The Tangoio Beach area is popular, particularly in the summer, for recreation activities, including fishing, diving, walking and swimming.
A short distance north from Tangoio is Whakaari Headland, a Māori canoe landing reserve. For early Māori this was a lookout point, and in the 1840s the headland became a whaling station with many local Māori working the boats. The large flat rock in the sea beside the headland is known as Te Papa or Flat Rock.
Further north, on what was once the early section of the coastal walking trail to Wairoa, is Stingray Bay and Punakērua, a beautiful scenic spot with golden sand. The inland swamp rose four metres as did much of the nearby coastline during the 1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake. Moa bones, traces of kumara pits and other signs of Māori habitation have been found in this area