About | Karioitahi Beach
Karioitahi is a rugged and windswept black sand beach that is great for surfing, fishing, horse riding, off-roading and paragliding.
Walk along the beach, up the cliff, along farmland and have fun exploring this beautiful beach. There are small waterfalls, cliffs and amazing views to be enjoyed up above and caves and rockpools to explore below.
If you’re feeling hungry, Castaways Restaurant & Bar has a fantastic view overlooking Karioetahi Beach and the Tasman Sea. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The beach is patrolled by lifeguards during summer weekends. Make sure you swim between the flags, the beach is known to have dangerous rips.
Nearby
Location
Photos
We’d planned on a day trip out to Port Waikato, but conditions weren’t the best. It was so windy and cold out there and the tide was in, meaning we couldn’t even head out on the sand dunes so we headed here instead. And boy, did we have a good time. We loved making our way up the cliff, discovering the waterfalls and driving onto the beach to discover more remote places.
Up high, you can see over to the Castaways Resort Chalets, overlooking the sea. What a wonderful place to stay! But if you’re just here for the day, you can also enjoy the view from the restaurant up there, while grabbing something to eat.
It’s such an awesome place to explore. We had a lovely time climbing up and enjoying the view.
There were rusty cars all along the beach. We couldn’t help but have a closer look.
Hopping back into the ute and driving further along the beach, we passed more rusty cars then found the perfect place for yet another explore.
Climbing to the top, you’re rewarded with blissful views of the ocean on one side and lush farmland on the other.
All along the beach, you’ll find these small waterfalls.
We ended it by going down a track along the beach that had a few bumps along the way. The kids loved it!
