But that’s the fun part! If you like beach glass, and you’re ready to spend some time searching for special pieces, then you will have blast!
There are plenty of other beaches to check out in Kauai (like the red sand and black sand beaches), but this is a pretty cute one too if you have the time.

Do not go out of your way for this. When you turn left on the road the beach is just a few feet beyond the dirt road. You can totally drive a car directly up to the beach. Visiting from Oahu I was un– impressed. You can almost always find small pieces of glass in the sand because of broken bottles. The sand is NOT covered in glass and its a dirty beach. I would recommend spending more time at Poipu then coming out here.

Had the potential to be a beautiful hidden beach on Kauai, but everyone comes here and takes the sea glass, so the only thing left is literally «glass sand» It looks like the land was previously a landfill too because there’s trash everywhere that’s been weathered down over the years.

Excellent stop for sun, seals, and glass pieces. Need to look hard for the good stuff, but plenty to see.

It took us a few turn arounds stop get here. Once we made down and first step foot onto the beach I was disappointed to no glass pieces. But, I was patient! We walked further out into the right side and found the glass pieces. The only ones left were smaller pieces, but they were still so beautiful. The coast is gorgeous to look at. We also drove further up the cliff that overlooked the beach and found more glass! There were people who climbed down, collecting. It’s worth a stop if you’re willing to walk the extra mile!

The photos makes it look like the beach is covered in big, soft beautiful pieces of glass. When we arrived, I was confused about whether or not we were at the right beach. Even walking on it, I was a little confused. When I bent down to look closely — oh yep, there are tiny pieces of glass mixed in with sand.
30% of the beach is black sand, I’d say 30% of it is normal sand, and 40% of it are teeny tiny pieces of glass. It’s a nice beach, but it’s small and perhaps not worth the effort if you’re jammed for time.

Located in an industrial area, this beach is a must-​see. It’s not ideal for swimming, but it is unique because the sand consists of glass.

Definitely not a beach to jump in the water and wade around. We were at the brewery nearby and walked over here just as the sun set. It was definitely a nice and romantic end to our day. The walk from the brewery was nice and short but definitely not scenic. This beach is right in the middle of an industrial area and you’ll pass a bunch of factories as you travel to the beach.
Despite being pretty isolated, there was a good amount of people hanging out and looking for sea glass. We were here for approximately 30 minutes and I don’t know that you could spend more time here.

There was a rubbish pile here a long time ago. All the broken glass that’s on the beach gets all dull from the ocean and makes the sand look real nice. When the tide gets low, there’s bigger chunks of glass. When it’s high tide, there’s lots of small glittery glass which makes the sand pretty. Either way, it’s nice to look at. It’s a small beach not recommended for swimming. You might get lucky and see a Hawaiian monk seal. If you drive upwards to the graveyard, it’s a good spot for whale watching.

Tourists have taken the beauty of this beach. But it’s still nice isolated. Calming. I enjoyed it. Literally in BFE. By old mill.

First of all, before I start typing my review,
Id like to make a «shout out» to my wonderful, former boss,
for telling me about this beach.
Thank you so much!
&
Thank you to my hubby for taking me & the fams. here.
He was hesitant about going here, as it was out of the way,
& this beach was hidden.
It was a little scary looking for this place! but sooooo happy, that he found it!
I could stay on this beach forever!
We had to rush, as we had lots to do, since it was getting close to the ending of our trip.
Me, my mom, and the kids had such a nice time looking for sea glass.
It seems like we were looking for treasures & they were!
I’m so glad to bring back memories, every time I see my bottle of sea glass,
I happily think the wonderful time we had here on this beach.
I love love this beach!
Love love looking for Sea Glass!
& yes, the beach really looks like Glass! :0)
I want to go back!