Tips for Kauai

  • Get a rental car
  • Bring a light rain jacket – it rains a lot here, even if the forecast says it won’t rain
  • Bring a hat
  • Go snorkeling at Poipu Beach (snorkels are $40 at Costco, or bring your own)
  • Check out Waimea canyon, and stop at Koke’e’s lodge for lunch
  • Favorite shopping area: Hanalei shops (near Chicken in a barrel), Island Country Market in Coconut Marketplace
  • Stop by Costco in Lihue if you plan to make your own food.  They also have men’s Hawaiian shirts and all the things you need for the beach (microfiber towels for $4, towels for $11, snorkels $40, Hawaiian shirts $22, various Hawaiian snacks)
  • Food recommendations: Mark’s place in Lihue, Puka dog in Poipu, Lava Lava Beach Club on the east side of the island by Coconut Marketplace
    • Puka dog is located right by Poipu beach, if I were to visit again I would order the following: Polish dog with spicy garlic sauce, pineapple relish, and Hawaiian mustard

4/3/23 – Day One

We stayed at Springhill Suites in Oakland the night before, and left in the morning around 7:30am to the airport. We parked in the Oakland airport economy parking lot and had a short walk over to the small airport. We recommend bringing food for the flight over, the food on the Hawaiian airlines plane was not great. After we landed, we took the shuttle to Avis. We picked up our rental car for the week, a jeep.

After we picked up the jeep, we headed over to Mark’s Place, this was the best Hawaiian meal of the trip.

After that, we drove to Costco where we purchased snorkels, towels, Hawaiian shirts (they only had men’s shirts), snacks, and a shopping bag (this came in handy as a checked bag). I also got some cookies for my co-workers here.

Then we drove up to Princeville, to the Club Wyndham Bali Hai Villas. On the drive up we had some heavy rain, but it didn’t last too long. It was a beautiful drive to Princeville.

4/4/23 – Day Two

We started the morning by heading to tunnels beach around 8:40am. It was about a 30 minute drive, and on the way there we stopped at the Hanalei Bay lookout. This spot just has a turnout, the Hanalei Valley lookout is better since it had room for parking.

When we passed where Tunnels beach was supposed to be on the map, we did not see parking, so we continued down to road for another 5 to 10 minutes. Then we got to Haena Beach Park and there was parking. The parking seemed to be full around 9:15am. There were bathrooms here. We walked down the beach, laid out our towels, and walked along the beach.

The waves here were too rough to snorkel in. We had a good time walking along the beach, and hung out there for about an hour until the rain came in. We saw a rain cloud in the distance, and it came over fast with pouring rain. We had enough time at the beach, so we went over to Hanalei for some shopping.

We really enjoyed shopping in Hanalei, there were shops around Chicken in a Barrel. We also went to the shops across the street, Joseph got a nice Hawaiian shirt at Hanalei Surf.  After shopping, we ate at Chicken in a Barrel. We shared a meal here, and enjoyed the food. We went back to our hotel after to rest. In the evening we planned to go to a restaurant in Hanalei, but it was closed, so we ended up at The Hanalei Gourmet. We gave our meal a 4 out of 5, so this ended up being not a bad place to eat.

4/5/23 – Day Three

We had breakfast and left our hotel around 9am. We stopped by the nearby Hanalei valley lookout, which was a better lookout point since it had space for parking spots instead of just a car pull off. We took beautiful photos here.

Then we headed to our next hotel to see if they could check us in early. We were able to check in early at Kauai shores hotel, which was on the east side of the island. This hotel was not as nice as the last one, and had a musty smell.  The positives is the walking proximity to coconut marketplace, the beach, and lava lava beach club. We got room 140 and my parents got 154, our room is situated right in front of the pool area. Our original plans for today was to golf, but we ended up switching over our itinerary to doing the Smith’s grotto tour instead since that was close by. The Smith’s grotto tour is a boat ride over to a grotto, where you take a short walk over to a pretty nature spot, they play a hula song, and then you take the boat ride back.

At the Fern Grotto

4/8/23 – Day Six

We left the hotel around 8am for breakfast. We went to Anuenue cafe, located in the Poipu shopping village.  We waited about 25 minutes for our food, there was a decent size line at 8:15am even though it had just opened at 8am.  The lines were a recurring theme here, as we drove to breakfast we saw a very long line at little fish coffee.  Anuenue Cafe had really good coffee, we do recommend a visit here for breakfast.  I ordered the tube ride and Joseph ordered the tow in French toast.  We both preferred the tube ride French toast, it was good and we would recommend this place.  There was no seating inside, but there were a couple of tables outside. 

Later that day, we went to Poipu beach for snorkeling.  Poipu beach is just 5 minutes from our resort, and we got lucky finding a parking place when we arrived a little before 11am.  We walked over to the beach, laid out a towel and our bag, got ready and went out to the snorkeling spot.  There is a map when walking in and it shows you where to snorkel, and where it may be hazardous to swim.  There was probably about 15-20 people snorkeling, but it was a good size area to snorkel. 

4/9/23 – Day Seven

Woke up around 7:30am and order in-room service.  Joseph ordered the buttermilk pancakes and I ordered the waffles, we also ordered the eggs and toast.  The room service food was okay, Joseph gives it a 4 out of 10 and I agree with that rating.  We had to meet at Kauai Backcountry Adventures by 9:30am but we ended up running late and didn’t get there until 9:42am.  We were the last ones from our group to arrive, and thankfully we made it onto the tour.  At this tour they have bathrooms at the warehouse, and you are given a helmet and gloves at check in.  There we met our guide for the tour, Mason, he was awesome.  Around 10am we took the bus out to a photo spot.  We wish we had brought our phones, but instead just had to settle for the GoPro.  Then we were taking to the tubing area.  The water was brisk, but we quickly got used to it.  Tubing was tons of fun, it went fast at times.  We had a group of about 18 people.  Joseph was stuck in the middle and I was at the front.  Joseph spent his time trying to catch up to me, and by the end he finally made it.  I really enjoyed going through the tunnels and hearing Mason play his ukulele.   At the end of the tubing, we had croissant sandwiches that were yummy.  We got back to the warehouse by 1pm.  Overall, we had a great time and highly recommend this tour.  This tour books up fast, so make sure to book it in advance.