What's to do in Kauai?

Well, I'm finally going to visit Kauai in a couple weeks for 7 days. Got a round of golf booked already, got a morning set aside for Waimea Canyon. Any suggestions of MUST see/do things?

Sadly I'll be missing out on the Uke Fest (AGAIN!) due to a family member's request to run the Coconut Chase on July 12th then totally bailing out on the trip. GRRRR!!!

Go see Aldrine!!!! (and Aaron!!)

They play Wednesday and Friday nights.

Someone will hopefully chime in with where they play.

Go see if Bob is still running the Coco Palms tours before they finally rip it down. Best $25 I've spent in 20+ years of going there.

Kauai is my favorite topic (and place!)on Earth. My mom has five timeshares there so we usually go five times a year and I am happy to help in any way I can.

Waimea Canyon is a good start. I would say that and the Na Pali coast are the two must-see scenic spots. Na Pali is really only accessible by boat or helicopter - I have done both and recommend both. I think it is the most beautiful spot on Earth.

I don't know if you are staying on the South Shore, North Shore or Coconut Coast, but if you have time you should try to spend a day in all three. In the South Shore, there are nice beach spots in Poipu, and some fun shopping in both Poipu and Koloa. You should also drop by Spouting Horn in Poipu if you get a chance.

On the North Shore, Princeville and Hanalei are both very popular spots. And in Kapa'a, you will find a lot of great shops and restaurants, as well as a Kauai Products Fair on Kuhio highway.

For food, I would say if you want a place with a great view, Beach House in Poipu is gorgeous. Gaylord's in Lihue has a very nice plantation feel ambience and is a good spot for lunch or dinner.

If you like Korean, the Korean BBQ in Kapa'a at Kinipopo is the best I have ever had. There is pretty good Mexican (for Hawaii standards) in the same shopping center at Monico's. Great burgers are at Duane's Ono Charburger in Anahola, Brick Oven Pizza is great in Kapa'a and Kalaheo, Pukadogs hot dogs in Poipu are good, and the chili is tasty at Bubba's. There are also good plate lunches at Mark's Place in Lihue.

If you like rum, don't miss Koloa Rum Company's free tastings every half hour - they are at Kilohana Plantation in Lihue (in the same lot as Gaylord's).

For shopping, Kukui'ula in Poipu has higher end art, jewelry, and clothes. Kukui Grove is the main shopping mall in Lihue. But get your mac nuts and coffee souvenirs at Costco or Walmart in Lihue - gas for your rental car is also MUCH cheaper at Costco.

If you have any other questions, I am happy to help if I can...

sukie said:

Go see Aldrine!!!! (and Aaron!!)

They play Wednesday and Friday nights.

Someone will hopefully chime in with where they play.

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I haven't double-checked in a while, but they had been doing Wednesdays at Waipouli Beach Resort in Kapa'a and Fridays at Rob's Good Time Grill in Lihue.

Hit Poipu Beach and also the Coco Palms! Don't miss seeing Aldrine!!!

Get yourself a Puke Dog and your day will instantly become better!

Take a drive down to Lihue airport, and hop on a plane to the Big Island.

SeattleSean said:

Get yourself a Puke Dog and your day will instantly become better!

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I think you mean "Puka" dog. Trust me, there's a difference!

wickedwahine11 said:

I haven't double-checked in a while, but they had been doing Wednesdays at Waipouli Beach Resort in Kapa'a and Fridays at Rob's Good Time Grill in Lihue.

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I knew you'd know! Thank you.

I always make a stop (Or two) at Hamura’s Saimin in Lihue.
(The saimin and lilikoi chiffon pie are pretty hard to beat for the price.)

Another was Verde in Kapa’a Shopping Center was some of the best mexican food I've had in a while.

We also did the Sunday Brunch Buffet at Gaylord's at Kilohana, thought it was well worth it.

If you want a really great deal on a plate lunch then try Pono Market in Kapa’a. Lunch for two of us cost around $15.

If you want to try or are a fan of poke I recommend the Koloa Fish Market, in Koloa (Go figure).

Man now I'm hungry....
(Have a great trip, it's a really amazing island)

Mahalo for the info everyone! I've printed out this thread to take with me.

I'll be sure to check out Aldrine's show. I believe I'll be in the Kapa'a area at the kauai Coast Resort at the Beachboy. My sis has timeshare on the islands which helps. This will be my 9th trip in 11yrs going to da Islands. My sis and her family have been going for 20+yrs now.

Thanks WickedWahine, I might have to stay another week in Kauai! lol

The Big Kahuna said:

Take a drive down to Lihue airport, and hop on a plane to the Big Island.

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Haha, I'll be on the Big Island right after Kauai for 7 days before flying back to Oahu for another 3, then back to the cold white North.

Trinimon said:

Haha, I'll be on the Big Island right after Kauai for 7 days before flying back to Oahu for another 3, then back to the cold white North.

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The Big Island has been my new favourite island for a couple of years now. There are too many snake oil salesmen on Kauai these days, and there's a real unfriendly vibe from the locals the last couple of visits as well.

The Big Kahuna said:

The Big Island has been my new favourite island for a couple of years now. There are too many snake oil salesmen on Kauai these days, and there's a real unfriendly vibe from the locals the last couple of visits as well.

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I got bad vibes when I was in Maui. It's scenic and I love it for that but I just didn't get that warm cozy feeling myself. I fell in love with Big Island the minute I set foot on it. My sister has a couple friends who used to own a dive charter in Kona and they are part of my ohana as much as we're part of theirs. It's always nice when they come over to spend a day and fill us in with island gossip etc. Everyone we've come across on Big Island have been nothing but generous and full of that Aloha spirit.

Oahu I love as well and got lots of very friendly folks there too. We've been going there so many times, the folks at Helana's and a couple other mom-pop restaurants treat us like Ohana. But it's just too busy for me after a week on Waikiki but they do have all the K brand ukulele makers there. The traffic I can do without.

What I will say though, folks in Oahu really know great customer service and will bend over backwards to make sure you are happy. I sure wish they could pass that skill onto some of the businesses in my neck of the woods.

Kauai I've never experienced so I'm gonna go with an open mind.

Trinimon said:

Kauai I've never experienced so I'm gonna go with an open mind.

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You can't do any more than that, dude. Make sure you get to Kilauea lighthouse, that's always a personal favourite. That and Talk Story bookstore at Hanapepe...just make sure to leave space in your luggage for a hundred pounds of books. Make sure you get there well before they open, then you'll have time to have a coffee in the Little Fish Coffee shop across the street.

Thanks for the tip TBK. I could use some new reading material. Wow, the pics of Kilauea Lighthouse looks out of this world. Definitely on the To Do list!

Oh, I found a number of hiking trails but since we only have few days with nothing planned, any few in particular that are MUST see?

Thanks.

There are a couple of podcasts that talk about Kauai. One in particular does a lot of discussion about hiking trails -- http://www.escapetokauai.com/

Me, I'm more of a drink mai tais and look at the ocean kinda girl so I'm useless to you there. Hope he can help.

The Big Kahuna said:

I think you mean "Puka" dog. Trust me, there's a difference!

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Ha ha, yes, that's what I get from typing on my phone!

wickedwahine11 said:

There are a couple of podcasts that talk about Kauai. One in particular does a lot of discussion about hiking trails -- http://www.escapetokauai.com/

Me, I'm more of a drink mai tais and look at the ocean kinda girl so I'm useless to you there. Hope he can help.

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LOL, cool, I'll check out that site! Mahalo!

I don't might the odd beach day but I like to immerse myself in the culture and soak in the landscape. Sitting on a beach for 3wks will make me stir crazy.

Aloha folks. I got back home on Saturday morning after three weeks island hopping over Hawai'i. Well, just Oahu, Kaua'i and Big Island to be exact.

I gotta say, thanks a bunch for the food and sightseeing info! It was most helpful. We pretty much checked out most of the attractions 'cept for the hikes 'cause (long story short) someone in our group could not do much hiking unless it was on paved roads, nor was he a beach/hot sun/seafood kinda person. Why he decided to join in on a sunny beach vacation is beyond us. UGHHH! Won't bother getting into that.

Had pizza a couple times at the Brick Oven Pizza, though I don't think they use brick ovens anymore or if they even did. They were 3min drive down the street from our condo which made that decision easy.

Hamura Saimin was a good call by KiwiSouthPaw. I wasn't really looking to eat saimin on my vaca since I eat enough of it at home but we got back late from the north shore one night and no big surprise, most places close up early. Hamura was one of a few that were still open. Even at 8:30pm there are folks waiting in line for a seat but the turnover was quick. Lucky for us, it was only half the group as the other half had already left for the Big Island a couple days earlier. Trying to get all 9 of us in at the same time would be impossible. Damn, that was some tasty saimin. I did have the lilikoi chiffon pie to go and it was awesome with a nice cup of tea back at the condo.

We also hit up Bubba's Burgers for lunch up in Hanalei. I totally forgot about the chilli recommendation by WickedWahine. My bro-in-law ordered it though and said it was good. I had ordered a burger and fries instead. Humm, kinda overpriced for what you get IMHO as a Bubba Burger isn't much bigger than your plain old, everyday McD hamburger but I guess you're paying for 100% Kaua'i beef. Hard to beat the $1.99 burgers at L&L across the street with a much shorter lineup. lol

Island Garden BBQ & Chinese was a bit of a disappointment despite the positive reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor. Maybe we just ordered the wrong stuff.

Kalapaki Joes in Waimea was nice but service was super slow. The food was good.

Barbeque Inn was also a nice find. Prices were a bit on the steep side unless you ordered from the "Local Favorites" menu. The kalua pork and cabbage was really good and the homemade cream pies with mac nut crust were amazing. Too bad they were out of haupia.

Didn't make it to Gaylords but we passed it several times.

We didn't get to see the Na Pali coast. The day we went up to the north shore, it was nice and dry but a few group members read the reviews of that hike and chickened out so I didn't get to do it. We spent a couple hours at Hanalei Bay and jumped off the pier a few times. The next few days brought in pretty bad weather and it poured buckets in the north. We didn't do the heli-tours 'cause it was very overcast with low clouds and figured we wouldn't get the best view for the money. Boat tours was off 'cause there were some big swells and small craft advisories out and the the Hanalei bridge was closed due to flooding in the area. When we did head out to Hanalei Bay for one last sunset after the weather cleared, the entire bay was littered with debris and the clear water we saw a few days earlier was all muddied. Glad we saw it when it was nice. Boy was it fun jumping off the pier!

We were told Aldrine was away that week so we missed out on that. That seemed to be the theme of our vacation as we missed out the Uke Festival, Hale'iwa Art Festival and Big Island Mango Festival all by a couple of days. We also missed out on Taimane Gardner's show (she was playing at the PanAm games back home in Toronto!) and Aldrine's show 'cause he was away. All because one member of our original group wanted to do the Coconut Run in Oahu a week earlier and she ended up not even going on the trip after everyone had purchased their airline tickets and booked hotels! UGHH!

So far, I'm with Big Kahuna ie, I much prefer Big Island to the other islands. Kaua'i was nice but I think four days would have been enough. A couple of the group members visited Kaua'i some 12 years ago and they were shocked at how much busier it had gotten with rush hour traffic all through the Kapa'a area. I didn't get that warm and friendly vibe from the locals either. Don't get me wrong, some were nice and friendly but just not Big Island nice.

Oahu was BUSY! We noticed a lot more mainland Chinese tourists and more Japanese tour buses everywhere. I did hear that tourism is up 6% in Hawai'i.

Looks like Hurricane Guillermo is supposed to brush past the north islands sometime today. I hope it's just a sprinkling and nothing too severe. Brudah Stan, better bring da slippers inside da house before them blow 'way!