The Beautiful North Coast of Kauai - awesome!

This day trip was all about seeing another part of Kauai that is missed by most tourists who stay in the Poipu area. Our trip started at Kilauea and by following three guides (including RCI’s mini guide) continued till the road ended at Ke’e Beach. Since we skipped the Princeville area, each stop was less commercial than what we saw when we explored on the other coasts of Kauai.

The two top highlights were traveling (or should I say negotiating) the one-lane bridges and taking in the sights of the various beaches on the north coast. See the separate journal entries about that part of our day.

Other points of interest included:
The Old Stone Church: We almost missed this since the roads were not marked clearly. All of the walls are constructed of lava.
The Kilauea Lighthouse: This is part of a wildlife refuge. Unfortunately, we arrived at the area before the refuge opened so we only got to see the views from the gate.
The Hanalei Valley and Refuge: Very interesting and a place where we could reminisce about our hippie days and the song Puff the Magic Dragon sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary.
The two caves along HWY 56: One is called the dry cave and the other a wet cave. We walked into the caves but didn’t do any real exploring.
The Kalalau Trail and NaPali Coast: Since I am not an experienced hiker, I was only able to hike a little of the ten miles.

We skipped Princeville Resort since we stayed at a condo in that area the last time we visited Kauai. I would recommend seeing that area if you have never been. The ocean view at the Princeville Hotel is breathtaking!

Quick Tips:

Several guides have good information about the area including RCI’s guides and the popular 101 things to do magazine.

The following are good web sites that are informational before your visit and bring back good memories after your visit.
Check out For fun things to do.
Check out Web site about caves.
Check out Professional pictures of beaches of Hanalei.
Check out the Visitor’s convention center site of Kauai.

Best Way To Get Around:

You can forget about a tour bus for seeing all of the North Coast since buses cannot travel on the bridges. Therefore, you need a car.

You can also splurge and take a helicopter ride, which is needed to fully appreciate the NaPali Coast. I still remember our helicopter ride that we took ten years ago! The area is awesome.

Of course, if you are a hiker, you must hike on the Ten-mile plus trail through the NaPali coast.

We had not planned on eating in Hanalei but the hunger pangs forced us to make a quick decision. We agonized over the numerous restaurants before picking the Gourmet Deli (out of at least ten other choices). Based on our two meals selected, we made a great selection.

The food was delicious. I selected the Waldorf salad and I liked it so much that I wrote down the ingredients. The salad greens were very fresh and tasty. The caramelized walnuts and of course the apples was a welcome relief from the bland salads I had been eating! The salad was full of chunks of blue cheese. In addition, I had never had a mango dressing but I ate every bit of the salad since it was so great. One other comment about the salad: you can choose a full salad or ½ the portion (at ¾ of the price). I chose the smaller portion and it was plenty for me.

While I was scoffing up the salad, my husband chose a blackened ali with pineapple aioli sauce. Again, he was very happy with his choice. The fish was cooked just right and seasoned very well. The French baguette was also very fresh.

We ate outside rather than inside so we could watch the scenery and people. Directly in front of us was area where jewelry and art booths were set up. We also could see people wander around the Ching Young Village shopping center.

The only negative about this restaurant is that no beer was available on the outside tables.

Check out the restaurant’s menu. Since my salad is not listed, the menu is probably changed frequently. However, based on my experience, I would imagine anything you selected would be delicious.

We stopped at three shopping "plazas" on our trip of the North Coast. These stops were definitely different from the other Kauai shopping centers we had visited.

The first stop was the Kong Lung Center. There are several stores in this shopping area. All were interesting for browsing and for buying. Many of the stores were very old and had details such as plank floors. I found out later that the main building is on the National Register of Historical Places. A general store sold odds and ends. We also looked at the beautiful candles in The Island Soap and Candle Works store. Best of all, the company has an online store so you can buy later! Check out the catalog. Another store in the complex was the Lotus Gallery which has art and jewelry for sale. Absolutely beautiful designs! This shopping plaza is definitely a place to shop for one of kind gifts! Based on a recommendation in RCI’s mini guide, we bought a few pastries at the Kilauea Bakery. They were hot out of the ovens and were delicious.

Click here to read a brief narrative about this different shopping plaza.

We also stopped at the Ching Young Center. This has a wide range of stores from a grocery store (where we stocked up on macadamia nuts!) to a store specializing in kites. Kites fascinate me so this was great to browse through the store looking at the large variety of types, sizes, and colors! There are also several choices of dining restaurants such as subs, pizzas, and deli restaurants. In addition there are public bathrooms!

Check out information about this shopping center. Make sure you read the section on the history of the shopping plaza.

The Hanalei Center was just across the street. This was a small area of several craft and jewelry stores including several booths outside. After doing a lot of window-shopping, I found (and bought) one unique necklace! There are also several restaurants in this area including the wonderful Hanalei Gourmet Deli.

Check out information about numerous shopping areas in Kauai.

Before you take the long, but well worth it, drive on the North Coast, you should know that in January, the waters are too rough for swimming. With that said, these beaches have special charm and beauty above the beaches on the south side.

Yes, we decided to stop at most beaches from Hanalei Bay to Ke’e Beach! We also took lots of pictures since I loved the views. I am including a few of my pictures. However, click here for professional pictures of north shore beaches.

It would be hard to pick the nicest beach since each was unique. We were the only tourists at the Black Beach Park (part of Hanalei Bay). I was surprised since I expected lots of tourists to be present. The long pier is a perfect setting for sitting on the dock and relaxing and clearing your mind of all worries! There were a few painters near the parking lot capturing the scenery.

We missed Lumahai Beach on the way out, but persisted and found it on the way back. Picture postcard perfect would sum up my thoughts about that beach. I am glad that our mini guide provided by RCI warned us against hiking down to the beach itself. I was content to look at the beauty from the top of the cliff! It is unfortunate that there was not a drive-off area so you could really enjoy the view as long as your heart desired! This area definitely is not as developed as other areas of Kauai!

At Haena Beach Park , there were lots of campers. This is a staging area for the hikers into Na Pali Coast. We did not stay too long but proceeded to the last beach Ke’e Beach . It is hard to find a parking spot since this is where you park your car before hiking into the breath-taking NaPali Coast. My husband began the hike but stopped way short of the 10 miles! At Ke’e Beach, there were several peacocks walking around and they are used to people and I could get pictures of them close to me. Another interesting point about this beach is that even though there were lots of signs warning about no swimming, some people were ignoring the signs and swimming anyhow.

We had heard about the one-lane bridges when we were in Kauai ten years ago. You have a choice: take your time in traveling as you drive slowly along HWY 56 or skip those 10 miles of road which means you miss some beautiful beaches as well as some awesome scenery. In fact, some web sites proclaim that not only is the Hanalei bridge a very unique and "picturesque landmark" but it is integral in ensuring that the North coast does not become commercialized. No tour buses can cross the bridges so the area retains its local flavor. So far, the attempts to replace the bridges have been opposed by North Shore residents who want the area to remain the same.

Some of the bridges seemed about to give way, which made me just a little nervous. Others looked like they would be around for ages. At no point could we pull off and take some pictures. However, I found a web site that had some nice pictures of several of the bridges. The small captions along with the pictures give interesting tidbits of information. The Hanalei Bridge, built in 1912, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The web site also had a funny narrative about the etiquette of when to cross the bridge or when to yield and wait for opposite traffic to cross. No traffic lights to control the traffic flow! Just manners! Some of the list is funny such as the lead situation: "If the vehicle opposite is a big truck full of loudly barking dogs – YIELD!"

Click here for professional pictures of the bridges and lots of other information, including the etiquette story!.

One interesting thing happened to us while waiting to cross one of the bridges. On the return trip, there was a long, and I mean long, line of cars waiting to cross the bridge. I then saw that a large crane was on the bridge. Since the crane blocked traffic from both directions, no one could proceed. I visualized that we would be stuck on the North Coast for the evening! Luckily, the crane backed out of the bridge and our traffic line proceeded across. By the way, after we had returned to our condo, I read that in bad weather, the bridges are closed down. (So you do not get stranded with no way to return to your condo!)

If you want a local feel of the area, read Hanalei roads. A community resists bureaucratic solutions and protects its soul written by Hermina Morita . DOT is currently developing the 25-Year Comprehensive Road Plan for Highway Route 560.