Kauai, Hawaii

Kauai can be a very quiet island, but there is also lots to do. Take a helicopter tour of the island, a catamaran cruise along the Na Pali coast, or go snorkeling. From December to April is whale watching season in the waters around Kauai. Whales are visable from the shores or from the many boat tours that are offered.

Quick Tips:

Try to get a comprehensive island tour or a helicopter tour on your first day. This will give an excellent overview of the island, and help you decide if there are any areas you would like to go back and spend more time at.

Numerous tours pick up in the Poipu Beach area. There are full and half-day tours to Waimea Canyon, Fern Grotto, and Hanalei Valley. Rates for ½ day tours start at approx. and full day tours are between -. The helicopter tours start at for 30-45 minutes and for 1 hour flights.

Best Way To Get Around:

Best way to get around would be a car rental, as everything is spread out. With a car you can tour around on your own, stopping whenever you want for shopping and restaurants. Taxis are available at the airport and to the Poipu Beach area. The cost is about . Driving would be easy as there are not many roads or stoplights, and directions were all very visable on the roadways - would be hard to get lost. The roads were not very pedestrian friendly, and for the most part there are no sidewalks.

The hotel is divided into two sections, the garden wing and the beachfront wing. A roadway separates the two wings.

Check in was very easy. Upon arrival at the hotel, the bellman had our keys all ready and took us directly to our room. There is an $11USD/Day Resort Fee which provides for in room coffee, use of safe, robes and slippers, continental breakfast, evening Mai Tai hour, and shuttle service within a 3-mile radius.

All rooms in the garden wing were the same size. Rooms have either two double beds or one king size bed and a sofa. Lanai overlooking either the garden pool, the garden or one building has ocean view. Rooms in the over view wing were slightly larger with newer furnishing and larger patios. All rooms have coffee/tea makers, mini fridge, iron and ironing board, in room safe, robes, and slippers. All rooms are non-smoking, but smoking is permitted on the lanai.

2 separate swimming pools, one in the garden wing, and also an oceanfront pool with a kids water slide. Small fitness room with treadmills, weight machines and exercise bikes. Pools are not heated and very cold.

There is one main restaurant open for breakfast and dinner daily, and a Japanese restaurant open for dinner daily. Rates for an entrée started at $16USD, with most menu items between $20-25USD. There were also two pool-side snack bars as well as limited meal service available in the lounge (sandwiches $10-15USD, drinks $6-10USD). There aren’t many restaurants within walking distance, so it is better to have a car as there were quite a few restaurants within a 5-10 minutes drive that were more reasonably priced.

Next door to the Sheraton Kauai is the Kiahuna Plantation. This would be an excellent alternative to the Sheraton. There are one or 2 bedroom units . The units looked quite roomy with a separate full kitchen and living room area and a large furnished lanai. There is no pool, but guests can use the garden pool of the Sheraton Kauai. There is one restaurant (open for dinner only). Rates for the one bedroom are similar in price to the garden view rooms at the Sheraton.

Further down Poipu Beach the next two hotels have still not fully rebuilt since a hurricane in 1992.

The Point is a wonderful evening gathering place for snacks, light meals and drinks. Seating is available either inside or outside on the patio. Due to the location of the Point, it is the place to be for the most magnificent sunsets and ocassional whale watching.

The menu features sandwiches, wraps, salads, quesidillas and hor d'ourves. There are happy hour special and daily drink specials. The food was not outstanding but the view was. Sandwiches seemed like they were made up ahead of time, and were sometimes soggy.

Get there early for the resort's nightly Torch Lighting Ceremony and Hawaiian Show.

This beach is a series of golden sand crescents, strung together in front of Poipu Beach Park and the resort hotels of the south shore. The sand is very fine and soft.

Snorkeling, swimming, wading and surfing are all popular here. The surf spots are slightly off-shore where a reef establishes wave-breaks for all levels of surfers.

Closer to the shore, there is also a natural wading pool perfect for children and non-swimmers.