Visiting Majestic Kauai, Hawaii: An Honest Review of My Trip

Aloha friends! We’re back from our recent vacation to majestic Kauai, Hawaii and I’m feeling refreshed with renewed energy. It’s amazing what warmer weather and sunshine can do for your soul. Today I’m sharing the highlights of our trip along with favorite and not-so-favorite things about Kauai. Hopefully you’ll find the information useful if you’re planning your own Hawaiian vacation. And if you’re not, enjoy the photos and pretend you’re there!

North coast sunset in Kauai, Hawaii

The above photo was taken on our last night on the island after dinner at Hideaway’s Pizza Pub. After enjoying fish and fruit all week, I was craving some pizza. I’m from Chicago where you’ll find some of the best pizza in the world – but THE BEST pizza I’ve ever eaten was at Hideaway’s in Princeville. The crust has a wonderful, smoky flavor. After dinner we walked over to the shoreline to catch this gorgeous sunset off the north coast of Kauai.

Below is a typical Hawaiian home in the resort area of Princeville, which is where we stayed. Princeville reminds me of the plantations on Hilton Head Island, if you’ve ever been there. Everything is lush and meticulously groomed. If I ever go back to Kauai, I’d stay in Princeville again. It’s centrally located to everything on the north coast. Although it’s a bit rainier on the north side, it’s prettier and less crowded than the south side of the island.

Blue gray house in Princeville, Kauai - Hawaii

 

Here’s a collection of nice townhomes in the Princeville resort. This is right across the street from the Makai Golf Course which has a sidewalk running along the length of it so you can enjoy the beauty of the course even if you don’t golf.

vacation homes in Princeville, Hawaii

 

The north side of Kauai, Hawaii has several amazing and uncrowded beaches. Unfortunately, they’re not all easy to access. Pu’u Poa Beach is what I call the secret beach. If you don’t do your research, you’ll never know about it. And in my opinion, it’s the best beach on the island. The only way to get to it by land is through Hotel Hanalei Bay, which has a guard at the entrance. So no driving your car and parking at the hotel. There IS a very small parking lot for Hideaway Beach which isn’t too far from Pu’u Poa Beach, but good luck in finding a parking spot. No kidding – there were about 10 spots in the lot. So we walked 2 miles from our vacation rental to the beach and left the car behind.

If the guard at the entrance of the hotel tries to keep you from entering on foot, simply tell them you’re going to the beach. It’s a public beach and legally, they can’t keep you from it. Here’s where you’ll begin your descent down several concrete flights of steps, around the back of the hotel, until you reach your beautiful destiny (which is well worth the 2-mile trek).

Pu'u Poa Beach - Kauai, Hawaii

 

The hotel is adjacent to a small section of the beach, but if you wander further down the coast, you pretty much have the beach to yourself, with views of Hanalei Bay and the beginnings of the Napali Coast.

Pu'u Poa Beach - Kauai, Hawaii

 

Wouldn’t you say this view is worth the walk? We put towels and water in our backpacks so we’d be well-stocked until it was time to leave. Nothing beats Pu’u Poa Beach!

Hanalei Bay- Kauai, Hawaii

 

Hanalei is a quaint island town that embraces the spirit of Hawaii. It’s a bit touristy but wasn’t too crowded during our February visit. I’m sure there’s more hustle and bustle during the summer months.

Downtown Hanalei - Hawaii

 

This Hanalei “shopping center” has a few stores and restaurants connected together, with beautiful wood work to set it all off.

Downtown Hanalei - Kauai, Hawaii

 

And then there are smaller, more island-type buildings that house stores and restaurants. I love the quaint island appeal of Hanalei. It has a decent beach at Hanalei Bay so plan to visit this area a couple of times during your vacation at Kauai, Hawaii.

Downtown Hanalei - Kauai, Hawaii

 

I thought this sign was cute and whimsical – the fish just needs the dirt wiped off his head.

Downtown Hanalei - Kauai, Hawaii

 

Kalypso was our favorite Hanalei restaurant. I think we dined here three times during our stay. Hanalei is just a couple miles from Princeville and it’s a gorgeous drive.

Downtown Hanalei - Kauai, Hawaii

 

The historic Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church is located right on the main drag in Hanalei.

Downtown Hanalei - Kauai, Hawaii

 

Just beyond Hanalei is Haena State Park along the Napali Coast. I was determined to hike the trail to get up close to the wilder part of Kauai. However, you can’t just go to the park. You have to reserve parking, which is hard to do unless you make your reservation 30 days in advance. You can, however, park at the Waipa Park and Ride lot to catch the shuttle. But again, you need reservations. You pretty much need reservations to everything on Kauai, except stores and beaches (if you can find parking).

The trail was treacherous at some points. We hiked two miles to Haena Beach and two miles back. It seemed more like four miles each way due to the rough terrain and the fact you were constantly going uphill or downhill. I had to use my hands to climb some of the rockier areas – hubby did okay though. I highly recommend the use of a walking stick to help with balance.

Napali Coast - Haena State Park in Kauai, Hawaii

 

When we finally reached the beach, it was simply stunning! Absolutely worth the blood, sweat, and tears to get there. And yes, there were tears. A squall decided to dump rain and wind on us for about 5 minutes and that’s when I lost it. Thankfully, it didn’t last long and the sun came back out and all was well. At the end of the post is a video of this amazing beach. You don’t want to miss it.

Napali Coast - Haena State Park in Kauai, Hawaii

 

Another beach we visited was Tunnels Beach, which is on the way to Haena State Park. Parking is very limited (of course) so plan to go early. You can also take the same shuttle that goes to the state park. The shuttle comes by every 20-30 minutes. I found this pretty stream that leads to the ocean at Tunnels Beach.

Stream leading to Tunnels beach

 

Another favorite beach is Anini Beach (below). We never had a problem finding parking here. There’s only one road that leads to it, so it’s quiet and peaceful. The only other beach we visited was on the south side of the island – Poipu Beach. It had lots of people and not my scene at all. The area is pretty, but is definitely more of a tourist hot spot than Princeville. You might like it though if you have kids who are looking to play with other kids on the beach.

Anini Beach in Kauai, Hawaii

 

On the southwest side of the island is gorgeous Waimea Canyon. Although it’s just 30 miles from Princeville, it took us almost two hours to get there. Kauai has one main road that extends from the north side of the island to the south side, so there’s heavy traffic at times and the speed limit spans from 25 to 50 miles an hour.

We drove through the towns of Kapa’a, Lihue, Hanapepe, and Waimea (and probably a couple others I don’t recall) to get to the canyon. Lihue is the economic center of Kauai where you can find your favorite department stores and chain restaurants.

Be forewarned when going to the canyon, there aren’t signs that lead you to the main parking lot, which -surprise – is very small in comparison to the size of the canyon. There’s maybe 20-30 parking spaces and we snagged one of the last ones. You do have to pay for parking. We only hiked a little bit because the trail was super muddy and slippery. The conditions are probably better in summer. Thankfully, the road around the canyon has several wide shoulders so you can get out, explore, and enjoy the views.

Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii

 

You can also enjoy roosters and chickens alongside the road. There are LOTS of them all over the island and they crow all day, not just in the morning. I’ll probably miss the birds of Kauai, Hawaii the most. They have no fear of humans.

rooster in Kauai

 

This gorgeous albatross crossed our path back in Princeville as though she didn’t have a care in the world.

Albatross in Kauai, Hawaii

 

This red-crested cardinal landed very close to me in the backyard of our Airbnb. Like I said, no fear!

Red Crested Cardinal in Hawaii

 

I can’t write a post about Hawaii without including a photo of the popular Nēnē, the official state bird and only found on the Hawaiian islands. It’s currently the world’s rarest goose.

Hawaiian Nene - endangered species

 

The flowers are gorgeous on Kauai, like these orchids in the yard where we stayed.

Hawaiian Orchids

 

Hibiscus are everywhere in Kauai.

Yellow Hibiscus on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai

 

Another place we visited during our stay was the Na ‘Aina Kai Botanical Gardens. We originally planned to visit Allerton Garden, but it’s on the south side of Kauai and I didn’t want to make that trip again, so we switched to a closer garden. There are plenty of gardens that you can visit. One thing I didn’t like was that you had to book a group tour of the garden. There aren’t very many self-guided tours, which is what I’m used to here in the Chicago area. I feel like the state of Hawaii is very careful about controlling tourists and visitors, which I can understand since they’d like to maintain the wild, tropical nature.

As I was getting more frustrated at having to reserve almost everything and deal with limited parking, I came across information that these obstacles are a statewide endeavor to limit tourists and preserve the natural areas of Hawaii. I can understand that, but just be forewarned that while beautiful, Hawaii is not the easiest place to go on vacation. Do your research ahead of time and make activity reservations before you even leave for your trip. Since we visited in February and I knew the weather could be iffy, we didn’t make reservations in advance and had to sacrifice doing a few things. No problem though, we found plenty of things to enjoy.

Na 'Aina Kai Botanical Gardens

 

The one major disappointment was the sunset dinner cruise along the Napali Coast. We booked it for my birthday, only to have them cancel the day before, saying they had to do maintenance on the boat. We were leaving two days later and nothing else was available so we missed doing the cruise. But we did go kayaking on the Hanalei River so all was not lost.

Would I go back to Kauai? If I had unlimited funds and time, yes. But since there are so many other places to explore and money doesn’t grow on trees, I’d probably go elsewhere to take in as much of the world as I can.

Head over to my sister blog, Pond and Garden, to see the beautiful flora of Kauai, Hawaii.

And finally – here’s the video of beautiful Haena Beach that we reached after our treacherous hike!

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14 Comments

  1. Beautiful pictures of Kauai! I’ve been wondering how your trip went! Thank you for the advice. It is good to know to plan everything ahead of time. I tend to like to be more spontaneous on trips so that is not my nature. But it is good to know. Gorgeous birds and flowers, and beaches- wow!!

    1. Hi Hilary! I’m like you – I prefer trips to be spontaneous. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, right? Thanks for enjoying my vacation photos!

  2. Beautiful amazing photos. What a nice trip for you. We went to the big island years ago. It was after a very sad and difficult time in our lives. We were fortunate to spend a month at a beautiful home located at the Four Seasons hotel on the golf course. It was a very soothing trip and beautiful on the ocean. I love your photos of the birds and flowers. So many tourists on the islands, I can imagine the dilemma it causes for the residents. Not all visitors are respectful.

    1. Hi Jillian,
      My first thought was to go to the Big Island. Must’ve been wonderful to stay for a month, but sorry to hear that it was after a stressful time. The trip was probably just what the doctor ordered.

  3. Thanks for the memories, it’s been a long time but you never forget the beauty of Hawaii. I couldn’t get over the trees, waterfalls and flowers that grow.

  4. Thank you, thank you for sharing your photos and insights on Hawaii. What gorgeous BIRDS! And the scenery wasn’t so bad either. HAHA We had hopes of going to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We ended up going to Gatlinburg. Does it really matter WHERE you go on a HONEYMOON??? HAHA again, I’m so excited that you got to go. You deserved the rest, relaxation and fun times in a beautiful place.

    1. Hi Deb! Funny you mention Gatlinburg. When I was in Knoxville, TN with my daughter, we were going to visit Gatlinburg but never made it. Traffic was bumper to bumper and barely moving so we turned around. I’ve yet to see Gatlinburg. Someday!

      Jennifer

  5. I still find it hard to believe that this paradise exists when I was actually there twice in my life. It is truly a gift from God.

  6. A couple of additional notes from someone who splits their time between Kauai and the mainland.

    Haena beach is not swimmable and extremely dangerous due to the waves. There are signs along the way – please don’t go near the water. I’ve had to rescue 3 tourists in 15 years who were nearly swept away.

    If you are traveling between the north shore and the south/western side – leave around sun up to avoid heavy traffic on Kuhio. Plan to return one hour before sunset – driving on Kuhio can be hazardous if you don’t “know the road”.

    Please read up on one way bridge courtesy. This is my #1 pet peeve with visitors.

    Be courteous and kind, and realize that the service folks you meet see a lot of visitors and put up with a great deal of entitled visitors. Remember Hawaiian culture – take it easy. The islands operate on island time, so things may open late (or not at all) and close early especially on good surf days. Tip well and you’ll be treated well for the most part.

    Leave all areas as you found them. Please don’t litter, and use ocean friendly sunscreen. Our corals are pretty much dead from the constant abuse. While they made small recoveries during COVID the damage is done.

    Kauai is not Oahu. After dark please enjoy the island sounds and don’t disrupt your neighbors sleep.

    Kauai is a beautiful place and needs to be respected and preserves for generations to come. Enjoy the beauty.

    1. Gary, thanks for your comments. Kauai was our go-to until medical issues cut out flying but we watched the changes over the years. We still have”locals” who are friends. Even staying in Poipu we had little issues with too many people though. And, we love Jennifer’s photos.

  7. Well, that’s probably the end of our long friendship. I’ve liked you for many years, but this just put me over the edge. I’m so green with envy, I don’t think I can take it anymore. I’ve had enough of this torture. Woe is me.
    Ha Ha…just kidding. Does look so beautiful I am swooning though.

  8. Great review of Princeville and Hanalei Bay. I lived in Princeville in the 80’s and look forward to going back to see the changes.

  9. Hawaii is a beautiful place but honestly I have no desire to go there. I dislike beaches except to look at in pictures! lol Glad you had a good time and the pictures were beautiful.