Kauai, Hawaii

If any of you follow my instagram, you will know I just spent some time on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kauai! If you don’t follow my Instagram yet check out @seapursuit to see all my pictures from the trip! Ah where to even start! Kauai has adventure, beautiful scenery, and amazing beaches! It is a wild green jungle island that holds the Hawaiian spirit.

To give a brief background, Kauai is a smallish island (compared to a Caribbean island it seemed rather large) but it is very diverse on each section of the island. The North side of the island is known for the rain, jungle, and pristine natural beauty. Fun fact, on Kauai is the wettest spot in the world. A lot of the North side cannot be reached by car, rather you must tour it by boat or helicopter. The east side has the airport and a wide variety of beaches. The west side is known for Waimea Canyon which looks like the Grand Canyon. Finally, the south side is almost always sunny when the rest of the island may not be. If any of you have been following with what has been happening in Kauai, I happened to come a couple weeks after the extreme rain and flooding which made most of the northern (and prettiest) part of the island inaccessible. This was unfortunate, but I got to see most everything else. So here goes, my favorite parts of Kauai:

The Beaches

As I always start these lists with my review of the beaches, why not keep that trend with Kauai. Kauai has something for everyone when it comes to beaches: easy beaches to get to that are rather popular to remote, hard to reach, and pristine beaches. I personally enjoyed the hard to reach beaches where you could be the only one on a stretch of the beach!

Lawai

This beach was a thin slice of sand packed with people. That part I didn’t enjoy as much to a huge beach to myself, but I did love how easy the beach was to get to as well as the snorkeling! In fact, this was the only beach we were able to snorkel at during the trip because the water was too rough at other beaches.

Poipu

Ranked as one of the best beaches in America. I was particularly excited to stay right by such a highly ranked beach! That being said it was pretty touristy for me. Too many people and not enough real estate. The happy hour over looking Poipu was really pretty!

Salt Pond

Enjoyed this beach. Had a large bay that made swimming more accessible. It was pretty scenery, not stunning by any means though and we got a little wind and rain that made us not stay long.

Waimea

This was a black sand beach. The water was brown and murky. I wouldn’t recommend this beach for spending much time on. Rather, I would come watch the sunset on the pier and check out the nearby town of Waimea.

Mahaulepu

This was one of my favorite beaches!! We had no idea what to expect. The guide book told us to take this old dirt road with many potholes to get to the beach. We parked and got some guidance by some other tourists to explore these caves that happened to be open! The cave entrance was so short it looked like it belonged in The Hobbit! Once you crawled in, you entered this cave with a clearing in the middle that felt like a small oasis.

After we checked out the cave, we started walking towards the beach and we ran into some more tourists who told us about this turtle farm! We walked over and there were these large pens that you could walk around in with huge turtles!! It was really neat and unexpected to do all this adventuring before the beach.

Once we got to the beach, it was beautiful sand up close and personal to the crashing waves and tree backdrop. It was a long stretch of beach. We tried walking down all of it but we got tired and laid our towels down on our own little slice of paradise. We listened to the waves crash and watched the ocean. It was calming and relaxing.

Anini

This was also one of my favorite beaches! This one is the only beach on the north shore we had the chance to explore because of the rain that came to the island and blocked all the roads past Hanalei. The water was actually so calm here! It just lapped at the shore like my favorite beaches in the Caribbean would. I could tell on a sunnier day that it might be bluer and a good snorkel spot. There were a decent amount of people but the beach extended for miles so you could walk and find a spot of your own for the day.

The Sights

Waimea Canyon

This is by far a highlight of a trip to Kauai. I actually preferred it to the Grand Canyon! The canyon is large and looks a lot like the Grand Canyon except it has much more greenery and even waterfalls and rainbows!! It takes about an hour and a half round trip to drive up and back down. There a ton of scenic pull offs perfect for some photographs. There is hiking as well but my dad isn’t much into hiking so we didn’t do that. You’ll really enjoy the scenery here!!

Wailua Falls

This is close to the airport and easy to get to. We pulled up and took some pictures and left. There were some signs that looked like it was dangerous to hike down to the bottom of the falls (although I don’t think this stopped some people). This was an easy and beautiful stop! Can you really come to Kauai without seeing a waterfall?

Spouting Horn

Another top site of Kauai. This was really just one where you pull of the road to see and to say you saw it. It was cool and that was that. If your in the area be sure to check it out but don’t expect it to take more than a few minutes.

Kilauea Lighthouse

This was a cute little lighthouse in a preserved area of the island. It cost $5 to enter which was kind of annoying for a quick walk around. It was honestly just a beautiful view of parts of the island because you get out over the water and get to see all the coves of the north shore beaches. The lighthouse was scenic and cute. This was about a 20 minute stop to walk around and see it.

Na Pali Coast

This is on the north shore and inaccessible by land. It must be seen by helicopter or boat. Everyone who had been to Kauai said this was the highlight of their trip. It was the #1 thing to do. Unfortunately bad ocean conditions made this unavailable to us.

Allerton Botanical Gardens

They say this is botanical gardens for people who don’t like botanical gardens! I would agree for the most part. The scenery is stunning in the wild jungle forest. The first part started out with these rooms that were created by greenery often with statues and water features. This was the most boring part for me personally. The guide went a little too in depth on naming all the specific plants for my taste.

The second half of the tour is why I signed up. All the movie sets! As you can imagine Kauai’s stunning natural beauty has brought much of Hollywood to shoot movies there. There were bamboo forests, wild jungle, and a river going through it all. Across the river you could spot this oddly familiar patch of palm trees in a grassy patch next to the water. Pirates of the Caribbean and many other movies were shot right there!

Then to the best part, the GIANT tree roots that were featured in Jurassic Park!! We got to climb in them and takes pictures and awe at the size. This tour made me feel like I was in the movie Jurassic Park, in fact much of Kauai gives off this aura. I could almost spot the T-Rex in the distance pounding through the forest.

The Activities

The activities are what make Kauai stand out! Hawaii has so many activities to even name. The huge draw of Hawaii and Kauai for me is the activities because not all small islands have this amount of stuff to do. Side note, I went with my parents and they aren’t quite as adventurous as I am so if I went back I think I would do more of these activities that I didn’t get a chance to do!

• ATV: this looked so fun. I didn’t get the chance to do it but I looked up tours and they take you places you wouldn’t get to see otherwise and most end at a waterfall where you can go swimming!! That is goals!!
• Horseback Riding: I love horseback riding and the ability to horseback ride in this stunning scenery would be a blast as well. This is another adventurous activity that gets you up close and personal with the jungle.
• Golfing: I don’t golf but my family went a couple times and thoroughly enjoyed their time. If you want nice golf courses, Kauai is the place to go. Courses had some of the best views of any golf course overlooking the ocean. They are some of the most expensive courses you can play as well.
• Zip Lining: I went zip lining in Costa Rica which was also in the jungle so I can imagine Kauai would be similar. Zip lining through canopies is an absolute blast! This is another great way to see the island while getting some adrenaline packed fun in as well.
• Hiking: Kauai is built for hikers. There are so many trails all over the island. Again, I didn’t get to go, but I can just imagine how pretty they would be. My goal is to come back one day and do a hike that ends in a waterfall I can go swimming in! You always see that in the movies, and this is the place to come to do it in real life!
• Boating: this is one of the number one things to do because you can see parts of the island you couldn’t on foot. This is experience is what you come to Kauai for. You also have the chance to go snorkeling if the water conditions are good!
• Whale Watching: depending on the time of year, Hawaii can be great for whale watching! I went once in Maui and got up close and personal to a pod of whales and it was amazing. They are such huge creatures, it was so fun to see them swimming in the ocean.
• Helicopter Tour: saved the best for last! Helicopter tour! This one is expensive, but if you have the money saved, it is a once in a lifetime experience and a whole new way to see the island. You will see parts of the island that no one else can access by signing up for a helicopter tour. This one is still on my bucket list as well!

Logistic Information

• Cost: the activities will start to add up by the end. I would say that is the biggest cost of the trip. Flights are fairly reasonable and there are a lot of good deals out there. I got a flight 2 weeks in advance from LAX for $500! Once Southwest flies to Hawaii it could become even more affordable. Airbnb is the way to go for more affordable accommodation. This trip is what you make of it, the beach and the pool are always free! There were also several more affordable restaurants on the island.
• Where to stay: I stayed on Poipu beach and enjoyed the location for home base. I liked that it was always sunny and warm even if other parts of the island were raining. I think if you go the right time of the year, Princeville or the north shore in general might be prettier. There is just more risk of rain.
• What to wear: summer gear!! Swimsuits, shorts, and tank tops! Also pack some cuter outfits for dinner. It is fun to get all dressed up in summer dresses for night. Bring a light jacket as it can cool off a little when the sun goes down, but you shouldn’t need more than that. My go-to outfit was a dress and jean jacket for dinner. Side note, if you have the money, go shopping for some new swimsuits or dresses! I have found the cutest swimsuits in Hawaii that you can’t get anywhere else.

My Review

Alright, I want to give you my honest opinion on my time in Kauai. So here is the good and the okay of my trip! I say okay instead of bad, because all in all my experience was amazing and I love Kauai! There were just some more ‘okay’ versus great aspects.

The okay

What I expected in Kauai was a small little island that was remote with not many tourists. It wasn’t really what I expected. The island for one is not small in my opinion. If an island can fit the size of that Canyon in just one portion of the island, it is not small!! It also wasn’t THAT remote. Plenty of tourists flocked to all the beaches each day. To get away from the crowds it would take doing some off roading that my family wasn’t really prepared for in our non 4 wheel drive rental car.

I also didn’t enjoy how weather dependent the island was. While the rain is what makes the lush vegetation in the North, I do not enjoy that rain has to be a concern on a tropical vacation! Okay that may be harsh most tropical destinations have a down pour or two but it seemed like it was constantly raining on some part of the island. Obviously the rain put an extra damper on my vacation because I didn’t get to see some of the prettiest (supposedly) beaches. Even the beaches I did hang out on weren’t that blue of the travel magazines, probably because of the lack of sunshine. While it was still warm and plenty of sun to get tan, there was a low cloud cover that made the water a little murkier.

In addition, the ocean conditions were never good which limited the amount of snorkeling. I thought it may be the time of year I went but reading the guide books I kid you not ever single beach said “ocean conditions may vary, watch out for rip currents, blah blah, more scary stuff”. They actually did such a good job that I was terrified of going in the water! So if you are going to snorkel, don’t count on it being good snorkel conditions. In addition, we were going to go on a boat tour to the Na Pali Coast but the ocean conditions weren’t good and they re-routed to Poipu…right where I was staying already. Needless to say we ended up cancelling and missed out on one of the highlights of Kauai.

The good

So despite all the okay of the trip, I thoroughly enjoyed my time! If you haven’t caught on, I much prefer the Caribbean beaches themeselves, but I think Hawaii has its perks. For one, from the west coast it is a 5 and a half hour flight. That’s something to be said!! Sure beats an 11 hour flight with a layover to get to the Caribbean.

In addition, because it is less remote than other beach destinations of the world, there are plenty of nice places to eat and try out every night without hitting the same place twice. There are plenty of people around to make it entertaining and interesting. You will not get lonely.

I think the main draw of Kauai is the adventuring and the scenery. It feels like you are in a wild jungle in Jurassic Park the entire trip. Each part of the island has something unique to see and explore. The north shore particularly has some of the best scenery. The top rated beaches were also in the north shore. The canyon was definitely a highlight of the trip as well! I loved all the waterfalls and the sights. I could not get enough of all the exploring!! You could fit an entire trip alone just exploring the island. In addition, the activities you can do are plentiful. You will never run out of things to do and most of the activities involved you being immersed in the natural beauty of the island. I love adrenaline filled activities and Kauai will not disappoint.

All in all, if you want a short flight from the west coast and a vacation filled with plenty of activities and gorgeous scenery,  Kauai should definitely be on your list of top places to visit!! I absolutely loved my time spent in Kauai. I cannot wait to go back and do more activities and explore the rest of the island!