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Hawaii Filming Locations

Where Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lost, and dozens more were actually filmed.

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Hawaii has stood in for primeval jungles, lost islands, tropical paradises, and alien worlds in more than 100 major productions. Kauai alone has hosted Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and South Pacific — sometimes using the same valleys. Oahu's Kualoa Ranch has appeared in so many blockbusters it runs its own movie site tours.

Below: the real locations behind the screen, organized by island, with links to visit guides where they exist.

Oʻahu

Kaʻaʻawa Valley at Kualoa Ranch, Oahu

Kualoa Ranch

Jurassic Park Jurassic World Lost Kong: Skull Island Hawaii Five-0

The Kaʻaʻawa Valley behind Kualoa Ranch is the most-filmed valley in the world. The same ridgelines where dinosaurs stampeded in Jurassic Park served as the jungle island in Lost for six seasons. Kualoa offers dedicated movie site tours of the valley by ATV, horseback, and bus.

Kualoa Ranch guide
Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head, Oahu

Diamond Head & Waikiki

Hawaii Five-0 Blue Hawaii Magnum P.I. Tora! Tora! Tora!

Diamond Head's silhouette is one of the most recognized backdrops in television history — it bookended every episode of the original Hawaii Five-0 (1968–1980) and its reboot. Elvis Presley filmed multiple scenes along Waikiki in Blue Hawaii (1961), the film that launched a decade of Elvis-in-Hawaii productions.

Diamond Head guide
North Shore Oahu beach and surf

North Shore — Sunset Beach & Pipeline

Blue Crush North Shore (1987) Riding Giants

The Seven Mile Miracle between Haleiwa and Sunset Beach is the world's most-filmed surf coastline. Blue Crush (2002) was shot almost entirely here, with Pipeline and Sunset as primary locations. John Milius used Sunset's massive winter swells for North Shore (1987), the surf cult classic.

North Shore guide
Ko Olina lagoon, Oahu

Ko Olina

Forgetting Sarah Marshall 50 First Dates

Ko Olina's calm lagoons and the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club stood in for the fictional Turtle Head resort in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008). Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler filmed several beach scenes for 50 First Dates at Oahu's leeward shore as well, including at Waimanalo on the windward side.

Ko Olina guide

Kauaʻi

Na Pali Coast sea cliffs, Kauai

Nā Pali Coast

Jurassic Park Raiders of the Lost Ark King Kong (1976) South Pacific Pirates of the Caribbean 4

The Nā Pali sea cliffs are the most-filmed coastline on Kauai — the opening helicopter shot in Jurassic Park, the opening jungle sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the island of Bali Ha'i in South Pacific all used these 3,000-foot green cliffs. Accessible by boat tour or the 11-mile Kalalau Trail.

Nā Pali guide
Manawaiopuna Falls, Kauai — Jurassic Park Falls

Manawaiopuna Falls

Jurassic Park

The 400-foot waterfall where the Jurassic Park helicopter first descends into Isla Nublar is Manawaiopuna Falls on private Hanapepe Valley land. It earned the nickname "Jurassic Park Falls" and remains the signature helicopter tour destination on Kauai — reachable only by air, never on foot.

Book a helicopter tour
Lumahai Beach, Kauai

Lumahaʻi Beach

South Pacific (1958)

Mitzi Gaynor washed that man right out of her hair on this sweep of dark sand backed by jungle at the start of the North Shore road. The opening beach scene of South Pacific (1958) put Lumaha'i on the map; the beach is essentially unchanged 65 years later. Strong shore break — swimming is risky, but the view is worth the stop.

Lumahaʻi Beach guide
Hanalei Bay, Kauai

Hanalei Bay

The Descendants South Pacific (1958) Puff the Magic Dragon (1978)

The two-mile crescent bay backed by fluted green mountains is as cinematic in person as on screen. George Clooney filmed several scenes of The Descendants (2011) around the Hanalei area. The surrounding taro fields and valley also feature in the animated Puff the Magic Dragon special.

Hanalei Bay guide

Maui

Hamoa Beach, Hana, Maui

Hāna Coast

The Descendants (2011) Jurassic World: Dominion

Alexander Payne filmed scenes of The Descendants around the remote Hana coast, using the jungle-to-sea landscape as a stand-in for the kind of old Hawaii money the story centers on. Hamoa Beach — a half-mile arc of dark volcanic sand south of Hana town — appears in several key sequences. Getting here requires driving the full Road to Hana.

Hamoa Beach guide
Haleakala summit crater, Maui

Haleakalā Summit

Tropic Thunder (2008) Various sci-fi productions

The 10,023-foot summit crater looks less like Earth than almost any landscape in the state — a landscape of red cinder cones and moonlike lava fields that has attracted filmmakers looking for an alien or post-apocalyptic setting. Portions of the cinder desert near the summit have stood in for Mars in several productions. The sunrise view alone is reason enough to visit.

Haleakalā guide

Big Island

Waipio Valley black sand beach, Big Island

Waipiʻo Valley

Waterworld (1995) Various productions

The mile-wide valley with its black sand beach and 2,000-foot walls has served as a dramatic backdrop in several productions. The Big Island coast near Waimea and Kawaihae was a primary filming location for Waterworld (1995) — the most expensive film of its era, whose $175 million budget became infamous partly because of the Hawaii shoot.

Waipiʻo Valley guide
Punaluu Black Sand Beach, Big Island

Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach

Jurassic World: Dominion Various nature documentaries

The jet-black olivine sand of Punalu'u, formed by lava flowing into the ocean, is unlike any beach in the continental US. The otherworldly color and the green sea turtles that haul out here regularly make it a standout location for nature documentaries and productions looking for a visually striking Hawaii that doesn't look like Waikiki.

Punaluʻu guide

Book a Filming Location Tour

Kualoa Ranch's movie site tours are the most popular, but every island has helicopter, boat, and guided tours that hit the famous spots. Compare options on Viator.

Compare Tours on Viator