Oh Kauai, how we love you! If you’re looking for a place to unplug and relax, this is the island for you. Kauai does not have as much entertainment and shopping as Maui, but Kauai has a way of drawing you in and washing away your worries about work with its beauty. We have visited Kauai the past two summers and loved every.single.minute.
We have stayed on Poipu Beach both years, and plan on staying there again when we return next. The Marriott Waiohai is a condo resort with incredible views, beautiful pools, and the best beach on the island {in our opinion}. We split a two bedroom condo with our friends and are able to take advantage of the kitchen and washer/dryer unit. We normally shop at Walmart (in Lihue) and buy some breakfast and lunch food to make in our condo each day. Then we head out for dinner each night. Food is a little more expensive, and we LOVE the beach so eating in the condo saves money and time.
There are plenty of resorts on Kauai, and their North Shore is beautiful as well (check out Tunnels Beach). Poipu Beach is the place for the Lemons’ family though! Most mornings we are greeted by beached green sea turtles, and most afternoons we are graced with the presence of endangered Hawaiian monk seals that head to Poipu Beach to sunbathe. It’s such an incredible beach. Did I mention Marriott Waiohai has free beach chairs on their grassy area, a pool restaurant, and a ton of other great amenities? Such a great place!
We actually booked through www.conciergerealty.com for the Marriott this year and saved some money. Marriott has a lot of timeshares and we were able to purchase a week from a timeshare holder. That saved us some money from booking straight from Marriott.
As far as food goes, Kauai has a lot to offer, but beware, Kauai tends to shut down pretty early. We aren’t ‘night life’ people so we don’t mind at all.
1. Keoki’s Paradise – There are two restaurants here (more formal and a beach bar). I should probably go ahead and mention they both serve hula pie (#sorrynotsorry). Keoki’s is a little more upscale, but the food is really good (lots of options and great seafood). Normally they have a live band, and they’re located in a nice shopping area so you can walk off those hula pie calories. The barefoot bar has things like fish, ribs, chicken sandwiches, and salads. We really enjoyed it for dinner.
2. Porky’s food truck – Have you ever eaten a hotdog topped with pineapples and pulled pork? I’m going to go ahead and guess your answer will be no. That’s why you need to travel about 15 minutes past Poipu and give Porky’s a try. The food is pretty ‘heavy’ but no one is our group was complaining! They also have a pulled pork grilled cheese that looked amazing. If you don’t eat pulled pork….idk what you’re doing with you life!
3. Marriott Waiohai beach restaurant – I’m not exactly sure of the name, but we really enjoyed eating right on the beach at our resort. They had some really good food to offer as well. The fish and chips were solid!
4. Da Crack – This is a ‘local’ spot for burritos. There is no great place to sit, but if you’re staying in Poipu you can grab and go. It’s pretty good stuff.
5. LocoCoco Shave Ice – All organic, no artificial colors or sweetener….sounds blah, huh? It’s one of the best shaved ice places we had on our entire trip. It’s also right next to Da Crack so win/win.
Those are a few of our favorite spots near Poipu. There are quite a few good restaurants in Lihue, near the airport, but that’s about a 20 minute drive from our resort so we don’t drive that way too much. When we’re in Kauai we love to unplug, take it easy, and lay around the beach and pool…..well, until the excursions start!
Next post we’ll be digging into some of the fun excursions to do while on Kauai. There are a TON and we’ve done just about all of them so hopefully we can give you a few great activities to add to a great island visit!
