Koa Oasis Booze Shack

The pitch.

If you can walk onto a beach in flip-flops and pay $12.50 for a real mai tai while staring at the same sunset the Halekulani is selling for $25, that's Koa Oasis. It's not glamorous — it's a literal shack — but it's right on the sand, it closes before dinner so you can call it the start of the night, and it's the rare Waikiki bar where active-duty military and curious tourists are paying nearly the same low price.

What it actually is.

A small open-air drink shack on the Diamond Head end of Hale Koa Hotel's beachfront — sand under your feet, palm trees overhead, plastic cups in your hand. Hale Koa is an Armed Forces Recreation Center, meaning hotel rooms and most facilities are restricted to active/retired military, DoD civilians and their sponsored guests — but the beach itself is public Waikiki sand, and Koa Oasis is the off-the-beach bar that civilians do walk up to and order. The bar gives a discount to military ID holders ($10) but charges everyone else a still-very-reasonable $12.50 per tropical cocktail. Food is intentionally minimal: hot dogs, chips. The whole point is the view and the price.

Happy hour: what to get.

Outside happy hour, it's known for…

Cheapest sit-on-the-sand mai tai in Waikiki, hidden behind the Hale Koa hedge line, military families' default sunset spot.

Best time to actually go.

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM for golden-hour sunset on the sand before the bar closes.