5 Spots in Kauaʻi You Have to See IRL to Believe

Dec 10

Aloha! Welcome to my blog.🌺 ️‍🌈 🥥

If you’ve landed here, I hope you’re either planning the trip of a lifetime to Hawaii or you simply like looking at pictures of pretty tropical places.

We went to the beautiful Garden Isle in May 2024, and it was more magical than we could have possibly imagined.

Also, the title of this blog is a little misleading 🤪 because I’m going to show you some pictures we love to look back on, but they truly don’t do the beauty or the spirit of the island justice.

For unfiltered pictures and travel inspo, sit back, relax, and scroll. 🤙🏼🌊

Sunrise purple hughes at Kōkeʻe State Park — *Kalalau Lookout, in Koke'e State Park at around 5:50am, overlooking the Nāpali coast*

1. Kōkeʻe State Park at sunrise

Our favorite part of anywhere in Hawaii is the sunrises. It’s so easy to appreciate them coming from Wisco because we get the benefit of waking up at 2am when we’re first getting acclimated to the rhythms of local time.

Being able to be outside right before the world wakes up is a really refreshing way to start the day no matter where you are. ☕ And the sunrise overlooking the cathedral mountains from the top of the Nāpali coast was one of the most beautiful sunrise we’ve ever seen in any of our travels, full stop.

We always try to take advantage of using Hilton points where we can, so we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay. It was a great way to familiarize ourselves with the island before heading to the North Shore without having to pay for accommodations. Clean, great location, friendly and helpful staff, and yummy poolside drinks…and all within a fifteen minutes drive to Kapaʻa town.

We drove 1 hr 30 min from the hotel to the top of the Kalalau lookout and arrived at about 5:50am local time. That’s when the sun rises in May and approximately the time the purple and swirls of cotton candy pinks and blues were in full effect. 🍬

From the hotel we took highway 50 , and when we rolled our windows down, we heard a million and one roosters starting to signal the start of the day, which made for one funny wakeup call. 🐓

*Kalalau Lookout, in Koke'e State Park at around 5:50am*

*Kalalau Lookout, in Koke'e State Park at around 5:50am, overlooking the Nāpali coast*

It was a bit chillier at the top of the lookout than we anticipated so bring layers if you’re making a day trip out of it. We ended up wrapping beach towels around our shoulders, and that barely cut it, so if we were to do it again, we’d definitely bring a sweatshirt and sweatpants along.

Nāpali is what you think of when you think about the lush mountains and volcanos in Hawaii, and we were full of gratitude for being able to begin our day with it. ✨🙏🏻

2. Shipwreck beach at sunrise

Spending the morning at shipwreck beach gave us southern Cali vibes, similar to Laguna beach. Everything was golden and gorgeous.

You can easily walk the 10 minute hike up to the cliff where you perch yourself on the top of the rocks to watch the sun come up! The walk is easy. I wore flip flops and was just fine. 🩴

We spent the first few days on the eastern side of the island near Wailua Bay, so the drive was about 30 minutes from the hotel to the beach. There was no traffic which was a nice surprise. We actually didn’t have trouble with traffic anywhere on the island with the exception of the driving through the entrance to Hanalei, but even that was maybe 15 minutes longer than expected at it’s worst.

*Shipwreck beach, somewhere between Poipu Point and Makawehi Bluff, at sunrise.*

*Shipwreck beach taken from the Grand Hayatt Kauai Resort & Spa*

Shipwreck is actually located next to one of the more luxurious properties on the island, the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, located on Kauai’s southern side near Poipu.

You can see the mist floating up from the water, and it’s truly something special.

Just beware of engagement pictures and family pictures. 🤪 Photography freelancers and camera people that work for the resort leverage the crap out of that area for its gorgeous scenic backdrop. If anything, it’s good for people watching.

After Shipwreck, we saved our caffeine take and breakfast for Little Fish Coffee and it did not disappoint.

We ordered the chai lattes, and they were absolutely delicious. 🍵

The line is a little long when they open at 7am, but all of the chickens and baby chickens roaming around make it fly by. 🐓🐥

I wouldn’t recommend eating there. The chickens are actually kind of aggressive (it’s also kind of funny? lol) and will jump up on tables and dig through the garbage cans, but you can easily find a spot right across the street in The Shops at Kukui‘ula where there’s outdoor seating and restrooms.

Or…eating in your car in the parking lot is always an option too.

*The grounds around Little Fish Coffee in Poipu*

The people who worked at Little Fish were incredibly kind and so fast.

Our chais were ready about 10 minutes after ordering them, and considering how long the early morning line was, it was a quick turnaround.

Plus, the shop itself is so cute and has gorgeous flowers and other plants surrounding it.

3. An afternoon at Tunnels beach

Our favorite beach in Kauai was Tunnels beach.

It was just under a 20 minute drive outside of Hanelei Town and this hidden gem was well worth the hike. 💎

Bali Hai is the mountain that gives Tunnels beach it’s dramatic backdrop. We had heard that this is what gives Tunnels beach one of the most beautiful sunsets on all of Kauai, but we sadly didn’t have enough time to experience — next trip! 😉

The area surrounding tunnels is so lush and green. Make sure you' pack some food and drinks with you because it’s it takes a 15 minute walk or so from the car to your beach spot. We’d spend 3 to 4 hours swimming, snorkeling, laying in the sun (and shade), playing cards, collecting shells, etc.

Trent Buth walking by Tunnels Beach greenery — *Walking to Tunnels Beach on Kuhio Highway*

When we first walked out of the parking lot to get to the beach, we saw a cute little lifeguard house with a couple of lifeguards inside.

A minute’s walk from there, we encountered a small pond of salt water that’s seated at the foot of the mountains that looks like Te Fiti from Moana.

*Lifeguard tower at Tunnels Beach, Kauai*

Trent Buth walking Tunnels Beach with snorkel gear — *Coral reef in the shallow parts of Tunnels beach*

We had sunshine the whole day at Tunnels which isn’t always a guarantee in Kauai in May. There’s sometimes as much rain as their in sunshine, but it’s what makes the island enchanting. It’s one of those places that looks just as beautiful in the sun as it does in the rain.

When we needed a break from the sun we parked ourselves under the the Ironwood trees and palm trees that line the beach for some shade. 🌴⛱️

*Building sand castles at Tunnels Beach*

When you leave the Tunnels parking lot, you can drive a few miles further up on Kuhio Highway to the Limahuli Botanical Garden & Preserve. It’s just shy of a three minute drive and is supposed to be one of the best on the island. 🦚🪻🌱 🌺 🦜

We were long overdue for a nap after the beach, so we didn’t go into the gardens, but we did drive up to it and looked gorgeous.

*Limahuli Botanical Garden & Preserve, North Shore Kauai*

*Local houses driving from Hanalei Bay to Tunnels Beach*

4. Hanalei Town & Bay

Hanalei Bay is what you think of what you think of Hawaii. It’s what you would pick as the face of your postcard to let your loved ones know you’ve found your happy place.

It’s the place where you get to see rainbows after some light rain, sometimes multiple a day.

Hanalei is picturesque. It’s a can’t miss if you go to Kauai and have never been.

We’ve found there’s something special on the north shore of each of the Hawaiian islands we’ve been to, and Hanalei is a place we will definitely be visiting again in this lifetime.

Hanalei Valley lookout — *Hanalei Valley Lookout, Princeville, Kauai*

Hanalei has everything for everybody.

It has yummy local food, some baby wave surfing for beginners, amazing boutique shopping (shoutout out the barn808). 🛍️🏄‍♀️

It even has a boutique grocery store in the center of town you can pick up liquids and snacks if you need them. Though it’s kind of expensive, so we actually would recommend buying everything you can from Foodland if you’re looking to stock up.

It was a precious little beach town.

We found a quiet little seating area right in downtown Hanalei at Ama Restaurant. We stopped and sat for a little to look at all the greenery with our morning coffee. It. was dreamy.

Locals had also mentioned it was a cute date night spot with tea lights, good food, and more.

We also 10 out of 10 recommend the fresh banana bread at Hanalei Bread Co. 🍞 ☕

If you stop by, grab the Hawaiian Chili Pepper Water sauce. We learned from the cashier that locals put it on everything and it’s soooo salty and so good. It also has a lil bit of a kick to it, so it’s good in soup and on salads, eggs, bagel sandwiches, everything savory essentially.

Trent Buth eating banana bread at Hanalei Bread Company — *Eating fresh banana bread at Hanalei Bread Company 💛*

Also don’t shy away from the lox at breakfast — we could have eaten this every time we went to Hanalei Bread Co., no matter what time of day it was. So fresh and the bagels were chewy and perfect, almost as good as an NYC bagel. 🥯

The ironwood trees that surround Hanalei Bay, like the rest of the island, felt prehistoric. With roots weaving from under the sand over the top of the grass and untouched by humans, it was like we were in Jurassic Park or the Land Before Time. 🦕

Trent Buth walking the beach at Hanalei Bay — *Hanalei Bay, Kauai*

After spending time at the beach, get some shave ice at Wishing Well.

The ice is packed with all natural flavors and delicious macanut ice cream🍦making it so refreshing. And the shave ice doesn’t melt and pool immediately which is always a plus.

*The rainbow shave ice at the Wishing Well shave ice truck, Hanalei town, Kauai*

5. Princeville

When exploring the Hanalei area by day, we stayed in Princeville by night, and would do it again in a heart beat.

We found the hidden gem of all hidden gem rentals in Princeville. 💎😭 We stayed in this VRBO — it’s part of the Hanalei Bay Resort. William was our host and he was responsive and friendly.

*View of Hanalei Bay from the lobby at the Hanalei Bay Resort*

We were absolutely in love with the place.

From the foyer to the double outdoor patios branching off the master bedroom and the living room, everywhere you turned was beautifully decorated and very clean.

*Living room in a single bedroom unit at the Hanalei Bay Resort*

If we could have bought the artwork on the walls we would’ve. 🎨🏄 🌊

*View from bedroom lanai at the Hanalei Bay Resort*

*Master king bed suite at the Hanali Bay Resort*

Cozy airbnb princeville kauai — *Master king bed suite with lanai at the Hanali Bay Resort*

While we didn’t spend a lot of time at the pool, we did hang out for an hour or so between activities for extra fresh air and sun time. A lot of our days were spent at the ocean down in the bay or at neighboring beaches and trails.

We loved getting up early in the mornings to watch the moonset and warch beautiful Kauai wake up. That includes the jurassic park sized snails. 🐌 You might not be able to tell by pictures but the snails we saw were almost half the size of my palm.

The walk from our room to the parking lot was a little bit of a adventure 😂 but when you get to walk by pink and yellow hibiscus flowers every day, the trek is well worth the hike. 🌺🏵️🌸

We’d always pack a big bag of snorkel stuff and beach chairs. William provided the beach chairs which was so nice. He also had snorkel stuff there

Lauren Keepers and Trent Buth at Hanalei Bay Resort

The walk from our room to the parking lot was a little bit of a adventure 😂 but when you get to walk by pink and yellow hibiscus flowers every day, the trek is well worth the hike. 🌺🏵️🌸

*VRBO journal review with a water color picture from a desk*

You know you’ve found a special VRBO when someone takes time to paint a water color picture.

We of course wrote a glowing review in the journal as well.

*VRBO journal review from Trent and Lauren from Madison, Wisconsin*

We explored Queen’s Bath first at night just to get some outside time and a quick little hike in. The banyon trees were humongous and gorgeous.

We definnitely recommend taking a walking shoe. I wore slides the first time and while the walk down was fairly easy, the rocks down below were a little slippery. A shoe that grips onto the terrain a little more would do wonders.

1 Hotel Hanalei Bay gives you the views of Kauai that look whta you think of when you think of Hawaii. 1 Hotel puts it best, they’re an “oceanfront sanctuary on Kauaʻi’s North Shore, a protected natural wonder that nourishes body, mind, and soul.”

It’s so peaceful. There are beautifully landscaped walking paths around the property.

Gardens at 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay — *The greenery on the walking paths near 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay*

*The greenery on the walking paths near 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay*

Taking in the views from 1 Hotel’s Welina Terrace was the best way to end our stay in Princeville and our time on the Garden Isle.

After that, we packed up our stuff and headed to the airport. We love you Kauai! 🩵 Thank you for giving us such a magical week. ✨

P.S. the way home we took the red eye rout again and had three flights from Kauai to LAX to O’hare back home to Madison’s Dane County Regional airport. ✈️

Aloha ʻOe, Kauai. Until we meet again. 🫶🏻

*Makana Mountain, also known as Bali Hai, at Tunnels beach*

Depending on where you park, there might be a little bit of a walk to tunnels, mainly because the parking lot is fairly small.

The walk was filled with lush greenery like the rest of the island. Just be careful of cars. The road was curvy so there are some blindspots for drivers, and there weren’t sidewalks so be safe, be smart, and be mindful of oncoming traffic as you walk.

And right after that, we walked right next to the $10M-$50M dollar homes along the beach, all of which look like a dream. Real estate is so highly coveted on Kauai.

Ironwood trees trees and palm trees created a natural fence for the huge homes.

*Vegetation in front of the homes at Tunnels beach.*

The snorkeling at Tunnels was the best on the island. 🤿

When snorkeling the water’s surface we were able see a bunch of fish…even ones that looked like Nemo and Dori. 🐠

There was enough coral reef for underwater exploration with a significant drop-off of 20(ish) feet where we saw turtles, more fish and barracuda.

Sea turtles, or honu, are a protected species in Hawaii. They are sacred and represent prosperity, good luck, and wisdom in Hawaiian culture, so every time we got to see them our hearts melted. 🐢

It can also be up to a $100,000 for even touching a sea turtle, so respect them in their natural habitat and let them swim or walk around while you keep a fair distance away from them. ⚠️

*Ironwood trees at Tunnels beach, north shore Kauai*

When we weren’t snorkeling, we built sand castles and soaked up the sun. 🐚🏰

I forgot how fun it was to play in the sand like I did when I was a little kid, so this was a beautiful reminder.

We also saw all the houses lining the highway when we drove back from Tunnels.

Some of the homes have been kept within the local families for generations and generations.

The Hanalei Valley lookout is one of the first things we saw before reaching the cute little downtown area of Kauai. It was conveniently located right next to a Foodland that has everything you’d need from a grocery store.

The stop at Hanalei Valley lookout was literally right off the road, and there was conveniently a fair amount of parking spots available. It was a great area to take our first pictures when getting to the north shore.

*Hanalei Market is a quaint little grocery store in Hanalei town*

*Ama Restaurant around 8am in Hanalei Town*

*Lox Bagel Sandwich from Hanalei Bread Co.*

Hanalei Bay also had crystal clear water and a huge beach to spend the day with family and friends.

We also saw locals host a couple of community sunset bonfires where they enjoyed bbq together and let the littles ones run around — it was endearing and picture perfect.

Hanalei pier was also sooo much fun to jump off of and so refreshing when it’s a hotter day. It’s also the perfect depth for jumping — not shallow at the end of the pier but also not too deep either.

*Wishing Well shave ice truck, Hanalei Town, Kauai*

We also saw signs with mermaids on them so clearly had to take a picture. 🧜‍♀️

Entrance to the Hanalei Bay Resort — *View of the lobby at the Hanalei Bay Resort*

The views from the lobby were filled with all kinds of lush gorgeous trees and plants. And you can see the waters of Hanalei Bay just peeking out in the distance.

The resort is enormous so reception kindly arranged for us to be taken to our room via a golf cart (which was the best). 🛺

Airbnb Princeville Kauai foyer — *Foyer in a single bedroom unit at the Hanalei Bay Resort*

Airbnb Princeville Kauai surf art — *Surfer artwork at Hanalei Bay Resort*

The sheets on our bed were cozy and the palm tree throw was such a cute touch. Every room had great lighting, fans, everything you’d need to get all the REM one needs. 💤

Airbnb Princeville bedroom bed — *Master king bed suite with lanai at the Hanali Bay Resort*

*Buddha decoration in th emaster king bed suite at the Hanali Bay Resort*

I had to include at least one pic of a yellow hibiscus. They were everywhere on the resort grounds along all of the walking paths. We love Hawaii's state flower. 💛🌺

Pool at Hanalei Bay Resort — *Pool at the Hanalei Bay Resort*

*Early morning moonset above Hanalei Bay taken from bedroom at Hanalei Bay Resort*

The views of the cliff-side condos in Princeville were incredible and hanging directly over a well kept golf course.

*Views of golf course with condos taken from the Hanalei Bay Resort parking lot*

*Pink hibiscus flowers along the walking path of Hanalei Bay resort.*

After we did a quick tour to Queen’s’ Bath at sunset, we actually got up the following morning (on our last day 😭) to explore it again.

Queen’s Bath is literally smack dab in the middle of the Princeville, gorgeous cliff-side neighborhood.

The access point is gated and located on a friendly neighborhood street, but access to the public is cut off at night so be mindful of when it’s open and closed.

Trent Buth walking the grounds at One Hotel Kauai — *The greenery on the walking paths near 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay*

The coffee shop in the hotel, the Neighbors Café, is actually open to the public so it gave us a good reason to get our chai lattes and sit on the lanai and watch some morning rain drift out of the bay.

We saw a double rainbow that morning hovering right over Hanalei town and it was just lovely.