Hanalei BayKauaʻi's north shore amphitheater — a two-mile crescent of sand backed by 4,000-foot green pali, with the pier from The Descendants at the eastern end

Hanalei Bay is what most visitors picture when they picture Kauaʻi: a wide crescent of pale sand, the Hanalei River cutting through it, taro patches and a small grid of clapboard buildings behind, and the wet green pali rising 4,000 feet a few hundred yards inland. The bay has been continuously inhabited for over a thousand years — Hanalei means 'crescent bay' in Hawaiian — and the surrounding ahupuaʻa (land division) is still primarily taro farmland under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge.

There are essentially two Hanalei Bays, divided by season. Winter (November–March) brings consistent north and northwest swells — Hanalei Point, Pinetrees, and Waikoko fire on swells over 6 feet, and the bay hosts world-tour-level longboard contests every January. The lineup at Hanalei Point is heavily local; visiting surfers should head to the more forgiving Pinetrees break (in front of the Pinetrees subdivision) or the inside reform at Waikoko. Summer (May–September) reverses the picture: the swell shuts off, the bay flattens to a swimming pool, and the action shifts to stand-up paddle, kayak, and outrigger canoe.

Hanalei Pier anchors the bay's eastern end. The current concrete pier is the third on the site; the 1892 wooden original was used to ship rice and oranges, and the 1912 steel-and-concrete replacement was rebuilt after the 1957 tsunami tore the eastern half off. The pier ranks consistently in any list of the most-photographed structures in Hawaii, and was the location for several key scenes in Alexander Payne's The Descendants (2011) starring George Clooney. Walking the pier at sunset is free, public, and easily the highest-leverage hour in any north-shore Kauaʻi itinerary.