Here’s a rundown of our 8 day trip to Kauai!

Kauai totally delivered for a family vacation! We had a really nice time: beautiful weather, gorgeous beaches, fun hikes, and just an overall easy, fun trip. 10 days ended up being a perfect amount of time, we were able to explore quite a bit while still having super relaxing days in the mix.

Day 1 (Sunday): RNO to PHX to LIH – Checked into Lae Nani AirB&B (highly recommend!) and got settled. Drinks and snacks at Lava Lava Beach Club and dinner at Coconuts Fish Cafe.

Day 2 (Monday): Beach/pool day (lots of beach boogie boarding in the morning and pool in the afternoon.) We also went to the farmers market at Coconut Marketplace which takes place Tues/Thurs from 10-1 and got a bunch of tropical fruits. For dinner we grilled fresh Ahi that we bought at Costco and cooked/ate alfresco at the condo.

Day 3 (Tuesday): Hiked Sleeping Giant trail first thing in the morning, another high recommendation. The hike is a good length and was just the right amount of challenge for us. It’s very pretty the whole way through and the view at the top are gorgeous. After the hike we did beach/pool time in the afternoon. Went to Jo Jo for Shave Ice and grilled tri tip at the condo for dinner.

Day 4 (Wednesday): Hanalei day! We got up early and spent the day at Hanalei Beach (bad for snorkeling but great for boogie boarding and lounging). After that we had a later lunch at Fredericos in Hanalei’s main drag. All of the restaurants there were really busy in Hanalei, so something to think about – we were all pretty hungry and lines/waits were long. After everyone refueled we drove down to Tunnels beach. By the time we got to Tunnels everyone was wiped and the waves were big so we didn’t swim/snorkel, but T and I made plans to go back later in the week. We were all tired from the sun and swimming so Chicken in a Barrel for dinner.

Day 4 (Thursday): T, Craig, and Erika all went scuba diving this day and Helga and I stayed back with the girls and hung out at the condo.

Day 5 (Friday): We had a morning of swimming and hanging out and then, in the afternoon, Craig stayed with the kids and the rest of us rented kayaks and cruised up the Wailua River. You can kayak up to a trail that takes you to a waterfall, but we decided it was a little too difficult for some of our party so instead we paddled to the Fern Grotto. It was a really nice way to spend the afternoon. Definitely wear a big hat and cover up, lots of sun!

Day 6 (Saturday): After being on the go we did a total relax, beach/pool day. Everyone agreed that the condo and grounds were great – lovely place to spend the day. The rest of our group was taking off the next morning, so we had a casual dinner out at a Mexican restaurant. Everyone else packed up and Tillman and I made some plans to drive back to Hanalei the next day.

Day 7 (Sunday): We got up early to say goodbye to everyone and hit the road. We drove over to Queens Bath which was really cool! Neither of us had done any research, so I didn’t realize that it’s a neat little hike and that you can actually swim in the bath during the lower tide (be very careful at high tide.) We were glad we got over there early, there were a lot of people heading in on our way out. After that we went back to Tunnels beach for Snorkeling. AWESOME snorkeling. It was an absolute sea turtle bonanza, I’ve never seen so many!

Day 8 (Monday): This was our last day so we packed up and checked out of the condo. Since we checked out and didn’t have a place to shower we decided to skip swimming this day and instead headed for Waimea Canyon and Poipu. Waimea is worth the drive. Really interesting/beautiful. We weren’t super impressed with Poipu which made me appreciate our great condo even more! We grabbed pizza for dinner and headed for the airport to fly home.

Tips:

• Hike sleeping giant early, it gets HOT. We went around 6/6:30 and I’m so glad we were on our way down when seeing others go up in the heat.
• Go to Costco for fish/meat, drinks, and other bulk snacks/supplies. We tried Walmart and it was a total waste of time, I’d completely skip it and just do Costco or if we needed to grab something quick we’d go to Safeway.
• As mentioned a couple times we adored the Lae Nani condo complex. The property is beautifully landscaped.
• Overall, I don’t have restaurant recommendations. We got great poke bowls one day, liked Lava Lava Beach Club for a cocktail, and had good mexican at Monico’s Taqueria, but overall restaurants were average and expensive for a group. Honestly we really just enjoyed cooking quite a bit. We did get some great shave ice and ice cream so I’d say do plenty of that!