Kauai at the Beach Resort

Best Things Nearby:
The beach was within walking distance! There was no swimming allowed, but the smell of the ocean and being able to walk on the beach was a definite bonus. The beach was red flagged, although we did see someone snorkeling one day though. There are two buildings that are pretty much in front of the beach, while the others are a short jaunt. Our unit overlooked the lagoon with a bountiful amount of birds, ducks, and those chickens.

There are also an abundance of beaches located within 10 miles from the condo. Lydagate Beach is about five miles north. It has an awesome play structure for the kids. It is so huge. It is one of those wooden structures they can climb up and up and down. There are two sides with a bridge running over the sandy road. It had one of those spiral slides with maybe three spirals. Lydigate Beach also is supposed to have fairly good snorkeling. Most of the larger beaches are so well equipped. They have restrooms, showers, and lifeguards. The only thing I was needing was an umbrella.

Poi Pu Beach is about 15 miles south. There is supposed to be great snorkeling there. The day we went to check it out we didn't bring our gear. The people we talked to said there was much fish really close to shore.

Best Things About the Resort:
The condo has AIR CONDITIONING!!! We definitely traded for the Kauai Beach Villas because it is one of the few on the island with A/C. There were two ceiling fans, one in the bedroom and the other in the living room. We only had one a/c in the bedroom. It did not cool the living room very well, so a few nights, we all packed onto the king size bed. A few nights, there was enough breeze to get the living room bearable to sleep.

Resort Experience:
We stayed in a one-bedroom unit with two bathrooms. The floor plans are on their website I called before we left for the airport to request various accommodations. We didn't get everything that we wanted, but we were definitely more satisfied with our stay.

We stayed in a one-bedroom unit with two full bathrooms. The additional bathroom was nice when we got back from the pool or beach and everyone needed to shower. The two bathroom units also have more square footage vs. the one bathroom, so I would highly recommend requesting the two bathrooms. Our unit had a king size bed with a TV, bathroom, and a/c in the bedroom. The couch folded out to a queen size bed. In the living room was also a TV with a VCR and a small boombox stereo system. There was a dining area with a sliding glass door. The kitchen had everything: dishwasher, coffee maker, grinder, blender, rice cooker, toaster. My husband loved the Pahio emblem dish and cup set as well as the thermal Krups coffee maker! They came to give us fresh towels and empty the trash on the third day. There is no cleaning though. They do have a vacuum cleaner and broom in the units for spot cleaning. We definitely used both having two small children. Being in a warmer climate and an abundance of bugs, they recommended that food be stored in the refrigerator. We did see a few ants in the kitchen, so we then had to really keep everything crumb free.

We requested a ground floor and that we did get. Our kids like running around at various hours, so I thought we would spare all the people below us. It was nice to have a ground floor because we had a patio with a grassy area right outside the living room. The patio had a round table with four chairs and, of course, an ashtray for the smokers. The kids loved just being able to run around in the grassy area. The chickens, ducks, and birds were always at our back patio waiting for bread. I think we bought five loaves of bread at $2 a loaf! The kids loved it though. The Kauai Beach Villa pool was directly in front of us. That was nice for us, so we could check out when it was the least crowded time. We found that around 4 or 5pm, it seemed to be pretty empty.

There were also the many Radisson pools, that was available to use. They have a sand bottom pool, as well as three or four other ones. We went there on our last night right before the Torch Lighting Ceremony, which they have every night at 6pm. They do a bit of hoola. My three-year-old son was not impressed with the hoola thing, but my five-year-old daughter loved it. She was dancing away with them.

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Good
• Amenities: Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Very Good
• Family Friendliness: Good
• Service: Good

We felt like we had to try this burger joint, especially since we had our kids with us. It was around noon on a weekday and there was still a line out the door. The restaurant is open to the outside with seating inside and outside on the patio. While seated inside, you can actually watch them prepare your burger and fries. We sat in a booth that had these definite indentations within the cushions. The tables had this game, where you flick a coin into the basket to win a drink. While we waited for our food, the kids used up all my coins, but it was much better than screaming kids.

They did have kids’ burgers, which just had less meat and a slightly smaller bun. Fries and onion rings come separately. The kids loved the fries, but I think they would eat anything that appeared to look like one. The burgers had some special Bubba Burger sauce with relish and Thousand Island-ish dressing. My husband said that the person at the front insisted that the sauce was what made these "Bubba Burgers." I didn't think that it was particularly appetizing, but I don't really care for relish on my hamburger. I immediately scraped the sauce off the kid's burgers. My husband did like his though. Overall, it was better than Burger King, but not as good as Ono Burgers up north.

Ono's Burgers is on the way to Princeville on Highway 56. It is a little south of the lighthouse. It is a small stand on the east side of the road with a few round, plastic tables for outdoor eating. There is a small market next door, which I cannot remember the name (the old age syndrome).They close at 6pm and it was starting to rain, so we ate in the car. We got our food shortly before 6pm, but as we were eating, I noticed a lot of locals going there for their dinners, which is definitely a good sign.

My kids got the small kids’ hamburgers. The burgers were definitely big and meaty. They put lettuce, tomatoes, and onions on all the burgers. The burger is cut in half and it says on the sign, if you want your burger whole, you must let them know. My kids also insisted on chicken fingers. I would say they were pretty mediocre. The fries and onion rings were excellent. They were very crispy and they gave you a whole mass of them. This is definitely a place to go for a quick meal if you are hungry. We definitely liked this place over Bubba Burgers because of the flavor of the burgers and great fries!

This Chinese restaurant was rated the "best Chinese food" in many of those activity magazines they have in the lobbies and at the airport. I think it was the only one. We ordered our usual vegetable chicken, sweet and sour or lemon chicken, chow mein, some beef dish hunan/szechwan. The rice is additional. In Oregon a bowl of rice comes with each entree ordered. Anyways, the food was very bland. There was no flavor in the vegetable chicken. The chicken had chunks of gristle and bones in it. It wasn't greasy though. Our kids, who are aged less than five are kind of Chinese food snobs. They won't eat anything that doesn't taste good and they didn't touch anything other than the rice.

This restaurant was in the same shopping center as Safeway, just around the corner. It was very small, but quaint. There were probably 8 or so tables. We sat in the middle. My husband always hates the fishbowl table. The restaurant was very good but a little expensive for Mexican food. My husband had fish enchiladas. This was not on the menu. The owner/waiter suggested getting this dish. This dish was $20. I had a taco salad, which was not on the menu either, but I wanted a salad. Obviously they were very flexible and friendly in making sure everything was what we wanted. Our kids split a taquito dinner, which was very mediocre. The first basket of chips comes with your meal, and the next one is charged a few dollars. I thought this was pretty unnecessary being that the dishes ranged from $15-$22.

There is a boat ride up to the Grotto, which takes about 15 to 20 minutes. The driver of the boat points out different plant life, points of interest, and gives a little history about Kauai. After getting up to the Grotto area, we got off the boat and trekked up about 100 feet. They sat us down prior to walking up to the Grotto and gave us a little history of the Grotto and answered questions. We all walked into the Grotto and 3 musicians sang us the wedding song. On the boat ride back the musicians sang Hawaiian songs, a dancer did the hula to a few songs and taught us all some moves. My kids loved the boat ride. The Grotto is definitely a touristy thing to do, but it was a beautiful area to see.

Snorkeling was excellent here. The weather was warmer being on the South end. The beach area was great. There was a small playground for smaller kids to play on. It were a couple of industrial strength Little Tykes play structures. I wish we had discovered this beach earlier in our trip.

This was a nice private, but public beach. It wasn't very crowded. It was a bit windy being on the North end of the island. It was a little tricky to get to or maybe we just missed the original turnoff. We ended up driving down a coastal road until we found the beach. There isn't very much beach area for the kids to play in, but the snorkeling was excellent.

The weather was perfect! The temperatures were in the low 80s and it rained the last few days we were there. The rain was brief and warm, so it really didn't slow us down. They claim that there are trade winds and that an air conditioner is not needed, but if you are like us and don't like being uncomfortable, you will need air conditioning! As it gets warmer in the year, I couldn't imagine being there without A/C.