On Oahu, you’ll often here people say town bound, meaning Honolulu, or Ewa bound, meaning Ewa Beach, or West. These days, more and more kamaaina are opting to go Ewa. And for good reason: Houses are spacious, new, and best of all, some of the most affordable on the island. The amount of space you can get in Ewa Beach can’t be beat on Oahu. Ewa Beach has its roots as a former sugar plantation community. (You can see plantation-era homes in older parts of the Leeward community). Today, the neighborhood is growing with master-planned communities opening each year—some with oceanfront properties and golf courses—giving homeowners plenty of options. Plus, the community is perfect for families. It has great schools, community parks and pools, public golf courses and plenty of shopping and dining. Ewa Beach is also a short drive to Kapolei and Ko Olina, meaning there are now fewer reasons for many locals to make the drive, and the fight the traffic, to Honolulu. 

Golf Courses

While most of the golf courses in Hawaii are connected to resorts and hotels, many of Oahu’s courses are independent and several of them are available for the public. In Ewa Beach, former plantation land has transformed into housing developments, complete with the added benefit of a manicured golf course. And although the weather is warmer and the vegetation sparser, some of the islands best greens are located west. The private Ewa Beach Golf Club is open to the public and has an abundance of trees and a double green by the 2nd and 16th holes. Affiliated with the Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki, the Hawaii Prince Golf Course is a 27-hole course on former sugarcane land designed by Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay. Designed by Robin Nelson, the Coral Creek Golf Course was cut from coral and features 30- to 40-foot cliffs.

Hawaiian Railway Society

The Oahu Railway and Land Company was the brainchild of Benjamin Dillingham. A Honolulu businessman from Massachusetts, Dillingham wanted to develop Ewa. But in the 1870s, the only mode of transportation was horse-drawn wagon. So Dillingham built a railroad running from Honolulu to Aiea, and eventually Ewa Beach and the sugar mill he owned. As the island’s sugar, and later pineapple plantations prospered, so too, did the railway system. Oahu Railway and Land Company ran until 1971. Soon after the Hawaiian Railway Society formed, an educational nonprofit that has restored 6.5 miles of track—from Ewa Beach to Nanakuli—as well as three vintage diesel locomotives. The society offers train rides the second Sunday of each month and works to preserve the story of Hawaii’s only historic railroad.