Best Baby Beach on Oahu? Searching for Bathtub Beach in Laie

Bathtub Beach: Oahu’s Best Baby-Friendly Beach

Searching for the best baby-friendly beach in Oahu? Look no further than Bathtub Beach, tucked away in Laie. With clear, shallow waters protected by a natural limestone shelf parallel to the beach, Bathtub Beach is your family’s tropical paradise waiting to be discovered.

Exploring Oahu for the Best Baby Beach

It’s been fun exploring the island lately. To find new beaches best for babies, I’ve been using Google Earth to search for promising spots and then cautiously scouting. These adventures often involve dirt road and, usually, a sign or a gate abruptly ends my fun for the day. Occasionally, I luck out and find something special. This beach was something special. I mean, it’s right there in the name, Bathtub Beach.

Bathtub Beach: A Shallow Haven for Toddlers & Little Explorers

Embark on a beach-bound adventure perfect for your youngest explorers at Bathtub Beach. A naturally formed sandy-bottomed swimming cove makes it an ideal spot for babies and toddlers to splash about and for older kids to practice their snorkeling skills.

Expect marine life explorations, rock-climbing adventures against an awe-inspiring backdrop of Oahu’s windward coast, and the feeling of being on a deserted island despite sharing Oahu with a million other people.

Things to Do with Babies and Toddlers at the Beach

Creating unforgettable memories with your babies and toddlers at the beach is an essential part of any family trip to Hawaii. Stretch your imagination to discover the joy of beach-bound activities designed with your little ones in mind.

Beach Adventure with Little Bird’s Photo and Video Hawaii Adventures

Seize the opportunity to capture special moments of joy and connection. Join forces with our local experts at Little Bird’s photo and video Hawaii adventures. Our professional photographers will chronicle your family’s baby-friendly beach explorations, leaving you with high-quality snapshots and videos that celebrate your tropical memories. You can see samples near this location here, here and here.

Sand Play Made Easy

Sand sculpting and castle building are go-to beach activities that can ignite your child’s imagination and creativity. With kid-sized shovels, buckets, and molds, let the magic of beach play unfold right before your eyes!

Ocean-Inspired Art and Crafts

Bring along beach-themed coloring pages, watercolor paper, and washable paint. Guide your little ones in immortalizing their beach experience as a colorful scene, a handprint starfish, or a mixed media treasure map.

Cleanup Scavenger Hunt

Combine the thrill of a scavenger hunt with an educational lesson on keeping nature pristine. Equip your kids with a lightweight plastic bag, and challenge them to collect litter along the beach–turning tidy-up into a fun game.

Floating Fun

When Bathtub Beach reveals its calm waters, ease new swimmers into the shallow depths of the sea. Equip them with inflatable armbands, a swim vest, or a baby-friendly float to boost their water confidence under your watchful eye.

Seashell Collecting

Set your little explorers on a mission to discover nature’s treasures with seashell collecting. Hunt for the most intriguing seashells and share stories about the sea creatures that once called them home. Create a small display back in your accommodation to encapsulate this memory.

With these activities under your belt, your beach days with babies and toddlers are set to become a family Hawaii adventure you’ll never forget.

Bathtub Beach 2023 Update: ‘Missing’ Beach Mysteries

Visit Bathtub Beach during low tide, it can disappear during other tide patterns. Changes over the years and tide fluctuations have left some visitors questioning its existence, but rest assured, Bathtub Beach is very much still there! The adventure is part of the charm.

So, is it still worth visiting? I think so. We returned recently and despite our poor timing (2 hours after low tide) enjoyed a secluded beach afternoon. The southern end of the beach was submerged, but we scrambled over the *sharp* rocks and found a little sandy cove.

Arrival and Access to Bathtub Beach

Venture beyond bustling Waikiki and drive a little over an hour along Oahu’s windward coast to Laie, home to Bathtub Beach. Park at Laie Beach Park (aka Lāʻielohelohe Beach Park). Savvy beach-seekers will stroll north for about five minutes and round a corner to find themselves at the delightful Bathtub Beach.

Another option is to access Bathtub Beach from the north from the Clissold’s Beach Access. Parking is more challenging and the walk is longer, but you have much more beach to work with and your fun isn’t as restricted by the tides.

Both paths lead to the beach paradise, but keep in mind, tide times can impact your visit. Check the tides before you head out and have fun!

Looking for More Baby-friendly Beaches on Oahu?

Check out my roundup post of the best baby beaches on Oahu here. And if you’re looking for more family fun like bathtub beach, sign up for the Little Bird Post below to receive monthly inspiration for island fun.