Well, I think it is safe to say that this has not been my most active year for writing blog posts. Even my goal of writing shorter, more focused posts, did not help – it has been 3 months since I published my last post. For those who do not know, I work a full-time job and also do photography professionally on the side, and I had an incredibly busy year between weddings, family sessions and other events.
Now that I am done with my excuses, it is time to write the sequel to my last post. In Honeymooning in Kaua’i – Part 1 of 2, I discussed the hikes we completed on Kaua’i, while in this blog post, I will talk about other activities we did on the Island, where we ate, and where we stayed!
Accommodation
Let’s start with accommodation. While researching different places to stay, we quickly learned that Kaua’i is expensive – if you want to come here for a visit, the faster you realize this and accept it, the easier it will be to choose your accommodation. After hours of searching, we decided to stay at the Lawai Beach Resort.
The Lawai Beach Resort is a beautiful property located on the southern part of Kaua’i. While it is a timeshare property, owners have the option of putting their unused weeks into a rental pool via Hawaii Time Share Exchange, which is how we completed our booking.
We ultimately decided on a 1-bedroom ocean-view suite in the Banyan Building at the Lawai Beach Resort – it was very clean, well-equipped and spacious with a full kitchen, living room, dining area, bedroom, bathroom and in-suite laundry. While we did not spend a lot of time in the suite, we liked having a comfortable space to return to after a long day of exploring. The property also has great amenities such as multiple swimming pools, roof top decks, as well as a gym. The only amenity missing is a restaurant; however, there is one right across the street, Beach House Restaurant – Kaua’i (although, we did not eat here as it is considered fine dining aka $$$ and had limited vegan options), and many others within a five-minute drive.
While we were very happy with our accommodation overall, the only downside was that we did not spend a lot of time on the southern part of the Island. While this area is stunning, we just happened to spend most of our time on the east (near Kapa’a). It also takes almost one-and-a-half hours to drive to the northern part of the Island, a drive we ended up doing twice. A couple of our friends who are seasoned Kaua’i visitors will spend two weeks on the Island and split their accommodation time equally between the north and the south – something for us to consider for our next visit ツ.
Food
Now that you know where we stayed, it is time to talk about where we ate!
Remember how I said Kaua’i is expensive? Well, the high prices do not end with accommodation – the restaurants are expensive, too, which should not be a surprise – I can only imagine that it is very costly to bring supplies to Hawai’i from other areas of the world, and then add in the exchange rate…
This is why it was important to us to have a kitchen at our accommodation, as we opted to make most of our meals here. We stopped at Costco and Walmart to pick up oatmeal for breakfast, snacks (apples, protein bars, etc.), and items for making sandwiches for lunch and basic dinner meals such as pasta with veggies and vegetarian meatballs. While I know this does not sound exciting or glamorous, this was the only way we could keep the trip affordable. We also picked up a “paper” cooler from Walmart to keep our food cold while we were on the road during the day!
But, do not worry – we did treat try some of the local restaurants during our visit:
- RUSSELL’S by Eat Healthy Kaua’i: One of two fully vegan restaurants on the entire Island, and as it turns out, they are now permanently closed. I am really glad we had a chance to try and support this restaurant while it was open – I enjoyed the Jalapeño Cheddar Bites and Tempeh “Bacon” B.L.T. Sandwich. I also had a lovely chat with the owner, and learned that the restaurant was named after his beloved late Golden Retriever, Russell.
- Kaua’i Island Brewing Company: Our friends know that Justin and I are always on the lookout for a brewery, especially after a hike. We went to Kaua’i Island Brewing Company during happy hour (another great way to save a bit of money while traveling) and ordered the edamame, onion rings and a cold beer – would highly recommend!
- The Greenery Cafe: This was our first stop after getting off the plane and getting our rental car – we were looking for something quick but healthy, and stumbled upon The Greenery Cafe as it was close to the airport. I enjoyed my Kale Salad from here – everything tasted very fresh and made for a nice first impression of the Island.
- Paco‘s Tacos Cantina: This was my first time having Paco’s Tacos Cantina, even though it appears to be a chain restaurant throughout the United States. We ordered the veggie vegan burritos from the Kilauea location on our way back to the Lawai Beach Resort after completing the Hanakapi’ai Falls trail earlier in the day. At this point, it was past 4pm, I had just completed over 12kms of hiking, and I had not eaten anything except a few snacks since breakfast that day – I was definitely “hangry” (and I was also soaking wet – to add to my mood), and while it was not the best burrito I have ever had, it hit the spot (you can ask Justin, but hangry is a real emotion for me).
- We had shave ice from three different locations: Waikomo Shave Ice, Wailua Shave Ice and The Fresh Shave. Shave ice is very popular in Kaua’i and we loved all the flavours we tried from all three places.
- Dark Horse Coffee Roasters: Justin always like to have a coffee for the road (and we did a LOT of driving in Kaua’i), and he really enjoyed the oat milk latte from Dark Horse Coffee Roasters – we stopped here multiple times before leaving the southern part of the Island!
- Holy Grail Donuts & Bakery: These donuts are made fresh to order! You get to choose your toppings, and then a few minutes later, you have hot, fresh donuts – delicious!
Activities
Believe it or not, but we did participate in activities other than hiking – hard to believe, right ツ? Here is what we did:
- Kaua’i Coffee Company: We did a self-guided walking tour of the Kauai Coffee plantation, which takes you through a series of information boards that talk about the history of the estate, types of coffee grown on the farm, the growing process, and more. Note that the self-guided tour is free and can be completed any time during operating hours, but you will need to reserve your spot for one of the paid guided tours in advance – here is your warning to plan ahead! While on the property, you can also try different coffee samples, get a coffee to-go, or buy your own coffee beans to take home (Justin bought the biggest bag available, and I am surprised he found somewhere to put it in his luggage).
- Spouting Horn Blowhole: Not far from the Lawai Beach Resort, and on the way to to the Kaua’i Coffee Company, we stopped to see the Spouting Horn Blowhole – this is a natural phenomenon where the ocean water shoots through a lava tube along the coast. The Spouting Horn Blowhole is fenced off, as people have died by getting too close to blowholes in the past.
- Warehouse3540: This is a small series of shops located right by Waikomo Shave Ice. I love browsing through small shops while traveling, and this was probably my favourite find on Kaua’i – I ended up purchasing a fresh water pearl necklace from one of the vendors here (Lily Koi jewelry). Other shopping areas I enjoyed were Old Koloa Town and The Shops at Kukui’ula.
- Makena Charters – Nā Pali Coast Boat Tour: One of the activities we “splurged” on during our trip was a boat tour of the Nā Pali Coast. The tour was around 5-hours long, and there are two time options – 8:30am and 2pm. We opted for the afternoon boat as the reviews we read indicated better lighting for photos, although I will say it was still very bright! The tour takes you from the south-west of the Island, all the way to the north, allowing visitors to see the entire “rugged” Nā Pali Coast. All throughout, the tour guides talked about the history of the Coast, discussed film productions, and pointed out different points of interest such as waterfalls and small goats walking along the ridges. Once we turned around to start heading back, we stopped for a short snorkel where Justin swam next to a sea turtle (at a respectable distance), and we even saw dolphins and a humpback whale! The dolphins truly put on a show, as they were playing and riding the waves from the boat. Overall, we really enjoyed the tour – the only downside was that the water was very rough. However, our boat driver was very skilled and experienced – Justin was incredibly impressed with his ability to approach the coastline; he even managed to drive under some waterfalls, where several people voluntarily got wet!
- Lydgate Farms Chocolate Tour: The other activity we splurged on was a tour of Lydgate Farms. We really enjoyed the chocolate tour we did in Costa Rica in 2024, and wanted to have another opportunity to learn more about the chocolate making process. Lydgate Farms is situated on 46 acres of land in Kapa’a and was rated in the top 50 best chocolates in the world. Hawai’i is the only US state that can grow chocolate, since it is situated 22° north of the equator (within the tropical zone for growing chocolate). During the tour, we learned about the chocolate making process, toured the property, and tried multiple chocolate and fruit samples. I really appreciated how one of the tour guides would give me extra dark chocolate samples when I told her I was vegan – I ended up with so much chocolate that I had to put all my samples in a bag, and ate them over the next few days! Overall, we really enjoyed the tour and would recommend it to others!
- We also checked out several beaches during our trip. My top two favourites were Poipu Beach and Hanalei Bay. Poipu Beach is located on the southern part of the Island, and was very close to our accommodation. It was a great spot for relaxing and swimming, and likely snorkelling, although we did not attempt to snorkel here. We also saw many sea turtles and sea lions resting here on the beach! Hanalei Bay and Pier, located on the north side of the Island, was the nicest beach on the Island, in my opinion. It is a great spot for a beach walk (especially since you can also walk out onto the pier), for swimming, lounging and surfing. I wish we could have spent more time here.
- Sunsets: There is nothing quite like a Hawaiian sunset! We watched the sunset almost every evening right across the street from our accommodation – it was beautiful.
- Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees: We made a quick stop at the Keahua Arboretum after we finished the Moalepe Trail (discussed in Part 1) to see the beautiful red and green colours of the Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees!
The last thing that I will share about Kaua’i that has nothing to do with accommodation, food or activities is that there are so many wild chickens roaming the Island! Legend has it that “domestic” chickens (belonging to the Polynesians) escaped their coops during the hurricanes in 1982 and 1992, which is why there are now chickens literally everywhere on Kaua’i. The best part is that the roosters will let you know when it is time to rise and shine in the morning – around 4:30am – meaning you do not need to worry about setting your alarm clock when visiting Kaua’i ツ.
Always grateful,
Michelle
Exploring With Gratitude 