Ryan and I had an adult only trip to Kauai, HI at the end of December. This was to celebrate our 10-year anniversary and Ryan turning 40 earlier in the year. Also, a delayed honeymoon of sorts as we did a mini honeymoon to the NC mountains originally.
We definitely had a bucket list trip!! We are already planning on our return trip with the girls once they are older in 5-7 years! I have never visited the other Hawaiian Islands but would also be fine not going to any others. When they say Kauai is the garden island it is soooo true! Everything is green on every part of the island. And every side of the island is so different and so fun to explore!
Kauai, HI places to stay: south shore
We stayed on the south end of the island at a rented VRBO. It was the perfect location and size for us. Really it was a place to sleep as we were busy exploring and eating the rest of the day! It was the perfect middle point for driving/day trips to the West and North ends of the island! The longest we drove was ~1 hour to the north side of the island. The drive doesn’t feel that long though due to all the wonderful scenery along the way!
We rented a VRBO condo at Prince Kuhio. The condo was right across the street from Lawai Beach. Also right across from the fabulous Beach House (and one of our favorite meals!). Technically located in Koloa, HI but Poipu beach was a 2-minute drive from us.
We had 6 full days to explore the island. We wished we had an additional 2 or more days to have a little more beach/snorkeling time. As Ryan said I was like the energizer bunny and was ready to explore every day. The chickens also are helpful alarm clocks! Kauai is definitely our speed!! Early to rise and early to bed. If you are wanting late night bar scenes this may not be the right island for you. Everything closes about 9pm for the night and everyone is up by 7 out and enjoying the island!
Food and Planning
I did a lot of planning and reading prior to our trip of places to go hike, explore, eat. My favorite book and a must when planning a trip to Kauai, HI was The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook
We had booked a condo with a kitchen thinking I would cook some for my food restrictions. We never even went to a grocery store! It was sooooo easy to find food and places that could adapt! Everything was marked as gluten free, vegan, vegetarian on the menus. The waitstaff and chefs at all the places we ate were amazing at adapting items. They would be honest if they couldn’t and recommend other options instead.
I will be blogging about each of our days on the island in separate posts. Places we went and food we ate! If you are thinking of a Kaua’i trip hopefully you find this helpful! Follow along to see our amazing trip! Alhoa!
