stay 9 days on Kauai or 2 on a different island?

[tombo]

I have a week booked at the Kauai beach Villas in February. This will be my first time to Kauai. I have been to Maui before (didn't do much outside of the hotel as I was on a group trip with no car) and I have been to Oahu (did everything I wanted to do there).

My question is what to do with 2 extra days I have due to frequent flyer availability. I can rent a room in the same area or in a different part of Kauai to spend the extra 2 days before I return home or I could fly to a different Island after checking out on Saturday and have Sunday to explore a different island before flying out of Oahu on Monday AM. I don't know if I will get bored on Kauai in 9 days (as I have never geen there before) and I don't think a full day is enough to see the big Island or the many things I missed when I was on Maui years ago.

I know there is a wealth of good advice coming my way. Thanks, Tom

 

[KauaiMark]

Not worth it

You waste most of a whole day moving to another island with air, car rental and check in. I'd spend all 9 on the same island.

 

[cp73]

You waste most of a whole day moving to another island with air, car rental and check in. I'd spend all 9 on the same island.

I agree with kauaimark....You will be nice and rested for your return.

 

[linsj]

You waste most of a whole day moving to another island with air, car rental and check in. I'd spend all 9 on the same island.

I agree. Stay on Kauai. I've heard you can get a good deal at the Hilton next door with the Entertainment Book discount.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Almost every time we go to Hawai'' we are in the same situation - two or three extra days on the front or back (both) because of FF reservation limitations. Since you lose much of a day getting between islands, we stay on the same island for those extra days. We use that time to stay in a part of the island we otherwise wouldn't visit or that we want to explore more closely. It's absolutely not a problem on Kauai'i unless you absolutely must have thriving night life and clubbing.

If you are staying at KBV I suggest you find a B&B or other facility either in the Hanalei area or the Waimea area. Those are the end of the road, but opposite directions from Kapa'a. Then use those two days to explore that end of the island in depth.

If you go to Waimea, spend time in Waimea Canyon and at Polihale. The Nu'alolo-'Awa'awapuhi loop trail is a spectacular one-day hike along the top of the Na Pali cliffs. Or take the trail Waipo'o Falls in Waimea Canyon. Spend an afternoon or early evening visiting the art galleries in Hanapepe (I think Friday night is art festival night, when many of the galleries have open house. Or maybe it's Thursday night.) But if you're staying in the Waimea area you can do those activities without feeling rushed to get back to Kapa'a or elsewhere. Capturing a sunset at Polihale is one of the items on my "yet to do" list for a visit to Kauai'i.

If you go to Hanalei explore the town. Weather and trail conditions permitting, hike the first part of the Kalalau trail and take the side trail back to Hanakapi'ai Falls. Kayak the Hanalei River. If you're a golfer take advantage of the late PM tee times in Princeville. Watch the sunset from the Princeville Hotel or at the Hanalei Bay Resort. Again, because you would be staying in the area you don't need to feel rushed to get back because it's getting dark.

***

You may have surmised from the above that Kauai'i is a hiker's paradise. Frankly, it's might be the best place in the world for hiking - with a wide variety of trails of varying lengths and technical challenge and with spectacular scenery. The thing I've often been frustrated with is knowing that I need to be back at the trailhead by mid-afternoon. But if your lodgings are closer to the trailhead, you can stay out longer and catch the late day sun - which is when the views are often the most spectacular.

 

[tombo]

Thanks for all of the great advice. I will spend all 9 days on Kauai (which has to be a good thing). What is the entertainment book discount, where do I get it, and how much does it cost?

With the plans I have for Kauai already added to TR OG's suggestions I am not sure that 9 days will be enough on Kauai. I guess I wish that FF miles had forced me into 10 0r 11 days on the islands. I will be in Kauai the last week in February and the first couple of days in March and it can't get here soon enough!

Thanks to everyone for confirming what I figured was the best plan.

 

[jacknsara]

... I am not sure that 9 days will be enough on Kauai...

Aloha
Its not, but it will have to do this time It is >25% better than just one week.
Jack

 

[linsj]

Thanks for all of the great advice. I will spend all 9 days on Kauai (which has to be a good thing). What is the entertainment book discount, where do I get it, and how much does it cost?

Entertainment book:
www.entertainment.com

All the books have the same hotel discounts. Buy one for where you live since the Hawaii book is 99% Oahu coupons. I don't know what the current price is for Kauai Hilton.

 

[gstepic]

Kauai hiking

You may have surmised from the above that Kauai'i is a hiker's paradise. Frankly, it's might be the best place in the world for hiking - with a wide variety of trails of varying lengths and technical challenge and with spectacular scenery. The thing I've often been frustrated with is knowing that I need to be back at the trailhead by mid-afternoon. But if your lodgings are closer to the trailhead, you can stay out longer and catch the late day sun - which is when the views are often the most spectacular.

Steve,

This coming fall we will be spending 6 nights on Maui and four on Oahu but the next year we will spend at least 6 in Kauai. I will be bugging you for more information on hiking. We just had breakfast in Kapaa so I will also be curious what there is to do in the area as this is where we will stay with our VI timeshare.

We probably will always hit two islands on our trips because of the timeshares we now own. My wife now agrees we will try to go to Hawaii every year. We really don't have enough points with FF for more than 7 days and usually not even enough for a full week. VI seems like the perfect solution as we now have enough for nine to 10 days and we can always tack on 4 with FF and bank the rest of the points those years for more nights for future trips.

Using the extra two days for us would depend on how often we plan on going to the islands. If we could not go often, then I would want to use the two days to see another island. If the original poster is flying out of Honolulu (I think I read this in the OP) then they might want to spend a couple days in Oahu since they are making the trip anyway. We plan on always ending our trips in Oahu as we really like Waikiki.

Gary

 

[DeniseM]

Entertainment book:
www.entertainment.com

All the books have the same hotel discounts. Buy one for where you live since the Hawaii book is 99% Oahu coupons. I don't know what the current price is for Kauai Hilton.

I haven't checked lately, but you should be able to go to the E Bk website hotel page and use their online reservation feature to see what what the rate is. If you actually make a Resv., you will probably have to show an E Bk. card (comes with book) when you check in, to get that rate.

I agree with the suggestion to stay in a completely different part of the island for a couple days.

 

[Jaybee]

We'll be spending 2 weeks in June at the Kauai Coast Resort. Sometimes, when we have an extra day or so there, we stay at Resort Quest. We've usually gotten pretty good rates there, and it's right across the road from the Coconut Mall, a fun little place where you can eat inexpensively, and shop for clothes & souvenirs. Last time we stayed at Resort Quest, we were right on the beach, and by the pool. It's not fancy, sort of like an old motel, but we find it charming. Jean

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

We'll be spending 2 weeks in June at the Kauai Coast Resort. Sometimes, when we have an extra day or so there, we stay at Resort Quest. We've usually gotten pretty good rates there, and it's right across the road from the Coconut Mall, a fun little place where you can eat inexpensively, and shop for clothes & souvenirs. Last time we stayed at Resort Quest, we were right on the beach, and by the pool. It's not fancy, sort of like an old motel, but we find it charming. Jean

If you check Hotwire, their three-star in the Kapa'a area is usually ResortQuest Islander on the Beach. It's a pretty nice place. We stayed there for two night last August - about $79/night, IIRC. Considerable savings over the best pricing I was able to see anyplace else.

 

[Jim Bryan]

http://www.waimea-plantation.com/

 

[danb]

9 Days in Kauai

We stayed 2 weeks in Kauai this past August and our second week was at the Kauai Beach Villas. We had a one bedroom and it was a nice unit. The Hilton is right across the small pond so you could stay there for the extra days if you like. The Hotel shares the grounds with the KBV. We went to the South Pacific Show at the Hilton and enjoyed it. There grounds and Pool look Great and I believe their bar next to the pool has a Mai-Tai hour from 5 to 6. The beach is not swimable but Lidgate Beach up the road was very nice.
Kayaking on the Wialua River is nice also.

I agree with the posts regarding lost time traveling to another Island. It's not worth it.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

This coming fall we will be spending 6 nights on Maui and four on Oahu but the next year we will spend at least 6 in Kauai. I will be bugging you for more information on hiking. We just had breakfast in Kapaa so I will also be curious what there is to do in the area as this is where we will stay with our VI timeshare.

I've just been getting into hiking on the island. I would like to do more, but I'm more into hiking than is DW, so I haven't done as much as I would like. Andrew Doughty's (Wizard Publications) Ultimate Kauai'i Guidebook is an excellent reference - UKG is the Kaua'i entry in Andrew's [insert name of island] Revealed series.

The best trail on the island, if conditions are good, is the Kalalau Trail, which starts at Ke'e Beach, which is the end of the road on the north side of the island.

The best overall hiking on the island is in Koke'e Park, which you can only access from the southwest side of the island. Forced to choose, I would lean toward the Koke'e Park for a couple of reasons. First, some of the Koke'e Trails - particularly the ones that travel the knife edge tops of the Na Pali cliffs - I consider the scenic equal of the Kalalau. The Kalalau probably gets more fame because it's an adventure hike - if you do the whole thing you're also backpacking in to a campground.

Second is that the area traversed by the Kalalau is wetter than the Koke'e Na Pali trails. That means there is a very good chance that the trail conditions on the Kalalau will not be good. I have spoken with reasonably experienced and comparable hikers on the island who have turned back only a short way in on the Kalalau when the trail is wet. These are people who are regular backpackers in Wilderness areas in the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades, wearing decent hiking apparel while on the Kalalau.

The issue for you, staying in Kapa'a, is that you will be significantly further from the Koke'e trailheads - you would be looking at probably 90 minutes to get from the trailhead back to Kapa'a.

I guess the good side is that you would be exiting Waimea in the late afternoon, when the lighting for photographs is the best. And finally, just to whet your appetite, I've added a some pics from the trail.

This is looking almost straight down, from somewhere along the 'Awa'awapuhi Trail. That's about a 2000 foot drop to the ocean from where the picture was taken.

***********

IIRC, this is is a view back towards the Lolo lookout, which is the end of the Nualolo Trail.

**********

This view is looking the other direction on the trail from a spot not far from the previous pic. The Cliff Trail passes across the photo about the middle of the picture, entering at the red sunlit area on the right, traversing the cliff faces across the entire midground of the picture, and exiting the photo at the small sunlit spot on the left edge of the photo. The trail is aptly named - those bottoms of those cliffs are about 2000 feet below. That area near the middle of the picture was a rather "interesting" portion of the hike; those light brown patches almost dead center in the photo is the trail - those patches are land slides where most of trail was gone. The ladies were freaking, but for the two of us guys that may have been the best part of the whole hike.

************

And this is what it looks like at the bottoms of those cliffs:

*********

Here's a link to a Picasa album with all of the photos from the hike: Kokee Park - Waimea Canyon and Nualolo-'Awa'awapuhi Loop Trail

And don't underestimate the amount of water you will need on the hike. I consumed about 6 liters, and was still somewhat dehydrated at the end of the day.

 

[gstepic]

Now you've done it!

Steve,

You really have wet my appetite to go on some hikes, for many reasons. I think you know how serious I take photography so being able to get some unusual photos or shots different from the typical ones you see in brochures is one reason I am looking forward to the hikes. Your great photos points this out.

Another huge reason is it is good for our health. In fact I have some legit concerns about even being able to make it to next October as our office is so stressed we cannot sleep and some are actually taking ant-depressent medicine just to go to work! I can go on an on about other symptoms (stomach cramps, shortness of breath), bottom line is I don't know how much this 59 year old body can take, and throw in some stress over a drug addict daughter.

I could not believe how good I felt when we went on our trip this past November. Funny thing is all the ailments went away while on our vacation and my wife and I actually lost weight while we pretty much ate what we wanted and I had a few brews now and then! Maybe I can get a Doc to write a prescription for a quartely trip to the islands while our health insurance covers the flight costs! LOL!

Seriously, I am planning on starting to go to the gym now to get in shape for next October. When my wife and I do get away for a walk it is very theraputic so we are trying to make time for walks. We won't be scaling any cliffs or anything like that but we are looking for some half day walks when we vacation on the islands. I used to run four miles a day (about 5 years ago) so hopefully it won't take too long to get into hiking shape.

This year we will be finding places to hike on Maui and I will check out the book as I remember he does have a section for just that. The volcano is a must (I need to get into a little better shape because of the altitude, but we live at 5,000 feet so this helps some). So I am hoping the hikes won't be too tough for us. Like I said, we will try and do what we can to stay in shape now.

Gary

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Gary -

If you don't think you're up for a full day hike, just doing either the Nu'alolo or 'Awa'Awapuhi is a nice half day hike. As you can tell from the photos, you get a view of the Na Pali that is unlike what you see in brochures. The Na Pali is spectacular from any point, but I think I actually prefer the trails. Plus the price is a lot less!!

The Kalalau has a some significant grades, including one that starts pretty soon after the trail head. When we did the hike we went past people on the trail who clearly ought not to have been there.

 

[gstepic]

Good to know

Steve,

We live near some mountians so we hope to do some serious hiking in our area to get in shape and see what our limits are.

I did not mean to complain and I was about to delete a lot of that post. It is kind of reminding me of something that my wife and I laugh about now but at the time there was no laughing. We were hiking in the Jemez mountians of New Mexico and my wife was complaining about not feeling well. We are both a little stubborn so I kept trying to push her to go a little further. I thought I wasn't pushing too hard though. I walked up ahead a little to see how bad the trail was and in several minutes I heard her talking to herself and she was calling me just about every name in the book while walking up an incline that was out of my line of site! I guess I found out I was pushing just a little too hard, won't make that mistake again. Turns out she did have a serious condition that limited her physical activity, hopefully by October she will be fine. We have a lot of beautiful areas to hike in New Mexico.

We will bring some books and if we get a little tired we simply will plop our butts down and find a nice spot to read and enjoy the scenery. Given the way I am I probably need to be careful to not and try to do too much for both of our sakes! I am one of those "I just have to see what is over that next hill, ridge, etc." types if you know what I mean. On our future trips our attitude will be that we won't have to see anything in particular on any one trip. We will plan on a lot more kicking back time or do stuff that does not require always knowing what time it is and how much we can fit into a day. If it takes longer to do a hike then we have to have a "so what" attitude. So the only thing we will be careful about is making sure we can get back before dark and we have enough to eat or drink with us, common sense stuff.

I think you have heard me talk about our trying to do too much before but we are finally in agreement about going back to Hawaii on an annual basis and we will start having the type of vacations I have been wanting for a long time. There will always be something new to do, but we will not be rushed to to do anything. Hiking will be a much bigger priority though.

Gary

PS: I am anxious to show my wife the photos, including the ones in the gallery. Is that the trail that starts on the very end of the Waimea canyon drive? I saw a lot of people walking along the ridgeline from the parking lot so it looked like a very popular hiking area. We will just have to get up early if we stay at Kapaa.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Is that the trail that starts on the very end of the Waimea canyon drive? I saw a lot of people walking along the ridgeline from the parking lot so it looked like a very popular hiking area. We will just have to get up early if we stay at Kapaa.

It's not that trail. The trail at the end of the drive goes to the Kalalau Valley lookout and leads to a variety of other trails, such as the Alakai Swamp Trail (which is one I want to take - my wife seems most interested in the Waipo'o Falls trails, so I guess that's the next one for me.

The Nualolo trail head is on the right side of the road a bit before the Koke'e Park museum. The 'Awa'awapuhi Trailhead is probably a couple of miles beyond the museum.

 

[tombo]

Obviously 9 days isn't nearly enough to spend on Kauai and I purchased an every even year week so I can't return until 2010. I am counting the days and I can't wait for my first trip to Kauai. After those pictures I understand why several friends of mine that have visited every island numerous times have told me that Kauai is their favorite. I only have a month to get in shape though. Is there a Mai Tai vendor on the trail heads?

 

[squeegeeman]

Haleakala isn't too bad...

I just hiked the Awaawapuhi loop about 3 weeks ago and it took us about 5 1/2 hours. We actually hiked it backwards and it worked out better--it rained in the morning, and it was much easier going up to Kokee campground versus up to the trailhead parking lot (the trail reviews say that the track is used for the Hawaiian bobsledding team when it is wet). Also, about a week ago, I drove up to the top of Haleakala and hiked in about 6 miles. I found that trail much easier. Sure, the altitude is 7,000 feet higher, but the trail (Sliding Sands) is super wide and is a moderate grade 1800 feet or so into the crater valley. I wondered why they made it so gentle until I hiked back out. I guess they wanted to make sure nobody overdid it climbing out of the crater. If I could ever arrange the car pick up, I would love to hike all the way down to Kaupo (about 21 miles) in a couple of nights.
Also, barring any major rainstorms, the Kalalau trail is in "great" condition due to a lot of volunteer work, especially through the Chivalry pass area. If you can walk the 5 valleys into paradise, be sure to do so--it will be worth the extra days on island.