Kauai - which shore to stay on?

[LollyBear]

DH and I are planning our belated honeymoon in Kauai. Does anyone have any suggestions on what side of the island we should stay on? We''ll be going in the end of January if that makes any difference.
Thanks

 

[ame]

I learned when we were there that the warmer, drier climate is the south and west, the wetter and colder climate is the north and east.

 

[ame]

wait...I might be wrong. I might have north and south confused....anyway...

my folks love princeville. I preferred the west on Hawaii and Maui and the South on Oahu (waikiki)

 

[widget]

Hmm...it's onlly been about twenty years since I've been there..

...but it seems to me that what you want is the "leeward" side of the island for the best weather...anyhoo, there is a "dry side" of Kauai...that's where I'd look for a place to stay.

Long ago I fell in love with a place there called "Poipu Beach"...or something like that...it was heavenly!!!!

widget

 

[lilyinct]

Kauai is tiny, so no matter where you stay, you''ll be close to all parts of the island.

We went in February- and stayed at a place called "Kauai Country Inn"- it''s basically this adorable, clean house that you rent a level of...not hard on the wallet at all. Loved it there!

 

[njc]

Hey Lolly! First off, congratulations! We were off on our honeymoon (in Hawaii) when you got married... You looked fantastic!

We spent 6 days in Kauai on Poipu Beach as Widget mentioned above. It was awesome. We stayed at the Sheraton, which was a nice hotel (http://www.sheraton-kauai.com/index.htm). Poipu Beach is on the south side of the island and the weather was wonderful. You would get little itty bitty teeny tiny showers (like 20 sprinkles over a minute) which were wonderful when laying out at the beach or pool to cool you off.

We drove up to the north shore one day (took about an hour) and i have to say that the beaches up there were awesome and Princeville is pretty snazzy.

What are you most interested in doing?
Laying out at the beach - I say north, althought the beaches around the hotels in the south were nice
Hiking - I say south (you HAVE to do Waimea Canyon... it was ridiculous)
Golfing - Princeville has a course, there is one in Lihue and one in Kalaheo i think

Our bible during the trip was the "Ultimate Guide Book, Kauai Revealed". I got the one for each island we went to (Maui, Hawaii and Kauai). THEY ROCK and were dead on with great tips for sight seeing and places to eat. I actually checked them out of our local library and didnt always have the most current version, but they would be great for you to look at now and try to figure out where to stay and then even better for the trip to guide you around!

If you have any questions, PM me... its all still VERY freash in my memory!

I also posted some pics in this thread. The last two pics are from Kauai. First was hiking in Waimena Canyon and the second in Princeville headed to "Queens Bath".

 

[Mara]

We preferred the West end of the island which is less touristy and also is a warmer, drier area. We stayed there and drove into Poipu at night if we wanted something different. We also drove to the other island of the island one day as well. The whole island takes about an hour to drive from one end to the other so in reality you are pretty 'close' to everything wherever you stay. We just preferred to not stay in a high-rise hotel...we stayed on the Waimea Plantation Cottages (www.waimeaplantationcottages.com) which are located on an old sugar plantation, some of them have oceanfront views and are steps from the beach. Some have been remodeled and some are older, it just depends on what type of experience you want. The water in West over near Waimea is not that impressive either, aka you wouldn't really want to swim there, we went to Poipu to swim etc...but it was a bit more interesting for us. It made us feel more like we had our own vacation cottage, the plantation is alot more quiet than a hotel etc.

I know 90% of people would prefer to stay in Poipu which is a very beautiful area, or Princeville or Hanalei the other side of the island (wet) which is a bit more ritzy and preppy...but we stayed in Waimea by chance the first time and just fell in love with it, now we can't imagine staying anywhere else when visiting Kauai. It's also where we got married.

 

[lilyinct]

style="WIDTH: 99%; HEIGHT: 359px">Date: 9/29/2005 3:10:04 PM
Author: njc
Hey Lolly! First off, congratulations! We were off on our honeymoon (in Hawaii) when you got married... You looked fantastic!

We spent 6 days in Kauai on Poipu Beach as Widget mentioned above. It was awesome. We stayed at the Sheraton, which was a nice hotel (http://www.sheraton-kauai.com/index.htm). Poipu Beach is on the south side of the island and the weather was wonderful. You would get little itty bitty teeny tiny showers (like 20 sprinkles over a minute) which were wonderful when laying out at the beach or pool to cool you off.

We drove up to the north shore one day (took about an hour) and i have to say that the beaches up there were awesome and Princeville is pretty snazzy.

What are you most interested in doing?
Laying out at the beach - I say north, althought the beaches around the hotels in the south were nice
Hiking - I say south (you HAVE to do Waimea Canyon... it was ridiculous)
Golfing - Princeville has a course, there is one in Lihue and one in Kalaheo i think

Our bible during the trip was the ''Ultimate Guide Book, Kauai Revealed''. I got the one for each island we went to (Maui, Hawaii and Kauai). THEY ROCK and were dead on with great tips for sight seeing and places to eat. I actually checked them out of our local library and didnt always have the most current version, but they would be great for you to look at now and try to figure out where to stay and then even better for the trip to guide you around!

If you have any questions, PM me... its all still VERY freash in my memory!

I also posted some pics in this thread. The last two pics are from Kauai. First was hiking in Waimena Canyon and the second in Princeville headed to ''Queens Bath''.

njc-

I totally forgot about that book: The Ultimate Guide Book, Kauai Revealed- that rocked! (as well as the Maui one)-
Lolly- they sell the books in the airports, and I would highly recommend buying one. It gives you all the "insider tips".

 

[LollyBear]

Thanks for all the informative replies, they''re really helpful. I feel much more comfortable making this decision with all the input.


Update on accomodation search:
We found a great property in Princeville, called the Sealodge. They are condos that sit on the edge of a bluff, so you get an unobstructed ocean view. The unit we requested sit right on the edge so we''ll be able to look right down onto the ocean from our private lanai. Actually, EVERY room has a direct view of the ocean and the unit I want comes with a telescope.
We decided on the North shore because we were told that the whales like to frolic on that side and I love the idea of getting to see them every day. I just hope it''s not tooo wet on this side.
Keeping my fingers crossed that the unit I want, or one comparable, is available.

ame, No offense, but I''m going to go with your parents and try Princeville since they have more "life experience."
(ok, I''m trying to be funny if you couldn''t tell. I try rather often and usually fail miserably. I should probably get a clue

)

widget, Poipu was second runner-up for places to stay. I loved that side but I couldn''t find anything there that was super close to the ocean like Sealodge.

lilyinct, I''m glad to hear it''s so easy to get around the entire island. That was another concern for me when we first started working on the trip. Being that the road doesn''t go all the way around the island, I was worried that it would take forever to see all sides which is something I really want to do.

njc, I guess I need to visit other boards cuz I totally missed those fantastic pictures. Looks like you guys had an amazing trip, congrats! I will definitely be buying the ''biblical'' Guide Book.

I''m almost as excited about this as I was about the wedding (more even-don''t tell DH

). Waimea Canyon is definitely on our ''must do'' list.

mara, I was torn between wanting to right on the ocean and being in a secluded, gardeny spot like the plantation. DH really made the decision for me. He wants to be as close to the water as possible (hence the property we''re trying to book). I guess I''ll just have to go back a second time so I can get both experiences.

 

[hoorray]

Hi LollyBear,

We''ve been to Kauaii a few times, and have stayed on 3 sides (south - Poipou, east near the airport, and Princeville -- I''ve never stayed in the West near Mara''s fav.). My personal preference is the north/Princeville area. I have to caveat this by saying we''ve had great weather each time. I know people who''ve been rained out in Princeville. I love the northern coast with it''s great beaches, the laid back town of Hanalei, the Napalii coast,etc. It seems more "real" to me than the Poipou area. The Poipou are is very, very nice, but more resortie IMO. The golf courses are beautiful all over the island. Many of the Princeville condos are on cliffs with gorgeous views. Be sureto ask about beach access -- some of these cliff areas don''t have accessible beaches. There are many public beaches which are very nice in the area, you would just have to drive to them if you don''t have beach access from the condo.

If you like snorkeling or scuba diving, the surge shifts between summer and winter. I THINK the calm side is the southern side in the summer and the northern side in the winter. Check this out, as I might have it backwards, but if I am right the northern beaches should be very snorkelable (new word) in January.

The road around the island is good, and you can get all over, but you will be covering some distance. I''m thinking 1+ hours from Poipou to Princeville, but it''s been a while since I''ve done that. We were at Princeville most recently, and it was approx 40min to the airport if that is helpful.

Good luck--sounds wonderful!

 

[Mara]

Lolly...just as an FYI, the plantation actually has cottages that are oceanview and the ocean is just steps away...so it''s not just garden. I will say that the West is probably not for everyone...we enjoyed not being around other tourists as much and just kind of doing our own thing. Each time we went to the Hyatt in Poipu which supposedly is like SOOOOO nice, we were kind of like yeah it''s okay. The restaurant was okay, the hotel seemed okay..but we just weren''t impressed! Funny thing is that when we travel we like to stay in really nice places, but for whatever reason Hawaii seemed so laid back that we didn''t feel like doing the whole luxury resort thing. Same with Tahiti..we stayed in a beach cottage (right on the beach) and loved it.

Whatever you do have a fab time!

 

[ame]

Date: 9/30/2005 4:57:52 PM
Author: LollyBear
Thanks for all the informative replies, they''re really helpful. I feel much more comfortable making this decision with all the input.


ame, No offense, but I''m going to go with your parents and try Princeville since they have more ''life experience.''

(ok, I''m trying to be funny if you couldn''t tell. I try rather often and usually fail miserably. I should probably get a clue

)

Absolutely none taken. I wouldn''t call that life experience They just latched onto friends who go 3 or 4 times a year! haha!

 

[Ann]

I was there 2 yrs. ago in February. We stayed at Hyatt, but I personally loved the Princeville area. You can''t go wrong with decision. My favorite beach is at the "end of the road" past Princeville.

We were in Maui this past January, but I truly prefer Kauai.