Y’all, this post is a special one. Our trip to Kauai was for our good friend’s wedding, and that same friend will be the officiant at our wedding in a few weeks (!!!). We had SUCH an amazing time spending the whole week before his wedding exploring the island, and we’re so glad we were able to celebrate. Hawaii is so close to California, yet it seems to be a place that people rarely visit. I had been to Maui once before, but nothing could have prepared me for how amazing and beautiful Kauai was.
To start with, we flew from Oakland to Lihue rather than from SFO, which was the first time I had ever been to the Oakland airport, and I was very pleasantly surprised! I’ve started using OAK as my base airport more often, especially since it’s recently become a Southwest hub.
A word of advice: If you live in the Bay Area, always make sure you check flights from both SFO and OAK. Oftentimes one is WAY cheaper than the other.
Once you get to Lihue, you’ll walk outside to the baggage claim, and then across the street to the rental car shuttles. One thing we noticed right away was how incredibly nice everyone was, and how interested they were with life on the mainland. The women we spoke with at the rental car company had never been to the mainland US and the 20 minutes it took to get our car seemed like less than 5 with our conversation.
A word of advice: Because Hawaii is not on mainland US, if you damage your rental car you not only have to pay for damages, but also the rental fee for the number of days that it takes to get the parts flown or boated to the island. To avoid this, make sure you have a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred that covers all insurance for you.
The driving directions from the rental car agency initially seemed laughable because they all related to landmarks: go to the stop sign, head up the hill, when you pass x turn y, when you see the tree tunnel, you’re almost there. They then stopped and pointed out that the tree tunnel is one of the most beautiful non-ocean things on the entire island. We underestimated it until we drove through and were breathless at just how beautiful it was. This photo above does it absolutely no justice and you have to see it for yourself.
We arrived at Koloa Landing Resort and y’all it was so incredible. Our “room” was a three bedroom condo larger than any three bedroom in San Francisco (our one room specifically was still bigger than our apartment), with direct access to both a large pool and a smaller adult only pool with a full grill area. Y’all, this photo above is THE POOL. It was incredible. We were all so relaxed.
After lounging by the pool for a few hours, we realized we needed provisions, and headed out to get stocked up on food and drinks for the week. The closest spot was Big Save Mart and it was PERFECT. Aside from your typical groceries, they had a huge fresh poke bar that we returned to about 5 times throughout the trip.
For dinner the first night (and a few times after) we made our way to Puka Dog in the Poipu Shopping Center, which was about a 10 minute walk from our condos. We each tried to order something slightly different so we could all share, and legit everything was delicious. I think we ate about 4 Puka Dogs apiece throughout the week. I suggest trying all of the combinations you can – you can’t go wrong with any of them! Make sure to get the Maui chips as a side.
After dinner we walked over to Keoki’s Paradise in the same shopping center for some day one drinks. We all tried to rally, but after day drinking and eating a million Puka Dogs, we ended up having about 2 drinks each and heading back to the hotel. Highly recommend this spot for a sit down Hawaiian meal – we didn’t get the chance to come back for food, but it was always crowded and everyone was raving about the food.
Day 2:
On day 2 we spent the majority of the day lounging by the pool – reading, playing pool beer pong (yes, you can buy a floatie for that), and other various drinking games. After a few hours at the pool, we decided to walk along the water to the Sheridan a few down from us. There was a nice beach area that we hung out at for a few hours to spend some time in the waves.
That night the bride and groom had a family dinner planned, so the rest of us decided to head out to the Kukui’ula Shopping Center and hit up Merriman’s Pizza and Burgers for dinner and drinks. It has “burgers and pizza” in the title, but I opted for the fish tacos and they were INCREDIBLE. Everyone loved their meal, and they did a great job of keeping the drinks coming.
After dinner we took a quick detour to Lappert’s for some ice cream with the whole wedding crew before heading back to the condo.
Day 3:
On Day 3 we started early by driving over to Waimea Canyon and State Park. We began by going to the viewing area to take some photos over the whole canyon. The photos above don’t even do it justice – it is incredibly majestic. After the initial photos, we went to a specific hike the groom had picked out. One of the best things to do on the island is setup some days just for hiking. The views are fantastic, and they’re some pretty challenging treks.
We ran into a lot of fun stuff along the way, including this sign for a Missile Facility. Overall, the hiking was one of the best parts of the trip – feeling like you’re getting some exercise while still taking in all of the sights – it definitely made us consider finding hikes and walks wherever we travel next.
After the hike we headed back to the condos for more poolside beverages and opted to cook dinner in on the grills outside by the pool and the incredible kitchen inside our condo.
Day 4:
We woke up a little late, and after some breakfast at the condo and some poolside relaxation, we decided to head out for some exploration. We started by exploring a shopping center about halfway between us and the tree tunnel that had a spot called the Koloa Fish Market, that boasted some incredible fresh fish and poke. It was good, but we hadn’t anticipated that there would be no seating, so we ended up only grabbing one item and eating it as we walked around the rest of the center.
We were still hungry after our fish snack, so we ventured back to the Kukui’ula Shopping Center and hit up Savage Shrimp, which was seriously one of the best meals we had on the island. We opted to sample a few different flavors and we went back for more – it was that good.
Afterwards we really needed to walk off all we’d ate, so we perused the entire shopping center. It has some great gems including the Living Foods Market, with a juice bar and some great healthy whole food options, SoHa, a super cute home boutique where we bought a bunch of oil that we still use today for our house fragrance, and a stand in the middle selling some of the sweetest and most delicious pineapple I’ve ever had.
Afterwards we were driving around and passed the Kauai Humane Society – we decided to stop in and play with some puppies for a little while as a fun afternoon pastime. It was super hard to know that even if we wanted to, we couldn’t bring any of them home!
The rest of the day was spent, again, laying by the pool before making some great dinner back at the condo. They had a ton of grills by the pool that made it really easy for us to whip up some amazing meals.
Day 5:
The next day we had an incredible adventure planned, but Eric and I, per usual, didn’t plan well, and didn’t realize the excursion required water shoes. All we’d brought were flip flops and tennis shoes, so we decided to head out and find some shoes. We found a Walmart nearby, and let me just say, Walmart is exactly the same EVERYWHERE. We got some shoes and headed out to Kauai Back Country Adventures.
I’d heard we were doing a tubing trip, but y’all, I had no idea what I was in for until right before when I saw a buzzfeed video of the experience. The videos all make it look like it’s pretty fast, but in reality, there are only a few spots where you go down quickly, and they’re all pretty short. You are traveling down old irrigation canals from a sugar plantation that are no longer in use, and part of the adventure includes traveling through two tunnels, one of which you can see the other side the entire time, and a second that is longer, so you’re actually in complete darkness for a bit which is fun/terrifying. Overall I loved it, my one complaint, was the spiders. There were SO MANY spiders in the caves, and at one point one fell on my stomach which caused me to have a total freak out and then be terrified the rest of the trip. If you have a serious fear of spiders, be warned.
One of the top things on Eric’s agenda, was to eat some authentic Loco Moco, which is a Hawaiian dish consisting of a massive scoop of rice, a hamburger patty, a fried egg, and a ton of brown gravy (the photo on the right). We looked up the best Loco Moco on the island, and Tip Top Motel Cafe & Bakery came back as the clear favorite. In addition, we got a sampler platter of fried chicken, steak, rice, and macaroni salad (all VERY healthy). The food was simple, but absolutely delicious, and you could definitely tell that this is where the locals came for lunch. It was PACKED and the food was SO cheap.
After stuffing our faces, we decided to walk around another shopping center, the Kukui Grove, which was a bunch of bigger box name stores. I needed some tennis shoes for my trip to Austin right after this one, and so we walked off some of the food while looking for some.
Afterwards we had just enough time to drive to the other side of the island and visit Talk Story, the most western independent bookstore in the entire United States. It has a great collection of both used and new release books, and Eric patiently allowed me to spend about 45 minutes browsing the shelves and buying WAY more books than I needed.
We sped back to our resort to get cleaned up, and spent the evening at Hukilau Lanai for the rehearsal dinner. The food was awesome, and they had a great private room setup for us so we had plenty of space for dancing afterwards. The restaurant is huge, but you do need to make reservations ahead of time if you want to come for dinner. The menu is massive, and has some standout winners (lobster and goat cheese wontons!! candied ahi!! poke nachos!!).
Day 6:
The morning of the wedding we started out strong with another trip over to the Poipu Shopping Center to chow down on Puka Dogs and Island Taco. For dessert, we hit up the Hawaii classic, Uncle’s Shave Ice, for what those of us from the south like to call a “snowball.”
The wedding itself was at the beautiful and secluded Mahaulepu Beach. To get to the beach, we took a 2 mile, single lane, dirt road that starts at the end of Poipu Road. We were thankful that we didn’t take our own rental car, which was a small sedan, and instead rode with a friend in their SUV. The road is INTENSE. Expect for those 2 miles to take you at least 20 minutes because of how slow you need to go over all of the rocks, craters, and bumps. Definitely do this with an SUV if you can, because the last thing you want to do is mess up your rental car and be liable for the damage.
The view at the end of the road is SO worth it. It’s secluded and absolutely beautiful. You aren’t able to rent out the whole beach, but when we arrived there was no one else in sight. The wedding itself was even more beautiful, and if you’re looking for a good spot on Kauai, I highly recommend this one.
Afterwards we had a few mai-tai’s in the sand and then headed back to Kiahuna Plantation Garden/Resort for the reception. The venue itself is also a restaurant and bar, and the grounds are absolutely breathtaking. The food is traditional Hawaiian with lots of fresh fish and sweet spices.
Day 7:
Our last day in Kauai was mainly a recovery day – we slept in and lounged by the pool trying to sweat out all of the alcohol we’d consumed the previous day.
Before heading to the airport, we did do one last tourist stop at the Spouting Horn. The lava rock formations have a bunch of small tunnels and openings in them, so when the waves crash into the shore, it creates geyser like gushes of water at the surface. It’s really amazing to see, especially on a windier day with stronger waves.
After our last attraction, we drove back to the airport. We hit up the Mea Inu bar at Lihue for some last minute tropical cocktails while we waited for our super delayed flights back to Oakland. Thankfully I made it just in time to uber over to SFO and catch my redeye to Austin!
We had an absolute blast exploring the whole island of Kauai for the first time, and can’t wait to go back. Thanks again to John and Stephanie for including us in their day, and we can’t wait to have John as our officiant!
Have any tips for our next trip to Kauai or questions about your upcoming visit? Let us know in the comments!
