If you’re looking for Hawaii vacation rentals for the perfect dream vacation, consider the fabulous Garden Isle of Kauai! Kauai’s main resort areas, where nearly all the island’s accommodations are located, are all quite different in climate, price, and type of accommodations offered, but the range is wide and wonderful. On the south shore, dry and sunny Poipu is anchored by perfect beaches. This is the place to stay if you like the ocean, water sports, and plenty of sunshine. The Coconut Coast, on the east coast of Kauai, has the most condos, shops, and traffic — it’s where all the action is. Hanalei, up on the North Shore, is rainy, lush, and quiet, with spectacular beaches and deep wilderness. Because of its remote location, the North Shore is a great place to get away from it all — but not a great place from which to explore the rest of the island.
Lihue is where most visitors first set foot on the island. This red-dirt farm town, the county seat, was founded by sugar planters and populated by descendants of Filipino and Japanese cane cutters. It’s a plain and simple place, with used-car lots and mom-and-pop shops. It’s also the source of bargains: inexpensive lodging, great deals on dining, and some terrific shopping buys. One of the island’s most beautiful beaches, Kalapaki Beach, is just next door at Nawiliwili, by the island’s main harbor.
Poipu Beach — On Kauai’s sun-soaked south shore, this is a pleasant if sleepy resort destination of low-rise hotels set on gold-sand pocket beaches. Well-done, master-planned Poipu is Kauai’s most popular resort, with the widest variety of luxury Poipu condos. It offers 36 holes of golf, 38 tennis courts, and outstanding restaurants. This is a great place for water sports, and a good base from which to tour the rest of Kauai. The only drawback is that the North Shore is about 1 to 1 1/2 hours away.
Koloa — This tiny old town of gaily painted sugar shacks just inland from Poipu Beach is where the Hawaiian sugar industry was born more than a century and a half ago. The mill is closed, but this showcase plantation town lives on as a tourist attraction, with delightful shops, an old general store, and a vintage Texaco gas station with a 1930s Model A truck in place, just like in the good old days.
Kalaheo/Lawai — Just a short 10- to 15-minute drive inland from the beach at Poipu lie the more residential communities of Lawai and Kalaheo. Quiet subdivisions line the streets, restaurants catering to locals dot the area, and life revolves around family and work. Good bargains on B&Bs, and a handful of reasonably priced restaurants, can be found here.
Kauai’s North Shore may be the most beautiful place in Hawaii. Exotic seabirds, a half-moon bay, jagged peaks soaring into the clouds, and a mighty wilderness lie around the bend from the Coconut Coast, just beyond a series of one-lane bridges traversing the tail ends of waterfalls. There’s only one road in and out, and only two towns, Hanalei and Kilauea — the former by the sea, the latter on a lighthouse cliff that’s home to a bird preserve. Sun seekers may fret about all the rainy days, but Princeville Resort offers elegant shelter and two golf courses where you can play through rainbows. To find the best in a luxury Princeville condo – or anywhere on stunning Kauai – come to the vacation planning experts – us!
