Kaua’i, Hawaii

Posted by kittykate29 on

I don’t know why there’s not more talk about Kaua’i when people research a trip to the Hawaiian Islands. It’s one of the most stunning places I have ever been too! With Waimea Canyon State Park, Nā Pali Coast, beautiful beaches with crystal blue waters, plenty of food trucks and shaved ice, Kaua’i is definitely one of my top places I have ever been! So let’s get started…

You will fly into Lihue (LIH) when visiting Kaua’i. I had a stop over in Honolulu (HNL) and it was a short 30 minute flight from Honolulu to Kaua’i. There are many flight options with Hawaiian Airlines which is what I did.

  • View of the hotel from my paddle board

We stayed at Princeville Resort which was about a 45 minute Uber ride North from the airport in Hanalei Bay. (We rented a car for our time in Kaua’i, I landed a few hours before the fam so I went to hotel early) The views at the resort are so stunning 😍 The hotel is beautiful but some bits were a little outdated. My family and I were split into 2 rooms and they couldn’t get us connecting rooms, which was a bit of an upset. The only other minor thing I would say is the pool. For a hotel so large they only had 1 pool and it was quite noisy and busy 🤦🏻‍♀️ If they had an ‘adult only’ pool, that’s where you would find us.

View from our room. Golden hour. No Filter!
  • Breakfast views
  • Mango smoothie by the pool
  • Yogurt and fresh fruits

Right next to our resort just a 10 minute drive was Hanalei Bay. A beautiful area surrounded by enormous mountains, lots of little shops and restaurants. You know the song “Puff the magic dragon”? This is where he lived! lol.

If you drive a bit past Hanalei Bay you’ll come across a beautiful green church! Yes, GREEN! we accidentally stumbled upon it. It’s called Wai’oli Hui’la Church and it was fully completed in 1834. It’s the most beautiful church I’ve seen!

Alright let’s chat about Waimea Canyon State Park…

Waimea Canyon State Park is known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” I still can’t get over these views 😍My mom was so moved she started crying! 😭 The canyon is about 10 miles long and up to 3,000 feet high! From our hotel up on the North Shore, it took about an hour and 45 minutes to get here. I’ll leave here some lil tips…

  • GO EARLY! I made my family leave the hotel at 6:45am lol 😴 The nice employees at the hotel told me to leave early to avoid the crowds and by the afternoon sometimes the clouds drop quite low and you can’t get a clear view of the entire canyon.
  • GO STRAIGHT TO THE TOP! It’s hard not to stop on the way up because the views are stunning (we actually did make one quick stop) but go up first, then on your way down make as many stops as you’d like.
  • DRESS WARM! Bring an extra jacket/ light sweater as it can get quite chilly at the top. You are pretty high up! But the air is so fresh and crisp!

On the way down we spotted the red dirt waterfall. Tbh, it’s really just that, a dirt waterfall. The water is dirty, so no touchy! 🙅🏻‍♀️

I HIGHLY recommend a helicopter tour while in Kaua’i! 🚁 We booked with Sunshine Helicopters. The view from above is unreal!😱 We saw the lush green forests along with Waimea Canyon and then Nā Pali coast. It was my first helicopter ride and the staff was so nice and our pilot was from Texas! so bonus points! 👍🏼 Wear dark colors! or else the reflection of the window will show on your pics

We flew inside a volcano crater! 🌋

My favorite part of the whole trip was a boat tour along the Nā Pali Coast. I booked mainly with Holo Holo Charters because they have excursions leaving right from Hanalei Bay, which was so close to my hotel. Rather than leave from other docks on the opposite side of the island. I should note I went by myself, as my family gets sea sick 🤢 lol. We did stop to snorkel but the water was murky and I didn’t see much 😣

I saw so many dolphins! 😭 No joke like 50! They were surrounding our boat 🐬🐬

Driving from the north part of the island to the south on Highway 56 or Kuhio Highway, we saw so many food trucks and cute places to eat! Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, crepes and shaved ice! They had lots of yummy options! 😋

If you’re still reading…mahalo!! 🤙🏼 if you have any questions please ask away!!! Thanks friends!! ☺️ the end

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