what to do when you have a week in kauai, hawaii

  • Timbers Hotel. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When
  • Pono Market. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When
  • Kuilau Ridge Trail. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When
  • Timbers Hotel Golf Course. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When
  • Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When
  • Na Pali Coast Trail. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.
  • Ke'e Beach. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.
  • Na Pali Coast Trail. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.
  • Na Pali Coast Trail. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.
  • Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.
  • Koke’e State Park. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.
  • Koke’e State Park. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.
  • Hanalei Bay. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.
  • Anini Beach. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.
  • Timbers Hotel. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.
  • Timbers Hotel. Get a Kauai, Hawaii travel guide, activity recommendations, and a curated itinerary from What to When.

ITINERARY

STAY: Timbers Kaua’i (hotel review below)

DAY 1

  • Relax at the hotel.

  • Lunch at Pono Market, great for poke. We brought our poke to the Kapaa Beach Park (about a block from Pono Market) and picnic-ed there.

  • Hike Kuilau Ridge Trail at the Lihu’e Koloa Forest Reserve. This was such a beautiful hike, with epic views of the valley and surrounding ridge lines. Expect lots of jungle and amazing greenery, trees, plants (think Jurassic Park).

    • It’s anywhere from 2-3.6 miles roundtrip. Make sure you look at the trail map at the start as it is a bit hard to find the continuation of the trail once you get to the first picnic area - the trail map should help you figure out where to go. If you turn around at that first picnic area it is around 2 miles total and you still get all the best views.

  • Post-hike Jojo’s Shave Ice.

  • Dinner at Merrimans. I didn’t think Merrimans was anything special, and a bit overpriced for what it was. BUT, there aren’t a ton of options that are close-ish to the hotel, and the food was good.

DAY 2

  • Morning golf at The Ocean Course at Hokuala. This is a really pretty course, but expect that it will be slow especially around the holidays when the island is crowded.

  • Lunch at Sleeping Giant Grill (note it does not open until 1pm and is closed both Saturday and Sunday). You must get the tuna wrap and the fried ono taco - I am still dreaming about these two items. In my opinion, this was the best lunch spot.

  • Head to Lygdate Beach for some beach time. It’s nice for swimming (and kids) as it’s a really protected beach.

  • Dinner at JO2. The food here was really, really good. Definitely get the octopus, the ravioli and the ribeye, and skip the hearts of palm salad.

DAY 3

  • Drive to the Na Pali Coast Trail (specifically, the Kalalau Trail). Expect a beautiful drive!

  • Hike the Kalalau Trail (8 miles), which is truly a bucket-list hike and I would highly recommend. Your first stop (about 2 miles in) is Hanakapi’ai Beach and then you go another 2 miles to get to the most insane waterfall. A few things to note:

    • You need to get a parking pass or shuttle ticket to do this hike. If you don’t get a parking pass, I’d recommend trying to get a shuttle for between 10-11am, as starting the hike earlier is better.

    • The full trail is 22 miles, but 8 is the most you’re allowed to do in a day. For anything beyond the 8, you need to get a permit.

    • It can be very hot/humid and not very protected, so definitely need lots of water/food.

    • There are some steep drop offs, so be careful!

    • I’d recommend packing a lunch for the hike - we tried to pick up Hanalei Bread Company, but the line was insanely long, so instead we picked up food from Hanalei Market.

  • Swim at Ke’e Beach after the hike. Ke’e Beach is a beautiful, secluded beach right at the start of the Kalalau Trail. You have to shuttle or get a parking pass to access the beach, so it’s nice to go when you are already there.

  • Dinner at Hualani’s, the restaurant at Timbers. It’s expensive, but really great food. The octopus and coconut shrimp are must-gets, and so is the steak (but ask for the sauce on the side).

DAY 4

  • Smoothies and coffee from Java Kai, a coffeehouse with lots of great healthy choices (would also be a good option for picking up breakfast). I loved the Black Lava Smoothie (the coconut cream was insane). Also, there’s a clothing boutique attached with really cute stuff.

  • Explore the town of Kapaa and then walk along the Kapaa Bike Path, which is right in town. It’s a paved path that goes along the water.

  • Lunch at The Dolphin Fish Market in Poipou, which was the best poke we had on the trip (and that is saying something!). We actually also ordered sushi to go when we ordered lunch (they were able to pack it up on ice and we had a cooler) and then we brought it home and had a big sushi dinner that night.

  • Poipou Beach for some beach time - there’s good snorkeling here and there are often Green Sea Turtles (endangered species) that come up and sun on the beach, which is cool to see.

  • Mahaulepu Beach Trail, a 4-mile out and back coastal walk that winds along the ocean cliffs. If you do the full trail, you’ll get to see the Makauwahi Caves at the end.

  • Sushi dinner from The Dolphin.

DAY 5

  • Drive to Koke’e State Park. You’ll go through Waimea Canyon, so plan to pull over in different spots along the drive for amazing views. It is a sight to behold!

    • FYI the views along the road (vs the “official viewpoint” that you’ll drive by & have to pay for) are actually better! Most of them have steep drop offs so just be careful.

  • Waipo’o Falls Trail (3.6 miles) - this is an out-and-back trail with amazing views of the canyon. I’d recommend packing a lunch and eating it when you get to the waterfall at the end.

  • Kalepa Ridge Trail (1.9 miles) - I really wanted to do this hike as the pictures look unreal, but it was (I think) closed when we went. There seems to be a lot of debate as to whether it is “actually closed” or “arbitrarily closed” because they aren’t maintaining the trail but you can still do it. We chose to respect the closure, and it is also quite a bit further than Waip’o Falls. If you do it, apparently you only need to go 30 minutes in to get the best views — after that, it starts to get steep, dangerous and difficult. I never did it, so this is just my recap of what I saw online - do your own research!

  • Note: the other awesome hike in Koke’e State Park is Awa’Awa’Puhi Hike. My understanding is that it is a harder and longer trail, and has absolutely breathtaking views at the end, as you look out onto the Na Pali Coastline. But, the views aren’t as consistent throughout (whereas for Waip’o Falls, there are consistently great views)….so it just depends what you’re looking for and whether you want canyon or coastline.

  • Dinner at Japanese Grandma’s Cafe.

DAY 6

  • Grab coffee and donuts at Holey Grail in Hanalei. The donuts (made with taro) and the matcha were both out of this world.

  • Snorkel at Tunnels Beach, or, if you don’t want to drive as far, head to Hanalei Bay.

  • Lunch at Kilauea Fish Market (get the tuna wrap).

  • Head to Anini Beach to relax and/or snorkel. In my opinion, this was by far the most beautiful beach we went to. It was such a nice, quiet, secluded beach with really calm blue waters (there is a reef all around it).

  • Sunset and dinner at the Beach House. I thought the food was mediocre (and very expensive for what it was), but at sunset they release thousands of canaries, so you’re really going for that. Also, at the nearby Poipou Beach (and I think Brennecke's Beach), at sunset the Green Sea Turtles come out of the water and is something very cool to see.

DAY 7 (travel day)

  • If you’re staying at Timbers, do a walk on the property! There are tons of chickens roaming around, and we saw so many baby chickens which was adorable. Either walk to the Lighthouse or do the full hotel loop and check out the Farm at Hokuala. The front desk will be able to give you a map.

  • Lunch at Hualani’s - the tuna tataki is a must get.

  • Fly home.

*Make sure you rent a car, as that is how you get around the island. I think if you don’t have a car, you won’t really be able to experience Kauai to its fullest and it may not be worth the trip. It’s really all about getting in the car, going for a hike, trying restaurants and exploring beaches or different areas of the island.

**Another hike option if you need it is Makaleha Falls Hike (5.2 miles). We weren’t able to do it, but it looks awesome and I’ve heard great things.

HOTEL REVIEW

Timbers is really nice, especially if you’re looking to rent a house or condo (vs a typical hotel room). The hotel is right on the water, has an infinity pool, great views and a beautiful golf course. I didn’t see any of the condos, but the houses are really nice - each has a plunge pool and a great outdoor setup, and we loved that we were able to buy groceries and cook breakfast at the house. The restaurant had probably the best dinner we had on the island, and the service was great for lunch and dinner. Timbers shares the property with a few other hotels, so it definitely has a campus, kind of manufactured feel, but it is a beautiful property. The location is good in that it is fairly central (and apparently, on the less rainy side) - you don’t really drive more than an hour to get to either side of the island, and it’s typically around a 20-30 minute drive to most restaurants (depending on where you stay on the island, and where you want to go, that could be much longer). But, it’s not really in a town so you always need to drive at least 10-20 minutes to get to restaurants/activities. Also, there is not a great beach option at the hotel and it is right by the airport, so you are constantly seeing and hearing planes (and helicopters) takeoff and land.

Hanalei is where the nicest beaches are, and I’d want to try staying there next time I go to Kauai…specifically at the 1 Hotel. The hotel looks amazing and the views in Hanalei Bay are insane with all of the Jurassic-Park-style mountains surrounding the area. There are great lunch spots in Hanalei, but I do think more of the hikes (outside of the Na Pali Coast Trail) and some of the better dinner restaurants are farther away, so you may end up driving more for that. Koke’e State Park and Waimea Canyon, for example, would be about two and a half hours away - I would actually still recommend seeing Waimea Canyon, but I’d say the activities around Poipou would not be worth it.