CoppellAg93 said:
Leaving for Kauai tomorrow - will be following this thread and will post rec's from my experiences.
My wife and I and another couple traveled to Kauai June 2nd - 10th - here are my observations of our trip ....
Travel/Covid PapersWe flew to Lihue from DFW through LAX - was asked for our QR codes upon arriving at Lihue - we were thankfully in first class so we got off the plane first and there were no lines to get through the checkpoint. Don't remember being asked for any other paperwork during travel.
Tranportation To HotelWe used Viator to schedule round trip transportation to our hotel - the bus was over an hour late and during that wait, I was on hold for over 30 minutes trying to get in touch with the company responsible for the bus (Speedi Shuttle). Once the bus got there, the trip to the hotel was fine.
HotelWe stayed at the Sheraton Kauai Coconut Beach Resort in Kapa'a for 7 nights. Overall, the hotel was great. We had breakfast there every morning - the highlights were the Pulled Pork Eggs Benedict and the Chicken and Waffles. Service was very slow on a few days due to light staffing - but the staff was very friendly. The main restaurant was closed due to Covid but the outdoor bar/restaurant (Crooked Surf) was open and had a good food/drink selection. The Fish and Chips here were the best I had on the trip.
The room was nice and we had a good view of the pool area looking out at the beach.
The one disappointment was that the beach was not really swimmable. There was a reef that spanned most of the beach and the water was a bit rough in the other areas.
Rental CarWith rental cars non-existent on the island, we used Turo (think Air BnB for cars) to rent a small SUV for the middle 4 days of the trip. We paid just over $250 a day for it - but there's not much option if you plan to see the island at all.
ExcursionsFor most of our excursions around the island, we used the Shaka Audio Guide purchased through Viator - I would recommend it - gives you a lot of detail and history of the island while guiding you to the many places to stop, and you can pick and choose the ones you want to see. We did the following ....
Waimea & Na Pali Tour
North Shore Kauai Tour (only did parts)
Wailua Valley and WaterFalls Tour (only did parts)
The first one takes you towards the west side of the island where you travel up the Waimea Canyon up to the top at around 5,000 feet. The views of the canyon were amazing. The only downside is that it was too cloudy at the top to see down to the Na Pali coast once we reached the top. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped and saw the Spouting Horn blowhole and then ate at the Dolphin Poipu for dinner - great food.
We separately booked an afternoon catamaran tour of the Na Pali Coast through Na Pali Catamaran company. I'd highly recommend trying to get the boat with Nick and Nick as the captain and "first mate" - they were very down to earth, funny, and made the trip more fun. We travelled into several caves along the coast and travelled most of the coast before turning back, where we stopped at Tunnels Beach to do some snorkeling. Saw a good number of fish on the reef but no turtles. The view of the island was incredible.
While in Hanalei, we ate at Kalypso - cool bar with good food - and then caught an amazing sunset on the beach at Hanalei Bay.
We did a second day in the Area near Princeville along the North Shore where we saw the beach where the first season of Gilligan's Island was filmed, along with several other nice beaches. We finished a short day with a trip to Anini Beach for more snorkeling - we did see one sea turtle but were disappointed in that it is supposed to be a great spot to see many turtles - we were told by a restaurant worker that you had to swim to the buoy and would see a lot
Our last day of excursions was to the Wailua Valley and Waterfalls tour. We only did parts of this audio tour - skipping most of it to pair it down to the waterfalls. The first 2 of the falls were along the roadside where you could stop to take pictures. The last 2 falls were seen by hiking down the Hoopii Trailhead - about a 1 mile each way down to 2 different falls - the second and bigger one required walking down a steep trail to the bottom of the falls but the trip was worth it - it was beautiful. You could even swim in the falls, but we didn't.
RestaurantsAte at the following restaurants on the trip (off hotel property) ...
The Dolphin Poipu - there is another location in Hanalei on the North Shore - food was great.
Coconuts Fish Cafe - near our hotel - decent food - order at counter and food is brought out
Oasis On The Beach (at Waipouli Beach Resort) - great food and environment
Lava Lava Beach Club (behind the Kauai Shores Hotel) - maybe the best meal we had - and right on the beach with some live music
Duke's Kauai - at Marriott Beach Club - been to Duke's in Maui - good food and atmosphere - had a fairly long wait but overall was worth it.
Overall Kauai was probably the most beautiful place I've ever been, with Great Exuma (Bahamas) being a close second. A lot of restaurants were still closed for Covid - but we never had a bad meal while we were there. I would definitely recommend Kauai to anyone looking for a bit more laid back scenic destination. I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone might have.
FYI - this ended up being a longer post then I expected, but I wanted to get some details in.