Hanalei Bay

You haven’t seen Kauai, if you haven’t visited Hanalei and Hanalei Bay.

Hanalei Bay was selected as the Best Beach in America for 2009. Hanalei Bay has awesome views, in all directions and offers a great experience for all ages and a multitude of activities. One of the most peaceful, awe-inspiring locations on the face of the Earth.

This #1 Beach in America is quite large and offers a variety of beaches and views. We particularly like the area near the Hanalei pier. In the late afternoon, it offers incredible sunset views over Bali Hai. There can be waves that are good for body surfing, boogie boarding and surfing. Out beyond the reef you will see big wave surfers. This is the beach and pier used as the backdrop for the Rodgers & Hammerstein movie musical “South Pacific”. This is where Bloody Mary burst on to the scene and the Navy nurses ran on the beach.

Hanalei Pavilion Beach Park, which is about in the middle of Hanalei Bay, offers a life guarded area and rest rooms. The waters can be calm enough to “swim laps”.

Anini Beach

Anini is one of the easiest beaches to walk on to and is typically so well protected, by the reef, and is shallow, which makes it an ideal beach for keikes. Snorkeling has improved over the years. You may also see wind surfers.

Hideaways Beach

Hideaway requires some effort to negotiate the stairs and path, but it is within a mile of our condo and offers a beautiful beach upon which to lie and contemplate the world. The snorkeling can be good, in the summer, and occasionally, a group of kayakers will pull up on the beach for a rest (as well as monk seals, which are protected by law).

1 Hotel Beach

The 1 Hotel sits on the eastern edge of Hanalei Bay. We like this beach for multiple reasons. The views are magnificent. The water is typically calm and relatively shallow. Snorkeling is good as is beachcombing.

Tunnels Beach

Tunnels is excellent for snorkeling and laying on the beach and soaking in the awesome views. Finding it and parking can be a chore, so be sure to have your Guidebook. Or take the shuttle from Hanalei.

Ha’ena Beach Park

Ha’ena Beach Park has limited beach parking without a reservation requirement. There is a lifeguard and restrooms. It is across from the Manini-holo Dry Caves.

Ke’e Beach

This beach is where the main road ends going west, and the magnificent Na Pali coast begins. This beach has excellent snorkeling, views and beachcombing. It is also near the trail head of the Na Pali Coast hike (Kalalau Trail), which we strongly recommend, and which is discussed in the “Activities” section. Don’t miss this beach. Reservations are required, and you can reserve here.

Lumahai Beach

If you are old enough to remember Mitzi Gaynor singing “I’m going to wash that man right out of my hair”, in the musical South Pacific, then this is a must-see beach. This is a beautiful beach, BUT don’t swim here. The waters are treacherous most of the time.

Below is a group of beaches which we do not often frequent but which are in the area and may be of interest.

Secret Beach

The Guidebook and a significant walk are required to visit this beach. It offers a very long sandy beach, which is great for walking, with a view of the Kilauea lighthouse, at the eastern end of the beach. The waters can be rough and not safe for swimming. Nude bathing is illegal, in Kauai, but you may run into law breakers on this beach.

Hanakapi’ai Beach

Hanakapi’ai Beach is located 2 miles into the Kalalau Trail from Ke’e Beach. This beach, with its sea cave are worth the hike, but crossing the Hanakapi’ai River can be treacherous and swimming is typically out of the question. Don’t swim here! A reservation is required to visit Ke’e Beach and take this hike.

This beach can be found after walking two (2) miles, on the Kalalau Trail, along the Na Pali coast, from Kee Beach (see “Activities). It is a cool and welcomed respite from your hike. BUT don’t swim at this extremely treacherous beach. If you follow the river, up the canyon, for another two (2) miles, you will find the Hanakapi’ai falls. This is a strenuous hike, but, if you are up to it, you will find it rewarding. You can swim in the pool, at the base of the falls, but be careful, because rocks and branches will be washed over the falls. If you take this hike, prepare for it with the proper clothing, water/food, camera (in a plastic bag), and time to make and enjoy the sights.

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Below is a list of some activities, which you may want to consider:

• Humpback Whale Migration 
  • Stay in HollysKauaiCondo and enjoy some of the best humpback whale viewing, all day, every day, from the comfort of every room and the lanai, for FREE (November – April).
  • Donald, a frequent guest says, “we were entertained by a pod of whales frolicking not far from shore! They were thwacking the water audibly with their huge tails. Here was this free show that was more entertaining than whale-watching we have paid for in the past! What a way to enjoy breakfast!” Noel, another guest, wrote: “There must have been two dozen… we think we counted fifteen, then it’s difficult to count beyond that.”
• Napali Coast Boat Tour (Depart From Hanalei) 
  • Na Pali Catamaran
• Horseback Riding 
  • Princeville Ranch Stables
• Kayaking (Rivers and Ocean) 
  • Kayak Kauai 
• Golf:     The Makai course in Princeville
• Surfing: Learn To Surf Or Perfect Your Skill!
• Hiking 
  • There are numerous hiking opportunities in Kauai. There is a small amount of walking/hiking involved with visiting Lumahai, Hideaway, Sea Lodge and Secret Beach, as well as Queen’s Bath. But, if you want a real hike, there are several which you might want to consider. The Na Pali coast from Kee Beach to Polihale State Park has no roads, with access only accessible by foot, boat or helicopter fly over. This 11-mile Kalalau Trail hike is the ultimate most famous hike in Kauai..  You can hike the first 2 miles of the Kalalau Trail, from Kee Beach to Hanakapiai Beach.  If you are more energetic, 2 more miles to Hanakapiai Falls.  Any portion of this hike and visit to Ke’e Bach requires a permit, which you can acquire here. Take your camera, for incredible photo opportunities. Also, carry plenty of water. Consult the Guidebooks for more information about these hikes and many more.
• Tennis (Courts, free, are at Makai Club and require a reservation)
• Luaus
• Swimming / Snorkeling / SCUBA, surfing, boogie boarding
• Beach combing
• Fishing
• Helicopter Tour / Movie Set Tour (Bus)
• Museum and Botanical Garden Visit
• Shopping / Farmers Market
• Bicycling / Running / Walking
• Spa / Massage

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Kauai Travel Guidebook

These Kauai Travel Tips may be the difference between an incredible visit or an INCREDIBLE visit. Whether a seasoned Kauai visitor or a first timer, the guidebook can be invaluable. Enhance your enjoyment by reading the Lonely Planet: Discover Kauai guidebook. The book can be found at any major bookstore, as well as within our property’s bookshelf. The guidebook will make you aware of a multitude of fun options (beaches, dining, activities, etc.), along with contact information and directions.

Vacation Plan Travel Tips

Fun Kauai Travel Tips: You don’t have to plan your entire vacation, but you don’t want to miss something of importance. If your party has particular interests be sure to plan them. For example, if you want to hike a portion of the Kalalau Trail or visit Ke’e and Tunnels Beaches, a reservation is required. Luaus are fun, as well as a dining and entertainment bargain. Decide which one you want to attend and make the reservation in advance.

Rain or Shine

Rain or shine, Kauai offers mesmerizing beauty, as well as incredible activities. Kauai is known as the Garden Island and is the most beautiful of the Hawaiian Islands. The reason for the lushness is the rain. Without the rain, it would be just another volcanic desert island, which you would never visit. The rain is usually intermittent, warm and seldom interferes significantly with activities. Just know that it is likely to rain. Be prepared to enjoy the most incredible rainbows and waterfalls.

Care for Kauai

Help keep Kauai a national treasure. Be mindful of your impact, while you enjoy the Island. Use only reef safe sunscreen. Don’t inadvertently touch the ocean’s coral, because it’s a living organism. The reefs are dying due to climate change, pollutants and abuse. Stay your distance from the monk seal, albatross, nenes and other of the Islands animals. Monk seals are protected by law, as well as sharp teeth. Use reusable water containers, rather than plastic water bottles. Take your trash with you and dispose of it properly.

Tips for Northshore Beaches

Northshore beaches are gorgeous. You will likely want to visit as many as possible but pay attention to this Kauai Travel Tip: Not all beaches are safe to swim and those that are typically safe, are not always safe. Kauai is an island with potentially strong currents and under tows. So, be aware of the ocean and weather conditions. If in doubt, then don’t enter the water. Flash flooding can occur. Don’t cross streams during heavy rains. Be sure that you are on the “right side” of any stream or river, when heavy rain seems imminent. The one-lane Hanalei Bridge can be closed for hours, should the Hanalei River rise significantly.

Safest Beaches

Typically, the year-round safest beaches, are Hanalei Bay, Anini, Tunnels and Kee Beaches. These beaches are reef protected. Hanalei Bay offers a variety of opportunities for fun. Because virtually every type of water sport is available. Just sitting or lying on the beach, admiring the view is a joy. Anini is particularly good for keikis and cautious swimmers. The ocean is typically calm and shallow for quite some distance. Tunnels and Kee have fantastic snorkeling. All are drop dead gorgeous!

Least Safe Beaches

On the Northshore, the ocean is calmest in the summer months while it is the most turbulent and dangerous in the winter. Lumahai, while one of the most beautiful and well-known Kauai beaches, is one of the most dangerous Northshore beaches. Hanakapi’ai beach is, as well. Visit and enjoy the splendor, but don’t swim at these beaches. Hideaways and Secret Beach can also be dangerous. Critical Kauai Travel Tip: Be aware of the water conditions.

Don’t Forget the Kids

Parents and kids sometimes see “fun” differently. So, make it easy on yourself. If kids join you, let them help plan a few things that they may like. Choose a few activities that you and the keiki(s) will enjoy while making memories for life. There are a lot of options:

• Hanalei Bay pier jumping
• Miniature golf
• Boogie boarding
• Kayaking
• Playground equipment
• Playing in the sand
• Surf lessons
• Lappert’s ice cream
• Shave ice
• Snorkeling
• Walks in the “jungle”
• Inner tubing
• A luau
• Bike ride
• Age-appropriate DVDs
• Board games
• Looking for rainbows
• Watching whales (in season)
• Swim in the pool
• BBQ hot dogs & eat on lanai

I guess we’re all kids at heart. Because there is nothing on this list that I wouldn’t want to do! How about you?

Travel Tips for Departing

HollysKauaiCondo’s check out time is 10 am. If you have a late flight home, you may want to take advantage of our personal strategy in order to enjoy your last hours in paradise.  Kauai Travel Tip: Our favorite breakfast spot is Kountry Kitchen in Kapaa (https://www.kountrystylekitchen.com/).  So, we leave before 10 am, in order to satisfy our breakfast favorites. Kountry Kitchen’s banana pancakes along with coconut syrup is special. The Island version of Eggs Benedict is fantastic, if not also fit for a Suma wrestler.  We then opt for a variety of activities like shopping for last minute gifts for family, friends and ourselves.  Also, one can visit Wailua Falls, Lydgate State Park, Spouting Horn, Waimea Canyon, etc.  Sometimes we enjoy the Koloa Rum tasting shop, or take the Kilohana Plantation train tour (https://www.kilohanakauai.com/plantation-train).

While there are a lot of choices, we always have our last meal at Cafe Portofino, Duke’s or JJ’s Broiler, near the airport.  All in all, it makes for an enjoyable and leisurely day.  It creates memories and takes our minds off the fact that we have to leave.

Best Kauai Travel Tip

Reserve HollysKauaiCondo for your visit to The Garden Island! Why? Because this two-bedrooms, two bath has no stairs and yet is located on the 2nd level. But the best part is the same oceanfront view from every room! Enjoy ground level convenience, as well as upper-level privacy and views. Oh, and the wrap-around lanai offers phenomenal views, while dining on pupus and your favorite beverage.

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We have favorite restaurants which we always visit, but we usually try several new ones, each trip. We recommend that you explore the tastes of the island. You can’t go wrong. Our favorite places to eat include:

• Wishing Well Shave Ice
  • Best Shave Ice
• Lappert’s Ice Cream
  • It is Rich, Rich, Rich
  • In Princeville Center & Other Location
• L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
  • Local Hawaiian Food
• Hanalei Gourmet
  • Café Bar & Deli
  • Lunch – Dinner
• Kalypso
  • Centrally Located in Hanalei, With Inside & Outside Dining
  • Wide Variety of Good Food & Drinks
• The Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant & Fish Market
  • Fresh Fish
  • Located in Hanalei
• The Lighthouse Bistro (The Bistro)
• Bar Acuda
  • Dinner
• Tahiti Nui
  • Locals’ Favorite
  • George Clooney’s hangout in “The Descendants”
• 1 Hotel
  • Incredible Hanalei Bay and Bali Hai views

The easiest, least expensive and quickest meal, when you are tired, is to visit Foodland grocery store in Princeville Center, buy a rotisserie huli huli chicken and side dishes at the deli along with any type of desert and take it home to your condo, to eat and crash.

HollysKauaiCondo’s lanai offers one of the most intimate oceanfront site for beverages, pupus and dining (If we do say so, ourselves).

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This remote, two-mile crescent-shaped beach on Kauai where the emerald mountains meet the sparkling sea was selected No. 1 on “Dr. Beach” Stephen P. Leatherman’s 2009 list of top 10 beaches.

Hanalei beat out other shores stretching from San Diego to Cape Cod.

“The sheer beauty of Hanalei Bay is breathtaking,” said Leatherman, director of Florida International University’s Laboratory for Coastal Research. “It’s really an idyllic setting.”

Hanalei features postcard views from every angle and is untouched by the feverish development that has transformed the coastlines of other islands. It’s cherished by both locals and tourists as the perfect spot to swim, surf, snorkel or simply escape and unwind.

“It’s just gorgeous,” said Annie Meredith, who regularly surfs in the bay. “You’ve got green mountains, white sand, blue ocean — that’s kind of hard to beat.”

The runner-up on Leatherman’s list was Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Fla., followed by Coopers Beach in Southampton, N.Y., on Long Island; Coronado Beach in San Diego; Hamoa Beach in Maui, Hawaii; Main Beach in East Hampton, N.Y., on Long Island; Cape Hatteras in Outer Banks, N.C.; Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, Fla.; Coast Guard Beach on Cape Cod, Mass.; and Beachwalker Park on Kiawah Island, S.C.

Leatherman based his selections on 50 criteria, including water quality and temperature, cleanliness, weather, sand, safety and facilities. And Hanalei is his personal favorite “getaway beach” in Hawaii.

“If I want to get away from it all and forget about the rest of the world, Hanalei is about the best place to go, as far as I know,” he said.

Hanalei is located on Kauai’s North Shore around the corner from the Napali Coast, the most stunning corner of the state. One side offers lush valleys, dramatic waterfalls and sculpted mountains with peaks that rise 4,000 feet. On the other is the Pacific, where dolphins and sea turtles can be seen.

The big attraction here is that it’s not a big attraction. Unlike in the high-rise jungle of Waikiki, where thousands of glowing-pale tourists sprawl across the sand like eggs in a carton, there’s plenty of breathing room in secluded Hanalei.

Newlyweds Dirk and Courtney McNealy, of Gainesville, Fla., noticed that there were only about 50 people along the entire two miles of beach on a recent weekday.

“Back in Florida, it seems there’s 50 people in a 10-foot stretch,” Courtney McNealy said.

The McNealys chose the so-called Garden Island for their honeymoon because they wanted a peaceful retreat.

“The water is nice. The sand is nice,” Courtney McNealy said. “It’s really beautiful.”

Duane Kutsch, of Richland, Wash., said he enjoyed the slower pace and the space.

“It doesn’t seem so big and commercial like Oahu,” he said. “Oahu to me feels like Chicago, a huge city on the edge of the water. This still has a hometown feel to it.”

The flight to Kauai from Honolulu takes less than a half hour. The 30-mile drive from Lihue Airport to Hanalei, however, takes nearly an hour along two-lane Kuhio Highway. The roadway eventually runs down the mountainside and crosses a one-lane bridge before entering the tiny town of Hanalei.

Egos, shoes and watches should be checked at the bridge. No one’s in a hurry in this ultra-mellow community.

The village is a throwback to old Hawaii. There are sprawling plots of taro, which is used to produce poi, a staple in the Hawaiian diet. Neighborhood kids sell fresh leis on the corner. Gift shops, art galleries, surf stores and casual restaurants line the main drag.

“Most of us who live in the city are used to the hustle and bustle. This is anything but that,” Leatherman said. “It’s about as laid-back as you can get.”

In the winter, swells and rip currents pick up in the bay and lifeguards are kept busy. Hanalei and surrounding areas have several top surf breaks. This is where three-time surfing world champion Andy Irons lives and honed his skills.

Even when the surf is up, parts of the bay are protected by an outer reef, so people can still swim safely. However, visitors should be aware of conditions and posted signs and check with lifeguards.

“Because of the beauty, it’s deceiving,” said Mark McKamey, who has been a lifeguard in the area for 17 years. “It’s paradise so it gives them a false sense of security.”

In the summer, the waters flatten out. Locals can be seen throw-net fishing, catching opelu and akule, a Native Hawaiian tradition.

“There’s a good vibe overall,” said McKamey.

There are three parks within the bay: Black Pot, Hanalei Pavilion and Waioli. Several surfing schools offer two-hour sessions for $50-$60 and rent gear.

Nestled between two rivers, Hanalei is the largest bay on the island of Kauai.

Leatherman said one of his favorite views of the bay is from The St. Regis Princeville Resort, located on the bluff. The 252-room hotel reopens in October after nearly a year of renovations.

Hanalei first gained fame when the hit musical “South Pacific” was filmed here five decades ago, and it hasn’t changed much. The sailors sang “There Is Nothin’ Like a Dame” at the bay, while neighboring Lumahai Beach is where Mitzi Gaynor made famous “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair.”

More recently, the North Shore served as the backdrop in films from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” to “Tropic Thunder,” which starred part-time local resident Ben Stiller, one of many celebrities who vacation or live here.

Ranked No. 2 in 2008, Hanalei will now be retired from the Dr. Beach’s list. Its selection returns the top spot to Hawaii, which has won 12 times since Leatherman started the list in 1991. Florida beaches have been named tops six times, including last year with Caladesi Island. North Carolina won once. California placed No. 4 this year with Coronado Beach but has never claimed the top spot.

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