We just returned yesterday from 8 fabulous days and night at the Grand Hyatt Kauai in sunny Poipu. Not only was the weather beautiful (so there to all you nay sayers who said it was just going to rain the whole time) the entire trip was fantastic. We had sun everyday with temps in the 80%26#39;s. There were some short periods of clouds and a light shower now and then but after sitting at the gorgeous pools they came as a welcome break from the sun.
Must do%26#39;s: Helicopter ride without the doors. Inter Island Helicopters. Leaves from Port Allen and they are terrific.
Napali Explorer Zodiac tour - Book this company - the captain is a Marine Biologist named Tara and is full of knowledge. Take the morning trip and you will see hundreds of Spinner dolphins. Be sure to clap and make noise and they will put on a show for you. It is great to see them in the wild having a blast. While on the trip we did a little snorkeling and swam with at least 10 sea turtles. That was a highlight for me being an avid nature lover. they take photos while on the trip and you can purchase a wonderful CD afterwards.
Dinner at The Beach House. Book early and make your reservation for 6pm so you don%26#39;t miss the sunset. The food is some of the best on the island. In fact we had dinner there 2 nights while in Kauai.
Drinks (and dinner) at The Plantation House. Best deal around for drinks...the Lychee Martini is to die for. Dinner was good but the service wasn%26#39;t so hot.
Rent a convertible. It is so worth the extra few bucks, take advantage of all the wonderful weather, flora and fauna while in Kauai. You see so much with the top down and you can work on your tan while driving around. We did a nice drive up to the North Coast. It is beautiful up there though the weather isn%26#39;t quite as nice this time of year. Try to get back before the horrible traffic jam on the two lane highway. If you drive up that way be sure to stop at the Lighthouse and check out the National Wildlife Refuge. They close at 4 pm so give yourself time to look around.
Friday night if you are looking for something to do check out the Friday Night Art Walk in Hannapeepee. It isn%26#39;t much (compared to major US cities) but it is a quaint little town and there are quite a few local art galleries. Most have wine and the artists are really nice and love to chat.
All in all Kauai is a perfect spot to relax and decompress. If you plan to hike take an old pair of tennis shoes because the red dirt will ruin your shoes. Be sure to bring your sunscreen. A light jacket is needed for both the helicopter and the zodiac boat tour to Napali.
One thing I must say is that if you plan to have dinner at Roy%26#39;s...don%26#39;t. I%26#39;ve been to Roy%26#39;s in NYC, Chicago and Pebble Beach and have loved them all. We were looking forward to dinner at Roy%26#39;s Poipu and it was an extreme disappoint. The food was okay, our waiter was very young and not experienced, the setting is bascially ugly for lack of better words and the hostess was just plain rude. One other place to avoid is the Poipu Beach Broiler..basically YUK and my husband got sick after eating there.
Tidepools, The Beach House and Plantation House are all good bets for lovely dinners.
Enjoy, I know we did!
Just returned from Kauai
Thanks for the report. A couple of questions.
1. How far of a drive is it to go to Napali Explorer Zodiac Tour from the Hyatt because I see it starts at 7:30 a.m.
2. Did you like the Poipu area?
3. Did the Hyatt offer nightly entertainment (music)?
Thanks in advance for answering my quetions. We are planning a trip to Kauai in October and I still haven%26#39;t figured out what part of the Island to stay at.
Just returned from Kauai
You must have hit a bad night at PPB. We eat there frequently and have never had anything but good food and good service. Sorry you had a bad time.
Muffincat
The drive isn%26#39;t bad to the Napali Explorer. We left the Hyatt at 6:00 am and arrived before the place was open. No need to shower and put on make up or anything prior to going. I think it is about 40 minutes and it is easy to find. At that time of the day there is no need to worry about traffic. It is definiately worth the trip and usually only the morning trips see the Spinner dolphins. But again I am a huge nature/animal lover so for me I%26#39;d go anytime to see the dolphins and turtles in their natural habitat (my husband and I got married in the bush on safari in Africa).
The Hyatt does have music nightly. There typically is something going on in the Seaview Terrace area and of course there are the luaus that happen twice a week I think. We didn%26#39;t actually attend a luau but we watched and listened from the Seaview Terrace. There is also nighly jazz in Stevenson%26#39;s.
I found that we would get up early, take a stroll along the beach,etc., grab a coffee, hang at the pool for a couple of hours in the morning and then head out exploring for the rest of the afternoon. We%26#39;d eat earlier than usual (around 6/6:30) and be in bed by 10 or 11 pm. I love to watch the sunrise and typically I am an earlier riser.
I really did enjoy the Poipu and Koala areas. They are near each other and easy to get too. While there isn%26#39;t a whole lot to do in either place it is nice to walk around. It is also easy to get to Hannapeepee and the Waimea area as well. You will need to drive up to Waimea and check out the canyons and do some hiking if you like. It seemed to always be sunny in Waimea and a tad bit warmer too.
Depending when you are going it may influence which side of the island you stay at. I wanted to be sure we had sun and warm weather so we chose the south shore area. It was so easy to drive to all the other areas and I was glad we chose the Hyatt and it%26#39;s location.
Regarding the other post and the Beach Broiler...my husband has an iron stomach and travels around the world extensively (India, Thailand, Pakistan, etc.) and has never gotten sick - not even in India where he has spents weeks at a time. The PBB knocked him out for almost 2 days. I%26#39;m glad you never had a bad experience there but honestly besides the getting sick part there is better food on the island.
Hope this info helps!
wow - did your husband get food poisening then??
That is my worst fear - getting some food illness while away from home. that%26#39;s another story in itself but I tend to try and play it safe.
I never eat at buffets and I try and peek at the kitchen if I can and see how clean or dirty it is :)
My hubby couldn%26#39;t believe that I ate at Bubba%26#39;s there in Hanalei. But I could stand there and watch him cook everything. The place wasn%26#39;t exactly ';clean'; but I saw him take everything out and cook it.
If he had picked his nose or something, that would have been it for me!
Aren%26#39;t you going to miss the morning walks and coffees??
I sure am. That was my favorite time of day. Get up early and have that am coffee sitting on the lanai or someplace and enjoy the island air AHHH....
Well I hate to say that it was food poisoning but I don%26#39;t know what else it would be. He had a combo fish/steak dinner. I thought the food there was medicore at best. Perhaps we did just have an off night unfortunately. The Beach House was by far our favorite (food, service, atmosphere)and then Tidepools. Funny thing is though that he travels everywhere and doesn%26#39;t get sick. I spent 3 wks in India/Nepal and didn%26#39;t get sick either. Of course you need to be safe and watch where you eat. I get sick here on the Mainland all too often and when we lived in Singapore, one of the cleanest places ever I would get sick at least once a week. It was a running joke. I guess one just never knows in a restaurant and you just hope for the best.
Of course we will miss the early walks and coffee but it is almost summer time here in Chicago and my husband, myself and our 11 yr old Chocolate Lab have ';family day'; on Sat and Sun where we get up early, go get a coffee and walk him down to the lakefront or over to North Pond for a little squirrel chasing. Plus I don%26#39;t think the islands are going anyplace yet and we have a lot of frequent flier miles to use. It is a long flight from Chicago though, I wish we could%26#39;ve stayed longer but I hate to leave the Pup for too long.
Hi Jih67:
What airline did you fly out of Chicago? We flew ATA out of Chicago to Hololulu, this past January and were not impressed. I have been chacking out a direct flight from Chicago to Lihue for our trip this January. The only problem is 9 hrs direct seems like a long time on the plane. Last year we had a layover in San Fransciso and then one in Honolulu. We would love to go 2 weeks but cut it down to 10 days because of the dog thing ourselves.
KK
Thanks for the review! :)
We flew American Airlines. We went from Chicago to LA and then LA directly to Kauai. The trip wasn%26#39;t too bad especially the return trip home because it was shorter. Coming home though we did fly the red eye from Kauai (leave at 10 pm) and arrived in LA at 6 am. Our flight to Chicago was at 7 am. Perfect timing. We have a lot of airmiles with AA so that is typically who we choose if we can.
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