Kauai Beach Cottage

The snorkeling is great. We saw dozens of different types of fish. The turtles came right up to you, and there was a cool section of beach near the cottages where there were urchins all over.

Quick Tips:

Hanalei has stores, snorkel rentals, bike rentals, small restaurants, shopping, and gift shops. The ABC store in Kapaa is a good place for cheap gifts. There is also a farmers market every Tuesday just out of Hanalie, which is a great place to try fresh grown fruit.

Best Way To Get Around:

Near the Hale Makai Cottages, it's easiest just to walk if you just want to hang out by the beach. Otherwise, you need to rent a car to get around the island.

The cottages were situated in the middle of a garden, right off of the beach. When we woke up in the morning we were able to walk across the grass right onto the beach. Right up the beach is some great snorkeling. We didn’t have to take a tour to swim with the turtles; they were all over at Tunnels beach, which is within walking distance.

Eating can be a little expensive on Kauai, but the cottage had a full kitchen so we were able to pick up what we wanted at a store and stay near the north shore without having to go somewhere to eat all the time. We drove around the island, but like the north shore the best. The roads near the cottages are lightly traveled in comparison to the south shore, which gets some pretty heavy traffic.

While we were at Ono Burgers once, we met Mitch from Hawaiian Surfing Adventures in Hanalei which is just a few minutes drive from the cottages. He was a great surfing instructor and made sure everyone was able to get up on the boards and be comfortable surfing.

We got to see a lot of the other hotels and such around the island, including the large one in Princeville. My family all agreed that when we come back we want to stay at Hale Makai again.

Bettie, the caretaker of the cottages, was a lot of fun and was patient with our endless questions about what to do while we were there. Kristin and Rike, who manage and own the cottages, were very helpful and personally wanted to make sure we had a great time.

This was the best trip my family and I have taken.

Best burgers we tasted on the island. Eat upside on covered tabels, friendly staff. One of the places we went to several times.

My wife liked the fish and chips, my sons and I tried several of the burgers—all were very good.