Kauai is the island people come back to. It is small enough to see in a week and wild enough that a quarter of it has no road. We work on the water here, and the same question comes up every morning at the harbor: with five or six days, what should we actually do?
This is our answer, with the honest notes we give friends who visit.
How this list works
We ranked these by what visitors rave about when they step off the boat, out of the helicopter or off the trail. Then we grouped them by where they start, because on Kauai “where” means a real drive: Hanalei to Kekaha is close to two hours. If you are still choosing where to stay, our guide to Kauai’s regions will help. Within each section, the items near the top are the ones we would book first.
The Nā Pali Coast (the reason you came)
Seventeen miles of cliffs on the north-west corner of the island, with no road. You see it from a boat, from the air, or on foot.
1. A Nā Pali boat tour from the west side
The Nā Pali Coast boat tour from Kekaha is the one we book first: an 18-guest power catamaran out of Kikiaola Harbor, the closest year-round harbor to the cliffs, with sea caves, waterfalls, spinner dolphins and a swim stop when the ocean allows. From $199 for 4.5 hours, ages 4 and up, every month of the year.
2. The raft into the sea caves
The Nā Pali raft and snorkel tour from Port Allen is the adventurous version: a 37-foot rigid-hull raft that goes inside the caves and under the waterfalls, with a reef snorkel stop in summer and whales in winter. From $177, ages 6 and up, and the highest-rated Nā Pali operator on the island.
3. The Hanalei catamaran, in season
If you are on the north shore between March and December, the Nā Pali tour from Hanalei Bay reaches the cliffs in 15 minutes. You wade out from the beach to board, snorkel in summer, and get lunch on the way home. It does not run in January or February.
4. A helicopter over the whole island
The private helicopter tour flies Waimea Canyon, the Nā Pali cliffs, the north shore, the waterfalls of the interior, the Waiʻaleʻale crater and the Jurassic Park falls in one hour. Your party of 1 to 3 gets the whole cabin, every seat a window, doors off if you want them. Book the morning.
5. The Kalalau Trail, the first two miles
The full 11-mile trail needs a camping permit months ahead. The first two miles, from Kēʻē to Hanakāpīʻai Beach, need only a Hāʻena State Park reservation and good shoes. It is steep, muddy and the best short hike in Hawaii. Do not swim at Hanakāpīʻai; the rip there is deadly.
The East Side and Līhuʻe
6. Kayak the Wailua River to Secret Falls
The Wailua River kayak and hike is a two-mile paddle up Hawaii’s only navigable river and a mile of jungle trail to a 120-foot waterfall with a swimming hole. Five hours, from $115, weekdays only; the river is closed to tours on weekends.
7. Mountain tubing through the plantation tunnels
Kauai mountain tubing floats you down hand-dug 1870s irrigation canals and through five tunnels with a headlamp on your helmet, then lunch at a swimming hole. Ages 5 and up, rain or shine, and the one activity every age in the family can do together.
8. Wailua Falls and ʻŌpaekaʻa Falls
Two drive-up waterfalls ten minutes apart. Wailua Falls is the double drop from the old Fantasy Island opening, best in the morning light. ʻŌpaekaʻa has a lookout over the river valley. Neither needs more than 20 minutes, and both are on the way to the kayak tour.
9. The Ke Ala Hele Makālae coastal path
A paved path along the east-side coast from Lydgate to Kealia, about eight miles, with bike rentals in Kapaʻa. Flat, breezy, whales offshore in winter, and the best sunrise on the island at Kealia.
10. Kalapaki Beach and Nawiliwili
The sheltered bay by the Marriott in Līhuʻe, five minutes from the airport, with gentle waves for a first surf lesson and a beach bar at the end of the sand. Our best beaches guide has the details.
The South Shore
11. Ziplining above Kōloa
The Koloa zipline is eight lines across the Waita Reservoir and the old sugar land, including a half-mile line, the longest on Kauai, with a hands-free harness and tandem lines for kids. From $159, five minutes from Poʻipū.
12. Poʻipū Beach Park
The island’s family beach: a protected keiki pool, a snorkel cove with turtles, lifeguards, and monk seals asleep behind a rope on most afternoons. Sunny when the north shore is raining.
13. The Māhāʻulepū Heritage Trail
A two-mile coastal walk east from Shipwreck Beach past sea cliffs, blowholes and lithified dunes to a wild bay. Morning is cooler; bring water and watch the surf on the ledges.
14. Spouting Horn and Allerton Garden
The blowhole at Spouting Horn is a five-minute stop. Allerton Garden next door is a guided tour through a landscape garden in the Lāwaʻi Valley with the Moreton Bay fig trees from Jurassic Park. Book the garden ahead.
15. Kōloa town and the sugar history
The first sugar plantation in Hawaii started here in 1835. The old town has a monument, shave ice, a couple of good restaurants and the Kōloa Rum tasting room at Kilohana back toward Līhuʻe.
The West Side
16. Waimea Canyon and Kōkeʻe
The “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”: ten miles long, 3,000 feet deep, red and green. Drive up from Waimea town, stop at the Waimea Canyon and Puʻu Hinahina lookouts, then continue to the Kalalau and Puʻu o Kila lookouts at the top for the view down into Kalalau Valley from above. Go early; the valley clouds over by late morning.
17. Polihale State Park
Seventeen miles of beach at the end of a rough dirt road, with the first Nā Pali cliff at the north end and Niʻihau on the horizon at sunset. For walking and looking, not swimming. A 4WD is the rule, and the sand is deep.
18. Hanapēpē and the swinging bridge
The art town: galleries, the footbridge over the river, Talk Story bookstore and the Friday night art walk. Five minutes from the Port Allen harbor, which makes it the lunch stop after the morning raft.
19. Salt Pond Beach Park
A reef-protected cove in Hanapēpē where the local families swim, next to the salt pans that have been worked for centuries. Calm, sandy and almost never crowded.
20. Waimea town and the Captain Cook landing
Where Cook first came ashore in Hawaii in 1778. A plantation town with the Russian fort ruins, a statue, good plate lunch and the turn up to the canyon. Sleep here if you are doing a 7 am boat and the canyon in one weekend.
The North Shore
21. Hanalei Bay
A two-mile crescent under the waterfall mountains, with the pier at one end and the town behind. Swim in summer, watch the surfers in winter, and take the Nā Pali boat from the beach in between.
22. Tunnels Beach and Kēʻē
The best shore snorkeling on Kauai when the ocean is flat, usually May to September, on the reef at Tunnels (Makua). Kēʻē at the end of the road is the gentler lagoon and the trailhead for Kalalau. Kēʻē and the Hāʻena parking lot need a reservation; Tunnels is a walk from the Hāʻena Beach Park lot.
23. Kīlauea Lighthouse and the seabirds
A 1913 lighthouse on a headland that is now a national wildlife refuge, with red-footed boobies, frigatebirds, albatross in winter and whales below. The best bird-watching on the island and an easy hour.
24. Hanalei Valley lookout and the taro fields
The pull-off above Princeville looks down on the Hanalei River and the patchwork of taro paddies that have been farmed for a thousand years. Free, two minutes, and the view everyone photographs.
25. ʻAnini Beach
Two miles of reef hold the surf off a shallow lagoon, the calmest water on the north shore for small kids and beginner snorkelers, and the place to swim up here in winter.
Putting it together
Three days: a Nā Pali boat, the helicopter, and the Wailua kayak, with a beach each afternoon. Five days: add Waimea Canyon, the zipline and the tubing. A week: add the north shore properly, with a night in Hanalei. Our best time to visit guide covers which months the boats run from where, and the regions map shows the drive times. Every tour on this list has one page with prices, seasons and the fine print; start with the ranked list.
Written by Kauai locals who spend their days on the water and the trails. How we make money.
