On a clear day you can see the entire mountain range. I got to get real close to bald eagles and got great pictures and met some local indian tribe that were very friendly and informative.
Our family really enjoys beaches. This was beautiful with the river running into inlet. My wife found beautiful shells and we enjoyed visiting with other folks who were walking along the beach as well.
As of today the Kenai Beach is ranked number 11 for Kenai, but many of the attractions are on the Kenai Peninsula, not in the town of Kenai. The Kenai Beach should be at or near the top of the Kenai list. I live here and one of the reasons we moved to Kenai was access to this outstanding beach. As others have said between July 10 and 31 dip netting for salmon is going on, and its best to avoid the parking lot at the beach (unless your dipping of course). You can watch the action and / or access from S. Forest (left at the next street past beach access on Spruce Street), Old Town Park, or the bluff near the Senior Center (behind Louie's Restaurant).When coming onto the beach from the parking lot walk left to go to the mouth of the river (about 1.5 miles) or right if you want to go for a longer walk and view the mountains. Bring a light coat as a breeze can come up at any time and be a little cool. On low tide you can drive cars or ATV's on the beach but only to the right (mountain view). I recommend NOT driving on the beach if you don't have rental care insurance. If you do just be aware the tide comes in very quickly.Before heading to the beach you might want to look at a tide table. These are available online or at sporting goods places. It is a lot more fun there and is easier to walk at low tide. The city has put in many fire pits at the beach and a favorite activity of my familiy is relaxing around a fire enjoying the view, and cooking hot dogs or marshmallows. Firewood is sold at most local stores and so even out of town folks can get in on this activity. There are basic bathroom facilities at the Kenai beach, and typically are pretty clean.
I do like this beach because it does have sand for the kids to play on. I am disappointed with the lack of respect by the out of town dipnetters that seem to think it is a great place to toss their garbage. Glad to see that the City of Kenai is trying to rectify the problems they have
My favorite time is at sunset around 10pm in End of July with the sun framing the volcanoes across the inlet. I love to watch dipnetters and the seals. Port-a-potty stop on way in not one down on beach. Great breeze to watch fishing boats come and go..
It had a pretty good view of the Alaska Range, but other than that, it was just a plain, old beach. I would not really recommend this as a part of your trip (no one would, probably) unless you are only staying at Kenai.
Drove down to the beach front on a paved road... plenty of parking at the time we visited the location. Beach is very clean and long. Beach is accessible for vehicular traffic. If you're a sea glass collector.... you may not find much or any!
It is something that every Alaska resident should experience once in their life, combat fishing with 30 foot dip nets with 5 foot hoop nets at the end, standing shoulder to shoulder with their new best friends for hours in cold water up to their arm pits just to catch a couple of sockeye salmon. But when you feel the first fish hit your net, you will know why everyone keeps coming back for more.
A very nice beach to play on for kids, though I wouldn't recommend much more than wading in the water. It's cold up here!
Our family of 4 came to Anchorage, AK. for a family wedding in last July. This wedding/vacation turned out to a great experience time for who love to have a real great time in these areas... First, you should plan your time to be here in July because it is the best month for tourists. May and June, most of the time, weather is still cold, most of activities are still closed and/or very limited. Best way if you could rented a RV. - In this month, the road is ready safe for driving, very easy highways through out the state, lot of places, lot of attractions for you to stop to visit, to take pictures... I would said :"it is a one of the heaven on earth". Lot of RV.'s parks, so you can rest, enjoy your time, eat and go whenever you wish. Most of the parks and City Restroom areas provided hot water for shower with a small cost.In Seward, ( It's about 2 and a half hour from Anchorage) July is the first month of the great season of the year that they have Fishing Tournaments(you could win up to thousands of dollars if you catch the fish with the tag with the amount of money on it!!!), all small cruises to watch Whales, see Glacier, water sports are started.In Kenai, (just about an hour from Seward) it's the only best month for Alaska's Residents come here to net( not fish) the salmons... You can see thousand of dip-netters stand on both sides of the shore with big long net on hands, see how they net them, how they pull them up to shore to prepare them right on the beach(rules and regulations are applied AND like others Trip Advicer said, lot of trashes like fish heads with bones were left all over on beach), you can fill when holding a big freshy fish on your hands and you may tasted a real fresh salmon sushi from the people there.As a tourist, love to travel like you, I would like to share what I had done, because I was really in it, I want you to enjoy like I did with the price you can offered. To me, travel is your life style, as your life style to enjoy your life. Too luxury travel will not be real fun as you think!