The effectiveness of measures in protecting the coast against natural hazards depends on the extent of run-up by ocean waves, which is an essential parameter in their planning and design. Although, several formulae have been derived in the past for estimation of run-up in laboratory studies for a variety of wave front structures, certain uncertainties still remain pertaining to flat slopes and long waves. To understand the performance characteristics of vegetation in attenuating run-up, a comprehensive experimental investigation was taken up. The studies were carried out with regular and cnoidal waves propagating over a plane slope of 1 ∶ 30 in the presence and absence of vegetation of different characteristics. The results on the variation of dimensionless run-up as a function of wave and vegetal parameters are presented and discussed in this paper.