Punalu'u Black Sand Beach Camping

"I was on the way for my volcanoes day trip and this was just a quick stop. I saw the monk seal and for the first time for the black sand beach. There were parking available for free. It was nice for a quick stop as nothing much nearby."

"Like others have mentioned, a great place to VISIT but DON’T CAMP. We had a pretty terrible experience camping. The tent sites are super close to some picnic pavilions that are lit up into the evening, which attracts folks that are camping/living in the nearby woods. There is no gate or security so cars can come and go all night. A couple guys were walking around all night around the picnic area, one of them was cracking a serious whip (no joke, think Indiana Jones) rapid fire in spurts, which sounded like a small caliber gun going off. Not conducive for sleep, especially since they were between us and our rental car and the bathrooms. We were not comfortable asking them to quiet down during the night, but I talked to them the next day and they were nice. Seemed to be experiencing mental health or drug issues. Like others, we had additional nights reserved but got the heck out of there after the first night. From reading other reviews, similar experiences seem common, so I wouldn’t camp here. The state or county should really consider warning people about the situation or put a gate on the parking lot to reduce night time use. Despite this experience camping, this is an incredibly beautiful place that I fully recommend visiting for the day. We had a turtle sleeping on the beach about 100’ from our tent."

"This is an amazing place. If you only have time for one black sand beach, go to this one. We saw a couple turtles and people were keeping a respectful distance so that was nice to see. Plenty of people swimming and walking around but not overly crowded on a Friday afternoon. There were bathrooms, picnic and camping areas and little shops for souvenirs."