[3] It is bordered to the west by Arataki and Mount Maunganui (east of Sunrise Avenue and Hibiscus Avenue), the east by the Kaituna River (separating it from the Western Bay of Plenty District) and to the south by State Highway 2.

Māori settlement of Papamoa dates back to approximately 1400 CE with a significant pā complex overlooking the fertile plains and abundant coastal fisheries.

For the next 300 years the people prospered, harvesting their crops and fisheries, occupying and abandoning sites in accordance with the kūmara cycle and soil fertility.

[4] Papamoa has 16 km (9.9 mi) of white sandy beach stretching from the boundary with Mount Maunganui in the west to the Kaituna River in the east.

Once a small and tight knit community, many of Papamoa Beach's sweeping paddocks have been swallowed up by urban development.

[9] Sexual activity in public places is illegal, however, and Papamoa Beach has been the site of a continuing series of complaints about lewd behaviour.

Despite a cold day, many people stripped naked attempting to beat Christchurch's Summer Beach Dip.

[citation needed] Papamoa East (of Parton Road) in the 1970s and 1980s used to be seen as more of an alternative place to live, a bit like the Coromandel Peninsula.

[15] Papamoa Beach has a large shopping area located to the west of Domain Road,.

[27] Papamoa College is a co-educational state secondary school for Year 7 to 13 students,[28] established in 2011,[29] with a roll of 1,726.