As a fans of the hit television show LOST and of the island of Oahu, we had a blast finding the filming locations from some of our favorite scenes around Oahu. Finding some of the locations was a bit of a treasure hunt and we made some mistakes along the way. Through our experiences, I am able to share an easy to use plan for you to find the top 3 scene locations.
I have prepared this useful list of the most important locations along with practical advise for how to see them. As long as you have a rental car and a map, you’ll be sure to enjoy these LOST locations and the scenery in between. The following customized Google Map indicates the top three locations. (Note: if the map does not display, please click here to access it.)
View Favorite Lost Filming Locations in a larger map
1. Kuoloa Ranch
This private ranch is located off Highway 83 on East Oahu. From here, you can find two commonly used scene locations at Kaaawa Valley and Molii Fishpond on two separate ranch tours. The Kaaawa Valley has been the backdrop for many scenes including where the VW Van was started and Hurley’s golf course. Actually, it’s rare that there’s an episode of LOST that doesn’t include this gorgeous valley. I’ve taken the Movie Set Ranch Tour which goes directly into Kaaawa Valley and specifically identifies Hurley’s golf course.
If you have the time while you are at the Kualoa Ranch, I’d recommend you also take the Hawaiian Fishpond tour that takes you to Molii Fishpond. This pond is the site where submarines have come to and from “the island” on many episodes. This fishpond and surrounds have also been “in Korea”, for example where Jin’s father fished. In addition to seeing where important LOST scenes were filmed, you’ll also learn about Hawaiian Fishponds.
Note that neither of these Kuoloa Ranch tours are LOST specific, but they do take you to the private lands and area where the show is set. The tours are only offered at specific times, so check their schedule and book your tours accordingly.
If you are navigating by GPS on Oahu, which I highly recommend, aim for this address: 49-560 Kamehameha Highway Kaaawa, HI 96730
2. LOST Survivors’ Beach Camp at Police Beach
To me, this LOST location is the best of them all. If you can only see one filming location, this is the one that I recommend. Each time I visit this area, I don’t want to leave it. It makes LOST come to life. At the present time, you can still see parts of the set, like the open kitchen and re-purposed parts of the plane.
You’ll find the beach camp just off Papailoa Road, just north of Haleiwa. Please review my detailed instructions on how to find the LOST survivors’ beach camp . If you are navigating by GPS, aim for Papailoa Road, Haleiwa, HI 96712
3. The “Other’s” Camp at YMCA Camp Erdman
This YMCA camp is located off Dillingham Highway towards the far northwest tip of Oahu. Please note that you can only get there by approaching from the North.
As soon as you start to approach these little yellow cabins, you’ll instantly recognize them as the Other’s camp. When you park here, just be careful not to interrupt any camp activities that might be going on and don’t trespass, please.
If you are navigating my GPS, aim for the address of 69-385 Farrington Highway, Waialua, HI.
While you are in this area, you might also want to take a brief stop at Mokule’ia Beach Park, walk to the beach and do a 360. This beach is where the crash scene was filmed. Mokuleia Beach Park is located across the road from Dillingham Airfield.
Sheila Beal
31 comments
They were filming just across from Dillingham Airport in Mokulia on the beach this weekend.
Joe – I wish I could be a fly on the wall…er beach. 🙂
Sheila, this post is brilliant! As a devoted fan of “Lost” since the beginning, I’ve often wondered where to see its best locations. On our next trip to Oahu, this list is coming with me…straight to Police Beach.
My sisters-in-law live on Oahu, but tragically aren’t fans of the show…they’re too busy frolicking on beaches to stay in and watch TV!
Melanie – I didn’t know you were also fans of LOST until I read it on your blog recently. We have also been fans since the beginning.
The Police Beach set is so cool to see. We didn’t want to leave it the first time we saw it. I hope they leave some of the set up after the show is over.
A security guard told us that one visitor to that set found a can of DHARMA food when he was there. Wouldn’t that be a neat souvenir?
Hey,
Thanks a lot for the precious information. I’m headed to lovely hawaii in mid march. I have a question: i’m renting a car there w/ a GPS, so do you recommend we go around independently or just stick with a tour? also, is it possible to drive to Kaaawa Valley and tour it our own?
Thanks a lot, you’ll be my guide from now on 😉
Mohammed
Mohammed – I’ve never taken an organized LOST tour. I’ve just found the locations on my own. I’d imagine with an organized tour, you’d be able to see a lot more sites and not have to do the driving.
As far as the Kaaawa Valley — you can drive out to the valley area, but to get into the valley itself, where LOST is filmed, you have to take one of the tours offered at the Kuoloa Ranch. Though you do have to pay for the tour to get into the valley, the good news is that most of their tours cost less than $25.
Hope that helps.
Sheila,
Thanks a lot for the response. I have a couple of questions; if you’ve seen episode LA X season 6, there is a temple where they carry Sayed to be healed there, do you know where this temple is? it looks pretty gorgeous and i really wanna check it out! Also, do you have any info to share about all the tropical jungles or rainforests where they shot Lost?
Greatly appreciate your help!
Mohammed – if you’d like to see a real temple where LOST was filmed see the gorgeous Byodo-In Temple https://govisithawaii.com/2009/08/25/oahus-byodo-in-temple/
Wow plain gorgeous! it’s indeed in my to-visit-list 🙂
Thanks Sheila
Mohammed – The temple is just a set. I’m not sure where it’s located, but I’m fairly certain that it’s not in an area for public view.
BTW, Jorge Garcia (Hurley) has a blog and yesterday he got a photo showing that the top of the temple was blown off http://dispatchesfromtheisland.blogspot.com/2010/02/its-windy-here-today.html
A lot of jungle scenes are filmed near Turtle Bay Resort. See this post for information on how to get to a banyan tree that’s in a lot of scenes. https://govisithawaii.com/2007/07/10/finding-lost-sites-on-oahu/
Other jungle scenes are filmed on private property that’s not accessible to to general public.
You can take a LOST specific tour with KOS Tours, Inc. To see the LOST sites covered, go to http://www.hummertourshawaii.com/page/1111465. They have, 2, 5, 8, and 10 hour tours. They cost more than the Kualoa Ranch Tours, but they show LOST scenes on a DVD in the hummer and then show you the location on the tour. The guide also takes your picture whenever you want. I got one golfing with “Hurley” on the golf course (you’ll see what I mean). The guide is usually a LOST fan and it’s more like a private tour as opposed to a bus load of people. Interestingly, I’ve taken both the 2 hour (last July) and 5 hour (a couple weeks ago) tours and both times, I was the ONLY LOST fan in the hummer, except for the guide. My husband isn’t even a fan. So I got to sit in the front seat the whole time and converse with the guide about LOST. The 5 hour tour takes you to Moli’i Gardens where the sub pier is and where Sawyer threw the ring into the water. Lots of movies and shows were/are filmed there. I highly recommend a KOS LOST tour!
Hi Sheila!
Great post. I’m an avid LOST fan myself and always thought it would be great to visit Oahu and see some of the filming locations. Now that LOST has ended, I feel sad that I didn’t make the trip sooner.
I’d still like to visit the locations, even though production for the show has ceased. Can you offer any recommendations on where a LOST fan should stay to make seeing these locations easier? Especially the locations where the Survivor Camp & plane crash were filmed. Those are the spots I want to see the most. I would hate to accidentally get a hotel that’s on the opposite end of the island. I’m sure it wouldn’t be a big deal to drive to the LOST locations from anywhere on the island, but I’m hoping to find a hotel that is within a close proximity.
Chris – I think you’ll still recognize the main locations even if the props are gone.
As for a convenient location, I’d recommend Turtle Bay Resort. It is centrally located to the major locations. Some filming was done on the resorts property around a banyan tree. It’s just 10 minutes drive to get to the beach camp.
Make sure to take a LOST tour at Kualoa Ranch (Northeast side) when you’re there. KOS Tours http://www.hummertourshawaii.com gives 2, 5, 8 and 10 hour tours. The 2 and 5 hour tours cover Kualoa Ranch (many LOST locations and the valley is AWESOME) with the 5 hour tour covering additional locations including Molii Fishpond where several shows/movies (50 First Dates) have been filmed including LOST. The Ranch also offers its own tours which are cheaper but they are not LOST specific. I highly recommend KOS Tours if you can afford it. They picked us up for the 5 hour tour at our hotel in Honolulu/Waikiki, and we took a day trip on another day to the North Shore (West side of the island) to see the beach, waterfall (Waimea Valley), and YMCA (Other’s Camp) locations. Also the Banyan Tree at Turtle Bay which is hard to find and involves a LOT of walking. I suggest doing that on a separate day or getting a very early start. You can stay at Turtle Bay if you want, but it isn’t necessary. It’s a nice place to stay if you can afford it. Don’t forget to get some shaved ice either at Matsumotos on the North Shore or Waiola Shave Ice in Honolulu (a hole in the wall but better than Matsumotos!). If you stay in Waikiki, there’s a webcam in front of the Duke’s statue across from the Hyatt Regency where your friends/family can see you (honolulu.gov or search for Waikiki webcam. Have a great trip!
Hi Diane –
I’m just curious – do you work for this tour company that you have recommended a number of times here?
No, actually I don’t. I live in Southern California. I found them on the internet last year. It is the only outside company allowed at Kualoa Ranch to give LOST tours. We went on two of them, one last summer and one just this past March. They do a great job, and I highly recommend them to serious LOST fans. I wouldn’t have just repeated the information if I had noticed that my March post was the last one until today! Sorry about that.
OK, thanks for answering my question, Diane. 🙂
Thank-you very much for the great write-up and very useful directions. My family have just been to the Survovors Beach and can still see remnants from the series! Fantastic. 🙂
That’s awesome, Ian. What remnants did you see?
Hi Sheila,
Nothing too much, I’m sure anything at risk of being called a souvenior was taken long ago! The orange fence you mentioned is still there, although down trodden. You can, of course, recognize the tree and bush layout from the series but also you can just about make out remaining pieces of temporary construction, albeit natural materials mostly scattered around. We couldnt find the graves you mentioned, but the No Tresspassing signs that you come across once you leave the beach are a little intimidating so we didn’t stray too far! Where we did see some much more “substantial” temporary constructions was on the Turtle Bay resort up by the Banyan trees (where Kate hid from the Smoke Monster amongst other things!), we couldn’t quite place which episode or even if they were actually in Lost, but they were definitely older temporary shelters made from trees and leaves that must have been built for Lost? I can’t imagine what they were used for if not, and they definately looked the part and gave us all a thrill! Unfortunately we didn’t get any pics as we were struggling on horseback for the first time!
Again, thanks for your post. Without it we wouldn’t have visited any of these places!
Thanks for the report, Ian. There’s more than I expected. I’m glad that it’s still recognizable.
My husband and I were huge Lost fans and used the great directions you provided in this blog to find the locations during our recent vacation in Oahu. Thank you so much!!!!!!!!
Are there any props around anywhere these days for any of the show or movie sets?
To our knowledge, there are no props remaining from LOST.
I have some… I was a crane operator for most of the production run and I “ended up” with a few things left on and around the crane at different times. I’m an old man now and those old stories still pop up now and then. I sit on a crate in my workshop from the Charlie Price drug episode with the Virgin Mary statues. We dropped that plane out of the tree for them.
Anyway I happened in here by accident and it was really cool to see all the locations and go thru all these memories again and read the comments. thankyou for creating this oh so long ago.
That’s awesome, Chuck. Thanks for your comment!
Here’s a “behind the scenes” I got on one job….
Sorry I don’t know the show and the episodes very well…
But I guess a girl parachuted down to the island and got hung up in a tree… and later cut herself free and fell the rest of the way to the river below.
We put the tree there and held it in place…
And then proceeded to drop stuntmen and women from the crane for 2 days…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1IZbYJEH1s
Wait there was an island where their island was seen from in Lost. The island that Ben sent Kate, Sawyer, and Jack. Which island was that?
Probably Oahu, too.
Planning a trip for May, so the cabin area is private and you can’t go there?
We were able to see it.
Contact YMCA Camp Erdman directly for further information.