Piha Beach tide times for tomorrow, and when to go

The official tables do not give Piha full predictions of its own. Instead, Land Information New Zealand lists Piha Beach as a secondary port of Onehunga, the standard port in the Manukau Harbour.⁷ Its table gives Piha's high water as 45 minutes earlier than Onehunga's, and low water as 35 minutes earlier.¹ LINZ marks these Piha figures as approximate, so allow a margin either side.⁸

The method is simple. LINZ explains that for a secondary port you take the daily predictions for its standard port and apply the listed time differences.⁹ Download the Onehunga predictions, which LINZ publishes as pdf and csv files, find tomorrow's date, and subtract 45 minutes from each high water and 35 minutes from each low water.^10,1 That gives you Piha's times for tomorrow, or for any date in the year ahead.

Some details save confusion. LINZ adjusts its prediction times to New Zealand Daylight Time when daylight saving is in force, so you do not need to add an hour yourself.¹¹ And LINZ notes that the predictions on its website are not official tide tables for navigation, which is fine for planning a beach walk but not for taking a boat across a bar.¹² Weather can also push the sea higher or lower than predicted.

LINZ groups Anawhata, Muriwai Beach, Piha Beach and Te Henga / Bethells Beach together as the west coast beaches in its secondary port table.²⁴ Their timing differs slightly. Muriwai's high water comes 40 min before Onehunga's and its low water 30 min before, while Bethells has high water 40 min and low water 50 min before.^14,15

Anawhata, north of Piha, has full figures in the table: high water 61 min before Onehunga, with a mean spring high water of 3.1 m and a mean spring low water of 0.4 m.¹³ Onehunga itself, inside the harbor, has mean springs of 4.1 m and 0.5 m.⁷ The open coast has a smaller range than the harbor, but the swell makes up for it.

Low tide at Piha Beach is the time for photographs of reflections on the wet black sand, for rock pools, and for The Gap. It is also when the beach is at its widest, which helps on a crowded summer afternoon. If your plan includes Muriwai or Bethells on the same day, the LINZ differences let you line up each low tide in turn.

Piha is a summer beach first. Tourism New Zealand describes it as popular with local Kiwis, especially in summertime, and calls summer the high season for accommodation, so book ahead.^28,29 The regional tourism agency says popular beaches get busier around Christmas, New Year and the school holidays.⁴

Summer is also when the lifeguards are on duty. Lifeguards cover Piha through the summer; the regional tourism agency sends visitors to Safeswim for exact dates and notices.⁵ Across the country, surf lifeguards patrol 93 locations in summer, placing the red and yellow flags at the safest place to swim.³⁰ Outside the season and outside patrol hours, the flags are not there.

If you want summer warmth without the crush, go on a weekday, arrive in the morning and leave the busiest hours of the afternoon to others. Pack shade, water and footwear for hot sand. Check the tide before you leave home and choose your rock walks and swimming times around it, then finish the day with the sunset from the beach or the clifftops above it.

Piha beach in winter is a different place: emptier, louder and often moody. Tourism New Zealand gives Auckland winter temperatures of 7°C to 15°C, and the regional tourism agency describes colder days, shorter daylight and plenty of fog.^20,21 When the swell is up, the surf is a spectacle best watched from the safety of the sand.

Winter suits walkers more than swimmers. The Kitekite Falls track is open, and after heavy rain the regional tourism agency advises staying on the tracks and boardwalks and avoiding stream crossings.^34,35 Storms leave their mark too, and the council is still rebuilding west Auckland tracks hit in 2023.³⁶ Check the council's track map before any walk.³⁷

A winter day trip works well with a guide: the regional tourism agency tells drivers to allow extra time for the twisting, narrow ranges roads, and winter days are short.^38,21 Booked through this site, the 5-hour beach and rainforest trip includes pickup, and if the forecast turns you can cancel at no charge up to 24 hours ahead. It costs from $118.