Cooks Beach is one of a string of delightful sandy beaches on the Pacific Ocean coast of the Coromandel Peninsula.Cooks Beach offers a 3-kilometre, gently curving white sand beach ideal for swimming, walking and sunbathing. This is a popular holiday destination for locals and a pleasant seaside settlement of holiday homes has established itself here over the years.From the seaside town of Whitianga you can catch a ferry across the harbour mouth to the Stone Steps Wharf - the start of Cook's Coast. Alternatively, you can drive about 35 kilometres around the harbour.A short walk out onto the top of Shakespeare Cliff reveals sweeping views across the wide Mercury Bay. South of Shakespeare Cliff are Lonely Bay and Cooks Beach. Isolated from other beaches by steep cliffs, the beautiful Lonely Bay can only be reached via a short, steep walking track from the Cook Memorial.